基督教时代的拜占庭巴勒斯坦（指地中海与约旦河之间的这一地区，以及外约旦、纳巴泰和前阿拉伯行省的若干相邻地区），以沿海首府和大都会城市凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦为中心，是古代晚期文化繁荣、大幅扩张与空前富庶的非凡时期。新的地区被开垦耕种，城市建设日益兴盛，大巴勒斯坦的各城市，包括加沙、尼亚波利斯（今纳布卢斯）、耶路撒冷、斯基托波利斯（今贝桑）

The Christian era of Byzantine Palestine (which refers to this geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River and various adjoining lands in Transjordan, Nabataea and former Provincia Arabia), with its coastal capital and metropolitan city of Caesarea-Palaestina, was an extraordinary time of cultural flourishing and of great expansion and prosperity in Late Antiquity. New areas were brought under cultivation, urban development increased and the cities of greater Palestine including Gaza, Neapolis (modern Nablus), Jerusalem, Scythopolis (modern Beisan)

……Caesarea Maritima 的人口大幅增长，大巴勒斯坦地区多元的人口可能达到了150万之多。[8] 此外，修道院遍布全国。事实上，基督教在埃及以外最早的修道院，是在拜占庭时期建于巴勒斯坦的，其中最著名的是圣希拉里翁修道院，它是巴勒斯坦最古老的基督教遗迹之一，如今位于加沙地带。[9] 大巴勒斯坦的核心地区是第一巴勒斯坦省（Palaestina Prima）。Caesarea Maritima 既是第一巴勒斯坦省的行政首府，也是整个大巴勒斯坦的行政首府。该地区的人口由讲希腊语和阿拉姆语的居民构成，此外还有少数撒玛利亚人、阿拉伯基督徒，以及加萨尼人。加萨尼人是基督一性论派（Monophysites）中的主要群体，他们信奉耶稣的单一本性教义；还有合性论派（Miaphysite）10

and Caesarea Maritima grew considerably in population and the diverse population of greater Palestine may have reached as many as one and a half million.8 Also, monasteries proliferated throughout the country. In fact, the earliest monasteries in Christianity outside of Egypt were built in Palestine during the Byzantine era, notably that of the St Hilarion Monastery, one of Palestine’s oldest Christian monuments, today located in the Gaza Strip.9 At the heart of greater Palestine was the province of Palaestina Prima. Caesarea Maritima was the administrative capital of both Palaestina Prima and greater Palestine. The country consisted of a mixed Greek and Aramaic-speaking population, minorities of Samaritans, Christian Arabs, the Ghassanids, who were the dominant group among the Monophysites and who believed in the single-nature doctrine of Jesus, and Miaphysite10

阿拉伯人（见下文）、犹太人和纳巴泰阿拉伯人也在其中。

Arabs (see also below), Jews and Nabataean Arabs were present as well.

在整个6世纪直至638年阿拉伯穆斯林征服之前

Throughout the 6th century and until the Arab Muslim conquest of 638

公元六世纪，加萨尼德阿拉伯人实际上统治着第二巴勒斯坦（包括加利利的部分地区）和第三巴勒斯坦（包括纳盖布/内盖夫地区），并与拜占庭士兵一道，守卫和保护了巴勒斯坦的圣地（Shahid 2009，第二卷第二部分：63‒64）。

AD, the Ghassanid Arabs practically ruled Palaestina Secunda (which included parts of the Galilee) and Palaestina Tertia (which included the Naqab/Negev) and, together with Byzantine soldiers, defended and protected the holy sites in Palestine (Shahid 2009, Vol. II, part II: 63‒64).

卢浮宫博物馆在巴黎展出一件杰作——一只青铜碗，制作于公元4世纪，用以纪念凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦城的建立。该城曾是繁荣的地中海港口，后来成为巴勒斯坦首都城市（Palaestina Prima）的大都会，其港口可与雅典的比雷埃夫斯港相媲美（Barnes 1981: 81）。凯撒利亚的城市社会空间尤其引人关注。到3世纪时，凯撒利亚虽然官方上仍信奉异教，但已发展成为一座文化与社会多元的国际大都市，也是罗马时期巴勒斯坦规模最大、最为发达的城市；该城人口多达10万，来自多种族和多种宗教背景（Barnes 1981: 82）。凯撒利亚滨海城（Caesarea Maritima）还是教会奠基教父以及著名基督教知识分子、传教士和殉道者的故乡。在罗马人统治时期，尤其是在拜占庭统治时期，凯撒利亚不仅成为大巴勒斯坦地区最有势力的城市，也是该国以希腊语为主的大都会文化精英的聚居之地。作为东地中海地区重要的学术与研究中心，它孕育了杰出的学者和神学家，以及晚期古代最优秀的一些历史学家和哲学家。这一大都会文化精英群体包括凯撒利亚的优西比乌（Eusebius of Caesarea Maritima）和凯撒利亚的普罗科皮奥斯（Prokopios of Caesarea Maritima，约500年–约554年）。

