Overview

In an empire such as Byzantium, where the large urban centres monopolised cultural activity and literary creation, writing texts in praise of local saints offered a noteworthy incentive for literary expression on the periphery. Between the establishment of Christianity on the island in the fourth century and its passing from Byzantine to Frankish rule in the thirteenth, Cyprus saw a significant number of hagiographical texts dedicated to its bishop saints and defending the claims and privileges of its Church. This book offers the first systematic study of this body of texts, inquiring into their literary background and engagement both with contemporary Mediterranean history and with issues specifically affecting Cyprus. It also draws attention to hagiographical texts written in later times as reflecting the enduring interest of Byzantine Christianity in the saints of Cyprus, whose cult had by then acquired a universal appeal.