Download PDF | Wolinska, T. - Filipczak, P. [eds.] Byzantium and the Arabs -The Encounter of Civilizations [Byzantina Lodziensia XXIII] ,Part 1-3, 2015.
Part 1 : 215 Pages
Part 2 : 110 Pages
Part 3 : 307 Pages.
Introduction
Byzantium and theArabs. The Encounter of Civilisations. We never had doubts about the tide. An encounter — not a clash. Ifwe were to seek the starting point ofthe Byzantine history in the reign ofConstantine the Great - and this is what we are doing in the Lodz centre ofByzantine studies - then the Byzantine-Arab relations, examined in along, multi-century perspective, shall appear to be a very complex phenomenon, one fluctuating between two extreme poles: peaceful co-existence and armed hostile actions, presenting varying degrees ofthreat to both ofthe sides. Times between the fourth and the mid-seventh century were those of an encounter: mutual cognizance, often multi-faceted infiltration - lingual or religious, but also political, economic and administrative - ofthe two great cultural spheres: Graeco-Roman and Oriental.
Such an understanding ofthe Byzantine-Arab neighbourhood is certainly not unique to us. In zo 11, a large conference was organised at theAristode University ofThessaloniki; it was dedicated to Byzantine-Arab relations and, quite significandy, it was entided Byzantium and theArabs. Encounter ofCivilisations. The correlation between the tide ofthe aforementioned scholarly meeting (as well as of the tide ofits resultant volume) and the tide ofour book is impossible to miss. Admittedly, the Thessalonikan debates gave us a direct impulse to study the relationships between the Byzantine and Arab worlds -something we desired to do for many years.
Although we are writing about the encounter of civilisations, we cannot deny that they did, also, clash at times. During the mid-seventh century, the Muslims performed a military takeover of nearly all ofthe Byzantine Near East. It was achieved with violence, often brutality; there is no doubt about that. However it is impossible to ignore the fact that on the timeline of Byzantine-Arab relations, the Muslim conquest was a one-off event; even though simultaneously it is of critical significance, from the historical perspective. Following this clash, the Byzantine element in the Near East - devoid ofthe structures ofimperial power, “represented” solely by the Greek-speakingpopulace and the local Churches - weakened considerably, and in some places became entirely extinct. This, however, did not happen instantly, but over time, during the new stage ofco-existence between the two civilisations -though this time notwithin the Byzantine empire s borders, but within the caliphate.
The book’s framing, accepting the Muslim conquest as the most clear chronological point, is based on three clear parts: the “before” the conquest, “during”, and “after” the conquest. The exact contents of each ofthe parts are, of course, detailed in the table ofcontents — here we only wish to present a few general remarks. The majority ofthe chapters are scholarlypar excellence, but there are also a few that- while maintaining the scholarly apparatus - are somewhat Tighter” and in their form resemble essays. This is intentional, agreed with the Press, but at the same time stemming from our deep conviction that a scholarly volume - and let usstress here that we are dealingwith such - ought also to be comprehensible for readers without Byzantinological or Arabistic background. The stylistic differences between the chapters arise from the fact that the book has seven different authors. Some ofits parts are more focused on sources, are analytical and examine fine details, others - on the contrary - are more general introductions or summarise particular topics.
Even these, however, when we consider the vast amounts of academic literature that are nowadays being published, have great value. We are also dealing here with a compromise, as we are attempting to adopt a synthetic approach to nearly three centuries of history, extremely abundant in phenomena and processes that are often difficult to interpret. We could not have written about everything in as much detail as we would have liked to. Some ofthe themes or persons, while tied to Byzantine-Arab relations, have first and foremost a separate substance oftheir own, such as the person of Muhammad or the emergence ofthe Islam, have been placed in the background, and are not discussed in deuil.
It is always difficult to adopt a single, consistent and universally accepted approach to the matter oftranscribing names from scripts other than Latin. We have adopted the following: Arabic names - primarily those of chieftains, caliphs, scholars, deities - are always given in a form containing diacritical marks (where such are present). We have done the same in the case ofArabic technical terms, referring to various taxes, the names of administrative units, social or religious groups, and certain events or historical phenomena. In such cases we are following The Encyclopaedia ofIslam (ofwhich we have primarily used the second edition), and to a lesser extent Encyclopaedia Britannica, but we have also made recourse to indices of names from the best-known works in the English language, published in reputable series (primarily: TheFormation ofthe Classical Islamic World, Variorum Collected Studies Series, and Studies in Late Antiquity andEarly Islam). We have done differently with geographic and ethnographic names.