The Louvre Museum in Paris exhibits a masterpiece bronze bowl created in the 4th century AD to commemorate the founding of Caesarea-Palaestina.11 A flourishing Mediterranean seaport and later the metropolitan city of Palaestina Prima, the city’s harbour rivalled the Piraeus of Athens (Barnes 1981: 81). The urban social space of Caesarea is of particular interest. By the 3rd century Caesarea, officially still pagan, had become a cosmopolitan, culturally and socially diverse metropolis, and the largest and most developed city in Roman Palestine; the city contained as many as 100,000 inhabitants of many ethnic and religious backgrounds (Barnes 1981: 82). Caesarea Maritima12 also became the home of the Founding Fathers of the Church and of prominent Christian intellectuals, missionaries and martyrs. Under the Romans, and more visibly under the Byzantines, Caesarea became not only the most powerful city in greater Palestine but also home to the metropolitan, predominantly Greekspeaking, cultural elite of the country. As a major centre of learning and scholarship in the Eastern Mediterranean, it became home to outstanding scholars and theologians and some of the best historians and philosophers of Late Antiquity. This metropolitan cultural elite included Eusebius of Caesarea Maritima and Prokopios of Caesarea Maritima (c. 500–c. 554

…AD），属于巴勒斯坦第一行省（Palaestina Prima）。该城在多年间也是教父奥利金（185–254 AD）的居所，以及若干杰出的巴勒斯坦基督教神学家的驻地，他们同样致力于基于巴勒斯坦独特地位，塑造一种独特的巴勒斯坦基督教身份认同。著名历史学家凯撒利亚的普罗科皮奥斯（Prokopios of Caesarea）出生于巴勒斯坦，他在公元560年曾就另一位巴勒斯坦同乡写下如下文字：

AD), in Palaestina Prima. The city also became for many years the home of the Church Father Origen (185–254 AD) and several leading Palestinian Christian theologians who also sought to forge a distinct Palestinian Christian identity based on the unique position of Palestine. Prominent historian Prokopios of Caesarea, a native of Palaestina, had this to write in 560 AD about another compatriot Palestinian:

耶稣，即神之子，以肉身行走于巴勒斯坦之人中间，他从未犯过任何罪，这一事实，以及他所行的那些甚至不可能之事，都明白地表明，他确实是神之子。他叫死人复活，仿佛将他们从睡眠中唤醒；他开启了生来就瞎眼之人的眼睛；他洁净了全身长满麻风的人；他释放了双脚残废之人；此外，他还治好了医生们称为不治之症的其他一切疾病。（Prokopios 2005）

Jesus, the Son of God, was in the body and moving among the men of Palestine, showing manifestly by the fact that he never sinned at all, and also by his performing even things impossible, that he was the Son of God in very truth; for he called the dead and raised them up as if from sleep, and opened the eyes of men who had been born blind, and cleansed those whose whole bodies were covered with leprosy, and released those whose feet were maimed, and he cured all the other diseases which are called by the physicians incurable. (Prokopios 2005)

但是，凯撒利亚·马里提马最伟大的神学家是奥利金。奥利金出生于亚历山大城，后来被召往阿拉伯行省，为该地区的总督讲授教导。之后，由于亚历山大城发生了一场大骚乱，他离开埃及，前往凯撒利亚·马里提马。

But the greatest theologian of Caesarea Maritima was Origen. Born in Alexandria, Origen was later summoned to Provincia Arabia, to give instruction to the governor of that region. Afterward, on account of a great tumult in Alexandria, he left Egypt and went to Caesarea Maritima.

