Writing ‘True Stories’

Historians and Hagiographers in the Late Antique and Medieval Near East

Edited by Arietta Papaconstantinou Edited by Muriel Debie Edited by Hugh Kennedy

Book cover: Writing ‘True Stories’

Extent: 230 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Ancient Near East, Medieval Studies

Series: Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Series volume number: 9

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(May 2010)

ISBN: 9782503527864

Price: $89.00

In stock

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.

  • Edited by Arietta Papaconstantinou
  • Edited by Muriel Debie
  • Edited by Hugh Kennedy