The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius Between Rome and Iran

Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. Small quaerto in color illus pale green and yellow jacket; xix, 227 pages: illustrations, maps; 24 cm; bibliographical references (pages 193-217) and index. Text block is very mildly damp-rippled; scholarly pencil marks and small notes throughout; else overall very good thus in near fine jacket. Minor bumping to upper board edge. in near fine dust-jacket. Hardcover. ISBN: 0520216857

Contents: 1. Portraits of a Martyr -- The Passio of SS. Sergius and Bacchus -- History in the Passio: The Emperor -- The Hagiographic Milieu -- Alexander of Hierapolis and the Early Cult of S. Sergius -- Images of S. Sergius -- 2. Martyr Cult on the Frontier: The Case of Mayperqat -- Relics and Defense -- At the World's Center -- The Ecumenical City of Martyrs -- The Iranian Viewpoint -- 3. Rusafa -- The Frontier Zone -- A Place of Convergence -- The Fortress-Shrine -- Pilgrimage to Rusafa -- 4. The Spread of the Sergius Cult in Syria and Mesopotamia -- The Hawran -- West of the Steppe -- Northern Syria and Mesopotamia -- The Iranian Empire -- 5. Frontier Shrine and Frontier Saint -- Justinian, Theodora, and S. Sergius -- Iranian Interest in S. Sergius -- The Ghassanid Confederation -- al-Mundhir -- 6. The Cult of S. Sergius after the Islamic Conquest -- Umayyad Rusafa -- Rusafa after Hisham -- Between East and West -- Between Christianity and Islam. // l Cults. Vroege kerk. Islam. Heiligenverering. Christian saints -- Syria -- Rusafa -- 4th century. Christian antiquities -- Syria -- Rusafa. Named Person: Sargis, Saint, active 4th century -- Cult. Sargis, Saint, active 4th century Sargis, Saint, active 4th century -- Cult -- Syria -- Rusafa. Church history. Rusafa (Extinct city) -- Church history. Syria -- Church history. Iraq -- Church history. Iraq. Syria. Syria -- Rusafa (Extinct city) Rusafa (Extinct city) -- Church history. Rusafa (Extinct city) -- Antiquities.