- History Department
University of Maryland
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Antoine Borrut
University of Maryland, History, Faculty Member
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Abbasids (Islamic History), Umayyads (Islamic History), Early Islamic History, History, Islamic Historiography, Syria, and 27 moreMedieval History, Medieval Islam, Historiography, Medieval Historiography, Cultural Memory, Cultural History, Early Islam, Late Antiquity, Syriac Studies, Islamic History, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies, Arab Christian Studies, Arabic Historiography (History), Abbasid History, Byzantine History, Syriac Christianity, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Sasanian History, Eastern Christianity, Shi'ism, Islam, Early Islamic Archaeology, Medieval Islamic History, Coptic Studies, Arabic Literature, and Talal Asad edit
TOC: https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503603018-1 Traditional accounts of Arabicization have often favoured linear narratives of language change instead of delving into the diversity of peoples, processes, and languages that... more
TOC: https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9782503603018-1
Traditional accounts of Arabicization have often favoured linear narratives of language change instead of delving into the diversity of peoples, processes, and languages that informed the fate of Arabic in the early Islamic world. Using a wide range of case studies from the caliphal centres at Damascus and Baghdad to the provinces of Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, and Central Asia, Navigating Language reconsiders these prevailing narratives by analysing language change in different regions of the early Islamic world through the lens of multilingualism and language change. This volume complicates the story of Arabic by building on the work of scholars in Late Antiquity who have abundantly demonstrated the benefits of embracing multilingualism as a heuristic framework. The three main themes include imperial strategies of language use, the participation of local elites in the process of language change, and the encounters between languages on the page, in the markets, and at work. This volume brings together historians and art historians working on the interplay of Arabic and other languages during the early Islamic period to provide a critical resource and reference tool for students and scholars of the cultural and social history of language in the Near East and beyond.
Traditional accounts of Arabicization have often favoured linear narratives of language change instead of delving into the diversity of peoples, processes, and languages that informed the fate of Arabic in the early Islamic world. Using a wide range of case studies from the caliphal centres at Damascus and Baghdad to the provinces of Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, and Central Asia, Navigating Language reconsiders these prevailing narratives by analysing language change in different regions of the early Islamic world through the lens of multilingualism and language change. This volume complicates the story of Arabic by building on the work of scholars in Late Antiquity who have abundantly demonstrated the benefits of embracing multilingualism as a heuristic framework. The three main themes include imperial strategies of language use, the participation of local elites in the process of language change, and the encounters between languages on the page, in the markets, and at work. This volume brings together historians and art historians working on the interplay of Arabic and other languages during the early Islamic period to provide a critical resource and reference tool for students and scholars of the cultural and social history of language in the Near East and beyond.
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Between Memory and Power intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By... more
Between Memory and Power intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By studying the making of Umayyad heroes or Abbasid origins-myths, this book aims to reveal the successive meanings granted to Syrian history, and to identify the various layers of historical writing and rewriting during the first centuries of Islam. Taken together, these elements make possible a history of meanings of the very space of Syria, articulated around power and its expression, which grants a clear coherence to the period, extending well beyond the dynastic caesura of 132/750.
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Festschrift in honor of Prof. Christophe Picard
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L’étude des premiers siècles de l’islam se heurte à des défis méthodologiques formidables, en particulier en raison de la nature même des sources disponibles pour appréhender la période. Les sources historiques musulmanes présentent en... more
L’étude des premiers siècles de l’islam se heurte à des défis méthodologiques formidables, en particulier en raison de la nature même des sources disponibles pour appréhender la période. Les sources historiques musulmanes présentent en effet l’inconvénient d’un important décalage chronologique avec la période formative de l’islam, tandis que l’utilisation du Coran et plus largement de la tradition scripturaire ne manque pas de faire débat. Les contributions réunies dans ce volume explorent diverses approches pertinentes pour aborder ces sources et contourner les écueils épistémologiques propres à la tradition et à l’histoire musulmanes. Elles invitent ainsi à une histoire des textes, de leur genèse jusqu’à d’éventuels processus de canonisation, en passant par les différentes étapes d’élaboration, de sélection et de transmission. Résolument international, ce volume se veut en outre un hommage à Alfred-Louis de Prémare (1930-2006) en poursuivant l’exploration de thèmes qui lui étaient chers.
