| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 270 pages ): illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white) |
| Series |
Oxford studies in Byzantium |
|
Oxford studies in Byzantium.
|
| Contents |
List of Figures -- Note on Transliterations and Conventions -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Antioch and Northern Syria in the Sixth Century -- Disasters in Antioch: A City in Decline? -- Society and Culture -- Conclusion -- 2. The Sermons of Symeon Stylites the Younger -- The Early Christian Homily -- Authorship -- Genre -- Style -- Demons and Monks -- Heaven and Hell -- Rich and Poor -- Conclusion -- 3. The Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger -- The Hagiographer's Worldview -- Christology -- Opposition and Crisis -- Conclusion -- 4. The Life of Martha -- Cult Promotion and Apologetic -- A Reorientation of Priorities -- Liturgy and Ritual Practice -- Conclusion -- 5. Hagiography and the Crises of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries -- Saints' Lives and Disasters -- Context for Crisis: Heightened Expectations of Holy Men -- Miracle Collections -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Summary |
Symeon Stylites the Younger and Late Antique Antioch: From Hagiography to History is a study of the authority of the holy man and its limits in times of crisis. Lucy Parker investigates the tensions that emerged when increasingly ambitious claims about the powers of holy men came into conflict with undeniable evidence of their failures, and explores how holy men and their supporters responded to this. The work takes as its central figure Symeon Stylites the Younger (c.521-592), who, from his vantage point on a column on a mountain close to Antioch, witnessed a period of exceptional turbulence in the local area, which, in the sixth century, experienced plague, earthquakes, and Persian invasion. Through an examination of Symeon's own writings, as well as his0hagiographic biography, it reveals that the Stylite was a divisive figure who played upon social tensions and upon culturally sensitive areas such as paganism to carve out a role for himself as prophet and spiritual authority in the face of considerable opposition. It sets Symeon's life and cult in the context of Antioch and eastern Roman society, offering a new perspective on the state of the empire in the period before the rise of Islam. It argues that hagiography is an exceptionally rich source for the historian, offering insights into debates and tensions which reached to the heart of Christianity |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed May 15, 2023) |
| Subject |
Simeon Stylites, Saint, 521-597
|
| SUBJECT |
Simeon Stylites, Saint, 521-597 fast |
| Subject |
Pillar saints.
|
|
Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.
|
|
Church history -- Primitive and early church
|
|
Pillar saints
|
| SUBJECT |
Antioch (Turkey) -- History -- To 1500
|
| Subject |
Turkey -- Antioch
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780192688781 |
|
0192688782 |
|
