Medievalists.net » Middle East

From Raiders to Traders: The Viking-Arab Trade Exchange

Medievalists.net — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 03:05:45 +0000

In their quest for silver, the Vikings discovered and accessed valuable trade routes to Constantinople that led to an extensive trade exchange with the Arab world. Seizing upon the opportunity to enrich themselves, the Vikings came into contact with Arabic wealth and treasures through their raids, and soon realized the potential of a peaceful trade exchange.

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The Mythical Ghoul in Arabic Culture

Medievalists.net — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 03:57:14 +0000

Though the ghoul has origins as old as the Mesopotamian civilization, Arabs were largely responsible for popularizing it. Because Islam incorporated this being in its doctrine, the ghoul remained a source of fear and mystery in the Arab culture.

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‘Like the Wick of the Lamp, Like the Silkworm They Are’: Stupid Schoolteachers in Classical Arabic Literary Sources

Medievalists.net — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 14:05:45 +0000

That schoolteachers were incorrigibly fatuous was certainly a common perception, widespread in adab literature of the ʿAbbāsid period and in later sources too. Indeed, the question of their stupidity, or rather, the stereotype of ‘the stupid schoolteacher’ was a topos which several classical and post-classical writers were fond of using, along with others such as ‘the dull person’, ‘the smart sponger’ and ‘the ridiculous bedouin’.

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Genoa: The cog in the new medieval economy

Medievalists.net — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:07:59 +0000

Journalist and author Nicholas Walton writes about medieval Genoa's economy, trade and role in the Black Death. Walton recently published a book on Genoese history entitled, "Genoa: La Superba"

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Is it better to be right or left-handed? The view from the 9th century

Medievalists.net — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 00:56:58 +0000

Was it really bad to be left-handed in the Middle Ages? Or was it better than being right-handed? The 9th century writer of all things unusual, al-Jahiz, weighs in.

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Metaphor in the Medieval Middle East

Medievalists.net — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 06:21:59 +0000

Through a study of metaphor in medieval Arabic literature, Stanford comparative literature professor Alexander Key finds that the Arab world had a head start on the West when it comes to understanding how language works.

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A Mongol Princess Making hajj: The Biography of El Qutlugh Daughter of Abagha Ilkhan (r. 1265–82)

Medievalists.net — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 03:06:29 +0000

his study examines in detail the biographical entry of an Ilkhanid (the Mongol state centred in Iran) princess, El Qutlugh Khatun daughter of Abagha Ilkhan (r. 1265–82), in the biographical dictionaries of the Mamluk author Khalil b. Aybeg al-Safadi (d. 1363)

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Melancholia in medieval Persian literature: The view of Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni

Medievalists.net — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:22:33 +0000

This paper aims to review Al-Akhawayni’s 10th century knowledge on melancholia which can represent the early concept of this disorder in the Near East.

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Two Rabbinic Views of Christianity in the Middle Ages

Medievalists.net — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 01:17:50 +0000

In the sessions of our section over the past decade, I introduced a significant distinction between two rabbinic attitudes in the Mediterranean countries during the Middle Ages of 12th and 13th centuries as to their view of Christianity.

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CONFERENCES: Count Hugh of Troyes and the Crusading Nexus of Champagne

Medievalists.net — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 12:18:18 +0000

This is my summary of a paper given at the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London.

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