On behalf of IIS-ISMC Library:
The IIS-ISMC library invites you to join us for the latest in our popular series of library lectures on sacred trash in medieval Damascus:
SACRED TRASH IN MEDIEVAL DAMASCUS
HOW MAMLUK-PERIOD SCRIBES 'RECYCLED' LEGAL DOCUMENTS
BY DR KONRAD HIRSCHLER
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Wednesday 11 November 2015 at 12.30 pm
210 Euston Road, NW1 2DA
Room: 2.3
Abstract
The Cairo Geniza, a collection of more than 300,000 documents dating from the 9th-19th is well known. However the Geniza was not the only depository for 'sacred trash' in the Egyptian and Syrian lands. A wide variety of social groups deposited their documents in the Damascus Dome of the Treasury.
Dr Hirschler will present an attempt to reconstitute documents (marriage contracts, bequest-related legal disputes, and private letters) from this depository which were recycled in late Mamluk manuscripts.
The talk will also address issues of access to Damascene manuscripts while the Syrian war is ongoing.
Speaker
Konrad Hischler is Professor of Middle Eastern History at SOAS, University of London. He is the author of Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library – The Ashrafīya Library Catalogue (forthcoming 2016), The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands (2012) and Medieval Arabic Historiography: Authors as Actors (2006) as well as co-editor of Manuscript Notes as a Documentary Source (2011).
Konrad Hischler is Professor of Middle Eastern History at SOAS, University of London. He is the author of Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library – The Ashrafīya Library Catalogue (forthcoming 2016), The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands (2012) and Medieval Arabic Historiography: Authors as Actors (2006) as well as co-editor of Manuscript Notes as a Documentary Source (2011).
Registration
The event is free but tickets are limited, please book your place here.
