Globalization of Knowledge in the Post-Antique Mediterranean, 700–1500

249 Pages·2016·23.91 MB·English

by  Sonja Brentjes

GLOBALIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE POST-ANTIQUE
MEDITERRANEAN, 700-1500
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Globalization of Knowledge in
the Post-Antique Mediterranean,
700-1500
Edited by
SONJA BRENTJES and JÜRGEN RENN
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany
R
OU Routledge
T
L
E Taylor & Francis Group
D
G
ELONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 selection and editorial matter, Sonja Brentjes and Jürgen Renn;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Sonja Brentjes and Jürgen Renn to be identified as the author
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Brentjes, Sonja, editor. | Renn, Jürgen, 1956– editor.
Title: Globalization of knowledge in the post-antique Mediterranean,
700-1500 / edited by Sonja Brentjes and Jürgen Renn.
Description: Burlington, VT : Ashgate Publishing Company, 2016. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015035583 | ISBN 9781472456564 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781472481610 (ebook) | ISBN 9781472481627 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Mediterranean Region—Intellectual life. | Culture and
globalization—Mediterranean Region—History. | Mediterranean
Region—History.
Classification: LCC DE94 .G54 2016 | DDC 909/.09822—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035583
ISBN: 9781472456564 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781315585147 (ebk)
Typeset in Gentium Plus
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of Figures    vii
List of Abbreviations   ix
Notes on Contributors   xi
Introduction   1
Jürgen Renn and Sonja Brentjes
1 From One Universal Historiography to the Other: The
Reorientation of Ancient Historiography in Byzantium and its
Reception in Arabic—The Islamic Organization of Written Memory   7
Johannes Niehoff -Panagiotidis
2 Aspects of Craft in the Arabic Book Revolution   31
Beatrice Gruendler
3 Contexts and Content of Thābit ibn Qurra’s (died 288/901)
Construction of Knowledge on the Balance   67
Sonja Brentjes and Jürgen Renn
4 Monarchs and Minorities: “Infi del” Soldiers in Mediterranean
Courts   101
Hussein Fancy
5 The Synonyma Literature in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries   131
Charles Burnett
6 The Cultural Transfer of Zaydī and non-Zaydī Religious
Literature from Northern Iran to Yemen (Sixth/Twelfth
Century through Eighth/Fourteenth Century)   141
Hassan Ansari and Sabine Schmidtke
7 Iskandar the Prophet: Religious Themes in Islamic Versions
of the Alexander Legend   167
Anna A. Akasoy
Postface   205
Sonja Brentjes and Jürgen Renn
Index 215
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List of Figures
2.1 Recreation of historical paper manufacture, Koni Gil Miros,
Samarqand (Photograph: Beatrice Gruendler)   32
2.2 Scooping of paper (Photograph: Beatrice Gruendler)   32
2.3 Finished sheet of paper (Photograph: Beatrice Gruendler) 33
2.4 Iṣlāḥ MS, opening chapter on non-synonymous nouns of the
morphological types faʿl and fi ʿl, dated 372/982–3 (Source: Ibn
al-Sikkīt, Iṣlāḥ al-manṭiq, edited by Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir,
and ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn, Cairo: Dār al-maʿārif,
1368/1949, plate 2)   52
2.5 Papermakers. Graph created by Maxim Romanov, documenting
the tenfold increase of the professional designation of
stationer (warrāq) between 150 and 400 H. based on the most
comprehensive biographical source at our disposal, the “History
of Islam and the Classes of the Famous and Illustrious” (Taʾrīkh
al-islām wa-ṭabaqāt al-mashāhīr wa-l-aʿlām) by al-Dhahabī (died
748/1348) 66
3.1 Greco-Arabic decorated steelyard with two scales (uncial; Arabic
letter numbers); Egypt or Syria; undated, possibly second/eighth
to fourth/tenth century. (Courtesy of Benaki Museum, Athens)   78
7.1 Shāhnāmah of Firdawsī, dated 995/1480. (Image © The Trustees
of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin [CBL Per. 157.370]) 179
7.2 Shāhnāmah of Firdawsī, mid-sixteenth century. The Nasser D.
Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, inv. no. MSS 771.
(© The Nour Foundation. Courtesy of The Khalili Family Trust) 180
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List of Abbreviations
ACA Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó
ACB Archivo de la Catedral de Barcelona
Add. Additamenta
AHN Archivo Histórico Nacional
a/Arab. Arabic/us
BN Biblioteca Nacional
BnF Bibliothèque nationale de France
Cod. codex
CR Cartes Reials
CRAI Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-
lettres
CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
EI2 Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition, 11 Vol., and supplement. Leiden:
Brill, 1960–2004
GAS Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, 15 Vol. to date,
Leiden: Brill, 1967–1996; starting with vol. X: Frankfurt am Main:
Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften an
der Goethe-Universität, 2000
lat. Latin/us
MS manuscript
o/Or. oriental/is
R register