The destruction of cultural heritage performed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is often superficially e... more The destruction of cultural heritage performed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is often superficially explained as an attempt to stamp out idolatry or as a fundamentalist desire to revive and enforce a return to a purified monotheism. Analyses like these posit that there is an 'Islamic' manner of imagining the past and that the iconoclastic actions of terrorist organizations are one, albeit extreme, manifestation of an assumedly pervasive and historically ongoing Islamic antipathy toward images and pre-contemporary holy locales. However, this is not the full picture. This book explores the diverse ways Muslims have engaged with the material legacies of ancient and pre-Islamic societies, as well as how Islam's heritage has been framed and experienced over time. Long before the emergence of ISIS and other so-called Islamist iconoclasts, Muslims imagined Islamic and pre-Islamic antiquity and its localities in myriad ways: as sites of memory, spaces of healing, or places imbued with didactic, historical, and moral power.
https://www.intellectbooks.com/imagining-antiquity-in-islamic-societies
Historical writing has shaped identities in various ways and to different extents. This volume ex... more Historical writing has shaped identities in various ways and to different extents. This volume explores this multiplicity by looking at case studies from Europe, Byzantium, the Islamic World, and China around the turn of the first millennium. The chapters in this volume address official histories and polemical critique, traditional genres and experimental forms, ancient traditions and emerging territories, empires and barbarians. The authors do not take the identities highlighted in the texts for granted, but examine the complex strategies of identification that they employ. This volume thus explores how historiographical works in diverse contexts construct and shape identities, as well as legitimate political claims and communicate ‘visions of community’.
Introduction: Historiography and Identity in a Comparative Perspective — WALTER POHL
‘National History’ in Post-Imperial East Asia and Europe — Q. EDWARD WANG
The Wars of Procopius and the Jinshu of Fang Xuanling: Representations of Barbarian Political Figures in Classicizing Historiography — RANDOLPH B. FORD
Mythology and Genealogy in the Canonical Sources of Japanese History — BERNHARD SCHEID
Iran’s Conversion to Islam and History Writing as an Art for Forgetting — SARAH BOWEN SAVANT
Iran and Islam: Two Narratives — MICHAEL COOK
The Formation of South Arabian Identity in al-Iklīl of al-Hamdānī — DANIEL MAHONEY
Convergence and Multiplicity in Byzantine Historiography: Literary Trends in Syriac and Greek, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries — SCOTT FITZGERALD JOHNSON
The Byzantine Past as Text: Historiography and Political Renewal c. 900 — EMMANUEL C. BOURBOUHAKIS
Scriptores post Theophanem: Normative Aspects of Imperial Historiography in Tenth-Century Byzantium — YANNIS STOURAITIS
Who were the Lotharingians? Defining Political Community after the End of the Carolingian Empire — SIMON MACLEAN
Spaces of ‘Convivencia’ and Spaces of Polemics: Transcultural Historiography and Religious Identity in the Intellectual Landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, Ninth to Tenth Centuries — MATTHIAS M. TISCHLER
Mapping Historiography: An Essay in Comparison — WALTER POHL
All papers of this peer-reviewed open access journal can be accessed and downloaded at: http://dx... more All papers of this peer-reviewed open access journal can be accessed and downloaded at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no15si_2022.
The Rasūlid chronicles of the reign of al-Manṣūr Nūr al-Dīn ʿ Umar b. ʿ Alī b. Rasūl depict its f... more The Rasūlid chronicles of the reign of al-Manṣūr Nūr al-Dīn ʿ Umar b. ʿ Alī b. Rasūl depict its first ruler as steadily consolidating the political foundation of the sultanate. Most of these reports clearly portray the dominance of the sultan in Yemen during this period. But a few reveal the limitations of his power in a more complex political landscape, such as an aborted military campaign against a local tribe, an insurrection by a Zaydi sharīf, and the sultan’s assassination by his own military. These specific narratives of opposition to the sultan, however, progressively change over the course of their production from the late 13th century until the first half of the 15th century, as the strength of the sultanate initially peaks and then slowly declines. As a result, the ambiguity of al-Manṣūr ʿ Umar’s authority in these narratives is largely reduced, and the historical memory of the sovereignty of the emergent Rasūlid sultanate solidifies in increasingly ideological ways.