""This book intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By studying the... more
""This book intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By studying the making of Umayyad heroes or Abbasid origins-myths, this study aims to reveal the successive meanings granted to Syrian history, and to identify the various layers of historical writing and rewriting during the first centuries of Islam. Taken together, these elements make possible a history of the meaning of the very space of Syria, articulated around power and its expression, which grants a clear coherence to the period, extending well beyond the dynastic caesura of 132/750.
Cet ouvrage entend démontrer qu’une solide culture de l’écriture de l’histoire existait dans la Syrie du 2e/8e siècle, et propose de nouvelles approches méthodologiques afin d’offrir un accès vers cette historiographie perdue, tiraillée entre mémoire et oubli. En étudiant la fabrique des héros omeyyades ou des mythes d’origines abbassides, cette étude s’efforce de mettre au jour les significations successives données à l’histoire syrienne, et d’identifier les différentes strates d’écritures et de réécritures de l’histoire au cours des premiers siècles de l’islam. L’ensemble de ces éléments conduit à proposer une histoire du sens de l’espace syrien, articulée autour de la thématique du pouvoir, qui donne une profonde cohérence à la période, par-delà la césure dynastique de 132/750.""
Cet ouvrage entend démontrer qu’une solide culture de l’écriture de l’histoire existait dans la Syrie du 2e/8e siècle, et propose de nouvelles approches méthodologiques afin d’offrir un accès vers cette historiographie perdue, tiraillée entre mémoire et oubli. En étudiant la fabrique des héros omeyyades ou des mythes d’origines abbassides, cette étude s’efforce de mettre au jour les significations successives données à l’histoire syrienne, et d’identifier les différentes strates d’écritures et de réécritures de l’histoire au cours des premiers siècles de l’islam. L’ensemble de ces éléments conduit à proposer une histoire du sens de l’espace syrien, articulée autour de la thématique du pouvoir, qui donne une profonde cohérence à la période, par-delà la césure dynastique de 132/750.""
"The Umayyads, the first dynasty of Islam, ruled over a vast empire from their central province of Syria, providing a line of caliphs from 661 to 750. Another branch later ruled in al-Andalus – Islamic Spain – from 756 to 1031, ruling... more
"The Umayyads, the first dynasty of Islam, ruled over a vast empire from their central province of Syria, providing a line of caliphs from 661 to 750. Another branch later ruled in al-Andalus – Islamic Spain – from 756 to 1031, ruling first as emirs and then as caliphs themselves. This book is the first to bring together studies of this far-flung family and treat it not as two unrelated caliphates but as a single enterprise. Yet for all that historians have made note of Umayyad accomplishments in the Near East and al-Andalus, Umayyad legacies – what later generations made of these caliphs and their achievements – are poorly understood. Building on new interest in the study of memory and Islamic historiography and including interdisciplinary perspectives from Arabic literature, art, and archaeology, this book highlights Umayyad achievements and the shaping of our knowledge of the Umayyad past.
Proceedings of an international, interdisciplinary conference held in Damascus, Syria in 2006."
Proceedings of an international, interdisciplinary conference held in Damascus, Syria in 2006."
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The practice of itinerant kingship in early Islam has not attracted much scholarly attention to date. This paper aims to investigate the main evidence bearing testimony to such a practice, in order to draw a preliminary typology. Caliphal... more
The practice of itinerant kingship in early Islam has not attracted much scholarly attention to date. This paper aims to investigate the main evidence bearing testimony to such a practice, in order to draw a preliminary typology. Caliphal mobility (or of government officials) is primarily documented in the context of military campaigns or connected to the pilgrimage to Mecca. A unique example also allows us to highlight a systematic model of itinerant kingship in Umayyad times, coupled with a patrimonial conception of power. These various elements shed a new light on the construction of space in the first Islamic empire.
Résumé: La pratique d’un pouvoir mobile dans les débuts de l’islam n’a guère retenu l’attention des chercheurs. Le présent article se propose d’en recenser les principaux témoignages et d’en esquisser une première typologie. La mobilité califale (ou des agents du gouvernement) est principalement documentée dans le contexte des campagnes militaires ou du pèlerinage à La Mecque. Un exemple exceptionnel permet également de mettre en lumière une pratique de l’itinérance plus systématique à la période omeyyade, articulée autour d’une conception patrimoniale du pouvoir. Ces éléments éclairent d’un jour nouveau la construction de l’espace dans le premier empire islamique.
Résumé: La pratique d’un pouvoir mobile dans les débuts de l’islam n’a guère retenu l’attention des chercheurs. Le présent article se propose d’en recenser les principaux témoignages et d’en esquisser une première typologie. La mobilité califale (ou des agents du gouvernement) est principalement documentée dans le contexte des campagnes militaires ou du pèlerinage à La Mecque. Un exemple exceptionnel permet également de mettre en lumière une pratique de l’itinérance plus systématique à la période omeyyade, articulée autour d’une conception patrimoniale du pouvoir. Ces éléments éclairent d’un jour nouveau la construction de l’espace dans le premier empire islamique.
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Abstract: This article argues that the agreed-upon periodization of early Islam is an Abbasid-era construct that became a binding framework for later generations of historians down to modern times. It also contends that scholars have... more
Abstract: This article argues that the agreed-upon periodization of early Islam is an Abbasid-era construct that became a binding framework for later generations of historians down to modern times. It also contends that scholars have tended to ignore the fact that this periodization was first and foremost an Abbasid claim to power. It investigates the Abbasid-era construction of the past and demonstrates that alternative periodizations were used prior to these massive efforts to enclose the past into a rigid structure, and so it sheds light on forgotten alternative pasts. The links between periodization and space are emphasized, focusing on the example of early Islamic Syria. Indeed, this province largely vanished from the map with the coming of the Abbasids to power since Syria’s memory came to be limited to its Umayyad past. Elaborating upon alternative periodizations, the paper offers a fresh attempt at a history of the meanings (Sinngeschichte) of a long Syrian eighth century, articulated around memory and power.
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Digital Humanities, Persian Literature, Arabic Literature, Medieval History, Armenian Studies, and 10 moreMedieval Studies, Arabic, Numismatics, Islamic Studies, Abbasid History, Islamic History, Early Islam, Persian Culture, Early and Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture, and Early Islamic History
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Persian Literature, Medieval History, Middle East Studies, Middle East History, Iranian Studies, and 13 moreHistory of Iran, Qur'anic Studies, Quranic Studies, Islamic History, Magic and the Occult (Anthropology Of Religion), Occultism, Medieval Islamic History, Persian Poetry, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Shiism, Shiite Islam, Shii Islam, Occult Sciences in Islam, Shiism, and Turkish and Persian Poetry
Al-'Usur al-Wusta reinvents itself as an online, peer-reviewed, and open access journal! Read it now on our website: http://islamichistorycommons.org/mem/al-usur-al-wusta/
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Islamic Archaeology, Medieval History, Late Antique Archaeology, Iranian Studies, History of Iran, and 13 moreByzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, Islamic Studies, Byzantine History, Islamic History, Early Islam, Early Islamic Archaeology, Byzantium, Early Islamic History, Epigraphy, Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, Arabian Peninsula in Antiquity, and History of Pre-Islamic Arabia
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The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Third Edition 2014/4 (Leiden: Brill, 2014): 7-9.
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Préface to the Festschrift in honor of Prof. Christophe Picard
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In the last few years of the seventh century, the Marwanid Reforms established Arabic as the administrative language of the Umayyad Caliphate. It was appreciated across religious boundaries such that Christians and Jews quickly began... more
In the last few years of the seventh century, the Marwanid Reforms established Arabic as the administrative language of the Umayyad Caliphate. It was appreciated across religious boundaries such that Christians and Jews quickly began composing and engaging texts in Arabic. Yet despite its centrality, Arabic did not spread evenly or quickly throughout the entire Islamic world. During this symposium, speakers will discuss Arabic and multilingualism within a broader setting of linguistic diversity in the Islamic world.
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Jewish Studies, Languages and Linguistics, Arabic Literature, Papyrology, Armenian Studies, and 15 moreSemitic languages, Iraqi History, Arabic Language and Linguistics, Jewish History, Late Antiquity, Islamic Studies, Egypt, Arabian Gulf, Syriac Studies, Syria, Islamic History, Central Asia, Comparative Semitics, Arabic Papyrology, and History of Pre-Islamic Arabia
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Islamic Law, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Islamic Archaeology, Medieval History, and 12 moreMedieval Studies, Late Antique Archaeology, Manuscript Studies, Medieval Archaeology, Byzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, Islamic Studies, Carolingian Studies, Islamic History, Relics (Religion), Medieval Art, and Arabic Manuscripts
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Princeton, Sept. 23, 2017
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Guest speakers: M. Cook, P. Geary, and G. Demacopoulos.
University of Maryland, College Park, Wed. April 15.
University of Maryland, College Park, Wed. April 15.
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Flyer for roundtable, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley
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Marco Symposium, Knoxville, TN