The Christianisation of Rural Palestine during Late Antiquity by DORON BAR Focusing on the rural zones of Palestine and exploiting extensive archaeological research permits a re- examination of the traditional view that much of Palestine had been Christianised by the late fourth century. This article suggests that the process of adopting Christianity in the countryside was far more gradual than previously believed. While the map of holy sites in Palestine had largely taken shape by the end of the fourth century, the conversion of the population only achieved real momentum during the fifth and sixth centuries. Research on the community churches of Palestine, in particular on their location in the villages, reveals that Christian penetration into the countryside stemmed from internal social developments and was not institutional in inspiration. M any of those who research the history of Palestine during the Byzantine era 1 assume that the process whereby the local pagan 2 population underwent religious conversion had been completed as early as in the first half of this period. 3 It is argued that Palestine’s special 1 The research upon which this paper is based covers the territory of the state of Israel, Judaea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. The territorial boundaries do not necessarily parallel those of the province of Judaea during late antiquity. This geographic area was chosen in a bid to include and exploit the fruits of the research undertaken in the region over the past few years. For this geographic delineation see Yoram Tsafrir, Lea Di Segni and Judith Green, Tabula imperii romani : Iudaea Palaestina, Jerusalem 1994, p. viii. The chronological definition of the research is equally problematic. While in accordance with historic reality in Palestine- Eretz Israel it is common to divide it into Late Roman (70–324 CE) and Byzantine (324–640 CE) periods, I use the term late antiquity to cover the period (see Dennis E. Groh, ‘Jews and Christians in late Roman Palestine ’, Biblical Archaeologist li/2 [1988], 83). The term ‘late antiquity ’ relates rather to the general research on these periods and not so much to Palestine. The spelling of toponyms is based on Ephraim Stern (ed.), New encyclopedia of archaeological excavations in the Holy Land, Jerusalem 1993 (hereinafter cited as NEAEHL). 2 We will have to make do with the expression ‘paganism’ in this paper. This term refers to the non-Jewish/Christian/Samaritan population of Palestine. See Glen W. Bowersock, ‘ Polytheism and monotheism in Arabia and the three Palestines ’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers li (1997), at pp. 1–2 for a discussion of the problematic definition of the term. 3 Michael Avi-Yonah, The Jews under Roman and Byzantine rule : political history of Palestine from Bar Kokhba War to the Arab conquest, Jerusalem 1984, 220–1 : ‘ the majority of population now [the period between the death of Julian and the Council of Chalcedon] became Christian ’. See also Y. Tsafrir, ‘ Introduction ’, to Tsafrir, Di Segni and Green, Tabula imperii romani, 19. Jnl of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 54, No. 3, July 2003. f 2003 Cambridge University Press 401 DOI: 10.1017/S0022046903007309 Printed in the United Kingdom