International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Тheodora Zampaki
Kozani, Greece;
[e-mail]
Ibn Khaldūn on Byzantium: A Study in Sources
The aim of this paper is to examine how the Arab historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldūn 
(1333-1406) looked at Byzantium. There is a chapter in his Kitāb al-‘Ibar, Ibn Khaldūn devoted 
to Byzantium. This chapter is entitled “An account of the Ceasar kings from Heraclius and the 
[establishment of the] Muslim state to the extinction of their power and the disappearance of their 
condition”. In his narrative Ibn Khaldūn, first, presents certain outstanding events or achievements, 
as he calls them, for example the Arab conquest of Syria and Egypt, the sieges of Constantinople, 
and the subsequent expeditions in Anatolia under the Umayyads, Abbasids, and Hamdanids. 
Secondly, he gives special attention to the relations of the Byzantines with the Buigars, Armenians, 
Russians, Turks, and Seljuks. A third important aspect of Ibn Khaldūn’s treatment is a detailed 
account on the Frankish conquest of Constantinople (A.D. 1204), explaining, in some detail, the 
circumstances leading to it, and as well as the recapture of Constantinople by Lascaris. Ibn Khaldūn 
describes Constantinople as “a magnificent city, the seat of Ceasars, containing works famous for 
their construction and splendor”. His account in the Kitāb al-‘Ibar contains more or less an accurate 
list of Byzantine emperors. 
In this study, I also look into the sources upon which Ibn Khaldūn drew. It appears that Ibn 
Khaldūn’s interest in Byzantium follows a tradition which some of his predecessors established, 
starting with al-Ya
ʻ
qūbī (A.D. 897) and al-Mas
ʻ
ūdī (c. 896-956). This tradition focuses on the 
characteristics and the excellences of the peoples of other nations.

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268
Elvira Wakelnig
Universität Wien, Institut für Orientalistik, Vienna, Austria; 
[e-mail]
ʿ
Abd Allāh ibn al-Fa
ḍ
l al-An
ṭ
ākī –
An 11
th
Century Byzantine Philosopher and Theologian Writing in Arabic
After more than 300 years under Arab rule, Antioch (An
ṭ
ākiya) was again Byzantine from 969 
to 1084. This period coincides with the life of the Melkite deacon Abū l-Fat
ḥ ʿ
Abd Allāh Ibn al-Fa
ḍ
l 
ibn 
ʿ
Abd Allāh al-Mu
ṭ
rān al-An
ṭ
ākī, whose name ‘the Antiochian’ (al-An
ṭ
ākī) testifies to his ties 
with the city. Whereas hardly any biographical information about him survives, many of his works 
do. Among them there are Arabic translations of the Bible and Greek patristic literature as well as 
Arabic compositions which he compiled from an impressive number of sources, Greek and Arabic, 
theological and philosophical. My contribution focuses on his still unedited Book of the Delight of 
the Believer. This compilation is divided in four sections which are said to represent the division 
of the human body and contains 365 chapters so that the reader may have one chapter to read and 
contemplate each day of the year. In the first section one hundred philosophical and theological 
principal matters are treated, among them the Oneness of God, the creation of the world, the four 
elements, soul, body and intellect. A notably interesting section deals with the question whether God 
does or does not know the particulars. To answer this question Ibn al-Fa
ḍ
l resorts to teleological 
arguments or arguments from design which have already been expounded by the second century 
Greek physician Galen to prove the wisdom of the Creator. Almost solely based on the evidence 
of the Creator’s wisdom perceptible to anyone in the human body, Ibn Fa
ḍ
l al-An
ṭ
ākī deduces 
that God knows the particulars. In doing so, he closely follows the 10
th
century Christian author 
Ya
ḥ
yā ibn 
ʿ
Adī from Bagdad. This and other examples shall provide an insight into the cultural and 
intellectual milieu of Antioch which Ibn al-Fa
ḍ
l al-An
ṭ
ākī was part of in the eleventh century.