Dr Malcolm Choat
BA (Hons) Qld, PhD Macquarie.
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Contact Details: Telephone: +61 2 9850 7561 |
Profile
Dr Malcolm Choat is a lecturer in the Department of Ancient History, Division of Humanities. He studied Classics (including Ancient Greek and Latin) and Ancient History at the University of Queensland (1989-1993), before undertaking doctoral studies at Macquarie (1994-2000). Subsequently, he taught and researched in the School of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney (2000-2002), before holding a Macquarie University Research Fellowship (2003-2006). He now teaches at Macquarie in Ptolemaic Egypt, Early Christianity, and Coptic Studies.
His fields of research are, broadly, Graeco-Roman Egypt and the interaction of Classical (Greek and Roman) and Egyptian cultures from Alexander the Great to the Arab conquest (332 BCE – 642 CE), and early Christianity, particularly from a papyrological perspective. He has particular focuses on rise of the Coptic language and script in the3rd-5th centuries, especially early Coptic documents on papyrus, and the development of monasticism. Among his current research projects are:
- Language, Script, and Acculturation in Graeco-Roman Egypt: An umbrella research program, lead by Drs Malcolm Choat and Trevor Evans, uniting projects (including those listed below) focusing on cultural interaction of the classical and Egyptian worlds in the Graeco-Roman period.
- Religious authority and linguistic change in late antique Egypt: non-elite perspectives on the rise of monasticism in contemporary documents: ARC-funded project dealing with the rise of monasticism, seen from the point of view of the Christian Laity, and especially though contemporary documents on papyrus in Greek and Coptic.
- The Archive of Apa Johannes: A re-edition one of the most extensive bilingual (Greek and Coptic) monastic archives on papyrus in from fourth century CE Egypt.
- Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt: a project to analyse the papyrus texts documenting Christianity in Egypt before the victory of Constantine (324), a collaborative project within the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, to be published by Cambridge University Press.
- P.Macquarie Copt.: An edition of the Coptic papyri in Macquarie University's Museum of Ancient Cultures, with Iain Gardner, Studies in Religion, University of Sydney.
- Communication Networks in Late Byzantine and Early Islamic monastic communities: a collaborative project with Dr Heike Behlmer (Macquarie University), analysing the letters on ostraca sent between monasteries in the Theban region, especially the monastery of Epiphanius, monastery of Severus (Sheikh Abd el-Qurna) and the Deir el-Bakhit and satellite monastic cells in tombs in the Dra' Abu el-Naga.
Awards and Grants
2006–2008 ARC Discovery Project Grant: ‘Religious authority
and linguistic change in late antique Egypt: non-elite perspectives on the
rise of monasticism in contemporary documents’.
2003-2006 Macquarie University Research Fellowship.
2001 Australian Academy for the Humanities Travelling Fellowship.
1992 First class Honours with University Medal, Department of Classics and
Ancient History, University of Queensland.
Publications
Books
Belief and Cult in fourth–century Papyri (Brepols, Turnhout: 2006).
- Links
- Department of Ancient History:
http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/
Book Chapters
‘Citation and Echo of the New Testament in letters on Papyrus’,
New Testament Manuscripts and Their World, ed. T.J. Kraus and
T. Nicklas (Brill, Leiden, 2006) 267-292. (by invitation)
‘The Unknown Work on Prophecy in the Freer Minor Prophets Codex’,
The Freer Biblical Manuscripts: Fresh Studies of the Greek Biblical Manuscripts
Housed in the Freer Gallery, ed. L. Hurtado (Atlanta, Society for
Biblical Literature Publications, 2006) 87-121 (by invitation)
‘Language and Culture in Late Antique Egypt’, Blackwell’s
Companion to Late Antiquity, ed. P. Rousseau (Blackwells, Oxford,
forthcoming 2007). (by invitation)
‘Early Coptic Epistolography’, The Multilingual Experience:
Egypt from the Ptolemies to the ‘Abbasids, ed. A. Papaconstantinou
(American University of Cairo Press, forthcoming 2007). (by invitation)
‘Monastic property ownership in the early period’, The
Administration of Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt.
In memory of Sarah Clackson, edd. A. Boudhors, J. Clackson &
P. Sijpesteijn, forthcoming. (by invitation)
Articles
(with I. Gardner) ‘P. Lond. Copt. I 1123: Another Letter to Apa
Johannes?’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
156 (2006) 157-164.
‘Thomas the “wanderer” in a Coptic List of the Apostles’,
Orientalia 74 (2005) 83-85.
(with A.Nobbs) ‘Monotheistic Formulae of Belief in Second –
Fourth century AD Greek Papyri’, Journal of Greco-Roman Judaism
and Christianity 2(2001-2005) 36-51.
(with R.S. Bagnall & I Gardner), ‘O.Douch I 40’, Zeitschrift
für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 147 (2004) 205-207 .
(with I. Gardner), ‘O.Douch I 49’, Zeitschrift für
Papyrologie und Epigraphik 143 (2003) 143-146.
‘The Development and use of Terms for ‘monk’ in Late
Antique Egypt’, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum
45(2002) 5-23.
‘Papnouthios in SB I 2266: New man or new patron?’, Zeitschrift
für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 133(2000) 157-162.
(with I. Gardner and A. Nobbs), ‘P.Harr. 107: Is this another Greek
Manichaean letter’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
131 (2000) 118-124.
Contributions to: Walmsley, A. G., Karsgaard, P. and Grey, A., with contributions
by M. Choat and K. Barrett, ‘Town and Village: Site Transformations
in South Jordan (The Gharandahl Archaeological Project, Second Season
Report)’, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
43 (1999) 459-478.
‘The Public and Private Worlds of Theophanes of Hermopolis Magna’,
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, forthcoming.
Papers in Published Conference Proceedings
‘Fourth Century Monasticism in the Papyri’, Akten des
23. Internationalen Papyrologenkongresses, Wien, 22.-28. Juli 2001,
ed. B. Palme (Papyrologica Vindobonensia 1; Wien: ÖAW Verlag 2007),
95-101.
‘Philological and historical approaches to the search for the ‘third
type’ of Egyptian monk’, Coptic Studies on the Threshold
of a New Millennium. Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress
of Coptic Studies. Leiden, August 27 – September 2, 2000, edd.
M. Immerzeel and J. van der Vliet (Louvain 2004) II, 856-865.
(with I. Gardner), ‘Towards a palaeography of fourth century documentary
Coptic’, Coptic Studies on the Threshold of a New Millennium.
Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Coptic Studies. Leiden,
August 27 – September 2, 2000, edd. M. Immerzeel and J. van
der Vliet (Louvain 2004) , I, 501-509.
‘The Archive of Apa Johannes: Notes on a proposed New edition’,
Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Papyrologists, Helsinki
2004 (Comm.Hum.Litt. Vol. 122, in press, forthcoming 2007), 175-183.
‘Epistolary Formulae in Early Coptic Letters’, Actes du
congres du Paris, 28 juin – 3 juillet 2004, edd. N. Bosson
and A. Boud’hors (ÆgMonsp 1, 2006, forthcoming 2006).
Ancient History Documentary Research Centre:
http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/doccentre/ahdrc.html
Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt
http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/doccentre/PCEhomepage.htm
Division of Humanities:
http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/
Macquarie University:
http://www.mq.edu.au/