From Hellenism to Islam

by Cotton, Hannah M.; Hoyland, Robert G.; Price, Jonathan J.; Wasserstein, David J.

• ISBN13: 9781107403956
• ISBN10: 1107403952
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-12
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

The eight hundred years between the first Roman conquests and the conquest of Islam saw a rich, constantly shifting blend of languages and writing systems, legal structures, religious practices and beliefs in the Near East. While the different ethnic groups and cultural forms often clashed with each other, adaptation was as much a characteristic of the region as conflict. This volume, emphasizing the inscriptions in many languages from the Near East, brings together mutually informative studies by scholars in diverse fields. Together, they reveal how the different languages, peoples and cultures interacted, competed with, tried to ignore or were influenced by each other, and how their relationships evolved over time. It will be of great value to those interested in Greek and Roman history, Jewish history and Near Eastern studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Language of Power: Latin in the Roman Near East

The presence, role and significance of Latin in the epigraphy and culture of the Roman Near East

Latin in cities of the Roman Near East

Social and Legal Institutions as Reflected in the Documentary Evidence

Euergetism in Josephus and the epigraphic culture of first-century Jerusalem

Legal and social status of threptoi and related categories in narrative and documentary sources

Ritual performances of divine justice: the epigraphy of confession, atonement, and exaltation in Roman Asia Minor

Continuity of Nabataean law in the Petra papyri: a methodological exercise

The Epigraphic Language of Religion

'Languages' and religion in second-fourth century Palestine. In search of the impact of Rome

The epigraphic habit and the Jewish diasporas of Asia Minor and Syria

Religion and language in Dura-Europos

Linguistic Metamorphoses and Continuity of Cultures

On the margins of culture: the practice of transcription in the ancient world

Edessene Syriac inscriptions in late antique Syria

Samaritan writing and writings

The Jewish magical tradition from late antique Palestine to the Cairo Geniza

Greek into Arabic

The Nabataean connection of the Benei Hezir

Greek inscriptions in transition from the Byzantine to the early Islamic period

Arab kings, Arab tribes and the beginnings of Arab historical memory in late Roman epigraphy

Greek, Coptic, and the 'language of the Hijra': rise and decline of the Coptic language in late antique and medieval Egypt

'What remains behind': Hellenism and Romanitas in Christian Egypt after the Arab conquest Arietta Papaconstantinou

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