Old Sources, New Technology: Princeton University’s Geniza Computer Project

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Mark R. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Late Professor ◽  
Medieval Manuscript ◽  
Court Records ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Marriage Contracts

Since the inception of the “computer age,” much talk has been heard about applying this relatively new technology for manipulating information to the medieval manuscript fragments from the Cairo Geniza. The uses of the Geniza, particularly its documentary sources, for Middle Eastern history will be well known to many readers of this Bulletin. The thousands of letters, court records, marriage contracts, lists, and other documentary treasures, preserved for centuries in a large discard chamber in what is today the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, and written in Hebrew or Judæo-Arabic (Arabic in Hebrew letters), with a small number in Arabic language and script, constitute an unmediated source for the reconstruction of what the late Professor S. D. Goitein called the “Mediterranean Society” of Jews, Muslims, and Christians of the high Middle Ages.

scholarly journals Centre For Medieval Studies Middle Eastern and Islamic Influence on Western Art & Liturgy

2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-152
Author(s):  
Andrew Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Performance Style ◽  
University Of Toronto ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Liturgical Chant ◽  
Eastern Music

Central to the conference, held during March 5-6, 2004, at Trinity College,University of Toronto (Canada), was the desire of its organizer, AndrewHughes, to find analogies in other disciplines to his speculation that theEuropean plainsong (liturgical chant) of the Middle Ages was performed in a manner similar to that of Middle Eastern music (“Continuous Music:Natural or Eastern? The Origins of Modern Performance Style”). His speculationstemmed from decades of discussions with his colleague TimothyMcGee about the nature of musical sound. Oral transmission, its replacementby various difficult-to-interpret notations, and an often polemic rejectionof Arabic influence make the investigation difficult and controversial.1McGee responded (“Some Concerns about Eastern Influence in MedievalMusic”) and later, working from practical experiments presented by agroup of graduate students attending the conference, offered a very interestingnew interpretation. Some reservations were expressed by CharlesBurnett (Warburg Institute, London), a distinguished Arabist with musicologicalqualifications. He was invited to comment on the initial round tableand the conference as a whole.Other papers relevant to music were George Sawa’s review of Arabictheories of medieval music (“The Uses of Arabic Language in MedievalRhythmic Discourses”). He referred to numerous matters that might havea bearing on European music, especially with respect to ornamentationand rhythm. Art Levine discussed other non-western musical cultures,some of which were also influenced by Islamic music, and raised questionsabout ornamentation, tuning, and the nature of pitch (e.g., what is anote? “What Can Non-Western Music Offer?”).Moving from the sound of music to words about it, Randall Rosenfelddescribed numerous pilgrimage and Crusader chronicles. They containpassages reporting that Europeans found little strange in eastern music,suggesting that eastern and western music cannot have been as dissimilaras seems to be the case today (“Frankish Reports of Central Asian andMiddle Eastern Musical Practice”). John Haines traced in detail the use ofArabic terms from Adelard of Bath’s twelfth-century translation ofEuclid’s geometrical writings to an important mid-thirteenth-centurymusical treatise, where the terms for quadrilateral shapes resemblingsquare notation are used to refer to musical symbols (“Anonymous IV’sElmuahim and Elmuarifa”). Luisa Nardini presented details of particularmelodic characteristics in Gregorian chants that identify Byzantine andGallican melodies in Gregorian repertories (“Aliens in Disguise:Byzantine and Gallican Songs as Mass Propers in Italian Sources”).In other disciplines, Philip Slavin revealed the striking similarities oftopics and words between Byzantine and Roman (Gregorian) penitentialliturgy, seeing possible origins in Jewish prayers and the fourth-centuryConstitutiones Apostolorum (“Byzantine and Western Penitential Prayers ...

