This volume explores aspects of religious culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula across Late Antiquity - the period of dynamic and historically crucial developments, culminating in the emergence of Islam. While it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive examination of the topic in a single volume, it is the main aim of this book to further stimulate scholarly research on the Late Antique context of the origins of Islam and the history of early Arab-Muslim culture.

In al-Hira. Eine arabische Kulturmetropole im spatantiken Kontext, Isabel Toral-Niehoff draws a vivid portrait of this multicultural Late Antique Arab city located in the frontier zone between Byzantium and Iran and emphasizes its significance for Arab culture and early Islam. In al-Hira. Eine arabische Kulturmetropole im spatantiken Kontext zeichnet Isabel Toral-Niehoff ein lebendiges Portrat dieser spatantiken multikulturellen arabischen Stadt im Grenzraum zwischen Byzanz und Iran und unterstreicht deren Bedeutung fur den Fruhislam und die arabische Kulturgeschichte.