Dr Jennifer Cromwell

Academic and professional qualifications

2008: PhD in Egyptology (University of Liverpool) 

2004: MA in Egyptology (University of Liverpool)

2003: BA in Egyptology (University of Liverpool)

Previous employment

2016–2018: University of Copenhagen, Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow)

2015–2016: University of Copenhagen, Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies (Danish Research Council Mobilex Fellow)

2014: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester (Postdoctoral Fellow)

2013: British Museum, Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan (Postdoctoral Fellow) 

2011–2014: Macquarie University, Department of Ancient History, Sydney (Macquarie University Research Fellow)

2007–2010: University College, Oxford (Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellow in Egyptology)

Why study Ancient History / Egyptology ?

The study of Ancient History provides the opportunity to explore human behaviours, cultures, literature, and thought, which help shape our view of the world around us. We explore a range of topics that are relevant to the modern world: urbanism; multiculturalism; uses of the past for political and ideological purposes; religious life; genders; sexualities; ethnicities; and philosophical and political thought.

Undergraduate courses

• (1st yr) Introduction to Ancient History (with Dr J Crowley [Unit Leader]) 
• (2nd yr) Vox Pop: Everyday Voices from the Ancient World (Unit Leader)
• (2nd yr) Egypt: Age of the Pharaohs (Unit Leader)

Postgraduate teaching

I would be delighted to offer supervision on topics related to:

• Children and family in the ancient Mediterranean World
• Egyptian social and economic history (any period)
• Late Antique and early Islamic Egypt
• Coptic (language and texts)
• Gaming (especially videogrames) and the ancient world

Postgraduate supervision (completed/in progress)

In Progress:

2018–present:  PhD Co-Supervisor (external/2nd): Roxana Gregor-Som (University of Manchester), “Landowning and Tenancy in Byzantine Hermopolis.” Principal supervisor: Dr Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester).

2018–present: PhD Adjunct Supervisor: Samuel Cook (Macquarie University), “Legal and linguistic continuity in private documents from Late Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt.” Principal supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Malcolm Choat and Dr Trevor Evans (Macquarie University).

Completed:

2014: PhD Associate Supervisor: Richard Burchfield, “Networks of the Theban Desert: Social, Economic, and Religious Interactions in Late Byzantine and Early Islamic Thebes”. Passed with minor corrections, April 2014. Principal supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Malcolm Choat.

Research expertise

• Coptic (language and texts)
• Childhood and the family in the ancient Mediterranean world
• Late Antique and early Islamic Egypt
• Education in the ancient world
• Egyptian Monasticism 
• Papyrology

My main research interests lie in the social and economic history of ancient Egypt, especially in late antiquity and the early Islamic period (broadly 4th to 9th centuries CE). I am especially interested in the use of Coptic (the last form of the indigenous Egyptian language) after the Islamic conquest of Egypt in 641 CE – my book Recording Village Life: A Coptic Scribe in Early Islamic Egypt explores the role of an Egyptian village administrator and scribe in the first half of the 8th century.

My current research projects focus on: the nature of Coptic education and professional scribal training; and the practice of donating children to local religious institutions, especially monasteries in Egypt.

I am also interested in the reception of ancient Egypt in videogames, in particular Assassin's Creed: Origins. Some of my thoughts on the topic can be found here (via the Manchester Games Studies Network).

Academic collaborations

Coptic School Texts in the Collection of Columbia University with Raffaella Cribiore (NYU)

Editions and study of Coptic school texts from western Thebes, dating mainly to the 7th century CE.

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Child Donation Documents: East and West with Arietta Papaconstantinou (Reading)

A new study of known child donation documents from Egypt and France, incorporating new translations of the original papyri, an examination of the phenomenon, and an analysis of connections between post-Roman societies in the East and West, in terms of social practice, private law, and monastic institutions.

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Coptic Papyri in the Papyrus Carlsberg Collection with University of Copenhagen

Editions and study of the unpublished Coptic papyri in the Papyrus Carlsberg Collection.

Publications

• Books (authored/edited/special issues)

  J. Cromwell, E. Grossman (2018). Scribal Repertoires in Egypt from the New Kingdom to the Early Islamic Period. Oxford University Press.

  P. McKechnie, J. Cromwell (2018). Ptolemy I and the Transformation of Egypt, 404-282 BCE.

  J. Cromwell (2017). Recording Village Life A Coptic Scribe in Early Islamic Egypt. University of Michigan Press.

• Journal articles

  J. Cromwell (2021). Writing Exercises from Wadi Sarga: O.Sarga II 1–14. Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete. 66(2), pp.359-376.

