An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land

An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land
Author: Leah Di Segni
Publisher: Edizioni Terra Santa
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2022-08-12T00:00:00+02:00
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The ethnic pluralism of the Holy Land is unparalleled elsewhere. Whatever period of history, or even of prehistory, one chooses to consider, the land, due to its geographical position, was always home to diverse ethne and cultures and a capturer of influences from nearby and faraway countries. The same pluralism accounts for an unparalleled coexistence of languages and scripts. Greek and Latin, Hebrew, Jewish, Christian and Samaritan Aramaic, each with its own script, pre-Islamic Arabic in Nabataean and Old Arabic scripts, the occasional Syriac, Palmyrene, Armenian and Georgian inscriptions, Safaitic and Thamudic graffiti in the eastern and southern fringes: all are attested in late antique Holy Land, sometimes influencing one another in vocabulary and formulas. Still, Greek is the prevailing vehicle of written communication from its first appearance in the region in the fourth century BCE to the end of Late Antiquity in the late eighth or early ninth century, and it will draw most of the attention in these pages.

Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity

Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity
Author: B. Bitton-Ashkelony
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2004-07-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047405412

This valuable collection of thirteen studies provides an overview of recent research on central issues concerning the history of late antique Gaza. Several essays address various aspects of the continuity of pagan culture in Christian Gaza, festivals, spectacles, and the classical legacy of the fifth and sixth centuries, thus highlighting the public life of the city as a unique synthesis of the new and old worlds. Several articles deal with central topics pertaining to the monastic life developed in the region of Gaza and its vicinity between the fourth and seventh centuries. More specifically, they explore the rich Correspondence of Barsanuphius and John, the spiritual leaders of this monastic community. Two papers furnish an archeological survey of the monasteries of Gaza, and a discussion on the geographical and administrative aspects of its territory. Certain articles focus on the anti-Chalcedonian resistance of this monastic center in the wake of the council of Chalcedon, while others tackle the change of its stance in the time of Emperor Justin (518-527). In sum, this book covers a relatively neglected chapter in the complex and fascinating Christian history of the Holy Land.

Holy Land. Archaeology on Either Side

Holy Land. Archaeology on Either Side
Author: AA. VV.
Publisher: Edizioni Terra Santa
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2020-11-10T10:24:00+01:00
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 8862408501

The title of the volume may be a little perplexing: Archaeology on Either Side. But on either side of what? The picture we chose for the front cover might give an indication of the answer. This image shows two sides of the River Jordan – the Israeli side and the Jordanian side – both part of the Holy Land! Or we might understand the “either side” of our topic in another way, that is, archaeology both as the study of artifacts and archaeology as the study of literary sources. In the contributions the reader will find all these topics and much more: essays on excavations or archaeological findings in the Holy Land as defined above, and essays on literary sources linked to the history of the ancient Near East, especially in the time of the Christian/Common Era (CE). The book is made up of three main sections: “Excavations and Topographical Surveys”; “Architecture, Decorations, and Art”; “Epigraphy and Sigillography”. Some articles touch on more than one specific section, so they may be found between sections.

Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries

Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries
Author: Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317076419

Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries forges a new conversation about the diversity of Christianities in the medieval eastern Mediterranean, centered on the history of practice, looking at liturgy, performance, prayer, poetry, and the material culture of worship. It studies prayer and worship in the variety of Christian communities that thrived from late antiquity to the middle ages: Byzantine Orthodoxy, Syrian Orthodoxy, and the Church of the East. Rather than focusing on doctrinal differences and analyzing divergent patterns of thought, the essays address common patterns of worship, individual and collective prayer, hymnography and liturgy, as well as the indigenous theories that undergirded Christian practices. The volume intervenes in standard academic discourses about Christian difference with an exploration of common patterns of celebration, commemoration, and self-discipline. Essays by both established and promising, younger scholars interrogate elements of continuity and change over time – before and after the rise of Islam, both under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire and in the lands of successive caliphates. Groups distinct in their allegiances nevertheless shared a common religious heritage and recognized each other – even in their differences – as kinds of Christianity. A series of chapters explore the theory and practice of prayer from Greco-Roman late antiquity to the Syriac middle ages, highlighting the transmission of monastic discourses about prayer, especially among Syrian and Palestinian ascetic teachers. Another set of essays examines localization of prayer within churches through inscriptions, donations, dedications, and incubation. Other chapters treat the composition and transmission of hymns to adorn the liturgy and articulate the emotions of the Christian calendar, structuring liturgical and eschatological time.

