Late Roman Provincia Arabia, Monophysite Monks and Arab Tribes: a Problem of Centre and Periphery

This paper continues the exploration of the socio-political situation in the province of Arabia at around the time of the birth of the prophet Muhammad that was initiated by Fergus Millar in the preceding article. However, whereas Fergus Millar approaches this topic from the perspective of the imperial authorities, I am trying to see it through the eyes of the Ghassanid Arab phylarchs and the monks who inhabited this province. I use the letter disavowing tritheism signed by the Monophysite archimandrites of Arabia to examine the geographical distribution of the Monophysite monasteries of this region and the way in which they interacted with the imperial administration and the Ghassanid phylarchate. Conclusions are drawn about the organisation of the Monophysite church in Arabia and its relations with Byzantium’s Arab allies and with the wider Monophysite church in the East.