A large dossier of primary sources survives for Symeon the Stylite the Younger from Late Antiquity. These sources include not only hagiographical evidence, but also archaeological remains from his cult site, homilies, and at least one letter. They offer insight into the varied voices which shaped Symeon’s identity, sanctity, and ministry in the sixth and early seventh centuries CE. The state of scholarship on these sources is uneven, however, with the result that scholars have primarily studied the saint and his cult through the lens of the hagiographic material, the Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger in particular. In order to lay the foundation for a full inquiry into the saint and his cult, this article disentangles the dossier of evidence on Symeon in Late Antiquity. It introduces each source in chronological order; provides an overview of authorship, date, and the state of scholarship for each source; and makes preliminary recommendations for paths forward. It is meant to be a guide for art historians and archaeologists unfamiliar with the sizeable literary corpus, textual scholars who do not often work with material sources, and, for both groups, an introduction to problems in the dossier. It encourages scholars to treat each source on its own terms and re-evaluate the rich interconnections between the textual and archaeological evidence.

Elite female pilgrims are some of the most celebrated and well-studied women of Late Antiquity. The narratives surrounding the travels of women such as Egeria or Paula constitute a large proportion of our knowledge about pilgrimage practice in general and have formed the focus for the study of gender and pilgrimage in particular. This bias towards famous literary sources and elite experience, however, obscures our understanding of the “normal” women who made up the majority of female pilgrims. This article seeks to redress this imbalance by integrating material and textual sources from three sites of early Christian pilgrimage in order to better understand the interconnected relationship women had with these shrines. Evidence from the shrines of Saint Menas at Abu Mina, Saint Simeon the Stylite the Elder at Qal'at Sem'an, and Saint Thecla at Seleucia show how gender could shape pilgrimage experience and how sites recognised women as a specific visitor demographic and catered to their needs. This was achieved through the provision of narratives related to the dangers of pilgrimage, segregated spaces, and products aimed at women to purchase. In a wider sense, it argues that many women in Late Antiquity had greater freedom to travel and move in public spaces than is often recognised and that this freedom was not necessarily dependent on marital or sexual status.