In case ofterms ingrained in the English language, referring to not only historical reality but also to modern names of cities (Aden, Medina etc.) and states (Bahrain, Oman, Yemen etc.) we have used a simplified spelling, devoid ofdiacritical marks; we consider this to be the most clear, and thus fullyjustified. We were not pioneersin abandoning the exact diacritical notation -BarringtonAtlasofGreek andRoman World abandoned the exact spelling ofArabic toponyms altogether. In case ofgeographic terms that are not commonly used in the English language, ones that are not an intrinsic part ofthis language, and almost exclusively referring to less well-known, local toponyms, used in this book in a clearly historical context, we have retained the spelling that includes diacritical marks, whenever using them is necessary (occasionally, a variant form is used, e.g. Najd or Nadjd).
The risk ofusing the proposed criteria depends on a certain arbitrariness of what is considered linguisticallymore universal, andwhat more specific. The best example: Hejaz or Al-Hidjäz? There may be exceptions from the rules -the capital ofYemen, but at the same time an important historical centre, is spelled here Sana’a rather than Sana. Moreover, the works ofmodern scholars publishing in the English language do occasionally contain, major or minor, discrepancies in spelling ofsome ofthe names and terms.
As regards the Greek or Latin names denoting people or places, the scale of the problem was much smaller. We most commonly used Anglicised versions (e.g. Timothy rather than Timotheus or Timotheos, or Tyre rather than Tyrus or Tyros). The spelling of non-Latin geographical and personal names is subject to the rules accepted in the volume, but to some extent it also arises from habit and literary tastes. In all cases, we have accepted common sense as the chiefrule. This means that the proper name always ought to easily and unquestionably identify a person or a place. Any possible inaccuracies arising from the rules and principles described above would be the sole responsibility ofthe volumes scholarly editors. Ш We would like to thank the whole team ofthe Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture ofthe Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe (Ceraneum) atLodz University forthe highly supportive attitude to our work.
Wé thank Professor Maciej Kokoszko, director ofthe Centre, and the employees ofthe Centre s office, Dr Karolina Krzeszewska and Dr KrzysztofJagusiak, for assisting in efficiently performing numerous formal tasks associated with running ofthe project. Particular thanks are due to Dr Zofia Brzozowska, who was the first Reader ofthis book, a tireless editor and proof-reader ofour texts and a true caretaker, so to speak, ofthe administrative side ofthe project. As always, we could count on the support ofour Colleagues from Ceraneum and from our parent research unit, the Department ofByzantine History at the Institute ofHistory ofthe University ofLodz: Professor MiroslawJ. Leszka and Professor Slawomir Bralewski, as well as ofDr Kiril Marinow and Dr Andrzej Kompa. Miroslaw and Andrzej, as usual in the case ofthe Byzantina Lodziensia series, extended editorial care to the book, offering advice during the exceedingly complex process ofpreparing the book for print.
We owe thanks to Professor Marek Μ. Dziekan and Marta Wozniak from the Department ofMiddle East and North Africa Studies for consultation regarding Arabic names. We thank ProfessorJacek Bonarek from theJan Kochanowski University in Kielce, the branch in Piotrkow Trybunalski for the meticulous and positive editorial review. We thank Michal Zytka and Bruce Borne for editing and proof-reading ofthe English text.
The materials for the book were gathered in numerous libraries, both Polish and foreign. In the first instance, however, we need to list the Library ofthe Lodz University, directed by the custodian Mgr. Tomasz Piestrzyhski, patient and favourable towards our successive initiatives aimed at expanding the Ceraneum s book collection. We also thank Brother Riccardo R^czka from the Pontificio Instituto Orientale library in Rome and Ms. Carla Chalhoub from the Jaffet Library ofthe American University in Beirut for enabling our quick access to their collections and comfortable working conditions. Finally, we could always expect a warm welcome in the libraries ofthe Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and the local Centre for Byzantine Research, “Melissa”. Teresa Wolinska PawelFilipczak
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