The Life of Simeon of the Olives

An entrepreneurial saint of early Islamic North Mesopotamia

By Robert Hoyland, Sebastian P. Brock, Kyle B. Brunner & Jack Tannous

The first ever critical edition and complete translation of the Syriac Life of Saint Simeon of the Olives, who was an abbot of Qartmin Monastery in Tur Abdin and a bishop of the city of Harran in the late seventh and early eighth century AD.

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Publisher: Gorgias Press LLC

Availability: In stock

SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-4346-3

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Publication Status: In Print

Series: Texts from Christian Late Antiquity66

Publication Date: Jul 28,2021

Interior Color: Black

Trim Size: 6 x 9

Page Count: 220

Languages: English

ISBN: 978-1-4632-4346-3

$50.00

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This book presents the first ever critical edition and complete translation of the Syriac Life of Saint Simeon of the Olives, who was an abbot of Qartmin Monastery in Tur Abdin and a bishop of the city of Harran in the late seventh and early eighth century AD. His career coincided with the beginnings of the incorporation of North Mesopotamia into the expanding Muslim Empire, and offers fascinating insights into this process and the role that SImeon himself played in it, particularly his interaction with Muslim authorities in the cities of Nisibis and Harran. The Life is analyzed from historical and literary perspectives, and its material context is explored by recourse to the latest archaeological surveys and excavations in the region where Simeon lived and worked. The book also follows Simeon as he was transformed into a champion of West Syrian Christianity by later members of that community, who portrayed him as engaging in amicable debates with the intellectually curious caliph al-Ma'mun (813-33) and leading Muslim theologians at his court.

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	Contributor	Biography
	RobertHoyland	Robert Hoyland specializes in the history and material culture of the Middle East. He is currently Professor of Late Antique and Early Islamic Middle Eastern History at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, having previously been Professor of Islamic history at the University of Oxford and the University of St. Andrews. His best known publications are Seeing Islam as Others Saw it (1997, 2018), Arabia and the Arabs (2001) and In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire (2014).
	SebastianBrock	Emeritus Reader in Syriac Studies, Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. Author of a number of contributions in the area of Syriac studies (including several books published by Gorgias Press).
	JackTannous	Jack Tannous is an Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University.
	KyleBrunner	Kyle B. Brunner is a PhD Candidate and student of Robert Hoyland at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. His dissertation investigates the socioeconomic history of northern Mesopotamia between the Late Roman/Sasanian and Early Islamic period, ca. 6th-9th centuries.

Acknowledgments ...................................................................... vii
List of Maps ................................................................................. ix
Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................ 1
Robert Hoyland
Chapter 2. The Life of Simeon of the Olives: A Christian
Puzzle from Islamic Syria ................................................... 23
Jack Tannous
Chapter 3. Simeon of the Olives and his World: Life on the
Khabur Basin during the early Islamic period ................... 47
Kyle Brunner
Chapter 4. Edition and Translation ............................................ 79
Edition by Robert Hoyland and Kyle Brunner
Translation by Sebastian Brock
Appendix 1. Simeon at the funeral of Mar Gabriel (RH) ......... 165
Appendix 2. Simeon at the court of al-Ma’mun (RH) .............. 169
Bibliography ............................................................................. 187
Index of Persons and Places ..................................................... 207

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