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Arabic-Speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (From the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries) Nicolas Drocourt

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Arabic-Speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (From the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries) Nicolas Drocourt Arabic-speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (from the Ninth to Eleventh centuries) Nicolas Drocourt To cite this version: Nicolas Drocourt. Arabic-speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (from the Ninth to Eleventh centuries). Zachary Chitwood; Johannes Pahlitzsch. Ambassadors, Artists, Theologians. Byzantine Relations with the Near East from the Ninth to the Thirteen Centuries, Römisch-Germanischen Zen- tralmuseum, pp.57-69, 2019, 978-3795434366. hal-03285713 HAL Id: hal-03285713 http://hal.univ-nantes.fr/hal-03285713 Submitted on 13 Jul 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Offprint from Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz Ambassadors, Artists, Theologians Byzantine Relations with the Near East from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Centuries Zachary Chitwood · Johannes Pahlitzsch (eds) Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident | 12 Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz Der Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz ist eine Forschungskooperation des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums und der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Ambassadors, Artists, Theologians Byzantine Relations with the Near East from the Ninth to the Thirteenth Centuries Zachary Chitwood · Johannes Pahlitzsch (eds) Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums | Mainz | 2019 Redaktion: Stefan Albrecht (RGZM) Satz: Stefan Albrecht (RGZM) Umschlaggestaltung: Claudia Nickel (RGZM); Bild: Johannes von Da- maskus und Ephraim der Syrer; Ikone Sinaikloster, 14. Jh. (Bildarchiv Abt. Christliche Archäologie, Universität Freiburg i. Br.) Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografe; detaillierte bibliografsche Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. ISBN 978-3-88467-314-0 © 2019 Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Das Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Die dadurch begründeten Rechte, insbesondere die der Übersetzung, des Nachdrucks, der Entnahme von Abbildungen, der Funk- und Fernsehsendung, der Wiedergabe auf fotomechanischem (Fotokopie, Mikrokopie) oder ähnlichem Wege und der Speicherung in Datenverarbeitungs- anlagen, Ton- und Bildträgern bleiben, auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwertung, vorbehalten. Die Vergütungsansprüche des § 54, Abs. 2, UrhG. werden durch die Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort wahrgenommen. Druck: Memminger MedienCentrum Druckerei und Verlags-AG Printed in Germany. Contents Zachary Chitwood · Johannes Pahlitzsch 7 Introduction Boundaries and Borderlands Asa Eger 13 The Agricultural Landscape of the Umayyad North and the Islamic-Byzantine Frontier Coexistence and Continuity Ute Versteegen How to Share a Sacred Place – The Parallel Christian and Muslim Use of the Major Christian 29 Holy Sites at Jerusalem and Bethlehem Robert Schick 45 The Christian Presence in Jordan in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries Diplomacy and Mediation Nicolas Drocourt 57 Arabic-speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries) Bettina Krönung The Employment of Christian Mediators by Muslim Rulers in Arab-Byzantine Diplomatic Rela- 71 tions in the Tenth and Early Eleventh Centuries Alexander Beihammer Changing Strategies and Ideological Concepts in Byzantine-Arab Relations in the Eleventh 85 and Twelfth Centuries Melkite Artists as Intermediaries Mat Immerzeel Painters, Patrons, and Patriarchs. Byzantine Artists in the Latin and Islamic Middle East of the 103 Thirteenth Century Lucy-Anne Hunt The Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII (1261-1282) and Greek Orthodox / Melkite-Genoese Cultural Agency in a Globalised World: Art at Sinai, Behdaidat, of the pallio of San Lorenzo 127 in Genoa, and in Mamluk Egypt Mutual Artistic Interactions Elizabeth Williams 159 Dressing the Part: Jewelry as Fashion in the Medieval Middle East Alicia Walker Pseudo-Arabic as a Christian Sign: Monks, Manuscripts, and the Iconographic Program of 169 Hosios Loukas Robert Hillenbrand 193 The Lure of the Exotic: The Byzantine Heritage in Islamic Book Painting Between Philosophy and Theology Benjamin de Lee 217 Niketas Byzantios, Islam, and the Aristotelian Shift in Ninth-Century Byzantium Alexander Treiger Greek into Arabic in Byzantine Antioch: ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Faḍl’s »Book of the