Table Of Contenti
Power, Patronage, and Memory
in Early Islam
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Power, Patronage,
and Memory
in Early Islam
Perspectives on
Umayyad Elites
Edited by
ALAIN GEORGE AND ANDREW MARSHAM
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
List of Contributors ix
Introduction: Umayyad Elites and the Foundation of the
Islamic Empire— alain george and andrew MarshaM xiii
PART I: Caliphal Authority in Text and Image
1. “God’s Caliph” Revisited: Umayyad Political Thought in Its Late
Antique Context—a ndrew MarshaM 3
2. Paradise or Empire? On a Paradox of Umayyad Art—a lain
george 39
3. A Qurʾanic Script from Umayyad Times: Around the Codex of
Fustat—F rançois déroche 69
PART II: Patronage and Power: The Evidence of the “Desert Castles”
4. Hishām’s Balancing Act: The Case of Qaṣr al-Ḥ ayr al- Gharbī—
robert hillenbrand 83
5. Khanāṣira and Andarīn (Northern Syria) in the Umayyad Period
and a New Arabic Tax Document—r obert g. hoyland 133
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6. Two Possible Caliphal Representations from Qaṣr al-Ḥ ayr
al- Sharqī and Their Implication for the History of the
Site—d enis genequand 147
7. Umayyad Palace Iconography: On the Practical Aspects
of Artistic Creation— nadia ali and Mattia guidetti 175
PART III: Historiography and Historical Memory
8. Christians in Umayyad Iraq: Decentralization and Expansion
(600– 750)—P hiliP wood 255
9. The Future of the Past: Historical Writing in Early Islamic Syria
and Umayyad Memory—a ntoine borrut 275
10. Caliphs and Conquerors: Images of the Marwanids
and Their Agents in Narratives of the Conquest
of Iberia—n icola clarke 301
11. The Umayyads in Contemporary Arab TV Drama: ʿUmar ibn
ʿAbd al-ʿ Azīz and al-Ḥ ajjāj ibn Yūsuf in Musalsalāt—J akob
skovgaard-P etersen 321
Index 335
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Acknowledgments
THE PRESENT VOLUME is based on papers given at a conference con-
vened by the editors on June 24– 25, 2011, at the University of Edinburgh,
The Umayyads: History, Art and Culture in the First Century of Islam. We
thank the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW)
and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) at the University of Edinburgh for
their generous support, which made the event possible; Sophie Lowry,
for her invaluable administrative skill; and our graduate student helpers,
Emily Goetsch, Hannah Hagemann, Maud Hurley, and Majied Robinson.
We are very grateful to Sarah Pirovitz of Oxford University Press, and
Rajakumari Ganessin of Newgen for their support, assistance and patience.
The Moray Endowment Fund supported the production of color plates,
and Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Yagnaseni Datta and Simon Loynes pro-
vided valuable help and editorial assistance at various stages in the book’s
production. Our speakers, colleagues, and audience came from near and
far to discuss a variety of perspectives on and evidence for the Umayyad
period. We are very grateful to all of them for their contributions.
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Contributors
Nadia Ali is a postdoctoral researcher with the Empires of Faith proj-
ect, a collaboration between the British Museum and Oxford University
(Wolfson College). Before joining this project she completed a PhD in
Islamic art history at the University of Aix en Provence, France, and has
trained in Arabic and Islamic studies. Her research interests focus on the
emergence of early Islamic art in the context of Late Antiquity.
Antoine Borrut is Associate Professor of History at the University of
Maryland, College Park. He is the author of, among other works, Entre
mémoire et pouvoir: l’espace syrien sous les derniers Omeyyades et les premiers
Abbassides (v. 72- 193/ 692- 809) (Leiden: Brill, 2011).
Nicola Clarke is Lecturer in the History of the Islamic World at Newcastle
University. She is the author of The Muslim Conquest of Iberia: Medieval
Arabic Narratives (Routledge, 2012), which won the 2014 La Corónica
International Book Award.
François Déroche holds the chair “Histoire du Coran: Texte and
Transmission” at the Collège de France. He is the author of numerous
books and articles about early Qurʾanic manuscripts, including Qur’ans
of the Umayyads: A First Overview (2014). He was previously Directeur
d’Etudes at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE, Paris).
Denis Genequand is specialized in Islamic archaeology, with a strong
focus on the transition from Late Antiquity to Early Islam. He has con-
ducted extensive fieldwork in Syria and Jordan, and also in Yemen, Central
Asia, and West Africa. He was the director of the Syrian-S wiss projects
in Qaṣr al-Ḥ ayr al- Sharqī (2002– 2011) and Palmyra (2008–2 011). He has
published widely on Umayyad Syria and is the author of Les établissements
des élites omeyyades en Palmyrène et au Proche- Orient (2012). He holds a
