Monastic Estates in Transition from Byzantine to Islamic Egypt: Evidence from Aphrodito

Various types of monasteries appear in the papyrological documentation, from small, local shrines only mentioned once to influential institutions that are still active today. Based on the unrivalled evidence from Aphrodito, the best documented village of Late Antiquity, this chapter defines in detail the role that monasteries played as landowners in the rural economy. It also traces how their situations evolved over the two centuries around the Islamic conquest, highlighting a multiplicity of scenarios that invites us to nuance our views of their economic power.