7 research outputs found
Dolce color di oriental zaffiro : il collezionismo di arte islamica a Roma. Un breve profilo
The article draws an outline of the Roman collecting of Islamic art in its anthropological feature, that is as an aspect of the social and cultural life as well as the changeable representations of the Islamic world
From Central Asia to Baghdad: a case study
My paper is within the range of studies which, during recent years, have been dedicated to the issue
of the integration of Central-Asian élites in the ‘Abbasid Empire (from P. Crone, to E.L. Daniel, R.W.
Bulliet, M. Gordon, H. Kennedy and above all Chase F. Robinson and E. de la Vaissière). Before
reaching their top, these élites carried out an extraordinary political path: their primate in the state as
well as in the army was the result of a gradual economic, social and political evolution of the links
between Iraq and Central Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. On this specific theme I shall focus my
attention through a case study which is, in my opinion, exemplary and significant in certain ways: the
case of the Banū Barmāk and their entourage will be investigated in a historically-social key with the
purpose of highlighting the courses through which they were allowed to acquire such powerful
positions. The main source of reference is the Kitāb al-wuzarā’ wa ’l-kuttāb by al-Jahshiyārī, this 10th
century functionary and learned man concentrated particular attention in this work to the Banū
Barmāk family. Naturally, together with al-Jahshiyārī’s story, reference will be made also to ancient
Arab sources, commencing with al-Ṭabarī, al-Yaʿqūbī and ibn Aʿthām al-Kūfī