Walter D. Ward - Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity

Peter Brown, General Editor

I. Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity, by Sabine G. MacCormack

II. Synesius of Cyrene: Philosopher-Bishop, by Jay Alan Bregman

III. Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity, by Kenneth G. Holum

IV. John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century, by Robert L. Wilken

V. Biography in Late Antiquity: The Quest for the Holy Man, by Patricia Cox

VI. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt, by Philip Rousseau

VII. Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, by A. P. Kazhdan and Ann Wharton Epstein

VIII. Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul, by Raymond Van Dam

IX. Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition, by Robert Lamberton

X. Procopius and the Sixth Century, by Averil Cameron

XI. Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity, by Robert A. Kaster

XII. Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180275 , by Kenneth Harl

XIII. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, introduced and translated by Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey

XIV. Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection, by Carole Straw

XV. Apex Omnium: Religion in the Res gestae of Ammianus, by R. L. Rike

XVI. Dioscorus of Aphrodito: His Work and His World, by Leslie S. B. MacCoull

XVII. On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity, by Michele Renee Salzman

XVIII. Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and The Lives of the Eastern Saints, by Susan Ashbrook Harvey

XIX. Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, by Alan Cameron and Jacqueline Long, with a contribution by Lee Sherry

XX. Basil of Caesarea, by Philip Rousseau

XXI. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, introduction, translation, and historical commentary by C. E. V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers

XXII. Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital, by Neil B. McLynn

XXIII. Public Disputation, Power, and Social Order in Late Antiquity, by Richard Lim

XXIV. The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy, by Virginia Burrus

XXV. Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontiuss Life and the Late Antique City, by Derek Krueger

XXVI. The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine, by Sabine MacCormack

XXVII. Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems, by Dennis E. Trout

XXVIII. The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran, by Elizabeth Key Fowden

XXIX. The Private Orations of Themistius, translated, annotated, and introduced by Robert J. Penella

XXX. The Memory of the Eyes: Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity, by Georgia Frank

XXXI. Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity, edited by Tomas Hgg and Philip Rousseau

XXXII. Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium, by Glenn Peers

XXXIII. Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, by Daniel Caner

XXXIV. Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. , by Noel Lenski

XXXV. Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages, by Bonnie Effros

XXXVI. Qus . ayr Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria, by Garth Fowden

XXXVII. Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition, by Claudia Rapp

XXXVIII. Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity, by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

XXXIX. There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire, by Michael Gaddis

XL. The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq, by Joel Thomas Walker

XLI. City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, by Edward J. Watts

XLII. Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination, by Susan Ashbrook Harvey

XLIII. Man and the Word: The Orations of Himerius, edited by Robert J. Penella

XLIV. The Matter of the Gods, by Clifford Ando

XLV. The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran, by Matthew P. Canepa

XLVI. Riot in Alexandria: Tradition and Group Dynamics in Late Antique Pagan and Christian Communities, by Edward J. Watts

XLVII. Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa, by Leslie Dossey

XLVIII. Theodorets People: Social Networks and Religious Conflict in Late Roman Syria, by Adam M. Schor

XLIX. Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome, by Susanna Elm

L. Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt, by Ariel G. Lpez

LI. Doctrine and Power: Theological Controversy and Christian Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, by Carlos R. Galvo-Sobrinho

LII. Crisis of Empire: Doctrine and Dissent at the End of Late Antiquity, by Phil Booth

LIII. The Final Pagan Generation, by Edward J. Watts

LIV. The Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity, by Walter D. Ward

LV. Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches, by Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

The Mirage of the Saracen

Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity

Walter D. Ward

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

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University of California Press

Oakland, California

2015 by The Regents of the University of California

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ward, Walter D.

The mirage of the Saracen : Christians and nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in late antiquity / Walter D. Ward.

p. cm. (Transformation of the Classical Heritage ; LIV)

Christians and nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in late antiquity

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-520-28377-0 (cloth, alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-520-95952-1 (electronic)

1. Monasticism and religious ordersEgypt--Sinai. 2. ChristianityEgyptSinai. 3. NomadsEgyptSinaiHistory. 4. Pilgrims and pilgrimagesEgyptSinai. I. Title. II. Title: Christians and nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in late antiquity.

BX387.W373 2014

939.48dc232014015456

Manufactured in the United States of America

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In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z 39.48-1992 ( R 1997) ( Permanence of Paper ).

To Melissa, Agatha, Nico, and Ansel

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