The so-called Anatolian saints in Egypt. The Egyptian and Anatolian patterns of selective transmission of cult

The paper discusses various aspects of the transmission of cults of Anatolian martyrs from Asia Minor to Egypt, based on the evidence of written non-literary sources, mostly inscriptions and papyri. It examines the patterns of selection of saints whose cults were transmitted and studies the character of this process and the possible channels of transmission. Among the discussed sources special attention is paid to the inscribed oil lamps found in the Egyptian chora, which indicate that cults of several Anatolian martyrs might have been transmitted to Egypt even without the existence of institutionalised places of their veneration. This and other facts imply that only a limited number of Anatolian martyrs (Theodore, Thecla, Quiricus, and Euphemia) enjoyed independent sanctuaries of considerable importance, which produced documentary evidence. The spreading of cults of other figures might have been the result of the activity of a single pottery workshop, situated in Upper Egypt.