圣哲罗姆说，俄利根前往希腊的亚该亚，是因为困扰当地教会的异端。他的原话是：“Et propter ecclesias Achaiæ, quæ pluribus hæresibus vexabantur, sub testimonio ecclesiasticæ epistolæ Athenas per Palæstinam pergeret”（为了亚该亚的教会，那里的教会饱受多种异端之扰，他在教会书信的见证下，经巴勒斯坦前往雅典）。他在前往希腊途中经过巴勒斯坦，也正是在这一时期，他被巴勒斯坦的主教按立为长老。

St Jerome says that Origen went to Achaia in Greece on account of heresies which were worrying the churches there. His words are: ‘Et propter ecclesias Achaiæ, quæ pluribus hæresibus vexabantur, sub testimonio ecclesiasticæ epistolæ Athenas per Palæstinam pergeret’ (And for the churches of Achaia, with which many heresies grew throughout Palestine under the ecclesiastical head). He passed through Palestine on his way to Greece, and it was at this time that he was ordained a presbyter by Palestinian bishops.

作为一位热衷收藏书籍的学者,奥利金帮助创建了凯撒利亚图书馆,并为凯撒利亚滨海城(Caesarea Maritima)带来了一些亚历山大和安提阿等大城市所具有的世界性魅力与知识活力。公元232年,凯撒利亚成为他的固定居所。他也成为一个讲希腊语、已巴勒斯坦化的文化精英群体迅速崛起的推动者,这一精英群体使凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦成为古典古代最重要的城市之一。已巴勒斯坦化的奥利金成为一位多产的基督教作家、历史哲学家,以及讲道文体的奠基人。他在凯撒利亚创办了一所基督教学院,其中包括凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦图书馆,这是一座拥有30,000……的教会与历史图书馆。000

An avid collector of books, Origen helped create the Library of Caesarea and provided Caesarea Maritima with some of the cosmopolitan charisma and intellectual vigour of large cities such as Alexandria and Antioch. Caesarea became his fixed abode in 232 AD. He also became a catalyst for the phenomenal rise of a Palestinised Greek-speaking cultural elite – an elite which made Caesarea-Palaestina one of the most important cities of classical Antiquity. Palestinised Origen became a prolific Christian author, a philosopher of history and the Father of the Homily. He founded a Christian academy in Caesarea, which included the Library of Caesarea-Palaestina, an ecclesiastical and historical library of 30,000

manuscripts（Carriker 2003；Murphy-O’Connor 2008：241），仅次于亚历山大图书馆全盛时期的藏书。奥利金还以撰写基督教新柏拉图主义的奠基性著作而闻名，其中最著名的是《论first principles》（1966）…… 原文作 On First Principles，书名按原样保留为英文，对应的标准中文译名为《论首要原理》。修正后的译文如下： manuscripts（Carriker 2003；Murphy-O’Connor 2008：241），仅次于亚历山大图书馆全盛时期的藏书。奥利金还以撰写基督教新柏拉图主义的奠基性著作而闻名，其中最著名的是《论首要原理》（On First Principles，1966），这部作品对基督教思想和现代文艺复兴人文主义产生了巨大影响。奥利金在凯撒利亚居住期间，撰写了《六经合璧》（Hexapla，意为“六重的”）13以及其他注经和神学著作。

manuscripts (Carriker 2003; Murphy-O’Connor 2008: 241) and second only to the Library of Alexandria in its heyday. Origen also became known for composing seminal works on Christian Neo-Platonism, including his famous treatise On First Principles (1966), a work which had a huge influence on Christian thought and modern Renaissance humanism. Origen wrote Hexapla (‘sixfold’)13 and other exegetical and theological works while living in Caesarea.

Caesarea-Palaestina 是拜占庭时期巴勒斯坦发掘最为广泛的地区之一（Avni 2014: 42）。公元3至6世纪的巴勒斯坦以该撒利亚为中心，它是全国最大的大都市：

Caesarea-Palaestina has been one of most extensively excavated areas of Byzantine Palestine (Avni 2014: 42). Palestine of the 3rd‒6th centuries AD centred on Caesarea, the largest metropolitan city in the whole country:

在六世纪，这座城市进一步扩展，越过城墙，形成了城外的街区，其中有壮观的宅邸。凯撒利亚的城市界限之外，还扩展出一片广阔而富庶的农业腹地。这种城市扩张反映了城市人口的持续增长，使凯撒利亚成为巴勒斯坦最大的城市。

In the sixth century the city expanded further, beyond its walls, creating extramural quarters with spectacular residences. A large and wealthy agricultural hinterland expanded beyond the urban limits of Caesarea. This urban expansion reflects the constant growth of the urban population, which made Caesarea the largest city in Palestine.

