| Paper 1208-a | Negotiating Global Change at a Local Level on the Early Arab-Byzantine Coinage of Skythopolis
(Language: English)
Rebecca Darley, Department of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London / Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Economics - Trade, Economics - Urban, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Numismatics, Social History |
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| Paper 1208-c | The Representation of the Power: Empire Through the Endowment Deeds of Hagia Sophia
(Language: English)
Tuba Akar, Faculty of Architecture, Mersin University
Çağla Caner-Yüksel, Department of Architecture, Başkent University, Ankara
Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Archives and Sources |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The coinage of the early Islamic period, especially in Syria-Palestine, provides an important source for the complex political and economic history of the seventh century, for which written records are patchy and highly contested. Coinage in particular provides an insight into the complex negotiations which took place at local levels as populations responded to the changing economic landscape inaugurated by the Islamic conquests. Numismatic evidence from Syria-Palestine reflects an expectation among its pre-existing communities of a sophisticated economic infrastructure, and the ability of local systems to uphold this infrastructure even in the face of periods of systemic collapse. It also indicates the extent to which linguistic fluidity overlapped with a strong emphasis on the continuity of visual symbols. The choices made by local communities created a foundation for the coinage reform of Abd al-Malik in 696, which illustrates the first harnessing of pre-existing economic traction to a carefully state-regulated public representation of ‘Islamic’ government.
Paper -b:
The anti-Islam treatise Contra legem Sarracenorum, written by Ricoldus de Monte Crucis around 1300 AD, is an important source for studying the relationship between Islam and the Latin West in the Middle Ages. However, little attention has been paid to the Greek translation by Demetrios Kydones (c.1350 AD) and to the Latin retranslation by Bartholomaeus Picenus (c.1500 AD), which considerably deviate from the original in several passages. The aim of my project is to show that at least some of the discrepancies are not mere accidents, but intentional changes by the translators, thus bearing witness to changing attitudes towards Islam.
Paper -c:
Pious foundations in the medieval era, both in Christianity and in Islam, are generally established for religious purposes together with the purpose of covering the social and economic needs of the society. Besides serving the society, the founders of these endowments who are mostly the powerful rulers, namely the emperors, also made use of foundations and the buildings belonging to it as a means of propaganda to show their powers. In this respect, Hagia Sophia, one of the milestones of architectural history, had been a significant architectural figure through which first the Byzantine and then the Ottoman authorities epitomized their power. When Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople, he included Hagia Sophia, which formerly belonged to the Byzantine foundation into his Islamic waqf. Thus the aim of this study is to question and reveal imperial power through the foundation documents as represented in the endowment deeds.
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