The Book of Kings: Middle-Eastern Manuscripts in the Library
Firdausi's Shahnama (Book of Kings). Persian, 19th century. TCD MS 1550 folio 124v
This year's MELCOM (Middle East Libraries Committee) UK meeting is being held in Dublin on 25 June 2013. To mark the occasion, this exhibition featuring some of Manuscripts & Archives's Middle-Eastern materials has been installed in the Long Room.
Some of the earliest texts in Manuscripts & Archives are incised in cuneiform script on clay tablets from Sumeria (modern-day Iraq); the tablets are upwards of two thousand years old. There are over 70 Arabic manuscripts including some with Samaritan, Turkish, Hebrew and Hausa linguistic associations. A large proportion of the texts relate to the Islamic religion and laws; included are nearly 20 Korans. The Syriac collection of 12 items contains significant material of a religious and scholarly nature. There are over 70 manuscripts in Persian. They include literary and historical works, grammars or dictionaries and epistolary material.
Take a look at Manuscripts & Archives's Asian, Middle Eastern and Ethiopic manuscripts website for more information about the Middle-Eastern collection.
Gallery
Firdausi's Shahnama (Book of Kings), completed in 1010, is a work of mythology, history, literature and propaganda; a living poem that pervades and expresses many aspects of Persian culture. This epic work narrates the history of Persia, modern-day Iran, since the first king, Kayumars, who established his rule at the dawn of time, down to the conquest of Persia by the Muslim Arab invaders of the early-seventh century. The Shahnama contains approximately 50,000 verses and is generally divided into mythical, legendary and historical sections. Rustam, son of Zal and Rudabeh, was the most famous hero of the Shahnama and a central character in numerous stories. This illustration shows Rustam rescuing Bizhan from the pit.
Hundreds of manuscript copies of the text, the earliest dating from 1217, exist in libraries throughout the world: three copies are held in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries.
TCD MS 1550, folio 124v.
Copy of a 13th century Syriac grammar, called Şemhē of Grigorious Bar Hebraeus, by Johannes Bar Mardirûs Bar Sammâ. From the Monastery of Mor Barşawmō, South-East Turkey.
Gregory Bar Hebraeus (1226 - 30 July 1286) was a bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 13th century. He is noted for his works on philosophy, poetry, language, history and theology and was known as one of the most learned and versatile men from the Syriac Orthodox Church. TCD MS 1503, folio 14r-15v.
This manuscript has been in the Library since 1943 and is described as 'The Book of Utilities and Prayers ... religious discourse on Arab religious customs & commentary upon them, as expounded by the early teachers of Islamic traditions, in the provinces of Yemen'. The leather cover, which is not sewn together as a binding, has animal hair visible on one surface. TCD MS 11266.
This manuscript has been in the Library since 1943 and is described as 'The Book of Utilities and Prayers ... religious discourse on Arab religious customs & commentary upon them, as expounded by the early teachers of Islamic traditions, in the provinces of Yemen'. The leather satchel, with its green decoration and woven handle is particularly eye-catching. TCD MS 11266.
Wooden staff inscribed in Arabic on its shortest face with a text from the Koran: La fata illa 'Alī dhu al-Fiqār: 'There is no hero like 'Alī there is no sword but Dhul Fiqār'. Possibly Shi'ite. In the letter dated 1884, which accompanied the presentation of this object, the donor recounts how he saw it in use, set upon a mound of stones, at a spot near the Turkish fortress of Silestria and Rustchuck (Russe in Bulgaria). He subsequently purchased it from the Imam. It may be a staff used by an Imam when leading prayers, rather than, as the donor suggested, a qibla marker. The text on the other three faces of the object may be Turkish. TCD MS 2685a.
Detail of a wooden staff inscribed in Arabic on its shortest face with a text from the Koran: La fata illa 'Alī dhu al-Fiqār: 'There is no hero like 'Alī there is no sword but Dhul Fiqār'. Possibly Shi'ite. In the letter dated 1884, which accompanied the presentation of this object, the donor recounts how he saw it in use, set upon a mound of stones, at a spot near the Turkish fortress of Silestria and Rustchuck (Russe in Bulgaria). He subsequently purchased it from the Imam. It may be a staff used by an Imam when leading prayers, rather than, as the donor suggested, a qibla marker. The text on the other three faces of the object may be Turkish. TCD MS 2685a.
