Biographies of Prominent Clerics as a Possible Approach to the History of the Christian Arabs in the First Centuries of Ottoman Rule: The Case of Macarius Ibn Al-Za'im

Abstract

When I started writing my thesis on which was thought to be the edition and translation of a description of Georgia written in 1665 by Patriarch Macarius Ibn al-Za'im of Antioch (Walbiner 1994), I attached little importance to the biography of the author; little space was therefore dedicated to the description of his life. However, in the course of my research I realized that the biography of Macarius provides many important facts which not only help to better understand his literary work but also the history of his community, the Greek Orthodox, in the 17th century.