Barbara Crostini and Christian Høgel, eds. Syrian Stylites: Rereadings and Recastings of Late Ancient Superheroes. Transactions, no. 26. The Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 2024. [Open Access]

From The Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

This volume presents thirteen papers on different aspects of the cult of pillar saints – stylites – and their reception in texts and images. It highlights the ambiguities and disruptive potential of this Syrian hagiographical heritage, an outstanding aspect of Late Antiquity which breaks free of conventional piety and becomes enmeshed with social and political discourses beside the spiritual and religious ones. The two main parts on textual and visual reception – from Theodoret of Cyrrhus to Luis Buñuel – are followed by an anthology of literary and artistic interpretations of stylites, demonstrating how their powerful message has kept fascinating readers and beholders from the Late Ancient to the Modern period.