International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2019
In the tenth century, the polymath Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani compiled a ten volume compendium, enti... more In the tenth century, the polymath Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani compiled a ten volume compendium, entitled al-Iklil (The Crown), which narrates the history of South Arabia from the pre-Islamic to the early Islamic periods with the aim of extolling the various achievements and virtues of this region. The eighth volume of this compendium contains a collection of reports that describe the uncovering of pre-Islamic burials in the early Islamic period. Although the veracity of some reports may be questioned due to their inclusion of fantastical elements, these accounts portray a vivid imagining of the ancient tombs themselves and the stories of those buried within, as well as show the varied reactions to these sites. In some reports, the interred are revered and the chambers are returned to their former state. But in others, ambivalence is shown toward those buried, even when the inscriptions found at the site communicate that the interred testified to a belief in one god, and the tombs are looted. Overall, these rich reports do not merely depict encounters with pre-Islamic funerary remains, but also serve to connect South Arabia’s past with major narratives and themes of Islamic history.
Located in the central highlands of Yemen, the inhabitants of the Dhamār Plain continually fought... more Located in the central highlands of Yemen, the inhabitants of the Dhamār Plain continually fought for autonomy with states who invaded the region over the course of the Islamic period. Despite the presence of these dynastic powers, there is limited evidence of their military architecture in the archaeological record in contrast to the abundance of local fortified structures still remaining. This article examines the settlement patterns and types of fortification of these sites based on the results of the Dhamār Survey Project (DSP) and the Dhamār Museum Survey (DHS). Emerging from a vernacular tradition that extends back to the prehistoric period, local fortification styles range from singular tower houses and watchtowers to more extensive citadels and walled settlements. Overall, the location and diversity of these sites indicate well-developed schemes that aim to maximize both arable land for agriculture and the security of the inhabitants on both a household and community level.
The Rasulids arrived in South Arabia towards the end of the sixth/twelfth century as Turkoman off... more The Rasulids arrived in South Arabia towards the end of the sixth/twelfth century as Turkoman officers in the Ayyubid military. Thereafter they established a dynasty that lasted until the mid-ninth/fifteenth century. At the height of their power at the end of the seventh/thirteenth century, an effort to further buoy their political legitimacy was undertaken by resituating their ethnic origins to South Arabia. This first appeared within a genealogy that simultaneously showed their emergence from the complex web of descent of the local tribes, as well as juxtaposed them with the rulers of the Islamic Caliphate and elevated them above other contemporary political groups in South Arabia. However, after the Rasulid military was increasingly challenged over the course of the eighth/fourteenth century and the dynasty’s influence in the region and the wider Islamic world continued to dissipate, the assertion of their local origins was greatly fleshed out into a narrative at the beginning of a dynastic chronicle of the early ninth/fifteenth century. This prologue explains more explicitly how they first emigrated from South Arabia in the pre-Islamic period only to then return in the late medieval period as its rightful rulers. Overall, the construction of this origin story points to the Rasulids’ attempt to take on a new strategy of identification through the appropriation of South Arabian cultural memory in order to strengthen their political status.
Origin myths of Eurasian peoples have long been a topic for literary and mythological studies. Fu... more Origin myths of Eurasian peoples have long been a topic for literary and mythological studies. Furthermore, they often served as key texts in nationalist historiographies. There was a surge in scholarly interest around the middle of the twentieth century, when nationalist, irrationalist, mythographic and structuralist concerns with these texts prompted lively debates and great syntheses. The late twentieth-century critique of national myths and postmodern deconstructivism have largely disqualified these origin stories as historical sources. Indeed, most of them tell us less about actual origins than previous generations of scholars had assumed. However, they are valuable indicators of how these origins were perceived at specific points in time and space and what they may have meant for the respective communities. Instead of looking for one ‘authentic’ and primeval myth later diluted in the course of its transmission, what still needs considerable research is the way in which rewritings, competing variants and new syntheses reflect contemporary interests. This process in which narratives and meanings were gradually transformed has continued in modern scholarship. Recent research on cultural memory and on the ‘uses of the past’ provides us with a good methodological basis for a comparative historical analysis of a set of relevant texts.
Kurds began to arrive to South Arabia as soldiers for the Ayyubid conquest at the end of the sixt... more Kurds began to arrive to South Arabia as soldiers for the Ayyubid conquest at the end of the sixth/twelfth century,1 and continued in this military role for the Rasulid dynasty for the next few centuries. Over the course of this period, references to Kurds in chronicles indicate their increasing autonomy as independent mercenaries who rebelled against the Rasulids and aligned with the northern Zaydis. At the same time, they are also shown to have established a prominent community in the central highlands, which eventually bifurcated, merged with the family of the Zaydi Imam through marriage, and then seemingly disappeared from chronicles altogether. This article examines more closely the role of ethnicity in the promotion and maintenance of the Kurds as an influential group in the late medieval political landscape of South Arabia alongside other ethnic groups such as Arabs and Turks, as well as why the apparent deterioration of the Kurds’ ethnic cohesion appears to have led to the end of reports about them in the Yemeni historical record at the end of the eighth/fourteenth century.
