Epilogue

In this chapter, the material presented in the second and third chapters is contextualized further, and the evidence from urban and rural contexts is treated in combination. This chapter distinguishes between the two periods before and after the Arab conquest, and draws attention to the continuities and changes, in plan types, building materials and techniques, builders, patrons, and architectural sculpture. For the period before the Arab conquest, it discusses the similarities of the church architecture of the region with its counterparts elsewhere in the Empire and points out what is specific to it. It also assesses what we can tell about the identity of the churches in a region where churches were changing hands. The Section ‘After the Arab conquest’ is concerned with the changes in the cities and the rural ṬurʿAbdin. It explores whether, in this period, one could talk about a church architecture specific to the Syrian Orthodox.