Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam's Quest for Alexander's Wall

298 Pages·2009·14.58 MB·English

by  Edited by Emeri van Donzel and Andrea Schmidt

Gog and l\tfagog in Early Syriac
and Islamic Sources
Brill's
Inner Asian I.Jibrary
Ediwrs
Nicola di Cosmo
Devin Deweese
Caroline Humphrey
VOLUME22
Gog ar1cll\;Iagog ir1 Early Syriac
a11d Islamic Sources
Sallarn's for A.lexander's ,,Vall
(~pest
E'dited ~y
Erneri van Donzel
Andrea Schmidt
With a contribution ~'Y
Claudia Ott
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOS'T'ON
2009
On the Jucr: King Alexander 1)skander) encloses the peoples of Gog and Magog.
© S. Okasha, The Muslim painter a7td the diuine. The Persian impact on Islamic painting, London:
Park Lane Press 1981, p. 104, pl. 19.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Ca.taloging-in-[>ublication Data
Detailed Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data an! available on the Internet:
at http://catalog.loc.gov
ISSN 1566-7162
ISBN 978 90 04 17416 0
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill.l'>."'Y, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Ntjhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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Dedicated to the unjust!J enclosed

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Xlll
Note on Transliteration and Measures XV
Preface xvn
PART ONE
Chapter I. Gog and Magog in Pre-Islamic, Jewish and Christian Sources
I. Names and Identification of Gog and Magog. 3
2. Gog and Magog in the Bible 4
3. Gog and Magog injewish Literature 6
4. Gog and Magog in the Sibylline Oracles 9
5. Gog and Magog in Flaviusjosephus 10
6. Gog and Magog in Early Christian Literature 12
Chapter 2. Alexander and Gog and Magog in Eastern Christian Sources
I. The Syriac Alexander Romance 16
2. The Syriac Alexander Legend. 18
3. The Syriac Alexander Poem 22
4. A Syriac Sermon On the Last Days 25
5. The Syriac Apocalypse ofPseudo-Methodius 26
6. The Coptic and Ethiopic Alexander Romance 31
7. The Coptic Apocalypses. 34
8. The Armenian Alexander tradition 36
9. The Georgian Alexander tradition. 42
10. Themes on Gog and Magog 45
Origin and Identification 45
Appearance 45
Location 51
The Breasts of the North 54
Chapter 3. Gog and Magog and Alexander 'the two-homed' in the Koran
1. Koran xvm:83-98. 58
2. Koran xxi:95-96. 59
3. Rudi Paret's commentary on Koran xvm:82ff.. 59
4. Barrier/Rampart/Gate (sadd/radm/bab). 61
vm CONTENTS
Chapter 4. Gog and Magog in Islmnic Tradition
I. The Sunni collections. 63
2. The Shi'i collections. 63
3. Authoritative Koran commentators and lexicographers 64
4. Themes on Gog and Magog 65
Appearance. 66
Origin. 68
Numbers. 70
Food 72
Role in eschatology 7 3
Names 81
Location 81
Identification 82
Appearance. 84
Description of the barrier. 85
Chapter 5. Gog and Magog in mediaeval Arabic, Persian and Turkish pros
l. Themes on Gog and Magog 88
Appearance. 88
Origin. 92
Numbers. 93
Food 94
Role in eschatology 95
Names. 97
Location and Identification 98
Description of the barrier 109
Chapter 6. Gog and Magog and the barrier in Arab poetry, Adab literature,
popuklr epics and anecdotes
l. Arabic Poetry 11 9
2. Adab literature. 122
3. Epic literature. 12 3
4. Anecdotes on the paired names of Gog and Magog 126
5. Some modern works in Arabic on Gog and Magog 128
PART TWO
Chapter 7. Sallmn's travel account fJJ the barrier of Gog and Magog
I. Sallam al-Tardjuman-lnterpreter and Traveller 131
2. Sallam's travel account-Text and Translation . . . . . 132
CONTENTS IX
3. Sallam's travel account in Arabic sources 151
Ibn Khurradadhbih 152
The manuscripts of Ibn Khurradadhbih's Book of
Routes and Kingdoms 153
al-J ayhani/ al-ldrisi 156
Ibn Rusta 158
Ibn al-Faqih 161
al-Ya'qubi and Ibn Hawqal 162
al-Muqaddasi 162
al-Tha'labi 163
Abu Hamid 164
Ibn al-Jawzi 165
Yaqut 168
al-Nuwayri 169
4. Sallam's travel account in Persian sources 169
5. Criticism on Sallam's travel account by some Arab
and Western authors 172
Chapter 8. Gog and Magog and the barrier: the origin qf Sallam's
descriptitm
1. Early Arabo-Muslim poets: links with the Syriac
tradition 175
2. Islamic traditionists: links with the Syriac tradition. 176
3. The barrier as described in the Syriac tradition
compared with Sallam's description. 179
Chapter 9. 7he political landscape in Sa:marra, the Caucasus and Central
Asia in the 8th and first half qf the 9th century
1. Samarra 182
2. The Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia and the Ciscaucasus) 184
The Master of Sarir 186
The king of the Alans 187
The Filan-shah 188
3. The Khazars. 188
4. The Bashkirts 192
5. The Turks in Central Asia: Oghuz-Kimaks-Kipchaks-
Ttirkesh. 192
6. The Uygur Empire. 195
7. Syrian Christians in Central Asia and West China. 196
8. Islam in East Turkistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
X CONTENTS
9. The Tarim Basin 201
10. The battle for supremacy: Tibetans, Chinese, Arabs,
Turks. 202
Chapter 10. Sallam's outwardjoumf!Y: Samarra-Yumenguan
(ca. July/August 842-November/December 843)
1. Reasons for the journey 207
2. Sallam's journey and the so-called map of Caliph
al-Ma'mun 209
3. Dates of the journey 213
4. Stages 214
Samarra-Tiflis 214
Tiflis-Sarir-Alans-Filan-shah 215
Khazars 216
Fetid Land 21 7
Ruined Towns 220
Fortified Places. 222
lgu 222
lgu-Anxi. 225
Anxi-Dunhuang. 227
Dunhuang. 230
5. Summary of the outward journey 232
6. Distances and duration of the journey. 232
Chapter 11. Destination reached
1. Yumenguan or the Barrier ofthejade Gate 236
2. Various locations of Yumenguan 237
3. Abu Dulaf's Risala and Sallam's barrier 240
4. Yumenguan: the gate to the West . 243
5. Yumenguan and the barrier of 'the two-horned one' 244
Chapter 12. Sallam's homewardjoumf!Y: Yumenguan-Samarra
(ca. December 843/]anuary 844-December 844/]anuary 845)
1. Sallam's itinerary 246
2. Xuanzang's itinerary from lgu to Tirmidh 248
3. Stages 251
Yumenguan-Lop Nor 251
Lop Nor-Korla. 25 3
Korla-Kucha-Kara-kol........................ 254