In "Southwest Arabia across History: Essays to the Memory of Walter Dostal". Edited by Andre Gingrich and Siegfried Haas. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press.
The destruction of cultural heritage performed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is often superficially e... more The destruction of cultural heritage performed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq is often superficially explained as an attempt to stamp out idolatry or as a fundamentalist desire to revive and enforce a return to a purified monotheism. Analyses like these posit that there is an 'Islamic' manner of imagining the past and that the iconoclastic actions of terrorist organizations are one, albeit extreme, manifestation of an assumedly pervasive and historically ongoing Islamic antipathy toward images and pre-contemporary holy locales. However, this is not the full picture. This book explores the diverse ways Muslims have engaged with the material legacies of ancient and pre-Islamic societies, as well as how Islam's heritage has been framed and experienced over time. Long before the emergence of ISIS and other so-called Islamist iconoclasts, Muslims imagined Islamic and pre-Islamic antiquity and its localities in myriad ways: as sites of memory, spaces of healing, or places imbued with didactic, historical, and moral power.
https://www.intellectbooks.com/imagining-antiquity-in-islamic-societies
Historical writing has shaped identities in various ways and to different extents. This volume ex... more Historical writing has shaped identities in various ways and to different extents. This volume explores this multiplicity by looking at case studies from Europe, Byzantium, the Islamic World, and China around the turn of the first millennium. The chapters in this volume address official histories and polemical critique, traditional genres and experimental forms, ancient traditions and emerging territories, empires and barbarians. The authors do not take the identities highlighted in the texts for granted, but examine the complex strategies of identification that they employ. This volume thus explores how historiographical works in diverse contexts construct and shape identities, as well as legitimate political claims and communicate ‘visions of community’.
Introduction: Historiography and Identity in a Comparative Perspective — WALTER POHL
‘National History’ in Post-Imperial East Asia and Europe — Q. EDWARD WANG
The Wars of Procopius and the Jinshu of Fang Xuanling: Representations of Barbarian Political Figures in Classicizing Historiography — RANDOLPH B. FORD
Mythology and Genealogy in the Canonical Sources of Japanese History — BERNHARD SCHEID
Iran’s Conversion to Islam and History Writing as an Art for Forgetting — SARAH BOWEN SAVANT
Iran and Islam: Two Narratives — MICHAEL COOK
The Formation of South Arabian Identity in al-Iklīl of al-Hamdānī — DANIEL MAHONEY
Convergence and Multiplicity in Byzantine Historiography: Literary Trends in Syriac and Greek, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries — SCOTT FITZGERALD JOHNSON
The Byzantine Past as Text: Historiography and Political Renewal c. 900 — EMMANUEL C. BOURBOUHAKIS
Scriptores post Theophanem: Normative Aspects of Imperial Historiography in Tenth-Century Byzantium — YANNIS STOURAITIS
Who were the Lotharingians? Defining Political Community after the End of the Carolingian Empire — SIMON MACLEAN
Spaces of ‘Convivencia’ and Spaces of Polemics: Transcultural Historiography and Religious Identity in the Intellectual Landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, Ninth to Tenth Centuries — MATTHIAS M. TISCHLER
Mapping Historiography: An Essay in Comparison — WALTER POHL
All papers of this peer-reviewed open access journal can be accessed and downloaded at: http://dx... more All papers of this peer-reviewed open access journal can be accessed and downloaded at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no15si_2022.
The Rasūlid chronicles of the reign of al-Manṣūr Nūr al-Dīn ʿ Umar b. ʿ Alī b. Rasūl depict its f... more The Rasūlid chronicles of the reign of al-Manṣūr Nūr al-Dīn ʿ Umar b. ʿ Alī b. Rasūl depict its first ruler as steadily consolidating the political foundation of the sultanate. Most of these reports clearly portray the dominance of the sultan in Yemen during this period. But a few reveal the limitations of his power in a more complex political landscape, such as an aborted military campaign against a local tribe, an insurrection by a Zaydi sharīf, and the sultan’s assassination by his own military. These specific narratives of opposition to the sultan, however, progressively change over the course of their production from the late 13th century until the first half of the 15th century, as the strength of the sultanate initially peaks and then slowly declines. As a result, the ambiguity of al-Manṣūr ʿ Umar’s authority in these narratives is largely reduced, and the historical memory of the sovereignty of the emergent Rasūlid sultanate solidifies in increasingly ideological ways.
