Abstract
This chapter examines written accounts of the Battle of Zallaqa within the framework of a mythos-logos binary. The battle took place in 1086 in the southwest region of al-Andalus (modern Spain and near the Portuguese border) between Alfonse VI, King of Castille and Galicia (r. 1077–1109), and al-Mu‘tamid Ibn ‘Abbad, Prince of the emirate of Seville (r. 1061–1091). My texts include two poems composed in the immediate aftermath of the battle and an account taken from a historical encyclopedia written in the fifteenth century. The poems were composed by the Sicilian exile ‘Abd al-Jabbar Ibn Hamdis (d. 1133), a court poet at the ‘Abbad Court in Seville, and the historical account was penned by Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Himyari, some 400 years after the battle. In reading the works of poet and historian in juxtaposition, I attempt to show that a period of gradual change in the relation between Arabic poetry and prose had been in perpetual motion. My goal is to show that these texts, poetry and [historical] prose, tap into literarity and historicity in equal measure, share common tropes and themes, and cross each other’s discursive boundaries all the while telling the same story in oddly similar ways.
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Notes
- 1.
Husain Haddawi, trans., The Arabian Nights (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), 376–377.
- 2.
On the debates concerning early Islam’s view on poetry, see: Irfan Shahid, “The Sura of the Poets, Qur’an XXVI: Final Conclusions.” Journal of Arabic Literature 35 no. 2 (2004): 175–220.
- 3.
Karen Armstrong, The Case for God (New York: Knopf, 2009): x–xii.
- 4.
Robert L. Fowler, “Mythos and Logos,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 131 (2011): 66.
- 5.
William Granara, “Sicilian Poets in Seville: Literary Affinities across Political Boundaries,” in A Sea of Languages: Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, ed. K. Mallette and S. C. Akbari (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013), 199–216.
- 6.
Ibn Hamdis, ‘Abd al-Jabbar, Diwan, ed. Ihsan ‘Abbas (Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1960), poem # 277: 424–428.
- 7.
For a brief discussion of this practice, see: Thomas Leisten, “Mashad al-Nasr: Monuments of War and Victory in Medieval Islamic Art,” Maqarnas 13, no. 1 (1996), 14.
- 8.
Ibn Hamdis, Diwan, # 283: 435–438.
- 9.
Granara, “Sicilian Poets in Seville.”
- 10.
Suzanne Stetkevych, The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy: myth, gender, and ceremony in the classical Arabic ode (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2002).
- 11.
Sahih al-Bukhari, Bab Harb Khad‘a: 2864.
- 12.
Abu Abdallah Muhammad Al-Himyari, Kitabal-rawd al-mi‘tar fi khabar al-aqtar, ed. E. Levi-Provencal (Cairo: Matba‘at lajnat al-ta’lif wa al-tarjama wa al-ashr, 1937).
- 13.
T. Lewicki, “Ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Himyari,” in Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. http://dx.doi.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3030
- 14.
H. A. R. Gibb, Studies in Islamic Civilization (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962), 116.
- 15.
Gibb, Studies, 118.
- 16.
In the Introduction to the edited Kitab al-Rawd, it is mentioned that three texts served as primary sources for al-Himyari: Kitab al-masalik wa al-mamalik of al-Bakri (c.c. 1067–1068); Nuzhat al-mushtaq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq of al-Idrisi (ca. 1154); and Kitab al-istibsar fi ‘aja’ib al-amsar (ca. 1154); Lewicki, “Ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Himyari.”
- 17.
Gibb, Studies, 199. Gibb further adds: “it was the verse which maintained the currency of the tradition.”
- 18.
The presence of the Jew in this anecdote as well as the earlier cited Jewish emissary Alfonse sent to al-Mu‘tamid affirms their roles as go-betweens for Christians and Muslims, most likely due to their multilingualism.
- 19.
Al-Himyari, Rawd al-Mi‘tar, 85.
Bibliography
‘Abd al-Jabbar Ibn Hamdis. Diwan, edited by Ihsan ‘Abbas. Beirut: Dar Sadir, 1960.
Armstrong, Karen. The Case for God. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
Fowler, Robert L. “Mythos and Logos.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 131 (2011): 45–66.
Gibb, H. A. R. Studies in Islamic Civilization. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1962.
Granara, William. “Sicilian Poets in Seville: Literary Affinities across Political Boundaries.” In A Sea of Languages: Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, edited by Karla Mallette and S. C. Akbari, 199–216. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013.
Haddawi, Husain, trans. The Arabian Nights. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
[al-] Himyari, Abu Abd-allah Muhammad (1937). Kitab al-rawd al-mi‘tar fi khabar al-aqtar, edited by E. Levi-Provencal. Cairo: Matba‘at lajnat al-ta’lif wa al-tarjama wa al-ashr, 1937.
Leisten, Thomas. “Mashad al-Nasr: Monuments of War and Victory in Medieval Islamic Art.” Maqarnas 13 (1996): 7–26.
Lewicki, T. “Ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Himyari.” In Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition. http://dx.doi.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3030
Sahih al-Bukhari. Bab Harb Khad‘a: 2864.
Shahid, Irfan. “The Sura of the Poets, Qur’an XXVI: Final Conclusions.” Journal of Arabic Literature 35 no. 2 (2004): 175–220.
Stetkevych, Suzanne. The Poetics of Islamic Legitimacy: myth, gender, and ceremony in the classical Arabic ode. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 2002.
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Granara, W. (2019). The Battle of Zallaqa Between Mythos to Logos. In: Abate, M.T. (eds) Convivencia and Medieval Spain. Mediterranean Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96481-2_9
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