WIVA - Seminar series May 28th
A Curiosity of Wonders: The Rūs and Scandinavia in an Undiscussed Arabic ʿAjāʾib Text
Among the Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish geographical sources for the Viking world, there are a huge number of sources which have barely been studied, or which have not been discussed. Exploring how earlier researchers constructed a “corpus” of Islamicate sources on the Viking world, and reflecting on the potential of the digital archive to facilitate the identification of additional source material, this paper introduces an undiscussed geographical source which presents the Rūs and Medieval Scandinavia in tandem. Offering some preliminary reflections and an initial translation of this source, I contextualise this material against other Islamicate sources on the Viking world, and present some ideas about its authorship as part of an attempt to broaden the textual horizons of this corpus of sources.
Date: May 28th
Place: Uppsala Eng/2-2033
Time: 10:15-12:00
Lecturer: Tonicha Upham