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

Download Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317076427
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries by : Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

Download or read book Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries written by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

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

Download Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317076419
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries by : Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

Download or read book Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries written by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer

Download T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567664384
Total Pages : 753 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (676 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer by :

Download or read book T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer written by and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays collected in this volume provide a resource for thinking theologically about the practice of Christian prayer. In the first of four parts, the volume begins by reaching back to the biblical foundations of prayer. Then, each of the chapters in the second part investigates a classical Christian doctrine – including God, creation, Christology, pneumatology, providence and eschatology – from the perspective of prayer. The chapters in the third part explore the writings of some of the great theorizers of prayer in the history of the Christian tradition. The final part gathers a set of creative and critical conversations on prayer responding to a variety of contemporary issues. Overall, the T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer articulates a theologically expansive account of prayer – one that is deeply biblical, energetically doctrinal, historically rooted, and relevant to a whole host of critical questions and concerns facing the world today.

Hymns and Hymnody: Historical and Theological Introductions, Volume 1

Download Hymns and Hymnody: Historical and Theological Introductions, Volume 1 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1498299814
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (982 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hymns and Hymnody: Historical and Theological Introductions, Volume 1 by : Mark A. Lamport

Download or read book Hymns and Hymnody: Historical and Theological Introductions, Volume 1 written by Mark A. Lamport and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hymns and the music the church sings are tangible means of expressing worship. And while worship is one of, if not the, central functions of the church along with mission, service, education, justice, and compassion, and occupies a prime focus of our churches, a renewed sense of awareness to our theological presuppositions and cultural cues must be maintained to ensure a proper focus in worship. Hymns and Hymnody: Historical and Theological Introductions is a 60-chapter, three-volume introductory textbook describing the most influential hymnists, liturgists, and musical movements of the church. This academically grounded resource evaluates both the historical and theological perspectives of the major hymnists and composers that have impacted the church over the course of twenty centuries. Volume 1 explores the early church and concludes with the Renaissance era hymnists. Volume 2 begins with the Reformation and extends to the eighteenth-century hymnists and liturgists. Volume 3 engages nineteenth century hymnists to the contemporary movements of the twenty-first century. Each chapter contains these five elements: historical background, theological perspectives communicated in their hymns/compositions, contribution to liturgy and worship, notable hymns, and bibliography. The mission of Hymns and Hymnody is (1) to provide biographical data on influential hymn writers for students and interested laypeople, and (2) to provide a theological analysis of what these composers have communicated in the theology of their hymns. We believe it is vital for those involved in leading the worship of the church to recognize that what they communicate is in fact theology. This latter aspect, we contend, is missing--yet important--in accessible formats for the current literature.

Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium

Download Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004439579
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium by :

Download or read book Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-11-09 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics the authors explore the sacred stories, affective scripts and salvific songs which were the literature of Byzantine liturgical communities and provide a window into lived Christianity in this period.

Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed

Download Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0567682218
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (676 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed by : Ashley Cocksworth

Download or read book Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed written by Ashley Cocksworth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Central to the Christian life is the practice of prayer. But what, theologically speaking, is going on when we pray? What does prayer have to do with religious belief and action? Does prayer make a difference? Prayer: A Guide for the Perplexed addresses these and other key questions regarding the Christian theology of prayer. Beginning with Evagrius of Ponticus's 'On Prayer', Ashley Cocksworth finds in this early document a profound expression of the 'integrity' of the experience of prayer and theological thought. Seeking throughout to integrate systematic theology and the spirituality of prayer, individual chapters explore the meaning of some of the core doctrines of lived Christian faith – the Trinity, creation, providence, and the Christian life – as they relate to the practice of prayer. Complete with an annotated bibliography of sources on prayer to promote further reading, this volume appeals to academics and general readers alike.

The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies

Download The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004537899
Total Pages : 429 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (45 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies by :

Download or read book The Third Lung: New Trajectories in Syriac Studies written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-21 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No one mentions Syriac, – a dialect of the Aramaic language Jesus spoke –, without referring to Sebastian P. Brock, the Oxford scholar and teacher who has written and taught about everything Syriac, even reorienting the field as The Third Lung of early Christianity (along with Greek and Latin). In 2018, Syriac scholars world-wide gathered in Sigtuna, Sweden, to celebrate with Sebastian his accomplishments and share new directions. Through essays showing what Syriac studies have attained, where they are going, as well as some arenas and connections previously not imagined, flavors of the fruits of laboring in the field are offered. Contributors to this volume are: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Shraga Bick, Briouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Alberto Camplani, Thomas A. Carlson, Jeff W. Childers, Muriel Debié, Terry Falla, George A. Kiraz, Sergey Minov, Craig E. Morrison, István Perczel, Anton Pritula, Ilaria Ramelli, Christine Shepardson, Stephen J. Shoemaker, Herman G.B. Teule, Kathleen E. McVey.

