Julian Barnett
Egypt, Part 1: Pharaonic and Coptic Cairo
Summary
Julian Barnett begins a series of talks on the history, mouments, and artwork of Egypt. In this lecture he focuses specifically on Pharaonic and Coptic Cairo. Part 1 of 5.
Julian Barnett
Julian Barnett is a teacher, collector, tour guide, and writer with a specialist interest in ultra-orthodoxy within the various faiths. For the last 35 years, he has been investigating and documenting the most extreme sects of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim worlds. His experiences and travels were serialized in the Jerusalem Report and also broadcast on BBC Radio Four Religion. Outside of his full-time history teaching post at Southbank International School, Portland Place, London, Julian lectures at numerous venues around the UK and beyond. In 2013 Julian was a joint winner of the National Teacher of the Year Award.
That is a great unknown because of the nature of the society, most people wouldn’t come up and say, “I’m not a Muslim.” Some would, most wouldn’t, so it’s a difficult question to answer.
Well, that is what the Copts claim they are. The Copts, indeed, claim– but I see you asked that at 5:14, Jacob so probably I’ve part answered that now because I’ve answered that since then. The Copts consider themselves and are considered to be the indigenous people of Egypt and that sort of bloodline from ancient Egypt.
It’s a really good question. The Jews had their own professions, they were heavily into filming and into the cinema, they were heavily into banking and finance. They were heavily into, um, so I think there was some competition but remember it was the Ottomans that were really deciding there. The Jews and the Copts weren’t making their own decisions it was the ruling Ottomans that were saying, you, the Copts and you, the Jews will be doing this and that. So, I think the choices were part made for them. Coptic children do attend, they have their own schools, networks, schools, um, marriage systems, even banking systems as well. So, yes. That isn’t to say that there aren’t some Copts in state schools with Muslims, of course. But they do have their own track and their own culture and their own systems and everything, really.