  J. Cromwell (2015). Coptic writing exercises in the Petrie Museum with a concordance of its published coptic texts. Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 195, pp.205-218.

  J. Cromwell (2014). Managing a Year’s Taxes: Tax Demands and Tax Payments in 724 CE. Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete. 60(1), pp.229-239.

  J. Cromwell (2013). Keeping it in the Family: Property Concerns in Eighth Centurya.d.Thebes. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 72(2), pp.213-232.

  J. Cromwell, E. Grossman (2010). Condition(AL)S of Repayment: P. CLT 10 Reconsidered^*. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 96(1), pp.149-160.

• Chapters in books

  J. Cromwell (2023). Cultural Mediation in Early Islamic Egypt: The Role of Coptic. In: Shaping Letters, Shaping Communities: Multilingualism and Linguistic Practice in the Late Antique Near East and Egypt.

  J. Cromwell (2022). Religious Expression and Relationships Between Christians and Muslims in Coptic Letters from Early Islamic Egypt. In: Religious Identifications in Late Antique Papyri. Routledge, pp.232-247.

  J. Cromwell (2022). Western thebes and the arab administration of pre-abbasid egypt. In: Christians and Muslims in Early Islamic Egypt. pp.135-147.

  JA. Cromwell (2018). Greek or Coptic? Scribal decisions in 8th century Egypt (Thebes). In: Scribal Repertoires in Egypt from the New Kingdom to the Early Islamic Period. Oxford University Press,

  JA. Cromwell, E. Grossman (2018). Scribes, repertoires, and variation. In: Scribal Repertoires in Egypt from the New Kingdom to the Early Islamic Period. Oxford University Press,

  JA. Cromwell (2017). The Threads that Bind Us: Aspects of Textile Production in Late Antique Thebes. In: The Cultural Manifestations of Religious Experience Studies in Honour of Boyo G. Ockinga. Ugarit Verlag,

  J. Cromwell (2016). Aristophanes Son of Johannes: An Eighth-Century Bilingual Scribe? A Study of Graphic Bilingualism. In: The Multilingual Experience in Egypt, from the Ptolemies to the Abbasids. pp.221-232.

Invited papers

Invited conference papers:

• “Taxes, Authority, and Fake News in Early Islamic Egypt: Aphrodito and Beyond,” Fiddling with Documents 2 (Leiden, 20–21 June 2019)
• “Coptic ostraca from the town of Djeme,” Coptic ostraca from the Theban region (Egypt) (Leiden, 16–17 May 2019)
• “Assassin’s Creed Origins and Widening Participation in Egyptology,” Games and Gaming: Using History and Archaeology in Games (Glasgow, 9 May 2019)
• “Coptic-Greek biscriptality and language policy in early Islamic Egypt,” Polygraphisme: Écritures en coexistence et en interference (Paris, 6 April 2018)
• “You’re a Fake Document! Using and Undermining Coptic Legal Documents,” Fiddling with Documents (Leiden, 7–8 December 2017) .
• “Kellis: Insights into Textile Production in the Dakhla Oasis in the 4th Century,” Egyptian Textiles and their Production: “Word” and “Object” (Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Periods) (Copenhagen, 24 November 2017).
• “Religious Identity and Relationships between Rulers and Ruled in the Coptic Papyri of Early Islamic Egypt,” Late Antique Religion in Practice: Papyri and the Dynamics of Religious Identification (Leiden, 9–11 November 2017).
• “‘Forgive Me, Because I Could Not Find Papyrus’: The Use and Distribution of Ostraca in Late Antique Western Thebes,” Using Ostraca in the Ancient World: New Discoveries and Methodologies (Heidelberg, 12–14 October 2017) .
• “Textiles in Shenoute’s Writings,” The Textile Centre Akhmin-Panopolis (Egypt) in Late Antiquity. Material Evidence for Continuity and Change in Society, Religion, Industry, and Trade (Göttingen, 28–30 September 2017).
• “Educating Western Thebes: From Village to Monastery,” New Perspectives on Religion, Education, and Culture at Christian Western Thebes (VI–VIII) (Oslo, 12–13 January 2017)
• "New Scribal Networks at the Turn of the Eighth Century,” Egypt Incorporated (Leiden, 12–15 December 2016)

Invited Summer School Lectures

• Lecture: “Coptic Sources for Life in Late Roman Egypt” at Bloomsbury Summer School: Ancient Egypt Reinvented: exploring the manifold identities of Graeco-Roman Egypt, directed by Luigi Prada  (London, 20 July 2018)
• Instructor in Coptic papyrology and palaeography. Summer Course in Papyrology, University of Oslo. (Oslo, 18–22 June)

