Fixing John Damascene’s Biography: Historical Notes on His Family Background

The biography of the eighth-century theologian John Damascene has long posed seemingly intractable problems of historical interpretation for modern scholars, but recent research into his writings and the composition of the hagiographical traditions about his life have made new insights into his biography possible. This essay aims to expand upon these recent contributions by reviewing the evidence for the outlines of John Damascene’s biography that can be gleaned from an examination of the history of his family, the Manṣūrs, and their place in Umayyad Syria during the seventh to eighth centuries c.e .