Between memory and power : the Syrian space under the late Umayyads and early Abbasids (c. 72-193/692-809) / by Antoine Borrut ; translated by Anna Bailey Galietti

• Superior document: Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One, The Near and Middle East volume 162
• VerfasserIn: Borrut, Antoine 1977-
• ÜbersetzerIn: Bailey Galietti, Anna
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Boston : Brill, 2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English; French
• Series: Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One, The Near and Middle East volume 162
• Classification: 15.76 - Vorderer und mittlerer Orient
• Physical Description: XXI, 513 Seiten; Karten, Diagramme
• Notes: Literaturverzeichnis: Seite [422]-495

"Between Memory and Power intends to demonstrate that a robust culture of historical writing existed in 2nd/8th century Syria, and to offer new methodological approaches to access this now lost history, torn between memory and oblivion. By studying the making of Umayyad heroes or Abbasid origins-myths, this book aims to reveal the successive meanings granted to Syrian history, and to identify the various layers of historical writing and rewriting during the first centuries of Islam. Taken together, these elements make possible a history of meanings of the very space of Syria, articulated around power and its expression, which grants a clear coherence to the period, extending well beyond the dynastic caesura of 132/750"--

In Between Memory and Power, Antoine Borrut offers a fresh approach to early Islamic Syria from a perspective of history of memory, revealing Umayyad and Abbasid historiographical projects, as well as their practices of power

Table of Contents

Preface to the English translation (2022) -- Acknowledgements to the French edition (2011) -- Translator's note -- List of illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- A time of writings and rewritings: writing history in the Syrian space -- A time of writings and rewritings: historiographic filters and Vulgates -- A time of writings and rewritings: sources on the margins of the historiographic Vulgate? -- The second/eight-century Syrian space: between memory and oblivion -- The creation of Umayyad heroes Maslama B. 'Abd Al-Malik, combat hero -- The creation of Umayyad Heroes: 'Umar B. 'Abd Al-'Aziz, the "holy" Caliph -- Interpreting the Abbasid revolution in the Syrian space -- Exercising power in the Syrian space in the second/eighth century: a history of meanings -- Conclusion -- Sources -- Bibliography -- Index.