“The Truth of Reliable Tradition”: Saadya Gaon, Arabic Rhetoric, and the Challenge to Rhetorical Historiography

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-188
Author(s):  
Brandon Katzir
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Medieval Rhetoric ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Latin Language ◽  
Arabic Rhetoric ◽  
Rhetorical Traditions ◽  
The Middle Ages

This article explores the rhetoric of medieval rabbi and philosopher Saadya Gaon, arguing that Saadya typifies what LuMing Mao calls the “interconnectivity” of rhetorical cultures (Mao 46). Suggesting that Saadya makes use of argumentative techniques from Greek-inspired, rationalist Islamic theologians, I show how his rhetoric challenges dominant works of rhetorical historiography by participating in three interconnected cultures: Greek, Jewish, and Islamic. Taking into account recent scholarship on Jewish rhetoric, I argue that Saadya's amalgamation of Jewish rhetorical genres alongside Greco-Islamic genres demonstrates how Jewish and Islamic rhetoric were closely connected in the Middle Ages. Specifically, the article analyzes the rhetorical significance of Saadya's most famous treatise on Jewish philosophy, The Book of Doctrines and Beliefs, which I argue utilizes Greco-Islamic rhetorical strategies in a polemical defense of rabbinical authority. As a tenth-century writer who worked across multiple rhetorical traditions and genres, Saadya challenges the monocultural, Latin-language histories of medieval rhetoric, demonstrating the importance of investigating Arabic-language and Jewish rhetorics of the Middle Ages.

Anna Russakoff, Imagining the Miraculous: Miraculous Images of the Virgin Mary in French Illuminated Manuscripts, ca. 1250-ca. 1450. Studies and Texts, 215; Text Image Context: Studies in Medieval Manuscript Illumination, 7. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2019, xviii, 194 pp., ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 541-544
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Bayo
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Old French ◽  
Illuminated Manuscripts ◽  
Virgin Mary ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Medieval Manuscript ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Image Context ◽  
Panel Paintings

This monograph deals with illuminated manuscripts created in French-speaking regions from the mid-thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth century, i.e., from the earliest narratives of Marian miracles written in <?page nr="542"?>Old French to the codices produced at the Burgundian court at the waning of the Middle Ages. Its focus, however, is very specific: it is a systematic analysis of the miniatures depicting both material representations of the Virgin (mainly sculptures, but also icons, panel paintings, altarpieces or reliquaries) and the miracles performed by them, usually as Mary’s reaction to a prayer (or an insult) to one of Her images.

Three Trousseaux of Jewish Brides from the Fatimid Period

AJS Review ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 77-110
Author(s):  
Shelomo Dov Goitein
Keyword(s):  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Marriage Contracts ◽  
Formed Part

Trousseau lists in the hundreds, complete or fragmentary, have survived in the Cairo Geniza. Normally they are included in marriage contracts, rarely in engagement settlements, and many have been preserved separately, bearing only the names of the bride and the groom with or without date, and often lacking even these pieces of information. This happened when the extant sheet had originally formed part of a larger document, or when the trousseau was listed in a record book of the community.

scholarly journals “Service Programmes” on Jordanian Radio: Understanding Broadcaster Persona through an Interdisciplinary Analysis of Language and Performance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jona Fras
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Water Pipe ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
And Performance

My ESRC-funded doctoral research explores linguistic practice on Jordanian radio today. The main conclusion of my research is that details of Arabic use in the radio setting have significant implications for the kind of audiences addressed – that is, who is included as a legitimate or “validated” listener – and the way members of the public can participate in radio discourse – this latter in particularly through call- ins, which are a frequent feature of Jordanian radio programming more generally.This paper looks at one type of programmes present on many contemporary Jordanian radio stations: the so-called “service programmes,” "barāmiž ḳadamātiyya," in which listeners call the station and speak live on the air in order to request assistance or mediation with local authorities in resolution of an issue – such as a damaged road, a broken water pipe, et cetera. It compares two popular service programmes: Barnāmiž al-wakīl, hosted by Muhammad al-Wakeel, and Wasaṭ al- balad, hosted by Hani al-Badri. It argues that, in order to properly appreciate the differences between the two programmes, an interdisciplinary approach to the data is required. This has raised certain methodological issues for my work, but on the other hand allowed me to explore new theoretical pathways and contribute new insights to scholarship on both contemporary Arabic language use, and Middle Eastern media.

