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Within a century of the Arab Muslim conquest of vast territories in
the Middle East and North Africa, Islam became the inheritor of the
intellectual legacy of classical antiquity. In an epochal cultural
transformation between the eighth and tenth centuries CE, most of
what survived in classical Greek literature and thought was
translated from Greek into Arabic. This translation movement,
sponsored by the ruling Abbasid dynasty, swiftly blossomed into the
creative expansion and reimagining of classical ideas that were now
integral parts of the Islamic tradition. Romance and Reason, a
lavishly illustrated catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the
same name at New York University's Institute for the Study of the
Ancient World, explores the breadth and depth of Islamic engagement
with ancient Greek thought. Drawing on manuscripts and artifacts
from the collections of the National Library of Israel and
prominent American institutions, the catalogue's essays focus on
the portrayal of Alexander the Great as ideal ruler, mystic, lover,
and philosopher in Persian poetry and art, and how Islamic
medicine, philosophy, and science contended with and developed the
classical tradition. Contributors include Roberta Casagrande-Kim,
Leigh Chipman, Steven Harvey, Y. Tzvi Langermann, Rachel Milstein,
Julia Rubanovich, Samuel Thrope, and Raquel Ukeles. Exhibition
Dates: February 14-May 13, 2018
An in-depth archaeological report featuring graffiti found during a
recent excavation at the Ancient Greek city of Smyrna. The graffiti
published in this richly-illustrated volume were discovered during
an excavation of the Roman basilica in the Ancient Greek city of
Smyrna, known today as Izmir, which is situated on the Aegean coast
of modern Turkey. The project, which began in 2003, has unearthed a
multitude of graffiti and drawings encompassing a wide range of
subjects and interests, including local politics, nautical vessels,
sex, and wordplay. Each graffito artifact holds the potential for
vast historical and cultural data, rescued in this volume from the
passage of time and razing ambitions of urban development. Given
the city's history, the potential wealth of knowledge to be gleamed
from these discoveries is substantial: Smyrna has an uninterrupted
history of settlement since the Neolithic-Copper ages, and remains
today a major city and Mediterranean seaport at the crossroads of
key trade routes. The present volume provides comprehensive
editions of the texts, descriptions of the drawings, and an
extensive introduction to the subjects of the graffiti, how they
were produced, and who was responsible for them. A complete set of
color photographs is included.
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