Alfred Joshua Butler F.S.A. (1850 - 1936) was a British ancient historian, specialized in the history of the

Copts Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are C ...

Biography

He studied at

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and from 1877 worked at his Brasenose College. Author of works on Coptology and the history of Egypt during the period of

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

rule. Alfred J. Butler was a self-confessed “friend of the Copts”. On them he wrote in 1911, having known the Copts for upwards of thirty years, I have the highest opinion of their capacity and their character. When the Coptic Congress in 1911 raised some demands to the British authority to end the injustices the Copts suffered from under British rule he sided with the Copts against

Sir Eldon Gorst Sir John Eldon Gorst (25 June 1861 – 12 July 1911) was Consul-General in Egypt from 1907–1911. Career Gorst was the son of Sir John Eldon Gorst, Solicitor General for England and Wales and Vice-President of the Committee of the Council o ...

, the British Consul-General in Egypt (1907-1911), whose policy was (to) exalt the Mohammedan and to tread down the Christian, to license the majority and to curb the minority.

Works

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References

1850 births 1936 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford Coptologists British classical scholars Classical scholars of the University of Oxford Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London {{UK-historian-stub