scholarly journals Life and activity of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-367
Author(s):  
Maryam Seyidbeyli
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Scientific Center ◽  
North West ◽  
Entire Complex ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Middle Ages

At the beginning of the VII century in the political life of the Near and Middle East, fundamental changes have taken place. The Arabs conquered a colossal territory, which included the lands of Iran, North Africa, North-West India, the Asian provinces of Byzantium, most of the former Roman Empire. In the conquered cities of the caliphate, observatories, madaris, libraries were built. At the end of VII century, the first scientific center, an academy, the House of Wisdom, was founded in Baghdad, in which scholars who spoke different languages were assembled. Here the translation and commentary activity were very developed, the main works of ancient thought, such as the writings of Aristotle, Ptolemy were published in the 9th century in the Arabic-speaking world. For two centuries from 750 to 950 years, the works of ancient authors on philosophy, mathematics, medicine, alchemy, and astronomy were translated into Arabic, which indicates the high scientific potential of that time in the East. At the same time, in the XII century, Ibn Rushd composed 38 commentaries on the works of Aristotle, the “Republic” of Plato, the treatise “On the Mind” of Alexander of Aphrodisias, which subsequently had an important influence on the work of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. Thus, this period in the history of Eastern scientific thought is marked by high intellectual potential. To this day, historians of medieval Arabic literature face a sufficient number of difficulties, since the vast majority of manuscripts remain inaccessible to them. The works of many renowned Arab authors of the middle Ages are more than 1000 years old, so it seems obvious that the manuscripts of the vast majority of authors have not survived to this day. The researchers of the history of Azerbaijan and neighboring countries in the middle Ages, with all the variety of available sources on which they rely, still attract little factual material related to the Arabic-language works of the historical and scientific genre. Undoubtedly, a comprehensive study of the entire complex of information of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi on the history of science in Azerbaijan is of great importance.

scholarly journals PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA ARAB BERBASIS MULTIMEDIA

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 277
Author(s):  
Aliba`ul Chusna
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technology ◽  
New Technology ◽  
New Product ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
It Use ◽  
Good Communication ◽  
Teaching Aids ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
The Media

Abstract: Teaching Arabic language is difficult for many teachers. The Arabic teachers faces various problems while they were explaining the lesson. Mostly, these problems are caused by not understanding learners to the content of the lesson. So, the teachers should use the teaching aids or modern technological devices that help them to solve these problems significantly. Many kind of the teaching aids has made that are information and communication technology or commonly known as the multimedia. Multimedia means is one of the new technology based on computer program that can make the media more complete. It use various methods and reliable for education. Multimedia as new product from modern technology seeks to involve all the senses, including visual, hearing and feeling. And if we compared it with other educational media, multimedia are the tools and methods used to make the good communication between teachers and learners during the learning process.

Intercessors

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-290
Author(s):  
Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
Women's Communities ◽  
Prayer Books

Chapter 5 spotlights Benedictine nuns as intercessors, focusing especially on how they served those who were not members of their communities through offering prayers. This role—both in its idealized forms and in its lived realities—is reconstructed through the conventual and personal seals, charters, letters, mortuary rolls, prayer books, and psalters that women’s communities received, produced, and used. This chapter challenges the persistent scholarly assumption that nuns’ intercessory prayers depreciated in value over the central Middle Ages because, unlike their male counterparts, they could not offer the individualized forms of commemoration increasingly desired by prospective patrons—namely Masses—without the assistance of resident chaplains or visiting priests. Comparative analysis of the extant documentary sources from religious communities in Oxfordshire reveals that the nuns of Godstow Abbey rivaled neighboring monks, canons, and Templars in attracting lay donations in return for certain spiritual benefits, particularly prayers for the remission of sins and salvation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document