Religious Culture in Late Antique Arabia

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This volume explores aspects of religious culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula across Late Antiquity - the period of dynamic and historically crucial developments, culminating in the emergence of Islam. The volume adopts a comprehensive approach to the study of religious history and culture. Transcending the boundaries of specific theological systems and ritual practices, it approaches the Late Antique religious mind as formed by shared world-views and cultural concepts, as well as social attitudes and political practices in the Late Antique Near East. In particular, the volume brings together selected studies on the ritual and theological aspects of Late Antique Arabia and on religious aspects of early and classical Arabic poetry. Furthermore, it also includes contributions on religious conversions and their impact on the settlement and other processes within the social history of the Arabs in the Roman and Sasanian Empires, and the early Caliphate. Lastly, two articles are dedicated to the religious history of South Arabia. While it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive examination of the topic in a single volume, it is the main aim of this book to further stimulate scholarly research on the Late Antique context of the origins of Islam and the history of early Arab-Muslim culture.