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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the complex interaction between geography, economy, and religion amongst the sedentary and nomadic populations in the later Roman province of Third Palestine from the fourth to the early seventh centuries C.E. Specifically, it demonstrates that the regions which formed the province of Third Palestine in the fourth century – the Sinai Peninsula, the Negev desert, and southern Jordan – acted as a liminal space, situated between the Mediterranean world and the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea basin. As such, the communities of Third Palestine played an intermediary role between these regions, and the province was inhabited by two different cultural groups, agricultural and nomadic. Extensive trade with the Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula is also demonstrated, as is the evidence of interregional trade within Third Palestine based on evidence from the Nessana Papyri and four types of amphorae (Gaza, Palestinian Bag Jar, Egyptian, and Aila).
The impact of the spread of Christianity throughout the province of Third Palestine is extensively examined. References to pagan practices amongst the sedentary inhabitants virtually disappear by the opening decades of the fifth century, and monasticism flourished throughout the Negev desert, southern Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula. Pilgrims and monks actively worked to connect then-contemporary locations in the Sinai to the Biblical events of the Exodus.
The increased commercial traffic and the growth of monastic communities throughout Third Palestine meant that the nomadic and sedentary inhabitants were drawn closer to conflict According to the Sinai martyr accounts, especially Ammonius's Relatio and pseudo-Nilus's Narrationes , the Sinai monks were threatened by the nomadic inhabitants of Third Palestine, known almost universally as "Saracens." The term "Saracen", which originally indicated a small nomadic tribe of the Sinai, was later applied to all nomadic groups and defined by inhabitants of Third Palestine as a hostile, pagan "other." The reports of "Saracen" hostility led the imperial government in the sixth century to construction a number of fortresses to protect the monks, including the monastery later known as Saint Catherine's.
