The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia
Ramadan, A. (2023). The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia. EKB Journal Management System, 2(1), 347-366. doi: 10.21608/iwnw.2023.326152
Abdelaziz M Ramadan. "The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia". EKB Journal Management System, 2, 1, 2023, 347-366. doi: 10.21608/iwnw.2023.326152
Ramadan, A. (2023). 'The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia', EKB Journal Management System, 2(1), pp. 347-366. doi: 10.21608/iwnw.2023.326152
Ramadan, A. The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia. EKB Journal Management System, 2023; 2(1): 347-366. doi: 10.21608/iwnw.2023.326152

The Captive and the Hostage as Missionaries in Late Roman Tradition The Case of Pre-Islamic South Arabia

IWNW
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2023, Page 347-366  XML PDF (722.56 K)
Document Type: Original Article
DOI: 10.21608/iwnw.2023.326152
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Author
Abdelaziz M Ramadan email orcid
Department of History and Archeology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Late Roman sources from the fourth century onward, provide us with scattered information on the features of a pattern of early missionaries to which modern scholars have paid little attention. It is what might be called “captive and hostage missionaries.” This pattern is repeated strikingly in source accounts relating to the circumstances of the emergence of Christianity in southern Arabia. Some of these accounts attributed the conversion of its people to captive and hostage missionaries, whether male or female. What is even more surprising is that these accounts seem to have an echo in the relevant Arabic tradition. This research aims to gather the scattered texts available about this pattern and attempt to reconstruct them in a context from which the historical connotations surrounding it can be deduced. It focuses on two main cases: the hostage Theophilus and the captive Theognosta, but it also does not neglect other cases about which brief references are available, such as cases of the captives Phimion, Frumentius, and others.
 تزودنا المصادر الرومانية المتأخرة، منذ القرن الرابع فصاعدًا، بإشارات متفرقة عن سمات نمط مبكر من المبشرين لم يعره الباحثون الحديثون إهتمامًا كبيرًا؛ وهو النمط الذي يمكن تسميته بـ "المبشر الأسير أو الرهينة". ويتكرر هذا النمط بشكل لافت للنظر في الروايات المصدرية المتعلقة بظروف دخول المسيحية إلى جنوب شبه الجزيرة العربية؛ حيث نسبت بعض هذه الروايات دخول المسيحية إلى مبشرين أسرى أو رهائن، سواء كانوا ذكورا أو إناثا. والأمر الأكثر إثارة للدهشة هو أن لهذا النمط، فيما يبدو، صدى في الروايات العربية ذات العلاقة. ومن هنا؛ يهدف هذا البحث إلى جمع النصوص المتفرقة المتاحة عن هذا النمط، ومحاولة إعادة بنائها في سياق يمكن من خلاله استنباط الدلالات التاريخية المحيطة به. ويركز البحث على حالتين رئيسيتين: الرهينة ثيوفيلوس والأسيرة ثيوجنوستا، وإن لم يغفل أيضًا حالات أخرى تتوفر عنها إشارات مصدرية موجزة، مثل حالة الأسيرين فيميون وفرومنتيوس وغيرهما.
Keywords
Captive – Hostage - South Arabia – Missionary – Theophilus – Theogonsta - Phimion. المبشر; الأسير; الرهينة; جنوب الجزيرة العربية; ثيوفيلوس; ثيوجونستا; فيميون
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