Legacy of Demetrius of Alexandria 189-232 CE

Maged S. A. Mikhail is Professor of History at California State University at Fullerton, USA.

"The Legacy of Demetrius is a multi-faceted jewel of historical investigation. Mikhail first gathers together and contextualizes virtually all that we know of Demetrius himself, and then draws out for us the process through which Demetrius the legend evolved. Through this complex investigation new windows are also opened onto the distinctive shape of Christianity in late antique and Islamic Egypt. Rarely does a study so well combine these different style of exploration." - Lewis Ayres, Durham University, UK"Due to [his] innovative approach and a sovereign handling of the sources, Mikhail's book is considered very successful. His deconstruction of hagiographic legends and motifs, coupled with his analysis of various editorial levels, would have to set a new standard for the study of hagiographic texts."- Daniel Vaucher, Universität Bern, Germany, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2017

• Preface Abbreviations Part I: The Genesis and Evolution of a Hagiographic Program 1. The Bishop and the Scholar 2. Sources3. Early Imprints 4. Date and Socio-Literary Setting of the Sahidic Coptic Tradition 5. The Encomium on Demetrius as Hagiography 6. Hagiography across Language and Culture7. Arabic Recensions, Amendments, and Omissions: Emergence of the Normative Hagiography 8. Lent and Epact in Alexandria9. Form, Function, and MeaningPart II: Texts – Demetrius’s Bio-Hagiographic Dossier I. Earliest Evidence II. An Encomium on Demetrius of Alexandria III. Demetrius’s sirah in the History of the Patriarchs’ Primitive RecensionIV. Eutychius’s Nazm al-jawhar (The String of Pearls)V. Kitab al-tawarīkh and the Chronicon orientale VI. The Coptic-Arabic synaksar (Synaxarium)VII. Abu al-Barakat’s Musbah al-zulma (A Lamp in the Darkness)VIII. The Difnar (Antiphonarium)IX. Doxologies and PraisesWorks Cited Index