DATING. Broadly speaking, the dating of Coptic monuments and
artifacts is one of the thorniest problems in this
archaeological field. The most varied forces seem to have
combined to make any attempt at dating impossible, or at least
subject to caution. The most substantial reason for this is the
oppressed condition into which the Copts were plunged first
under Roman and then under Byzantine occupation. This was
further accentuated under Muslim rule, and the progressive
reduction of the Copts to the position of a minority on the
periphery of official life did nothing to ease it. The vitality
that enabled them under the most intractable circumstances to
produce works in various fields of Christian religious
literature and of art was in many cases stifled. This situation,
together with the separation of the Copts from the Christian
world since the time of the Council of CHALCEDON (451), deprived
them of every means of defense or of resort to outside
protection. Hence, the quality of their works could not reach t