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IMC 2013: Sessions

Session 1606: Search for the Umayyad Caliph, II

Thursday 4 July 2013, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Ann R. Christys, Independent Scholar, Leeds
Moderator/Chair:Andrew Marsham, School of Literatures, Languages & Cultures, University of Edinburgh
Paper 1606-aIran's Pre-Islamic Past: Memory of Its Umayyad Patrons
(Language: English)
Sarah Savant, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University, London
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies
Paper 1606-bThe Future of the Past: Historical Writing in Early Islamic Syria and Umayyad Memory
(Language: English)
Antoine Borrut, Department of History, University of Maryland, College Park
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies
Paper 1606-cWar Games at Madīnat al-Zahrā’
(Language: English)
Ann R. Christys, Independent Scholar, Leeds
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies
Abstract

The second session on the historiography of the Umayyads and pleasure. The Umayyad dynasty in Syria (661-750) and Spain (756-1013) was associated with La Dolce Vita lived in palaces and gardens. But it was just this devotion to pleasure that, in the eyes of some medieval historians, made them unfit to lead the Islamic community. This is the first of two sessions on the historiography of the Umayyads, focussing on the topics of pleasure and memory. The first paper addresses the question of pleasure directly. Later speakers consider various aspects of the Umayyads' reputation, which is contrasted with what may be deduced about the reality of the Umayyad world.