Early Abbasid Period Research Articles

Die Fundmünzen von Harrān und ihr Verhältnis zur lokalen Geschichte

During the 1940s and 1950s D. Storm Rice and Seton Lloyd, together with the Turkish Antiquity Authority, undertook archaeological excavations in Harrān. With the exception of two preliminary reports and a few articles, the excavations remain largely unpublished.The 264 coins constitute an independent source on the regional, political and economic history of Harrān. For the Umayyad and early Abbasid period, the coins constitute a source on the pattern of the city's regional integration. Two-thirds of the coins date from the Ayyubid period. The circulation is characterized by a competition of different coinages: first, those which were struck for the political entities to which Harrān belonged; and second, imported coins, i.e. of Byzantine and Rūm-Saljūq origin. Third, copper coins from Northern Syria, despite the fact that the Diyār Mudar and Northern Syria belong to different branches of the Ayyubid dynasty. Two dirhams of the Saljūq prince al-Malik Mas‘ūd, who resided in Mosul between 504/1111 and 511/1118, are historical documents of importance.

Astronomy and the Jewish Community in Early Islam

Islam in the early Abbasid period was generally tolerant of religious diversity, but something much more surprising happened as well. An intellectual domain was created in which Muslims and non-Muslims were able to participate equally without compromising their separate identities. The extent of this domain may be difficult to determine, but astronomy and astrology were certainly elements in it. The effective founder of the Abbasid dynasty, the second Abbasid caliph, al-Manṣur (reigned: 754-775), built the new city of Baghdad near the ruins of the ancient sites of Babylon and the Sasanian capital, Ctesiphon. The date for the founding of the city was decided in consulation with a group of astrologers working for the caliph, and among them was a Jew, known as Mââshââʾallââh (d. ca. 815). Another Jewish intellectual involved in the formative period of Islamic science was Sahl ibn Bishr al-Yahudi, one of the leading astrological scholars of the early ninth century whose works were studied throughout the Middle Ages. Within the Jewish community astronomy played a significant role in the calendrical disputes between Rabbanites and Karaites. Saadia Gaon was the leading Rabbanite thinker of the tenth century, and anti-Karaite polemic is generally conspicuous in his writings. For him philosophy and science in the Greco-Muslim tradition serve as support for the principles of Judaism, despite their almost total absence from earlier Rabbinic sources. In his commentary on The Book of Creation , Saadia introduced both astronomy and astrology in a context that could only be understood as favorable to their study. Later, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, astronomy was cultivated extensively by Jews in Muslim Spain. There was also a dispute concerning the validity of astrology, and we will consider, in particular, the attitudes of Judah Halevi and Maimonides.

The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East, 500 B. C. to A. D. 1500

After the Golden Age - which is usually dated back to early Abbasid period - things began to change in the Middle East. Population decreased, ancient cities declined or were even deserted, and barbaric nomadism spread at the expense of civilised agriculture. In a parallel process intellectual creativity was stifled and artistic originality dried up. Thus even before the capitalist world economy made its influence felt, the once dynamic civilisations of the Middle East were turning into stagnate proto-developing countries: impoverished, disease-ridden and technologically backward. The present study asks a few simple questions about this notion of decline: how extensive and how general was the contraction of agriculture and de-urbanisation and what kinds of explanations can we offer.

External Trade of Bilad Al-Sham in the Early Abbasid Period

External Trade of Bilad Al-Sham in the Early Abbasid Period

The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environment in the History of the Middle East, 500 B.C. to A.D. 1500

After the Golden Age - which is usually dated back to early Abbasid period - things began to change in the Middle East. Population decreased, ancient cities declined or were even deserted, and barbaric nomadism spread at the expense of civilised agriculture. In a parallel process intellectual creativity was stifled and artistic originality dried up. Thus even before the capitalist world economy made its influence felt, the once dynamic civilisations of the Middle East were turning into stagnate proto-developing countries: impoverished, disease-ridden and technologically backward. The present study asks a few simple questions about this notion of decline: how extensive and how general was the contraction of agriculture and de-urbanisation and what kinds of explanations can we offer.

The khayāl motif in early Arabic poetry

Anybody who takes the trouble to read and to compare literary studies on classical Arabic poetry published in the course of this century, will notice a surprising conformity of judgement. Scholars tend to be unanimous concerning three points in particular: 1. all basic features of Arabic poetry are already present in pre-Islamic verse; 2. pre-Islamic tribal poetry is the most characteristic expression of the literary genius of the Arabs; 3. medieval Arabic poetry never really changed, even if at certain times, especially in the early Abbasid period, some innovations have been added. In recent studies these views have been slightly modified, but, as far as I see, never seriously challenged. Thus Jamaleddine Bencheikh in his Poetique arabe, a brilliant and perceptive study, explains in his closing chapter that the norms of Arabic classicism were determined during the 6th and 7th century, and that later poetry, despite of some truly innovative poets among the moderns (almuhdathun), completely lost contact with reality. According to him, experience is possible on the linguistic level only; reality is replaced by a poetic and linguistic inventory, un arsenal linguistique.1 If we turn to poetry, in order to verify this view, there is doubtless much to support it. No student of medieval Arabic literature can escape the feeling of a certain monotony. For ever and ever, it seems, the poet is roaming through the desert, discovering the ruins of an abandoned camp and weeping over his lost beloved. The same words, phrases, images, motifs and genres continue to be used, providing rich evidence of the medieval poet's conventional attitude and the ritualistic character of his verse. However, when considering the question from a theoretical point of view, there seems to be reason for some doubt. If it is true that poetry is rooted in society, expressing its values, ideas and problems, then we should expect that the important political and social changes which occurred from the 6th century till the later Middle Ages had left their traces in the poetry of successive historical periods. It is incon-

A Note on Hunting in the Early Abbasid Period: Some Evidence on Expenditure and Prices

A Note on Hunting in the Early Abbasid Period: Some Evidence on Expenditure and Prices