International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2019
In the tenth century, the polymath Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani compiled a ten volume compendium, enti... more In the tenth century, the polymath Abu Muhammad al-Hamdani compiled a ten volume compendium, entitled al-Iklil (The Crown), which narrates the history of South Arabia from the pre-Islamic to the early Islamic periods with the aim of extolling the various achievements and virtues of this region. The eighth volume of this compendium contains a collection of reports that describe the uncovering of pre-Islamic burials in the early Islamic period. Although the veracity of some reports may be questioned due to their inclusion of fantastical elements, these accounts portray a vivid imagining of the ancient tombs themselves and the stories of those buried within, as well as show the varied reactions to these sites. In some reports, the interred are revered and the chambers are returned to their former state. But in others, ambivalence is shown toward those buried, even when the inscriptions found at the site communicate that the interred testified to a belief in one god, and the tombs are looted. Overall, these rich reports do not merely depict encounters with pre-Islamic funerary remains, but also serve to connect South Arabia’s past with major narratives and themes of Islamic history.
Located in the central highlands of Yemen, the inhabitants of the Dhamār Plain continually fought... more Located in the central highlands of Yemen, the inhabitants of the Dhamār Plain continually fought for autonomy with states who invaded the region over the course of the Islamic period. Despite the presence of these dynastic powers, there is limited evidence of their military architecture in the archaeological record in contrast to the abundance of local fortified structures still remaining. This article examines the settlement patterns and types of fortification of these sites based on the results of the Dhamār Survey Project (DSP) and the Dhamār Museum Survey (DHS). Emerging from a vernacular tradition that extends back to the prehistoric period, local fortification styles range from singular tower houses and watchtowers to more extensive citadels and walled settlements. Overall, the location and diversity of these sites indicate well-developed schemes that aim to maximize both arable land for agriculture and the security of the inhabitants on both a household and community level.
The Rasulids arrived in South Arabia towards the end of the sixth/twelfth century as Turkoman off... more The Rasulids arrived in South Arabia towards the end of the sixth/twelfth century as Turkoman officers in the Ayyubid military. Thereafter they established a dynasty that lasted until the mid-ninth/fifteenth century. At the height of their power at the end of the seventh/thirteenth century, an effort to further buoy their political legitimacy was undertaken by resituating their ethnic origins to South Arabia. This first appeared within a genealogy that simultaneously showed their emergence from the complex web of descent of the local tribes, as well as juxtaposed them with the rulers of the Islamic Caliphate and elevated them above other contemporary political groups in South Arabia. However, after the Rasulid military was increasingly challenged over the course of the eighth/fourteenth century and the dynasty’s influence in the region and the wider Islamic world continued to dissipate, the assertion of their local origins was greatly fleshed out into a narrative at the beginning of a dynastic chronicle of the early ninth/fifteenth century. This prologue explains more explicitly how they first emigrated from South Arabia in the pre-Islamic period only to then return in the late medieval period as its rightful rulers. Overall, the construction of this origin story points to the Rasulids’ attempt to take on a new strategy of identification through the appropriation of South Arabian cultural memory in order to strengthen their political status.
Origin myths of Eurasian peoples have long been a topic for literary and mythological studies. Fu... more Origin myths of Eurasian peoples have long been a topic for literary and mythological studies. Furthermore, they often served as key texts in nationalist historiographies. There was a surge in scholarly interest around the middle of the twentieth century, when nationalist, irrationalist, mythographic and structuralist concerns with these texts prompted lively debates and great syntheses. The late twentieth-century critique of national myths and postmodern deconstructivism have largely disqualified these origin stories as historical sources. Indeed, most of them tell us less about actual origins than previous generations of scholars had assumed. However, they are valuable indicators of how these origins were perceived at specific points in time and space and what they may have meant for the respective communities. Instead of looking for one ‘authentic’ and primeval myth later diluted in the course of its transmission, what still needs considerable research is the way in which rewritings, competing variants and new syntheses reflect contemporary interests. This process in which narratives and meanings were gradually transformed has continued in modern scholarship. Recent research on cultural memory and on the ‘uses of the past’ provides us with a good methodological basis for a comparative historical analysis of a set of relevant texts.
