The Transmission and the Development of Biblical Charactersas depicted in Arabic and Jewish Literatures

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22651089
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Area studies
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	TAKASHINA Yoshiyuki 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科, 教授 (70144540)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2010: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Keywords	地域研究 / 外国文学 / 西アジア / ユダヤ諸語
Research Abstract	In Qur'an and Arabic literatures, there are many passages that have no explicit corresponding references in the Old Testament. This research was made in order to make clear to what Jewish sources these Arabic descriptions correspond. The results show that the development of extra-biblical images of biblical characters can be described more elaborately, that the analysis of the Aramaic Targum text which came into being shortly after Islam is very important, and that among Arabic literature al-Kisai's Tales of the Prophets (qisas al-anbiya) is very close to the Jewish traditions. Also, reference data have been compiled digitally for easier cross-reference to biblical characters in the relevant classical texts, Arabic and Jewish.