（Avni 2014: 42）

(Avni 2014: 42)

早在公元3世纪，巴勒斯坦行省（Provincia Palaestina）就以其富庶、受教育程度普遍较高且高度发达的地中海沿岸首府凯撒利亚·马里提马（Caesarea Maritima）为中心。在受过教育的城市精英的著述中，巴勒斯坦也被视为一个独立的国家。奥利金（Origen）从首府凯撒利亚·马里提马出发，与罗马皇帝腓力（Marcus Julius Philippus，又名Marcus Iulius Philippus Augustus，在位时间为公元244年至249年），即其拉丁绰号“阿拉伯人腓力”（Philippus Arabs）的那位皇帝，保持着通信往来。

Already in the 3rd century AD Provincia Palaestina was centred on its wealthy, largely well-educated and highly developed Mediterranean capital city, Caesarea Maritima. Palaestina was also treated as a distinct country in the writings of its educated urban elites. From the capital Caesarea Maritima, Origen corresponded with the Roman Emperor Philip (Marcus Julius Philippus, or Marcus Iulius Philippus Augustus, who reigned from 244 to 249 AD), also known by his Latin nickname ‘Philippus Arabs’.

他出生于阿拉伯行省的北部,即罗马的阿拉伯佩特拉行省。该地区的赫拉兰(Hauran)居民成分复杂,阿拉伯人众多,后来此地成为第二巴勒斯坦行省的一部分,实际上由加萨尼基督教附庸阿拉伯国王统治,名义上受拜占庭控制。"阿拉伯人腓力"本人后来成为罗马帝国的重要人物(Bowersock 1994: 122)。在早期基督教历史学家中,"阿拉伯人腓力"以同情基督教信仰著称。一些后来的基督教传统声称腓力是第一位基督教罗马皇帝,这一说法最早由来自凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦的优西比乌在其《教会史》中提出(Eusebius 2011: VI.xxxiv)。然而,批评者认为,"阿拉伯人腓力"之所以在教会史学家笔下评价良好,是因为他的宗教宽容以及对基督徒总体上的同情态度(Shahid 1984: 76‒77)。

He was born in the northern part of Provincia Arabia, the Roman Arabia Petraea. Inhabited by a mixed population and many Arabs, this region of the Hauran would later become part of Palaestina Secunda and would be in effect ruled by Ghassanid Christian client Arab kings under nominal Byzantine control. ‘Philip the Arab’ himself went on to become a major figure in the Roman Empire (Bowersock 1994: 122). Among early Christian historians ‘Philip the Arab’ had the reputation of being sympathetic to the Christian faith. Some later Christian traditions, first mentioned by Eusebius, who was from Caesarea-Palaestina, in his Ecclesiastical History, claimed that Philip was the first Christian Roman Emperor (Eusebius 2011: VI.xxxiv). Critics, however, argue that ‘Philip the Arab’ fared well with ecclesiastical historians because of his religious tolerance and overall sympathetic attitude towards Christians (Shahid 1984: 76‒77).

奥利金去世后,巴勒斯坦的奥利金主义继续在近东各地传播,直至6世纪中叶对奥利金主义的普遍谴责与迫害;而凯撒利亚的神学图书馆则由凯撒利亚的圣帕姆菲卢斯(3世纪下半叶至309年)管理并扩充。帕姆菲卢斯是他那一代圣经学者中的翘楚,也是教会史家、凯撒利亚主教优西比乌(263–339年)的挚友与老师。优西比乌(被称为"教会史之父")本人就出生于凯撒利亚,成年后大部分时间都生活在该城。帕姆菲卢斯毕生致力于搜寻并购求古代典籍充实图书馆,使其成为古代最著名、藏书最丰富的图书馆之一。它吸引了来自罗马帝国各地的教会史家和神学家,其中包括大巴西尔(329–379年)、4世纪君士坦丁堡大主教纳西盎的格列高利,以及圣杰罗姆(约347–420年)。

