The Fatimid Palace at Ajdābiya: New Data and Perspectives
Issue: Vol 2 No. 2 (2015)
Journal: Journal of Islamic Archaeology
Subject Areas:
Abstract:
This is a reconsideration of the sole fully excavated palatial structure built by the Fatimids: the qaṣr of Ajdābiya in Cyrenaica (modern Libya). The structure, excavated by Abdulhamid Abdussaid in the 1960s and by David Whitehouse in the early 1970s, is the perfect example of how a small provincial site, generally overlooked by scholars, can nonetheless yield precious information on ‘royal’ architectural patronage, provided the archaeological data are combined with a close scrutiny of primary sources and a re-evaluation of other local, equally neglected monuments and finds. The aim of this article is not to present new archaeological data, but rather to serve as an update of the material published forty years ago in the light of recent scholarship on a number of related topics – including new editions of primary sources – while awaiting the publication of Whitehouse’s final excavation report.
Author: Umberto Bongianino
References :
Primary sources
al-ʿAbdarī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad.
1968. Riḥlat al-ʿAbdarī, al-musammā bi-l-Riḥla al-Maghribiyya, edited by M. Fāsī. Rabat: University Muhammad V.
al-Bakrī, Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣiddīqī al-Shāfiʿī al-Ashʿarī.
1911. Kitāb al-Masālik wa-l-Mamālik, edited by M. G. de Slane. Algiers: A. Jourdan.
Hamilton, James.
1856. Wanderings in North Africa. London: J. Murray.
Ibn Ḥawqal, Abū al-Qāsim b. ʿAlī al-Naṣībī.
1964. Kitāb Ṣūrat al-Arḍ. Beirut: Dār Maktabat al-Hayā.
Ibn ʿIdhārī, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Marrākushī.
1980. Kitāb al-Bayān al-Mughrib fī Akhbār al-Andalus wa-l-Maghrib, edited by G. S. Colin and E. Lévi-Provençal. Beirut: Dār al-Thaqāfa.
Ibn al-Khāṭīb, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Salmānī.
1964. Tārīkh al-Maghrib al-ʿArabī fī al-ʿaṣr al-wāsiṭ: al-qism al-thālith min Kitāb Aʿmāl al-Aʿlām fī man buyiʿa qabl al-Iltihām, edited by A. M. al-ʿAbbādī and I. al-Kattānī. Casablanca: Dār al-Kitāb.
al-Idrīsī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-ʿĀlī bi-Amr Allāh.
2000. Nuzhat al-Mushtāq fī Ikhtirāq al-Āfāq, edited by I. Khūrī. Al-ʿAyn: Markaz Zāyid.
ʿImād al-Dīn, Idrīs b. al-Ḥasan.
1984. ʿUyūn al-Akhbār wa-Funūn al-Āthār fī Faḍāʾil al-Aʾimma al-Aṭhār, edited by M. Ghālib. Beirut: Dār al-Andalus.
al-Jawdharī, Abū ʿAlī al-Manṣūr al-ʿAzīzī.
1958. Sīrat Ustādh Jawdhar (Vie de l’Ustadh Jaudhar), edited and translated by M. Canard. Algiers: Institut d’Études Orientales de la Faculté des Lettres.
2012. Sīrat Ustādh Jawdhar (Inside the Immaculate Portal), edited and translated by H. Haji. London: I. B. Tauris, Institute of Ismaili Studies.
al-Maqrīzī, Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. ʿAlī.
2009. Towards a Shiʿi Mediterranean Empire: Fatimid Egypt and the Founding of Cairo. The Reign of the Imām-caliph al-Muʿizz, from al-Maqrīzī’s Ittiʿāẓ al-Ḥunafāʾ bi-Akhbār al-Aʾimma al-Fāṭimiyyīn al-Khulafāʾ, translated by S. Jiwa, London: I. B. Tauris, Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Pacho, Jean-Raymond.
1827–1829. Relation d’un voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cyrénaïque, et les oasis d’Audjelah et de Maradeh, accompagnée de Planches. Paris: Didot.
al-Warthilānī, al-Ḥusayn b. Muḥammad.
1974. Nuzhat al-Anẓār fī Faḍl ʿIlm al-Taʾrīkh wa-al-Akhbār. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
al-Yaʿqūbī, Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad b. Abī Yaʿqūb.
2002. al-Buldān. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Secondary sources
Abdouli, H.
2013. “L’inscription de Qasr al-Hammâm : nouveau déchiffrement et nouvelle lecture de son contexte archéo-historique.” Libyan Studies 44: 73–84.
Abdul-Wahab, H. H.
1960. “Adjdabiya.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, I: 207.
Abdussaid, A.
1964. “Early Islamic monuments at Ajdabiyah.” Libya Antiqua I: 115–119.
1966–1967. “An Early Mosque at Medina Sultan.” Libya Antiqua III–IV: 165–170.
1971. “Barqa modern el-Merj.” Libya Antiqua VIII: 121–126.
Barrucand, M.
1998. “Des constructeurs de talent.” In Trésors fatimides du Caire (exhibition catalogue), 60–69. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe.
Blake, H., A. Hutt and D. Whitehouse.
1970–1971. “Ajdabiyah and the Earliest Fatimid Architecture.” Libyan Studies—Second Annual Report: 9–10.
1971. “Ajdābīyah and the earliest Fatimid architecture.” Libya Antiqua VIII: 105–120.
Bloom, J. M.
1985. “The origins of Fatimid Art.” Muqarnas 3: 20–38.
2013 . The Minaret. 2nd Edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (First Edition: Oxford University Press, 1989).
