EBOOK Palestine in Late Antiquity

Hagith Sivan offers an unconventional study of one corner of the Roman Empire in        late antiquity, weaving around the theme of conflict strands of distinct histories,        and of peoples and places, highlighting Palestine's polyethnicity, and cultural,        topographical, architectural, and religious diversity. During the period 300-650 CE        the fortunes of the 'east' and the 'west' were intimately linked. Thousands of        westerners in the guise of pilgrims, pious monks, soldiers, and civiliansflocked to        what became a Christian holy land. This is the era that witnessed the transformation        of Jerusalem from a sleepy Roman town built on the ruins of spectacular Herodian        Jerusalem into an international centre of Christianity and ultimately into a centre        of Islamic worship. It was also a period ofunparalleled prosperity for the frontier        zones, and a time when religious experts were actively engaged in guiding their        communities while contesting each other's rights to the Bible and its        interpretation.