Ethnic Identity whose newly acquired identity was to prove the most significant of all, the
Arabs, Saracens, or Ishmaelites.
One reason for treating religious groupings or communities, as under-
stood by contemporary observers, as if they were indeed by their nature
ethnic or linguistic units, is that this is just how they are portrayed in the
most extensive survey of heresies written in this period, thePanarionof Epi-
phanius.^45 This is an exceptionally difficult work to assess, partly because a
large part of its content is drawn from much earlier writers (for instance, Ire-
naeus and Hippolytus) without any regard for whether the heretical group-
ings represented still existed (or indeed ever really had existed). How far we
can use Epiphanius’ testimony as real evidence for the variety of religious
practice in his period seems to be still quite uncertain. What is significant,
however, for the understanding of contemporary representations is his con-
ception of a vast range of illegitimate and threatening options on the fringes
of Christianity, and above all the fact that he starts from what one might call
a pseudo-ethnic classification of forms of incorrect belief. Heretical sects are
put into five groupings: ‘‘Barbarismos,’’ ‘‘Scythismos,’’ ‘‘Hellenismos,’’ ‘‘Iou-
daismos,’’ and ‘‘Samareitismos’’ (Pan.,pr. , ). He does not pursue this clas-
sification systematically in the course of the work, and indeed hardly could
have. But in what follows he does often represent particular heresies as either
ethnic or local groups. Like other writers to whom we will come later, for
instance, he sees the Saracens as an ethnic group who owed their identity
as ‘‘Ishmaelites’’ to their descent from Hagar and Ishmael (, ; trans. Wil-
liams I, p. ). He can also give quite a detailed account of the Samaritans,
noting their use of the Hebrew Bible, but only of the five books of Moses,
and their rejection of the doctrine of Resurrection, while accusing them of
lapsing into a form of idolatry, based on their devotion to Mount Garizim
(Pan. , , ; trans. Williams I, pp. –). But this section, which would de-
serve further study, is immediately followed by one on the Essenes, which is
written as if they still existed.
Equally problematic is Epiphanius’ representation of a Judaeo-Christian
sect, the ‘‘Nazēraioi,’’ allegedly to be found at a variety of locations in the
Near East: in Beroea in Syria, in the Decapolis near Pella, and at a village
called ‘‘Kēkhabe’’ or ‘‘Chēchabe’’ in Batanea. They were distinguished by
their recognition of Jesus as the Messiah, by their use of the Hebrew Bible,
and by their observance of the Jewish Law, including circumcision and keep-
. I do not pretend to understand how to read this very strange text. For a transla-
tion with helpful introduction, see F. Williams,The Panarion of Epiphanius of SalamisI–II
(–).