ABSTRACT
To trace the multifaceted transformation of a land deeply imbued with biblical footprints, I focus on imperial involvement. First Constantine, whose passage through Palestine in his youth contributed, perhaps, to investment in Christianizing selected biblical sites under his mother’s supervision. A century later the presence of empress Eudocia proved instrumental in modulating the tense relationship between the crown and the monkish ascetics who flocked to Palestine. In the sixth century Justinian recarved the land while reinforcing the centrality of Jerusalem in imperial Christianity. Rapid political changes in the early seventh century witnessed the recovery of the true cross soon to be stored below a magnificent mosque.
