Author
Toorawa, Shawkat M., editor., Bray, Julia, editor., Ibn al-Sāʻī, ʻAlī ibn Anjab, 1196 or 1197-1275. Nisāʼ al-khulafāʼ., ابن الساعي، علي بن انجب، 1196 or 1197-1275. نساء الخلفاء., Ibn al-Sāʻī, ʻAlī ibn Anjab, 1196 or 1197-1275. Nisāʼ al-khulafāʼ. English.
Author Original
ابن الساعي، علي بن انجب، نساء الخلفاء
Publication Date
2015
Publication Place
-
New York University Press
Subject
Women -- Islamic Empire -- Anecdotes -- Early works to 1800., Queens -- Islamic Empire -- Anecdotes -- Early works to 1800., Islamic Empire -- History -- 750-1258 -- Early works to 1800., Abbasids -- Early works to 1800.
Type
Book
Language
English
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Pages Count
226
Physical Dimensions
1 online resource (226 pages) : map
Library
University College Dublin Library
Library Asset ID
10.18574/9781479842360 doi
Record ID
b3203259
Library Location
In collection: Ebook Central Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
Date
2015
Sample Text
Consorts of the Caliphs is a seventh/thirteenth-century compilation of anecdotes about thirty-eight women who were, as the title suggests, consorts to those in power, most of them concubines of the early Abbasid caliphs and wives of latter-day caliphs and sultans. This slim but illuminating volume is one of the few surviving texts by Ibn al-Sa'i (d. 674 H/1276 AD). Ibn al-Sa'i was a prolific Baghdadi scholar who chronicled the academic and political elites of his city, and whose career straddled the final years of the Abbasid dynasty and the period following the cataclysmic Mongol invasion of 656 H/1258 AD. In this work, Ibn al-Sa'i is keen to forge a connection between the munificent wives of his time and the storied lovers of the so-called golden age of Baghdad. Thus, from the earlier period, we find Harun al-Rashid pining for his brother's beautiful slave, Ghadir, and the artistry of such musical and literary celebrities as 'Arib and Fadl, who bested the male poets and singers of their day. From times closer to Ibn al-Sa'i's own--when Abbasid authority was trying to reassert itself and Baghdad was again a major center of intellectual and religious activity--we meet women such as Banafsha, who endowed law colleges, had bridges built, and provisioned pilgrims bound for Mecca; slave women whose funeral services were led by caliphs; and noble Saljuq princesses from Afghanistan. Informed by the author's own sources, his insider knowledge, and well-known literary materials, these singular biographical sketches, though delivered episodically, bring the belletristic culture of the Baghdad court to life, particularly in the personal narratives and poetry of culture heroines otherwise lost to history.
Bibliyografya
Includes bibliographical references (pages 196-200) and indexes.
Seri
Library of Arabic literature, Library of Arabic literature.
