Reflecting Mirrors, East and West: Transcultural Comparisons of Advice Literature for Rulers (8th - 13th Century)

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-49874-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 189, 314 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 669 g

Reihe: Islamic History and Civilization

In Reflecting Mirrors, East and West Enrico Boccaccini sheds new light on Mirrors for Princes, the pre-modern genre of advice literature for rulers. A popular genre in the societies that emerged from the Late Antique oecumene, Mirrors for Princes are considered here, for the first time, as a transcultural phenomenon that challenges the dichotomy of the Orient and the Occident. Traditionally, the historiographic tradition has viewed ‘European’ and ‘Middle Eastern’ Mirrors as distinct and incommensurable. Analyzing the contents and discourses in four Mirrors, ostensibly separated by space, time and language, Enrico Boccaccini convincingly draws out the surprising continuities between these texts, while also showing how they are embedded in their own historical, literary and political context.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Boccaccini, Enrico

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Naher & Mittlerer Osten
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam & Islamische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Notes on Transliteration and Style

Introduction

1 Approaching Mirrors for Princes

2 The Heritage of Late Antiquity

3 Transculturalism

4 Research Procedure

1 The Traditions

1 The Two Histories of Mirrors for Princes

2 Mirrors for Princes—A genre?

3 Transcending the Historiographic Divide

2 The Texts

1 Risala to the Crown Prince

2 De institutione regia

3 Na?i?at al-muluk

4 Castigos e documentos para bien vivir

3 The Advice

1 Traits of the Ideal Ruler

2 Roles of the Ideal Ruler

4 The Advisors

1 Constructing Advice

2 Negotiating with Power

Conclusion

1 The Transcultural Genre of Mirrors for Princes

2 In the Mirror and Beyond

Appendix

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Enrico Boccaccini, Ph.D., is a visiting postdoctoral fellow at the Orient Institute Beirut (OIB). He received his Ph.D. in 2020 from the Department of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Göttingen.