THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITYthe later writers John Moschus, Sophronius, Maximus Confessor and Anasta-
sius of Sinai, all writing in Greek, were monks in the region.
This Greek intellectual culture continued after the transition to Islamic
rule, with the production of chronicles, saints’ lives, apologetic works and
many more; John of Damascus himself wrote in this tradition in the eighth
century and the same period saw the creation of a great tradition of Greek
hymnography. Much of this output presupposes the availability of a high level
of traditional education, even if some of these writers also at times exploited
the old but useful trope of the opposition of classical, i.e. pagan, culture to
Christianity. Given such a context, including of course the role of Greek as
the language of offi cial and legal dealings, it is not surprising that it should
have continued to be the language of government and bureaucracy under the
Figure 8.3 The large refectory of the monastery of Martyrius in the Judaean desert near Jeru-
salem. The monastery was built in the late fifth century but the refectory dates from a century
later. The modern building belongs to the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim.