From Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsa al-Rāzī to Mouro Rasis

Abstract

Medieval Iberia was one of the most important places of cultural interaction and transcultural encounters within the Mediterranean space, where an extensive translation movement from Arabic into Latin and from Arabic into the emerging vernacular languages took place. Considering translation as a form of cultural interaction, this paper will investigate the cultural and philological relationships between two historical works, namely an earlier Arabic work of history,Akhbār Mulūk al-Andalusby Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsa al-Rāzī (887-955ad) and its 14th century Portuguese translation,Cronica do Mouro Razis. The aim is to highlight some of the problems of historiographical writing and try to understand both the limitations and interventions of the translators when dealing with an historical text pertaining to another linguistic and cultural tradition.