ABSTRACT
Hellenism did not disappear from Syria and Palestine immediately after the Arab conquest. Greek society persisted in the large cities; the majority of merchants spoke Greek, and it remained the language of administration and, for the most part, of legislation under Arab rule just as much as it was under the Byzantines. In Palestine, the geography of the holy places had great influence over the distribution of religious institutions. John of Damascus was the coryphaeus of the other Syrians of the eighth century. His importance extended well beyond the limits of his native land; this is amply corroborated by the hatred that the iconoclasts felt for him. The importance of John of Damascus lies not only in his works on dogma, although they had a very wide diffusion. The destruction of Saint Sabas was only the first of a number of disasters to hit the monasteries of Syria and Palestine at the start of the ninth century.
