The Place of the Elderly in Late Antique Society

Starting Point

This part of RomAge explores the socio-religious dimension of aging, ultimately seeking to understand how the position of and attitudes towards the elderly within society evolved with the rise of Christianity in Late Antiquity (4th to 6th century). It will focus on Egypt as its geographical scope to uncover this shift, drawing on literary and documentary sources in both Greek and Coptic. 

Scholarship on aging in the pre-Christian Greco-Roman world has demonstrated that old age was often cast as a social threat, potentially leading to marginalization and stigmatization. The elderly had to actively prove their usefulness to society to avoid being considered a burden by relying solely on support from family or friends. Comparable attitudes are also found in the Old Testament, where authority and wisdom are often associated with old age, yet the relation between them is not presented as an automatism, but rather as being the result of a life rich in experiences. Interestingly, ancient Egyptian traditions differ in that they put greater emphasis on the reverence of old age, perhaps ultimately reflected in the institution of the “staff of age” and the symbolic ideal lifespan of 110 years. 

The Socio-Religious Dimension of Aging

How did the rise of Christianity impact the social position of the elderly?

Approach

The society of Late Antique Egypt was built on these diverse foundations, and the first aim of the subproject is to examine how these merged within Egyptian Christianity to create new images, attitudes, expectations, and fears of old age and death. Crucially, the Coptic sources have yet to be explored with this question in mind, and it is to be expected that they will significantly enhance our understanding of aging in Antiquity. 

At the same time, such stereotypical images are largely literary constructs that must be confronted with the social reality that in Egypt becomes visible at least in glimpses through the extensively preserved documentary corpora. They show elderly individuals engaging with the surrounding society and its various institutions and navigating the problems of old aged-life, and they tell of people taking provisions for their last life stage and, ultimately, death. This material relates to the second aim of the project: To investigate the extent to which idealistic or prejudiced stereotypes found in the literary sources mirror or contradict the actual social experience of the elderly in late antique Egyptian society.

Responsible Team Member

Bibliothèque nationale de France

Dr. Florian Graz

Florian is an Egyptologist/Coptologist and Historian focusing on Greco-Roman and Late Antique Egypt.