History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East
By: edited by Philip Wood
Series: Oxford studies in late antiquity
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780199915408
Subjects: Congresses; Civilization; National characteristics; Antiquities
Description: This book examines the importance of the past, both real and imagined, in constructing contemporary culture in the period AD 500-1000. It goes beyond 'history-writing' in a narrow sense to examine philosophy, theology, liturgy and jurisprudence as vehicles for tradition and the imagination of a past 'golden age'. The papers straddle the Roman-Persian frontier and go well into the Islamic period: together, they push the boundaries of late antiquity' into the varied language traditions: not just Greek, but also Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Arabic.
Notes: This volume arose out of a seminar series organised at the Classics Centre of Corpus Christi College, Oxford in 2009 and a subsequent workshop in 2010.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Sophronius of Jerusalem and the end of roman history / Phil Booth; title: Identity, philosophy, and the problem of Armenian history in the sixth century / Tara Andrews; title: The chronicle of Seert and Roman ecclesiastical history in the Sasanian world / Philip Wood; title: Why were the Syrians interested in Greek philosophy? / Dan King; title: You are what you read: Qenneshre and the Miaphysite church in the seventh century / Jack Tannous; title: The prophet's city before the prophet: Ibn Zabala (d. after 199/814) on pre-Islamic Medina / Harry Munt; title: Topoi and topography in the histories of al-?ira / Adam Talib; title: "The crinkly haired people of the black earth"; examining Egyptian identities in Ibn 'abd al-?akam's futu? / Hussein Omar; title: Forgetting Ctesiphon: Iran's pre-Islamic past, ca. 800-1100 / Sarah Savant; title: Legal knowledge and local practices under the early Abbasids / Mathiew Tillier.