The Wandering Holy Man

Download The Wandering Holy Man PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520304144
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (23 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Wandering Holy Man by :

Download or read book The Wandering Holy Man written by and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barsauma was a fifth-century Syrian ascetic, archimandrite, and leader of monks, notorious for his extreme asceticism and violent anti-Jewish campaigns across the Holy Land. Although Barsauma was a powerful and revered figure in the Eastern church, modern scholarship has widely dismissed him as a thug of peripheral interest. Until now, only the most salacious bits of the Life of Barsauma—a fascinating collection of miracles that Barsauma undertook across the Near East—had been translated. This pioneering study includes the first full translation of the Life and a series of studies by scholars employing a range of methods to illuminate the text from different angles and contexts. This is the authoritative source on this influential figure in the history of the church and his life, travels, and relations with other religious groups.

The Library of Paradise

Download The Library of Paradise PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198836244
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Library of Paradise by : David A. Michelson

Download or read book The Library of Paradise written by David A. Michelson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-13 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemplative reading is a spiritual practice developed by Christian monks in sixth- and seventh-century Mesopotamia. Mystics belonging to the Church of the East pursued a form of contemplation which moved from reading, to meditation, to prayer, to the ecstasy of divine vision. The Library of Paradise tells the story of this Syriac tradition in three phases: its establishment as an ascetic practice, the articulation of its theology, and its maturation and spread. The sixth-century monastic reform of Abraham of Kashkar codified the essential place of reading in East Syrian ascetic life. Once established, the practice of contemplative reading received extensive theological commentary. Abraham's successor Babai the Great drew upon the ascetic system of Evagrius of Pontus to explain the relationship of reading to the monk's pursuit of God. Syriac monastic handbooks of the seventh century built on this Evagrian framework. 'Enanisho' of Adiabene composed an anthology called Paradise that would stand for centuries as essential reading matter for Syriac monks. Dadisho' of Qatar wrote a widely copied commentary on the Paradise. Together, these works circulated as a one-volume library which offered readers a door to "Paradise" through contemplation. The Library of Paradise is the first book-length study of East Syrian contemplative reading. It adapts methodological insights from prior scholarship on reading, including studies on Latin lectio divina. By tracing the origins of East Syrian contemplative reading, this study opens the possibility for future investigation into its legacies, including the tradition's long reception history in Sogdian, Arabic, and Ethiopic monastic libraries.

The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Download The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004465979
Total Pages : 657 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam by :

Download or read book The Character of David in Judaism, Christianity and Islam written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most central figures in monotheistic traditions is King David. The volume takes a new, critical look at the process of biblical creation and exegetical transformation of this character in the intertwined words of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Inscribing Texts in Byzantium

Download Inscribing Texts in Byzantium PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 100003223X
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Inscribing Texts in Byzantium by : Marc D. Lauxtermann

Download or read book Inscribing Texts in Byzantium written by Marc D. Lauxtermann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-05 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains uncharted territory. The volume of the Proceedings of the 49th SPBS Spring Symposium aims to promote the field of Byzantine epigraphy as a whole, and topics and subjects covered include: Byzantine attitudes towards the inscribed word, the questions of continuity and transformation, the context and function of epigraphic evidence, the levels of formality and authority, the material aspect of writing, and the verbal, visual and symbolic meaning of inscribed texts. The collection is intended as a valuable scholarly resource presenting and examining a substantial quantity of diverse epigraphic material, and outlining the chronological development of epigraphic habits, and of individual epigraphic genres in Byzantium. The contributors also discuss the methodological questions of collecting, presenting and interpreting the most representative Byzantine inscriptional material, and addressing epigraphic material to make it relevant to a wider scholarly community.

