If the photo reminds you of the Greek alphabet, you are not wrong, it is almost identical. Nowadays, the linguistic descendants of the ancient Egyptians and religious descendants of Byzantium are called Copts. According to linguists, the word comes from the word Egyptian (e.g. in Mycenaean Greek it is pronounced as A-kou-pi-ti-gio (a3-ku-pi-ti-jo) The Coptic language is a simplified form of Ancient Egyptian and began to be spoken around the 3rd century AD. With the Christianization of the Egyptians, the Greek alphabet was adopted as the language's writing system. This adaptation of the alphabet is about an ancient process that started in the Hellenistic years and the Ptolemaic era.
After the Arab conquest of Byzantine Egypt in 641 AD, the Copts, in general, continued to live undisturbed by paying the jizya (the religious tax). From the 10th century AD, persecution began to exist and we reach today where they are a minority in the population of Egypt. (About 5-20 million in a population of 100 million). Most now speak Egyptian Arabic. They use Coptic mainly in customary ceremonies or in church
Comentarios