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Benedikt Reier

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Archive Fever in Egypt and Syria: The Social Logic and Use of Biographical Dictionaries in the Mamluk Period (1250-1517 CE)

Archive Fever in Egypt and Syria: The Social Logic and Use of Biographical Dictionaries in the Mamluk Period (1250-1517 CE)

Among the flourishing genres of literary production in Syria and Egypt during the Mamluk period, 'biographical dictionaries', a subgenre of history writing, occupy an important place. These partially enormous ‘Who-is-Who’ collections of short biographies have been used as sources for all kinds of queries by historians for a long time but have themselves rarely been made the subject of study. The 14th century stands out as one of the most productive periods regarding this mode of writing.

In my research, I explore the function these books fulfilled for their authors and their users. More specifically, I am interested in the diverse documentary material which was intentionally copied into these dictionaries after previously circulating in the documentary ecology of the Mamluk empire, thereby rendering biographical dictionaries an archival space. By a detailed study of Khalīl b. Aybak al-Ṣafadī’s (d. 1363) The Notables of the Generation and Supporters of Victory (Aʿyān al-aṣr wa-aʿwān al-naṣr), this project aims to elucidate the social and cultural function of biographical dictionaries by highlighting the archival practices at play during its production.

 

First Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Konrad Hirschler

Second Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Beatrice Gründler

Third Supervisor: Elias Muhanna