Garden« (Kitāb 227 al-rawḍa) Sidney Griffth Islam and Orthodox Theology in Arabic: The »Melkite« Tradition from the Ninth to the Thir- 239 teenth Centuries 251 List of Contributors 253 Sigles Used Nicolas Drocourt Arabic-speaking Ambassadors in the Byzantine Empire (from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries)* In the framework of the conference held in Mainz, Ara- ists) between Byzantium and the Arab Near East can also be bic-speaking ambassadors deserve special attention. This considered within the context of this overview. paper will focus on the frst three centuries of the period under consideration (i. e. between the ninth and eleventh centuries). Offcial emissaries were already present within Part of an Elite? Social Profle and Reasons the Byzantine Empire during the previous centuries, since for the Choice of Arab Ambassadors the very beginning of Islam. The period of the rāšidūn caliphs and then the entire Umayyad period soon demonstrated Thanks to the written sources, scholars usually posit that that military contacts were only one side of a much more ambassadors formed part of an elite during the Middle complex reality of relations between the Arab Near East and Ages – and this is not only true for Arab ambassadors sent Byzantium. Peaceful relations also prevailed. Arabic-speak- to the Byzantine Empire 3. But this seems particularly true ing ambassadors – as well as Byzantine emissaries sent to for these emissaries, and, more generally, for the ones who Damascus and then to Baghdad – were at the heart of these moved from the Muslim to the Christian world and vice relations. Various studies by Marius Canard or, more recently, versa 4. those by Andreas Kaplony and Alexander Beihammer, among Indeed, they have to be considered as part of a social as others, have focused on these frst decades and centuries of well as a military and political elite, even if this assertion can- offcial and diplomatic relations 1. They have demonstrated not be checked for each case of diplomatic contact known notably that many Arab ambassadors stayed in the Byzan- to us. A few examples tend to prove this fact. First of all, the tine Empire – even if the ebb and fow of their movements notable Abū ʿUmayr ʿAdī b. Ahmad b. ʿAbd al-Bāqī al-Aḏanī did not follow a regular pattern, depending on geopolitical is impressive in that sense. He represents a case which re- circumstances 2. quires careful thought. In the frst part of the tenth century, The case of Arabic-speaking ambassadors sent to Byzan- ʿAbd al-Bāqī held offcial administrative functions on the Ab- tium during the subsequent centuries, until the beginning of basid Syrian frontier with Byzantium. He was an Arab from the Crusades, can be analyzed. As such, the subject raises the Tamīm tribe originating from the Cilician city of Adana 5. many questions. First of all, who are the ambassadors under He is known to us notably because of his personal relations consideration? What is their social and political profle? What with one of the greatest Arab geographers of this century: are their conditions of travel and stay within the Empire? al-Masʿūdī. The latter presents him as a commander of the But we also have to deal with the political and cultural con- Syrian borderlands (šayḫ aṯ-ṯuġūr aš-šāmīya) 6, while al-Ḫaṭīb sequences of their stay in the Byzantine Empire – an aspect al-Baġdādi calls him a raʾīs of the same ṯuġūr 7. He appears to which will be considered in the third part of this paper. As a have played a central role in the diplomatic contacts between whole, the place and infuence of these ambassadors com- Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate. Indeed, if he reached pared to that of other individuals (monks, merchants or art- Constantinople in May 946 to meet Constantine VII in the * I am very grateful to John Tolan and Jean-Marcel Périllon for reading and com- are known, but a few of them remain anonymi: for them see PmbZ # 30171, menting upon earlier versions of this article. In the following study, the phrase # 30248, # 30252 and # 30370. For Aġlabid envoys, to whom I will pay less »Arab ambassadors« will indicate Arabic-speaking ambassadors, be they Mus- attention, see, for instance: PmbZ # 22680 and # 22681. lims or Christians. 5 On this notable and his relations with Byzantium see now: PmbZ # 20086, with 1 See Canard, Proche-Orient; Kaplony, Gesandtschaften; Beihammer, Nachrichten; all the bibliographical references; see also Drocourt, Diplomatie sur le Bosphore, Rochow, Byzanz und das Kalifat. Index sub verbo »‘Abd al-Bâqî«. 2 Kennedy, Diplomacy 134-137. 6 Masʿūdī, Prairies d’or 2 §739 (277). 3 For the relations between Byzantium and the Western world, see notably McCor- 7 Vasiliev / Canard, Byzance et les Arabes 78 (raʾīs is translated as
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