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Ancient Arabia (from 1st Millennium BCE to the Emergence of Islam) and its Relations with the Surrounding Cultures

[RG # 118] Ancient Arabia (from the 1st Millennium BCE to the Emergence of Islam) and its Relations with the Surrounding Cultures

September 1, 2009 - July 31, 2010

Organizers:

Joseph Patrich (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Michael Lecker (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Arabia (the Arabian Peninsula) may no longer be terra incognita, but many aspects of its history remain unknown. The study of the history and culture of this territory is still in its infancy. One of the difficulties in properly evaluating the historical evidence about the ancient Near East is that modern Europeans or westerners approaching it inevitably do it with a host of confused and half-formed preconceptions about the "Orient", as Fergus Millar has noted in his book The Roman Near East 31 BC - AD 337.

In the last three decades an ever growing amount of new archaeological data, including a wealth of new inscriptions in many languages and scripts (Akkadian, Aramaic, Nabataean and South Arabian) has been gathered from sites in Saudi Arabia, the Yemen, the Persian Gulf, Sinai, the Negev, Jordan and Syria, as well as from sites of the cultures bordering with Arabia. Moreover, many texts in classical Arabic are now more accessible than ever before through various electronic media.

The group will evaluate the state of our knowledge about Arabia and the prospects for future research.

 

 

2009-2010 Research Groups 2009-2010 Humanities

Members

men

Israel Eph'al

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel is a professor in the Departments of History of the Jewish People and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
men

Robert Hoyland

FELLOW
University of Oxford
Robert is a professor in the Oriential Institute at the University of Oxford.
men

Michael Lecker

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Michael is a professor in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are the social and political history of early Islam, with a particular emphasis on prospography, and on the biography of Muhammad.
men

Joseph Patrich

FELLOW
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Joseph is a professor in the Institute of Archaeology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests are: Nabatean art and archaeology; archaeology of Israel and of the Middle East in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods.
men

Christian Robin

FELLOW
CNRS
Christian is a professor at CNRS, Paris. His research interests are: history and civilization of ancient Arabia and the first century of Islam; history and civilization of ancient Ethiopia; archaeology (Yemen, Ethiopia); South Arabian epigraphy; history.
men

Uri Rubin

FELLOW
Tel Aviv University
Uri is a professor in the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Tel Aviv University.