Cities, Monuments and Objects in the Roman and Byzantine Levant

Cities, Monuments and Objects in the Roman and Byzantine Levant
Author: Walid Atrash
Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2022-11-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1803273356

Chapters by leading archaeologists in Israel and the Levant explore themes and sites connected with cities and villages from the Hellenistic to early Islamic periods across the region. The result is a rich trove of up-to-date data and insights that will be a must read for scholars and students active in this part of the ancient Mediterranean world.

Identity and Territory

Identity and Territory
Author: Eyal Ben-Eliyahu
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2019-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520293606

Throughout history, the relationship between Jews and their land has been a vibrant, much-debated topic within the Jewish world and in international political discourse. Identity and Territory explores how ancient conceptions of Israel—of both the land itself and its shifting frontiers and borders—have played a decisive role in forming national and religious identities across the millennia. Through the works of Second Temple period Jews and rabbinic literature, Eyal Ben-Eliyahu examines the role of territorial status, boundaries, mental maps, and holy sites, drawing comparisons to popular Jewish and Christian perceptions of space. Showing how space defines nationhood and how Jewish identity influences perceptions of space, Ben-Eliyahu uncovers varied understandings of the land that resonate with contemporary views of the relationship between territory and ideology.

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity
Author: Oliver Nicholson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1743
Release: 2018-04-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0192562460

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity is the first comprehensive reference book covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between the mid-3rd and the mid-8th centuries AD, the era now generally known as Late Antiquity. This period saw the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianity and its replacement in the West by Germanic kingdoms, the continuing Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Persian Sassanian Empire, and the rise of Islam. Consisting of over 1.5 million words in more than 5,000 A-Z entries, and written by more than 400 contributors, it is the long-awaited middle volume of a series, bridging a significant period of history between those covered by the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. The scope of the Dictionary is broad and multi-disciplinary; across the wide geographical span covered (from Western Europe and the Mediterranean as far as the Near East and Central Asia), it provides succinct and pertinent information on political history, law, and administration; military history; religion and philosophy; education; social and economic history; material culture; art and architecture; science; literature; and many other areas. Drawing on the latest scholarship, and with a formidable international team of advisers and contributors, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity aims to establish itself as the essential reference companion to a period that is attracting increasing attention from scholars and students worldwide.

Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land

Ancient Place Names in the Holy Land
Author: Yoel Elitsur
Publisher: Eisenbrauns
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN:

That many ancient toponyms in the Holy Land have survived for thousands of years, right up to modern times, is a remarkable and unique phenomenon, unparalleled in neighboring countries, such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, or Asia Minor. Preserved toponymy provides a basis for research in the historical geography of the country and is also of major importance for studies in the history of Hebrew and Aramaic, being a kind of ancient "recording" of an archaic linguistic inventory. In addition, it has many implications for a wide variety of other scholarly fields, such as Bible studies, Rabbinics, Qumran and Samaritan studies, early Christianity, Arabic and Islam. This reserve of preserved place-names is therefore frequently consulted and used by scholars for their purposes. Surprisingly, however, despite the importance of this subject, there have been very few attempts to "put things in order," and for many years there have been no rules that would help to understand the changes that occur in toponyms. Accordingly, the prevailing situation in the field of historical geography is one of near-anarchy; lacking hard and fast rules, scholars could find support for their identification of an ancient toponym in any somewhat similar Arabic name. In order to break this vicious circle of conjectures founded on dubious linguistic assumptions, producing "preservation laws" themselves provide an alleged basis for historical identification, and so on, Elitzur has tried, first and foremost, to lay down objective criteria for the selection of positive identifications. On this basis, he has built up a corpus of 177 toponyms representing positive or almost-positive identifications, upon which this study is based. Sixty of these toponyms are then reviewed in depth, tracing their documentation in all languages, throughout recorded history; in the process, the author has tried to locate and analyze whatever changes occurred and when. The linguistic conclusions from the material follow, arranged according to the standard layout of grammar books. Innovative conclusions and ideas in the context of historical geography emerged in the course of the study are listed alphabetically in the last part of the volume.

From Hellenism to Islam

From Hellenism to Islam
Author: Hannah Cotton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2009-09-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521875811

This book considers how languages, peoples and cultures in the Near East interacted over the millennium between Alexander and Muhammad.