Matt Saracen

Matthew "Matt" Saracen is a fictional character in the NBC/DirecTV (The 101 Network) television drama series Friday Night Lights portrayed by the actor, Zach Gilford. He is the former back-up quarterback of the Dillon High School Panthers before being thrust into the starting spotlight after Jason Street suffers a career-ending injury. His character is based on Mike Winchell from Friday Night Lights.

Background

Matt is the son of Henry Saracen and Shelby Garrett. He lives alone with his grandmother, Lorraine Saracen. Matt takes care of Lorraine due to her old age and battle with dementia. At one time, Matt's relationship with both of his parents was strained. His father, Henry, was in the U.S. Army and his mother, Shelby, left Matt when he was a child after divorcing Henry. The full extent of their relationship is unknown, but it is implied that Henry may have been an abusive husband.

Overview

He is the back-up quarterback for the Dillon Panthers in the "Pilot" as a sophomore. Eventually he is the starting quarterback for the Dillion Panthers in seasons 1 and 2. He then becomes the wide receiver for the Dillon Panthers in season 3, his senior year. He is a main character in seasons 1 through 3 and continues to play an important role in the series throughout seasons 4 and 5.

Saracen

Saracen was a generic term for Muslims widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the later medieval era. The term's meaning evolved during its history. In the early centuries CE, Greek and Latin writings used this term to refer to the people who lived in desert areas in and near the Roman province of Arabia. They were distinguished as a people from others known as Arabs. In Europe during the Early Medieval era, the term came to be associated with Arab tribes as well. By the 12th century, "Saracen" had become synonymous with "Muslim" in Medieval Latin literature. Such expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Romans, as evidenced in documents from the 8th century. In the Western languages before the 16th century, "Saracen" was commonly used to refer to Muslim Arabs, and the words "Muslim" and "Islam" were generally not used (with a few isolated exceptions).

Early usage and origins

Ptolemy's Geography (2nd century CE) describes "Sarakene" as a region in the northern Sinai peninsula. Ptolemy also mentions a people called the "Sarakenoi" living in north-western Arabia (near neighbor to the Sinai).Eusebius of Caesarea refers to Saracens in his Ecclesiastical history, in which he narrates an account wherein Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, mentions Saracens in a letter while describing the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Decius: "Many were, in the Arabian mountain, enslaved by the barbarous 'sarkenoi'." The Historia Augusta also refers to an attack by "Saraceni" on Pescennius Niger's army in Egypt in 193, but provides little information as to identifying them.

Saracen (disambiguation)

Saracen is a European medieval term for Muslims, adopted from Latin.

Saracen or Saracens may also refer to:

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Fictional characters

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Opera

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Military

Sports

Saracen (comics)

Saracen is a fictional villain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of the antihero the Punisher. He was created by Mike Baron and Erik Larsen, and first appeared in The Punisher Vol. 2, #22 (August 1989)

Publication history

Saracen was introduced in The Punisher Vol. 2, #22-23, and reappeared in The Punisher War Journal #25-27, as well as The Punisher Vol. 2, #47-48, and The Punisher War Journal #33. The character was then killed off in the one-shot comic book The Punisher: Empty Quarter, though a version of him from an alternate universe was later featured in Exiles Vol. 1, #99.

Saracen received profiles in Marvel Encyclopedia #5, and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #1.

Fictional character biography

A globe-trotting mercenary and assassin whose actions, such as plundering cruise ships and blowing up airliners, have resulted in him being branded a terrorist, Saracen hails from an undisclosed Arabian country, and is said to be happily married.