Invited Seminar Presentations / Society Lectures

• “Camel, O Camel. Come and Fetch and Carry: The Importance of Camels in Late Antique Egypt,” Dansk Ægyptologi Selskab / Danish Egyptology Society (Århus, 14 April 2016; Copenhagen 7 June 2016), Dansk Egyptisk Selskab / Danish Egyptian Society (Hellerup, 7 October 2016); Sveriges Egyptologiska Förening / Swedish Egyptological Society (Helsingborg, 12 October 2016).
• “The Egyptian Monastery of Apa Thomas (Wadi Sarga): Self-sufficient or patron-dependent organisation?” Middelaldercirklen / Medieval Circle, SAXO Institut, University of Copenhagen (Copenhagen, 16 November 2015).
• “Wine, Camels, and Monks: Aspects of Life in a Coptic Monastery,” Sveriges Egyptologiska Förening / Swedish Egyptological Society (Helsingborg, 25 March 2015)
• “Reconstructing an Egyptian Monastery: The Material Remains of Wadi Sarga,” Dansk Ægyptologisk Selskab / Danish Egyptology Society (Copenhagen, 5 March 2015 + Århus, 3 September 2015)
• “Education in Late Antique Egypt and a Coptic ‘Pliny the Younger’,” Classics Work-in-Progress, University of Liverpool (Liverpool, 24 November 2014)
• “Getting wine to the monastery: The Archaeological and Textual Evidence from Wadi Sarga,” Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies Australia, University of Sydney (Sydney, 10 March 2014)
• “Camels, Wine, and Monks: Wadi Sarga Material in the British Museum,” Egypt Exploration Society (London, 27 June 2013)

Conference organisation

2017: Workshop (with K. Damgaard): Christian Kingdoms of Nubia: Material and Immaterial Culture (University of Copenhagen, 27 October 2017).
2016: Workshop (with L. Prada, University College, Oxford): Ancient Egyptian Language and Texts 8 (University College, Oxford, 26 November 2016).
2016: Conference (with L. Blanke, Århus University, and B. Ward-Perkins, University of Oxford): Monastic Economies in Egypt and Palestine, 5th–10th Centuries (Ertegun House, Oxford, 16–17 March 2016).
2013: Conference (with M. Choat, R. Yuen-Collingridge, K. Dosoo): Observing the Scribe at work (Macquarie University, Sydney, 27–28 September 2013).
2012: Panel (conference): ‘Aspects of Early Islamic Egypt’ (with A. Papaconstantinou) and ‘Thebes in Late Antiquity’ (with M. Choat) at the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies (Rome, 17–22 September).
2012: Workshop: Reconstructing Daily Life in Thebes (Macquarie University, Sydney, 12 May 2012).
2011: Workshop: Introduction to Demotic (Macquarie University, Sydney, 12–13 December 2011).
2009: Conference (with E. Grossman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Beyond Free-Variation: Scribal Repertoires in Egypt from the Old Kingdom to the Early Islamic Period (University College, Oxford, 14–16 September 2009).

Grants

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Fellowship: “Monasteries as Institutional Powers in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt” (MONASPOWER). University of Copenhagen, 2016–2018.
• Australian Research Council Discovery Project Award, with co-Chief Investigator Malcolm Choat (Macquarie University) and Participating Investigator Heike Behlmer (Göttinger): “Knowledge Transfer and Administration in a Pre-Typographic Society: Observing the scribe at work in Graeco-Roman Egypt” (Macquarie University, 2012–2014). 

Prizes and awards

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Fellowship: “Monasteries as Institutional Powers in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt” (MONASPOWER). University of Copenhagen, 2016–2018.
• Australian Research Council Discovery Project Award, with co-Chief Investigator Malcolm Choat (Macquarie University) and Participating Investigator Heike Behlmer (Göttinger): “Knowledge Transfer and Administration in a Pre-Typographic Society: Observing the scribe at work in Graeco-Roman Egypt” (Macquarie University, 2012–2014). 
• Macquarie University Research Fellowship:“Scribal Control in Early Islamic Egypt: Integration and Effect of the Administration of a New Regime” (Macquarie University, 2011–2014).
• Egypt Exploration Society Centenary Award: Coptic non-literary texts in the University of Copenhagen (2010).

Expert reviewer for external funding bodies

Assessor for the Australian Research Centre (ARC)

Visiting and honorary positions

Visiting Fellow:

• Heidelberg University, as part of the research group “Material Text Cultures: Materiality and Presence of Writing in Non-Typographic Societies” (1–31 May 2018).

Membership of professional associations

American Society of Papyrologists

International Association of Coptic Studies

International Association of Egyptologists

International Association of Papyrologists