In the early centuries, Egypt attracted many church leaders from the East and the West to study Scripture and theology in the School of Alexandria. They came to Egypt and practiced the angelic life in its deserts. Furthermore, Alexandrian teachers and monks preached in many countries. For these reasons, Coptic art was widespread in the whole world:
- a. Coptic art influenced the artistic styles of Ethiopia, Libya, Nubia, Sudan, and many other countries.
- b. Some have noticed a resemblance between Celtic designs and the Coptic style. This can be explained by the fact that monks from Egypt and Ireland were in close connection. As a matter of fact, seven monks from Egypt preached in Ireland1232 and were buried there in the Disert Uilaig. On this, Wessel says, “Coptic influence penetrated Irish Art, and from thence went over once again into developing German Art. The Irish Church did not only provide its wandering monks and zealous missionaries with glad tidings but also with the artistic spirit of the native church. Everywhere they settled, these Irish envoys employed themselves in spreading their art, and with it, indirect Coptic influences.”1233
- c. Coptic Art had an influence throughout the whole Roman Empire and it even extended outside the Empire through Coptic textiles.
- d. Smith1234 states that the icon of Christ the Triumphant or, “the representation of Christ trampling underfoot the lion, the dragon, the serpent and the scorpion, was known in the early French art, and may be traced back to a prototype from Egyptian origin. The same scene was found in the Alexandrian catacombs taken from the ancient Egyptian art (Horus trampling underfoot the beast which symbolized evil).” Smith adds, “This transmission of Egyptian types into Early French art is neither surprising nor peculiar to this particular scene. In the first place it was a natural continuation, if not the actual result, of the Eastern influence which entered Provence through Marseilles and spread through Gaul.”
1232 Cawthra Mulock, The Icons of Yuhanna and Ibrahim the Scribe (London: Nicholson & Watson, 1946): p. 12.
1233 Klaus Wessel, Coptic Art (UK: Thames and Hudson, 1963): pp. 232–233.
1234 Earl Baldwin Smith, Early Christian Iconography (U.P., 1918): pp. 146–150.