After Origen’s death, Palestinian Origenism continued to spread throughout the Near East – until the general condemnation and persecution of Origenism in the mid-6th century – and the theological Library of Caesarea was managed and expanded by St Pamphilus of Caesarea (latter half of the 3rd century–309), who was chief among biblical scholars of his generation and a friend and teacher of the church historian, and Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius (263–339 AD). Eusebius (the ‘Father of Church History’) was himself born in Caesarea and lived most of his adult life in the city. Pamphilus devoted his life to searching out and obtaining ancient texts for the library, which became one of the most famous and richest in Antiquity. It attracted church historians and theologians from all over the Roman Empire: St Basil the Great (329–379), Gregory of Nazianzus, a 4th century Archbishop of Constantinople and St Jerome (c. 347–420

……（公元）。后者是一位"教父"，以将《圣经》译成拉丁文而最为人所知。所有这些著名学者都曾到该撒利亚-巴勒斯坦求学。此外，如今学者普遍认为，该撒利亚抄本类型是阅读四福音书最早的类型之一（Streeter 1926）。

AD). The latter was a ‘Father of the Church’ who is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin. All these famous scholars came to study in Caesarea-Palaestina. Moreover, today the Caesarea text-type is widely recognised by scholars as one of the earliest types for reading the four Gospels (Streeter 1926).

虽然基督教在该国历史和人民中持续发挥着关键作用——并非总是积极的，如上文所述，仅有奥利金及其知识追随者遭受迫害的一例——但正是这一大规模传播的时期，对巴勒斯坦的新宗教而言最为重要。它催生了许多标志性的文化文本和器物，并使巴勒斯坦在当时可能成为世界上最为人所知的国家：众多的描述、器物、文学、宗教和历史著作，使其在基督教内外家喻户晓。关于该国的一些标志性文本出自“教会史之父”凯撒利亚的优西比乌之手，他以自己的故乡巴勒斯坦（Palaestina）为荣；他在著作中反复使用“Palaestina”这一名称，此后影响了世界各地的几代基督教作家。优西比乌的《巴勒斯坦殉道者记》（De Martyribus Palaestina）14（1861年）清楚地表明，在早期拜占庭时期，“巴勒斯坦”作为一个国家的概念得到了巩固。《巴勒斯坦殉道者记》讲述的是公元4世纪初，该国首府凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦乃至全国各地对早期基督徒的迫害。这一记述最初可能是用巴勒斯坦阿拉姆语写成的，那是拿撒勒人耶稣所使用的语言。在耶稣时代，希伯来语在很大程度上已成为一种死语，巴勒斯坦的犹太人说阿拉姆语，希伯来语仅限于礼仪用途。巴勒斯坦阿拉姆语与阿拉伯语关系密切，优西比乌对其十分熟悉。当时，阿拉姆语是该国的主要白话口语，在首府凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦通行。阿拉姆语也将影响巴勒斯坦方言阿拉伯语的演变。15

While Christianity continued to play crucial role – not always positive, as cited above only the one case of the persecution of Origen and intellectual followers – in the history of the country and its people, it is this period of its great spread which was the most important for the new religion in Palestine, creating many iconic cultural texts and objects and making Palestine probably the best known country in the world at the time, due to the many descriptions, artefacts, literary, religious and historical works which made it a household name within Christianity and beyond. Some of the iconic texts about the country were produced by the ‘Father of Church History’, Eusebius of Caesarea, who took pride in in his native country of Palaestina; he repeatedly used the name Palaestina in his works, which later influenced generations of Christian writers worldwide. De Martyribus Palaestina14 by Eusebius (1861) gives us a clear indication of the consolidation of the concept of Palaestina as a country during the early Byzantine period. The Martyrs of Palestine relates to the persecution of early Christians in the capital of the country, Caesarea-Palaestina, and the country at large in the early 4th century AD. This account may have originally been composed in Palestinian Aramaic, the language of Jesus of Nazareth. Hebrew at the time of Jesus was largely an extinct language, with the Jews of Palestine speaking Aramaic, and Hebrew being confined to liturgical uses. Closely related to Arabic, Palestinian Aramaic was a language with which Eusebius was well acquainted. At the time, Aramaic was the main vernacular speech of the country and was spoken in the capital, Caesarea-Palaestina.15 Aramaic would also influence the evolution of Palestinian vernacular Arabic.

