Writing 'True Stories': Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East

by Muriel Debie (Editor), Hugh Kennedy (Editor), Arietta Papaconstantinou (Editor)

Overview

The papers in this volume examine the interaction between history and hagiography in the late antique and medieval Middle East, exploring the various ways in which the two genres were used and combined to analyse, interpret, and re-create the past. The contributors focus on the circulation of motifs between the two forms of writing and the modifications and adaptations of the initial story that such reuse entailed. Beyond this purely literary question, the retold stories are shown to have been at the centre of a number of cultural, political, and religious strategies, as they were appropriated by different groups, not least by the nascent Muslim community. Writing 'True Stories' also foregrounds the importance of some Christian hagiographical motifs in Muslim historiography, where they were creatively adapted and subverted to define early Islamic ideals of piety and charisma.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9782503527864
Publisher:	Brepols Publishers
Publication date:	05/04/2010
Series:	Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages , #9
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	6.48(w) x 9.64(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Abbreviations xi

Introduction: Writing True Stories - A View from the West Catherine Cubitt 1

Early Byzantine Historiography and Hagiography as Different Modes of Christian Practice Derek Krueger 13

Creating Local History: Coptic Encomia Celebrating Past Events Gesa Schenke 21

A Saint and his Biographer in Late Antique Iraq: The History of St George of Izla († 614) by Babai the Great Joel Walker 31

Writing History as 'Histoires': The Biographical Dimension of East Syriac Historiography Muriel Debié 43

Converting the Caliph: A Legendary Motif in Christian Hagiography and Historiography of the Early Islamic Period Andeé Binggeli 77

'He was tall and slender, and his virtues were numerous': Byzantine Hagiographical Topoi and the Companions of Muhammad in al-Azdi's Futuh al-Sham Nancy Khalek 105

'Become infidels or we will throw you into the fire': The Martyrs of Najran in Early Muslim Historiography, Hagiography, and Qur'anic Exegesis Thomas Sizgorich 125

Ibn al-Azraq, Saint Marutha, and the Foundation of Mayyafariqin (Martyropolis) Harry Munt 149

Christian King, Muslim Apostate: Depictions of Jabala ibn al-Ayham in Early Arabic Sources Julia Bray 175

Variations on an Egyptian Female Martyr Legend: History, Hagiography, and the Gendered Politics of Medieval Arab Religious Identity Stephen J. Davis 205

Sainthood Achieved: Coptic Patriarch Zacharias according to The History of the Patriarchs Mark N. Swanson 219