2007. Arts of the City Victorious: Islamic Art and Architecture from Fatimid North Africa and Egypt. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Bourouiba, R.
1975 . La Qalʾa des Bani Hammad. Algiers: Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria.
Brett, M.
2001. The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and Middle East in the 10th century. Leiden: Brill.
Chabbi, M. M.
1968. “Raqqada.” In Africa: Fouilles, monuments et collections archéologiques en Tunisie 2, 349–350, 388–392. Tunis: Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
Cressier, P. and M. Rammah.
2006. “Sabra al-Mansuriya. Une nouvelle approche archéologique.” Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 150(1): 613–633. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/crai.2006.86973
Dachraoui, F.
1981. Le califat fatimide au Maghreb: histoire politique et institutions. Tunis: Société Tunisienne de Distribution.
Donaldson, P.
1975–1976. “Excavations at Ajdabiyah 1976.” Libyan Studies—Seventh Annual Report: 9–10.
Fehérvári, G., A. Hamdani, M. Shaglouf and H. Bishop.
2002. Excavations at Surt (Medinat al-Sultan) between 1977 and 1981. London: Society for Libyan Studies.
Ferri, S.
1925–1926. “Firme di legionari della Siria nella Gran Sirte.” Rivista della Tripolitania II, 6: 362–386
Gnat, A., J.-O. Guilhot and J.-M Mouton.
2012. “Les fortifications de la ville de Surt (Libye) à l’époque médiévale.” In Enceintes urbaines, sites fortifiés, forteresses d’Afrique du Nord : actes de la Ve Journée d’Études Nord-Africaines (Palais de l’Institut, 19 mars 2010), edited by F. Déroche and J. Leclant, 199–220. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
Golvin, L.
1966. “Le palais de Zîrî à Achir (dixième siècle J.C.).” Ars Orientalis VI: 47–76.
Goodchild, R. G.
1951. “Boreum of Cyrenaica.” Journal of Roman Studies XLI: 11–16.
1964. “Madina Sultan.” Libya Antiqua I: 99–106.
Guilhot, J.-O., J.-M. Mouton, P. Racinet and A. Schmitt.
2010 . “Syrte : cité ephémère des Fatimides.” Archéologia 478: 58–71.
Halm, H.
1996. The empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids. Leiden: Brill.
Hamdani, A.
1970. “Some aspects of the history of Libya during the Fatimid period.” In Libya in History, edited by F. Gadallah, 321–348. Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique.
Hutt, A.
1977. North Africa: Islamic Architecture. London: Scorpion Publications.
Kenrick, P.
2013. Cyrenaica (Libya Archaeological Guides). London: Society for Libyan Studies, Silphium Press.
Lane, E. W.
1877. An Arabic-English Lexicon. London: Williams and Norgate.
Lézine, A.
1956. Le ribat de Sousse, suivi de notes sur le ribat de Monastir. Paris: La Rapide.
1965. Mahdiya: Recherches d’archéologie islamique. Paris: Klincksieck.
1971 . “Sur deux châteaux musulmans d’Ifriqiya : Raqqada et Ajdabiya.” Revue des Études Islamiques XXXIX: 87–101.
Louichi, A.
1991 . “Recherches archéologiques fatimides à Mahdia : Qasr al-Qaïm. Les premiers résultats du sondage IV.” Bulletin des Travaux de l’Institut National d’Archéologie et d’Art 4: 161–177.
Lowick, N. M.
1971-2. “Early Arabic Inscriptions in Libya.” Libyan Studies—Third Annual Report: 4–5.
Mahfoudh, F.
1999. “La grande mosquée de Mahdiya et son influence sur l’architecture médiévale ifriqiyenne.” In L’Égypte fatimide: son art et son histoire, edited by M. Barrucand, 127–140. Paris: Université de Paris-Sorbonne.
Maoudoud, K.
1991. “Fouilles de Qasr al-Qaïm à Mahdia.” Bulletin des travaux de l’Institut National d’Archéologie et d’Art 4: 139–159.
Marçais, G.
1954. L’Architecture Musulmane d’Occident. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques.
Mostafa, M.
1966-1967. “Excavations in Medinet Sultan: a preliminary report.” Libya Antiqua III–IV: 145–154.
Mouton, J.-M.
2008. “La ville de Syrte (Libye) au Moyen Âge : histoire et archéologie.” Bulletin de la Fondation Max Van Berchem 22: 4–5.
Riley, J. A.
1982. “Islamic Wares from Ajdabiya.” Libyan Studies 13: 85–104.
Rosser-Owen, M.
2009. Review of “Arts of the City Victorious: Islamic Art and Architecture from Fatimid North Africa and Egypt” by J. Bloom, Journal of Islamic Studies 20(1): 114–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jis/etn081
Terrasse, M.
1977. “Recherches archéologiques d’époque islamique en Afrique du Nord.” Comptes rendus des séances de 1976 de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, 591–595. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres.
Vigoni, G.
1912. Pionieri Italiani in Libia. Milan: Società italiana di esplorazioni geografiche e commerciali.
Whitehouse, D.
1971–1972. “Excavations at Ajdabiyah: an interim report.” Libyan Studies—Third Annual Report: 12–21.
1972–1973. “Excavations at Ajdabiyah: Second Interim Report.” Libyan Studies—Fifth Annual Report: 20–27.
Zbiss, S. M.
1956. “Mahdiya et Sabra-Mansoûriya : nouveaux documents d’art fatimite d’Occident.” Journal Asiatique 244: 79–93.