拜占庭时期的巴勒斯坦还孕育了6世纪世界上最重要的历史学家——凯撒利亚·马里提马的普罗科皮奥斯。他是来自第一巴勒斯坦行省的杰出学者，是6世纪拜占庭帝国及查士丁尼皇帝统治时期的首席历史学家。普罗科皮奥斯曾广泛游历地中海地区和近东，在查士丁尼的战争中以秘书身份随拜占庭将领贝利撒留出征，并对加萨尼部落阿拉伯诸王（最高族长）作了大量记述。

Byzantine Palestine also gave birth to the 6th century world’s most important historian, Prokopios of Caesarea Maritima, an illustrious scholar from Palaestina Prima, the principal historian of the 6th century Byzantine Empire and of the reign of Emperor Justinian. Prokopios travelled extensively throughout the Mediterranean region and the Near East, accompanied the Byzantine general Belisarius as secretary in the wars of Justinian and commented extensively on the Ghassanid tribal Arab kings (top phylarchs)

巴勒斯坦第二行省、巴勒斯坦第一行省和巴勒斯坦萨卢塔里斯行省。普罗科皮乌斯在其多卷本著作《查士丁尼战争史》(约560年)中写道:

of Palaestina Secunda, Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Salutaris. In his multi-volume work, The Wars of Justinian (c. 560), Prokopios wrote:

巴勒斯坦的边界向东延伸至一片被称为红海的海域。这片海从印度开始,在罗马的领地上到此为止。在它的岸边有一座名为埃拉斯(即今天的亚喀巴)的城市,正如我所说,海在此处终结,变成一个非常狭窄的海湾。(Prokopios 2014)

The boundaries of Palestine extend toward the east to the sea which is called the Red Sea. Now this sea, beginning at India, comes to an end at this point in the Roman domain. And there is a city called Aelas [present-day ‘Aqabah] on its shore, where the sea comes to an end, as I have said, and becomes a very narrow gulf. (Prokopios 2014)

普罗科皮奥斯(希腊文:Prokopios ho Kaisareus;拉丁文:Procopius Caesariensis)还指出,波斯萨珊王朝的沙汗沙(诸王之王)科斯罗一世(Khosrow I,501–579年,531至579年在位)极想夺取巴勒斯坦的统治权,原因在于那里土地极其肥沃、财富丰饶,人口众多(转引自Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40;另见Prokopios 2014)。英国史学家爱德华·吉本在评论普罗科皮奥斯关于该地土地肥沃的说法时,在其最重要的著作《罗马帝国衰亡史》中写道(该书于1776至1788年间分八卷出版)。他写道,罗马史家塔西佗曾这样描述巴勒斯坦:“居民健康强壮,雨水适度,土壤肥沃”(Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40)。吉本还补充道:“巴勒斯坦以及耶路撒冷的圣洁财富,是吸引科斯罗一世野心,或者说贪欲的目标”(Gibbon 1840, Vol. 5: 173)。他进一步写道,穆斯林阿拉伯人“也有同样的想法,并且担心欧麦尔前往耶路撒冷时,会被这里土地的肥沃和空气的清新所迷住,从而再也不回麦地那”(Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40)。

Prokopios (Greek: Prokopios ho Kaisareus; Latin: Procopius Caesariensis) added that Chosroes (Khosrow I, 501–579), the Shahanshah (King of Kings) of the Sasanian Empire of Persia from 531 to 579, had a great desire to make himself ruler of Palaestina on account of its extraordinary fertility, its wealth and the great number of its inhabitants (cited in Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40; also Prokopios 2014). Commenting on Prokopios’ observation about the fertility of the country, the English historian Edward Gibbon, in his most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in eight volumes between 1776 and 1788, wrote that the Roman historian Tacitus described Palestine as follows: ‘the inhabitants are healthy and robust; the rains moderate; the soil fertile’ (Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40). Gibbon added: ‘Palestine, and the holy wealth of Jerusalem, were the ... objects that attracted the ambitions, or rather the avarice, of Chosroes [I]’ (Gibbon 1840, Vol. 5: 173). He further added that the Muslim Arabs ‘thought the same, and were afraid that Omar, when he went to Jerusalem, and charmed with the fertility of the soil and purity of the air, would never return to Medina’ (Gibbon 1838, Vol. 1: 40).

