REVIEW of H. Cotton et al., From Hellenism to Islam: Cultural and Linguistic Change in the Roman Near East.

Hannah M. Cotton, Robert G. Hoyland, Jonathan J. Price, David J. Wasserstein (ed.), From Hellenism to Islam: Cultural and Linguistic Change in the Roman Near East.   Cambridge/New York:  Cambridge University Press, 2009.  Pp. xxx, 481.  ISBN 9780521875813.  $125.00.   

Table of Contents:

Fergus Millar: “Introduction: documentary evidence, social realities and the history of language,” 

Part I - THE LANGUAGE OF POWER: LATIN IN THE ROMAN NEAR EAST
1 Werner Eck: The presence, role and significance of Latin in the epigraphy and culture of the Roman Near East,
2 Benjamin Isaac: Latin in cities of the Roman Near East, 

Part II - SOCIAL AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS AS REFLECTED IN THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
3 Seth Schwartz: Euergetism in Josephus and the epigraphic culture of first-century Jerusalem,
4 Marijana Ricl: Legal and social status of threptoi and related categories in narrative and documentary sources,
5 Angelos Chaniotis: Ritual performances of divine justice: the epigraphy of confession, atonement, and exaltation in Roman Asia Minor,
6 Hannah M. Cotton: Continuity of Nabataean law in the Petra papyri: a methodological exercise, 

Part III - THE EPIGRAPHIC LANGUAGE OF RELIGION
7 Nicole Belayche: ‘Languages’ and religion in second- to fourth-century Palestine: in search of the impact of Rome,
8 Walter Ameling: The epigraphic habit and the Jewish diasporas of Asia Minor and Syria,
9 Ted Kaizer: Religion and language in Dura-Europos, 

Part IV - LINGUISTIC METAMORPHOSES AND CONTINUITY OF CULTURES
10 Jonathan J. Price and Shlomo Naeh: On the margins of culture: the practice of transcription in the ancient world,
11 Sebastian Brock: Edessene Syriac inscriptions in late antique Syria,
12 Dan Barag: Samaritan writing and writings,
13 Gideon Bohak: The Jewish magical tradition from late antique Palestine to the Cairo Genizah, 

Part V - GREEK INTO ARABIC
14 Ernst Axel Knauf: The Nabataean connection of the Benei Hezir,
15 Leah Di Segni: Greek inscriptions in transition from the Byzantine to the early Islamic period,
16 Robert G. Hoyland: Arab kings, Arab tribes and the beginnings of Arab historical memory in late Roman epigraphy,
17 Tonio Sebastian Richter: Greek, Coptic and the ‘language of the Hijra’: the rise and decline of the Coptic language in late antique and medieval Egypt,
18 Arietta Papaconstantinou: ‘What remains behind’: Hellenism and Romanitas in Christian Egypt after the Arab conquest,
Index: