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The Indigenous Christians of the Arabic Middle East in an Age of Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamlūks (1244-1366)
Posted on December 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe chronological period of study is highlighted by the usurpation of the Ayyūbid-ruled Sultanate by the Baḥrī Mamlūks, while the two most important political-military events in the region were the collapse of the Crusader States and the invasion of the Mongols. This thesis will examine how events impacted on the nine Christian Confessions, treating each separately. -
The Meaning of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the Tenth Century
Posted on December 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe Great Mosque of Cordoba is universally recognized as one of the most singular monuments of medieval architecture. Celebrated for its harmony, balance, dramatic use of light and decoration, and its overall unity and aesthetic sensitivity, the monument belongs to an established functional type, the hypostyle mosque, but amounts to more than a mere variant of this type. -
A Tale of two cities and the Abbasid Caliphate 132- 656 / 750 – 1258
Posted on December 1, 2012 | No CommentsExamining the role of Baghdad in the development of the Abbasid Caliphate. -
Conflicts of Ideology in Christian and Muslim Holy War
Posted on November 28, 2012 | No CommentsThe holy wars of Christianity and Islam, crusade and jihad respectively, represent a conflict of ideology between two Abrahamic faiths that would be reignited with the First Crusade in 1096. -
Transylvanian Identities in the Middle Ages
Posted on November 25, 2012 | No CommentsIdentity has become a subject of historical exploration as it is also one of the themes examined from the perspectives of various disciplines belonging to the social sciences such as sociology, psychology or anthropology. -
The Evolution of the Saladin Legend in the West
Posted on November 18, 2012 | No CommentsWilliam of Tyreʼs account of the history of the Crusades stops suddenly in 1184. As he lays down his pen he is in despair at the inevitable outcome which he foresees for the struggle with Saladin. It was fortunate for him that he did not live to see the triumph of Saladin at Hattin and Jerusalem. Williamʼs judgement of Saladin, there- fore, is one of fear and admiration but he is also able to criticize his faults, especially his ruthless ambition. -
Science and Religion in the Middle Ages
Posted on November 6, 2012 | No CommentsWhy did science and natural philosophy suffer such disparate fates in the two great civilizations of Christendom and Islam? -
Conference: Islamic Archaeology “Mini-Symposium”: Villages, Caravansaries, and Border Towns
Posted on November 1, 2012 | No Comments17 papers at the American Schools of Oriental Research 2012 Annual Meeting November 14-17, 2012 -
The Concept of Jihad in the Period of Arab Expansion
Posted on October 31, 2012 | No CommentsPaper given at Religious Tolerance – Religious Violence – Medieval Memories: A colloquium in memory of James Powell -
Iberian Uniqueness in the Arab Invasion of Spain
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsIn the spring of the year AD 711, the Visigothic kingdom of Iberia was invaded and conquered by an army from the nearby Muslim Empire. -
Light through the dark ages: The Arabist contribution to Western ophthalmology
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsBecause blindness was a major cause of morbidity in the medieval Arab world, as is the case in the developing world today, Arabist physicians developed much exposure to ophthalmological conditions, and nearly every major medical work written at the time had a chapter on diseases of the eye. -
Coptic Conversion and the Islamization of Egypt
Posted on October 28, 2012 | No CommentsMost recently, Tamer el-Leithy has made a comprehensive study of Coptic conversion during the Mamluk period. In length and depth, this still-unpublished work eclipses the preceding article-length studies. Its subject is focused on conversion among the Coptic upper class in Cairo during the fourteenth century... -
Daily Life in the Spanish Reconquest: Scenes from Tenth-Century León
Posted on October 26, 2012 | No CommentsBuilt by the Romans to garrison to Seventh Legion, León may also have been the base of the legion's military commander, who was sometimes fully empowered by the emperor to govern Asturias and Galicia. -
Byzantium and the Arabs from the VIIth to XIth Century
Posted on October 22, 2012 | No CommentsDuring the seventh and the eighth centuries, the Arabs built their own empire within the eastern and western boundaries of the Byzantine Empire, obliging the two powers to coexist through war and in peace. How did they live together, or near each other? -
Jewish Lightning Rod: Between Magic and Science
Posted on October 21, 2012 | No CommentsPeople learned how to “tie up a portion of lightning” only recently. We have no information aboutany experiments of medieval scientists with lightnings, and even the fundamental dictionary of thehistory of science by Mayerhöfer is silent about it. -
The Fatimid and Kalbite Governors in Sicily : 909-1044
Posted on October 21, 2012 | No CommentsThis is the second part of my investigation on the Muslim governors (or rulers) in Sicily. -
Solar Eclipses in Medieval Islamic Civilization
Posted on October 8, 2012 | No CommentsIn ancient times, the births and deaths of leaders or dignitaries were often supposed to be associated with celestial omens. However, Islamic theology does not accept that eclipses are indications of events on earth. -
The fabric of society: The organization of textile manufacturing in the Middle East and Europe, c. 700 – c. 1500
Posted on October 7, 2012 | No CommentsIn recent years several attempts have been made to use institutional theory to explain this divergence between the Middle East and Europe. Most of these attempts focus on the organization of international trade. -
Mandeville’s Intolerance: The Contest for Souls and Sacred Sites in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
Posted on October 3, 2012 | No CommentsWhile Chaucer‟s knight has traveled to and fought in Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor, Sir John claims to have visited the entire known world from Constantinople and the Holy Land to the farthest reaches of Asia. -
Worlds writ small: four studies on miniature architectural forms in the medieval Middle East
Posted on October 1, 2012 | No CommentsWhile academic discussion of ornament within medieval Islamic art has laboured much over the codification and meaning of certain forms, there has been relatively little research to date on the visual and iconographic function of architecture as ornament in this context...This thesis proposes, first and foremost, that there is significant cultural meaning inherent in the use of architecture as an inspiration for the non-essential formal qualities of portable objects from the medieval Islamic world. -
Sailing with the Mu’allim: The Technical Practiceof Red Sea Sailing during the Medieval Period
Posted on September 30, 2012 | No CommentsThe status of the Red Sea as a lane of communication be-tween the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean has beenwidely commented upon...The medieval period was no exception to this. The establishment of Mecca as a centre of pilgrimage and theincreasing importance of Cairo both served to provide further motives for seafaring activity along and across theRed Sea. -
Singers, advisers, and servants: role of eunuchs from a historical context
Posted on September 24, 2012 | No CommentsAccording to the Book of Matthew, Jesus said that there were eunuchs made of men, who had made them- selves by their fathers to be that way for heaven’s sake, and if they have received such a procedure, then let them keep it. Jesus referred to castration as an infallible way to achieve celibacy. And records of Christian history indicate that many Christian religious figures were castrated. -
Muslims in canon law, 650-1000
Posted on September 21, 2012 | No CommentsChristians first encountered Muslims as invaders. Bishops convened in Constantinople by Justinian II at the Council in Trullo of 692 respond to these ‘barbarian invasions’ in several canons. -
The Romans as Viewed by Arabic Authors in the 9th and 10th Centuries A.D.
Posted on September 15, 2012 | No CommentsThe reason why Muslims authors of the 9th and 10th century A.D. dealt with the history and culture not only of the Romans but also of other ancient and contemporary nations is related to the social, political and cultural circumstances of their age. -
The Mediterranean Muslim Navy and the Expeditions Dispatched against Constantinople
Posted on September 13, 2012 | No CommentsThe aim of this paper is to present an account of the information we find in various Arabic sources of the early period of Arabic historiography on the preparation of a military naval force and the expeditions launched against Constantinople during the period of the early expansion of the Muslim Arabs