在早期基督教时期,尤其是从四世纪起,圣地——一个模糊、抽象且半神话性质的地方——逐渐变成了一个名为巴勒斯坦(Palaestina)的真实国家,拥有繁荣的城市、港口、美丽的教堂和众多修道院、著名的哲学学派与图书馆、庞大的道路网络、村庄,以及一个在商业和文化上都十分活跃的庞大人口,这些也增进了(说拉丁语的)欧洲人的兴趣。正是在这一早期基督教时期,拉丁语术语Terrae Sanctae(圣地)在基督教文献中与基督教朝圣者和当地历史学家广泛使用的Palaestina一词成为同义词。《巴勒斯坦殉道者》(公元311年)

During the early Christian period, particularly from the 4th century onwards, the Holy Land – a nebulous, abstract and semi-mythical location – was transformed into a real country called Palaestina, with thriving cities, ports, beautiful churches and numerous monasteries, famous philosophical schools and libraries, an extensive road system, villages and a large, commercially and culturally active population, which added to the interest shown by (Latin-speaking) Europeans. It was in the course of this early Christian period that the Latin term Terrae Sanctae became synonymous in Christian texts with the extensive use of the term Palaestina by Christian pilgrims and local historians. On the Martyrs of Palestine (311 AD)

由教会史学家、凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦主教优西比乌（公元263–339年）所著，他被尊为"教会史之父"。他撰写了宏大的著作《教会史》，以及《圣经地名考》（On the Place Names in the Holy Scripture）（1971年），这是一部关于巴勒斯坦的全面的地理与历史研究，见于该城的条目中："优西比乌称，他是逐段研读《圣经》来编写《圣经地名考》的"（Barnes 1981: 109）。英国古典学家蒂莫西·戴维·巴恩斯（Timothy David Barnes，1981: 106）将这项重大的圣经工程描述为一部"圣经地名词典，至今仍是圣经时代及罗马帝国统治下巴勒斯坦历史地理的主要文献来源"。

was written by the church historian and Bishop of Caesarea-Palaestina, Eusebius (AD 263–339), ‘Father of Church History’, who composed his monumental work Historia Ecclesiastica and his Onomasticon (On the Place Names in the Holy Scripture) (1971), a comprehensive geographical-historical study of Palestine, in the city: ‘Eusebius states that he compiled On the Place Names in the Holy Scripture by working through the Bible piecemeal’ (Barnes 1981: 109). This major biblical enterprise has been described by British classicist Timothy David Barnes (1981: 106) as a ‘biblical gazetteer which is still the main literary source for the historic geography of Palestine both in biblical times and under the Roman Empire’.

尽管尤西比乌的《地名录》部分基于宗教性构建并经官方认可的圣经地理与宗教记忆,他仍反复使用"巴勒斯坦行省"(Provincia Palaestina)这一名称,并将其用于指代从北方黎巴嫩到南方埃及的整个地区。这种罗马/拜占庭的行政与官方用法,影响了后世的基督教和欧洲作家。尤西比乌出生于该地的凯撒利亚-巴勒斯坦,母语为希腊语,在他的《君士坦丁颂词》中,他自豪地写道,君士坦丁对"我们的巴勒斯坦行省"给予了特别的关注:

Although his Onomasticon was partly based on religiously constructed and officially sanctioned scriptural geography and religious memory, Eusebius uses the name Provincia Palaestina repeatedly and in application to the whole country from Lebanon in the north to Egypt in the south, and this Roman/Byzantine administrative and official use influenced later generations of Christian and European writers. A native of Caesarea-Palaestina, whose language was Greek, Eusebius, in his Oration in Praise of Constantine, writes proudly about the special attention given to ‘our Provencia Palaestina’:

他[君士坦丁皇帝]在帝国东部的两个地方选定了他的教堂建造计划的地点:一处在[“我们的省份”]巴勒斯坦(因为生命之水从那里如泉涌一般流出,为万国带来福祉),另一处在以安条克之名命名的东方大都会。他作为帝国该部分的统治者,在那里为上帝的侍奉奉献了一座规模和美丽都无与伦比的教堂。整座建筑被一道范围广阔的围墙环绕,墙内的教堂本身高耸入云,呈八角形,四周环绕着许多厢房和庭院,并以最为华丽的装饰加以点缀。16

he [Emperor Constantin] has selected two places [for his churchbuilding programme] in the eastern division of the empire, the one in [‘our province’] Palestine (since from thence the life-giving stream has flowed as from a fountain for the blessing of all nations), the other in that metropolis of the East which derives its name from that of Antiochus; in which, as the head of that portion of the empire, he has consecrated to the service of God a church of unparalleled size and beauty. The entire building is encompassed by an enclosure of great extent, within which the church itself rises to a vast elevation, of an octagonal form, surrounded by many chambers and courts on every side, and decorated with ornaments of the richest kind.16