Imad Boles on the Coptic Revolutionaries at the Time of the Translation of the Relics of St. Mark

From Roger Pearse's Site - Imad Boles is president of the British Coptic Association.

The Emma (Yma): Eutychius, in Roger’s translation, immediately after the above quoted sentence writes: “Then the (supporters of the) Emma (Yma) revolted. Al-’Emma is a coptic word and means “forty”.” The jump between the two sentences represents a time span of over three years. In June 831 AD, during the Patriarchate of Anba Yousab, the 52nd Coptic Patriarch (830-849), the Copts of the coastal areas of the Nile Delta revolted against the oppression of the Arabs. That was a major rebellion and involved several thousands of the Copts who managed initially to overthrow the yoke of the Muslims, but later, when Caliph Al-Mamiun mobilised the Empire’s resources and army, and came in person leading in army, managed to suppress the last major Coptic uprising in February/March 832 AD with grave consequences to the Coptic nation. The Coptic Revolt of 831/832 AD was mainly undertaken by the Bashmurites/Pashurites (as Coptic resources, particularly History of the Patriarchs of Coptic Church, calls them), residents of Bashmur/Pashmur in the coastal areas of the Delta. It is important to note that these were followers of the Coptic Church. Eutychius in his Annals (written in Arabic) calls them البيما او اهل البيما, which could be translated “the Bima (or the Pima) or the people of the Bima/Pima”. He says the word name البيما/Bima/Pima comes from a Coptic word that means “ نسل الاربعين “ , i.e. “the descendants of the forty”. The Latin translation (1658) renders the translation: “quadraginia virorum progenies”. St Michael the Syrian in his Chronicle (which is absolutely important in this history) calls the them Biamaye as Bat Ye’or in her The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam spells it. It may be that Biamaye is the Syriac form of the Arabic Bima/Pima. As we do not know the original Coptic word which Eutychius alludes to, it is difficult to study this word further. The B/Pashmurites had their special dialect of Coptic, and it is possible that B/Pima in their dialect meant what Eutychius says (the dialect is largely unknown now); however, the meaning given by him cannot be derived from any of the other major Coptic dialects known to us. I think Roger’s Emma (Yma) is the same as Eutichius B/Pima.

1. The B/Pashmurites also rose against their Arab oppressors in 750 AD during the reign of the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan II (744-750), and the Patriarchate of Michael I (743-767). However, their last uprising was in 831/2 AD.
2. The B/Pashmur area is also called Bashrud (Pashrud) as in The History of the Patriarchs by Anba Yousab, Bishop of Fawa.
3. There is no mention in Coptic resources that the B/Pashmurites descended from Greeks.