The Making of Syriac Jerusalem

Download The Making of Syriac Jerusalem PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000877469
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (8 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Making of Syriac Jerusalem by : Catalin-Stefan Popa

Download or read book The Making of Syriac Jerusalem written by Catalin-Stefan Popa and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses hagiographic, historiographical, hymnological, and theological sources that contributed to the formation of the sacred picture of the physical as well as metaphysical Jerusalem in the literature of two Eastern Christian denominations, East and West Syrians. Popa analyses the question of Syrian beliefs about the Holy City, their interaction with holy places, and how they travelled in the Holy Land. He also explores how they imagined and reflected the theology of this itinerary through literature in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, set alongside a well-defined local tradition that was at times at odds with Jerusalem. Even though the image of Jerusalem as a land of sacred spaces is unanimously accepted in the history of Christianity, there were also various competing positions and attitudes. This often promoted the attempt at mitigating and replacing Jerusalem’s sacred centrality to the Christian experience with local sacred heritage, which is also explored in this study. Popa argues that despite this rhetoric of artificial boundaries, the general picture epitomises a fluid and animated intersection of Syriac Christians with the Holy City especially in the medieval era and the subsequent period, through a standardised process of pilgrimage, well-integrated in the custom of advanced Christian life and monastic canon. The Making of Syriac Jerusalem is suitable for students and scholars working on the history, literature, and theology of Syriac Christianity in the late antique and medieval periods.

Unfinished Christians

Download Unfinished Christians PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 1512823961
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (128 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unfinished Christians by : Georgia Frank

Download or read book Unfinished Christians written by Georgia Frank and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What can we know about the everyday experiences of Christians during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries? How did non-elite men and women, enslaved, freed, and free persons, who did not renounce sex or choose voluntary poverty become Christian? They neither led a religious community nor did they live in entirely Christian settings. In this period, an age marked by "extraordinary" Christians--wonderworking saints, household ascetics, hermits, monks, nuns, pious aristocrats, pilgrims, and bishops--ordinary Christians went about their daily lives, in various occupations, raising families, sharing households, kitchens, and baths in religiously diverse cities. Occasionally they attended church liturgies, sought out local healers, and visited martyrs' shrines. Barely and rarely mentioned in ancient texts, common Christians remain nameless and undifferentiated. Unfinished Christians explores the sensory and affective dimensions of ordinary Christians who assembled for rituals. With precious few first-person accounts by common Christians, it relies on written sources not typically associated with lived religion: sermons, liturgical instruction books, and festal hymns. All three genres of writing are composed by clergy for use in ritual settings. Yet they may also provide glimpses of everyday Christians' lives and experiences. This book investigates the habits, objects, behaviors, and movements of ordinary Christians by mining festal preaching by John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, and Romanos the Melodist, among others. It also mines liturgical instructions to explore the psalms and other songs performed on various feast days. "Unfinished," then, connotes the creativity and agency of unremarkable Christians who engaged in making religious experiences: the "Christian-in-progress" who learns to work with material and bring something into being; the artisans who attended sermons; and, more widely, the bearers of embodied knowing.

Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem

Download Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198812035
Total Pages : 457 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (988 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem by : Daniel Galadza

Download or read book Liturgy and Byzantinization in Jerusalem written by Daniel Galadza and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the way Christians in Jerusalem prayed and how their prayer changed in the face of foreign invasions and the destruction of their places of worship.

Archaeology and Urban Settlement in Late Roman and Byzantine Anatolia

Download Archaeology and Urban Settlement in Late Roman and Byzantine Anatolia PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316998002
Total Pages : 409 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (169 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Archaeology and Urban Settlement in Late Roman and Byzantine Anatolia by : John Haldon

Download or read book Archaeology and Urban Settlement in Late Roman and Byzantine Anatolia written by John Haldon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-22 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The site of medieval Euchaïta, on the northern edge of the central Anatolian plateau, was the centre of the cult of St Theodore Tiro ('the Recruit'). Unlike most excavated or surveyed urban centres of the Byzantine period, Euchaïta was never a major metropolis, cultural centre or extensive urban site, although it had a military function from the seventh to ninth centuries. Its significance lies precisely in the fact that as a small provincial town, something of a backwater, it was probably more typical of the 'average' provincial Anatolian urban settlement, yet almost nothing is known about such sites. This volume represents the results of a collaborative project that integrates archaeological survey work with other disciplines in a unified approach to the region both to enhance understanding of the history of Byzantine provincial society and to illustrate the application of innovative approaches to field survey.

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature

Download The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199351775
Total Pages : 816 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature by : Stratis Papaioannou

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature written by Stratis Papaioannou and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-05-18 with total page 816 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what "literature" was in Byzantium. This volume is structured in four sections. The first, "Materials, Norms, Codes," presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, "Forms," deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and "text"; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section ("Agents") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled "Translation, Transmission, Edition," surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.

An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land

Download An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Edizioni Terra Santa
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (547 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land by : Leah Di Segni

Download or read book An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land written by Leah Di Segni and published by Edizioni Terra Santa. This book was released on 2022-08-12T00:00:00+02:00 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.