The Mirage of the Saracen analyzes the growth of monasticism and Christian settlements in the Sinai Peninsula through the early seventh century CE. It uses a post-colonial lens to examine the ways that Christian monks justified occupying the Sinai through creating associations between Biblical narratives and Sinai sites and assigning uncivilized, negative, and oppositional traits to the indigenous nomadic population, whom the Christians pejoratively called “Saracens.” By writing edifying tales of hostile nomads and the ensuing martyrdom of the monks, not only did the Christians reinforce their ... More

The Mirage of the Saracen analyzes the growth of monasticism and Christian settlements in the Sinai Peninsula through the early seventh century CE. It uses a post-colonial lens to examine the ways that Christian monks justified occupying the Sinai through creating associations between Biblical narratives and Sinai sites and assigning uncivilized, negative, and oppositional traits to the indigenous nomadic population, whom the Christians pejoratively called “Saracens.” By writing edifying tales of hostile nomads and the ensuing martyrdom of the monks, not only did the Christians reinforce their claims to the spiritual benefits of asceticism, they also provoked the Roman authorities to enhance the defense of pilgrimage routes to the Sinai. Included in these defenses was the monastery now known as Saint Catherine’s. When Muslim armies later began conquering the Middle East, Christians also labelled these new conquerors as Saracens, connecting Muslims to these pre-Islamic representations. The main sources used in this work are the Sinai Martyr Narratives – Ammonius’s Relatio and Pseudo-Nilus’s Narrationes, though many other literary sources as well as archaeological and anthropological information is used extensively.