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Dumbarton Oaks Other Titles in Byzantine Studies
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century
Volume 1, Part 2, Ecclesiastical History
Irfan Shahîd

Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, volume 1, part 2, Ecclesiastical History provides a chronologically ordered account of the involvement of the Ghassānids in ecclesiastical affairs in the eastern region of the Byzantine Empire. Tracing the role of Arab tribes both inside and outside the Roman limes, Irfan Shahîd documents how the Ghassānids in particular came to establish and develop a distinct non-Chalcedonian church hierarchy, all the while remaining allies of the Chalcedonian emperors. Ghassānid phylarchs such as Munḏir emerge not merely as loyal foederati but as devout Christians. Shahîd extensively and critically analyzes the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources, including many obscure or unfamiliar texts, to illuminate the religious landscape of the Arabs of the sixth century.