New Readings in Arabic Historiography from Late Medieval Egypt and Syria

With the emergence of the Fatimid Caliphate in the Nile Valley in the tenth century, Egypt witnessed a flourishing of sophisticated administration. This bureaucracy continued under successive dynasties and, following the Mamlūk victory over the Latins, spread out to Syria. A number of clerks who were employed by the ‘state government’ (qalamiyya) also indulged in stylish literary production, not limiting their writings to official epistles and ledgers, but rather ranging across many genres, from poetry to encyclopedias. The sultans also recruited a considerable number of scholars to staff the religious establishment. Several among them, like the bureaucrats, also wrote non-religious works. Narrating the past and reporting contemporaneous events (taʾrīkh) was a major focal point for their compilations. The Mamlūk ‘imperial’ historians moved from dawla/siyāsa-oriented historiography to a more ‘popular’ style. This can be seen in the use of vernacular phraseology (Middle Arabic), the insertion of poems, quotations from earlier writings and the interweaving of fictitious episodes (adab)

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Caliphate · Historiography · Islam · Literature · Poetry · State (computer science · Style (visual arts · Vernacular · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Classics · Historical and Linguistic Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History