Kurds began to arrive to South Arabia as soldiers for the Ayyubid conquest at the end of the sixt... more Kurds began to arrive to South Arabia as soldiers for the Ayyubid conquest at the end of the sixth/twelfth century,1 and continued in this military role for the Rasulid dynasty for the next few centuries. Over the course of this period, references to Kurds in chronicles indicate their increasing autonomy as independent mercenaries who rebelled against the Rasulids and aligned with the northern Zaydis. At the same time, they are also shown to have established a prominent community in the central highlands, which eventually bifurcated, merged with the family of the Zaydi Imam through marriage, and then seemingly disappeared from chronicles altogether. This article examines more closely the role of ethnicity in the promotion and maintenance of the Kurds as an influential group in the late medieval political landscape of South Arabia alongside other ethnic groups such as Arabs and Turks, as well as why the apparent deterioration of the Kurds’ ethnic cohesion appears to have led to the end of reports about them in the Yemeni historical record at the end of the eighth/fourteenth century.
In "Southwest Arabia across History: Essays to the Memory of Walter Dostal". Edited by Andre Gingrich and Siegfried Haas. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press.
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Books by Daniel Mahoney
https://www.intellectbooks.com/imagining-antiquity-in-islamic-societies
Introduction: Historiography and Identity in a Comparative Perspective — WALTER POHL
‘National History’ in Post-Imperial East Asia and Europe — Q. EDWARD WANG
The Wars of Procopius and the Jinshu of Fang Xuanling: Representations of Barbarian Political Figures in Classicizing Historiography — RANDOLPH B. FORD
Mythology and Genealogy in the Canonical Sources of Japanese History — BERNHARD SCHEID
Iran’s Conversion to Islam and History Writing as an Art for Forgetting — SARAH BOWEN SAVANT
Iran and Islam: Two Narratives — MICHAEL COOK
The Formation of South Arabian Identity in al-Iklīl of al-Hamdānī — DANIEL MAHONEY
Convergence and Multiplicity in Byzantine Historiography: Literary Trends in Syriac and Greek, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries — SCOTT FITZGERALD JOHNSON
The Byzantine Past as Text: Historiography and Political Renewal c. 900 — EMMANUEL C. BOURBOUHAKIS
Scriptores post Theophanem: Normative Aspects of Imperial Historiography in Tenth-Century Byzantium — YANNIS STOURAITIS
Who were the Lotharingians? Defining Political Community after the End of the Carolingian Empire — SIMON MACLEAN
Spaces of ‘Convivencia’ and Spaces of Polemics: Transcultural Historiography and Religious Identity in the Intellectual Landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, Ninth to Tenth Centuries — MATTHIAS M. TISCHLER
Mapping Historiography: An Essay in Comparison — WALTER POHL
Papers by Daniel Mahoney
https://www.intellectbooks.com/imagining-antiquity-in-islamic-societies
Introduction: Historiography and Identity in a Comparative Perspective — WALTER POHL
‘National History’ in Post-Imperial East Asia and Europe — Q. EDWARD WANG
The Wars of Procopius and the Jinshu of Fang Xuanling: Representations of Barbarian Political Figures in Classicizing Historiography — RANDOLPH B. FORD
Mythology and Genealogy in the Canonical Sources of Japanese History — BERNHARD SCHEID
Iran’s Conversion to Islam and History Writing as an Art for Forgetting — SARAH BOWEN SAVANT
Iran and Islam: Two Narratives — MICHAEL COOK
The Formation of South Arabian Identity in al-Iklīl of al-Hamdānī — DANIEL MAHONEY
Convergence and Multiplicity in Byzantine Historiography: Literary Trends in Syriac and Greek, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries — SCOTT FITZGERALD JOHNSON
The Byzantine Past as Text: Historiography and Political Renewal c. 900 — EMMANUEL C. BOURBOUHAKIS
Scriptores post Theophanem: Normative Aspects of Imperial Historiography in Tenth-Century Byzantium — YANNIS STOURAITIS
Who were the Lotharingians? Defining Political Community after the End of the Carolingian Empire — SIMON MACLEAN
Spaces of ‘Convivencia’ and Spaces of Polemics: Transcultural Historiography and Religious Identity in the Intellectual Landscape of the Iberian Peninsula, Ninth to Tenth Centuries — MATTHIAS M. TISCHLER
Mapping Historiography: An Essay in Comparison — WALTER POHL