2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Local Historiography of the Northern Syria and the Ulama in the Thirteenth Century
| Project/Area Number |
16520430
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Asian history
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| Research Institution | Kyoto Women's University |
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Principal Investigator |
TANIGUCHI Junichi Kyoto Women's University, Department of History, Associate Professor (90293844)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2007
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| Keywords | the thirteenth century / Syria / Aleppo / historiography / biography / intellectuals |
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| Research Abstract |
This research has mainly aimed to analyze the contents of Ibn al-Adim's Bughyat al-talab fi tarikh Halab (Investigation into the History of Aleppo) and examine its value as historical source. Bughyat al-talab is a local history written in the thirteenth century concerning the Aleppo region (the Northern Syria). The first of the ten extant volumes describes the topography of the Aleppo region, and the other nine are a large collection of biographies of people who have some ties to this region.
This research has been concentrated on the biographical volumes, and a database of biographical information was made from 618 biographies in three volumes (vols.2-4), which are around 30% of all the existent biographies in Bughyat al-talab.
Analyzing data of these biographies shows the following points: Bughyat al-talab includes many biographies of not only contemporaries of the author but also persons of the early centuries of Islam; the trend of the careers persons built up reflects the social environment of the time.
The ninth century includes more biographies of commanding officers than any other centuries. Their biographies tell us many of them battled against the Byzantine armies in the southeast of Anatolia. It is realized then that some biographies of the ninth century reflects the conflict between the Abbasids and the Byzantine Empire over this region in those days.
Regarding the ulama, the number of their biographies increases in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and also their careers and activities are found much more various than in earlier centuries. These tendencies indicate that the social status of the ulama rose in the both centuries through the policies of the Zangids and the Ayyubids.
These analyses prove that Bughyat al-talab is a precious source for history of the Northern Syria from the seventh to the thirteenth century.
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Research Products
(14 results)
