Download or read book History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East written by Philip Wood and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the importance of the past, both real and imagined, in constructing contemporary culture in the period AD 500-1000. It goes beyond 'history-writing' in a narrow sense to examine philosophy, theology, liturgy and jurisprudence as vehicles for tradition and the imagination of a past 'golden age'. The papers straddle the Roman-Persian frontier and go well into the Islamic period: together, they push the boundaries of late antiquity' into the varied language traditions: not just Greek, but also Syriac, Armenian, Coptic and Arabic.