Giovanni Vantini's Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia

Father Giovanni Vantini FSCJ's Oriental Sources Concerning Nubia, published as a field-manual for archaeologists of medieval Nubia, has long been a standard reference guide in Nubian studies. With the permission of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Missionari Comboniani del Cuore di Gesu, we present excerpts from this monumental collection. Each author included in Vantini's source-book will be added to the list below as it becomes available for this source reader.

Note that Vantini’s original corrigenda and addenda to these texts have been incorporated along with further standardisation of spellings and diacritics. The use of brackets have been standardised so that round brackets are used for translations and square brackets include additional information. Scholars of Nubian studies are aware of the acute need to revisit the editions and translations of the literary sources in Vantini's collection, and are invited to use the Medieval Nubia wiki as a forum for discussing these issues. Some mistakes may still remain and notifications of such to the administrators of the website are most welcome.

The entries already including bibliographic updates and remarks are marked with an asterisk.

Preface by the Editors

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

The Sources:

Cosmas Indicopleustes* (547 A.D.)

Skariphos (about 555 A.D.)

Malalas* (about 570-580 A.D.)

John of Ephesus (about 580 A.D.)

John of Biclar* (born 540 A.D.)

Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in Africa (650-700 A.D.)

Coptic Documents (ca 650-700)

Thronos Alexandrinos (675-703 A.D.)

John of Nikiou (686 A.D.)

Abba Mina (about 700 A.D.)

Jacob of Edessa (d. 708 A.D.)

John the Deacon (about 770 A.D.)

Arab Nicene Canons (700-800 A.D.)

al-Waqidi* (about 790 A.D.)

al-Fazari* (before 800 A.D.)

David of Beth Rabban (about 800 A.D.)

al-Khuwarezmi* (before 833 A.D.)

al-Farghani (before 861 A.D.)

al-Jahiz (776-869 A.D.)

Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam (d. 871 A.D.)

Eldad Ha-Dani (about 883 A.D.)

Ibn Qutayba ad-Dinawari (about 800 A.D.)

Ibn al-Khordadhbeh (about 885 A.D.)

al-Ya'qubi (wrote 872-891 A.D.)

al-Baladhuri (d. 892 A.D.)

Kitab Surat al-Ard (before 900 A.D.)

al-Battani (d. 929 A.D.)

Moses Bar Kepha (d. 903 A.D.)

Ibn Roste (d. before 913 A.D.)

Ibn al-Faqih (about 902 A.D.)

as-Sayrafi (about 916 A.D.)

Ahmad al-Kufi (d. 926 A.D.)

at-Tabari (d. 923 A.D.)

Abu-l-Faraj Qudama (about 930 A.D.)

Eutychius of Alexandria (d. 940 A.D.)

al-Istakhri (932-950 A.D.)

Suhrab (Ibn Serapion) (before 945 A.D.)

al-Hamdani (d. 945 A.D.)

Mahbub ibn Qustantin/Agapius (before 950 A.D.)

Ishaq ibn al-Husain (about 950 A.D.)

al-Mas'udi (d. 956 A.D.)

Buzurg b. Sahriyar (after 953 A.D.)

Yusuf al-Kindi (d. 971 A.D.)

Abu Nasr Mutahhar al-Maqdisi (about 966 A.D.)

Ibn Hawqal (d. 988 A.D.)

Hudud al-'Alam (983 A.D.)

al-Muqaddasi (d. 985 A.D.)

al-Muhallabi (d. before 996 A.D.)

Ibn Zulaq (before 997 A.D.)

an-Nadim (d. about 998 A.D.)

al-Balawi (about 950 A.D.)

The Constantinople Synaxary (10th cent. A.D.

"Haismavourk" The Armenian Synaxary of Ter Israel (13th cent. A.D.)

Assaph Hebraeus (9th-11th cent. A.D.)

Severus (Sawirus) (d. about 1000 A.D.)

Ibn Yunus

al-Miskawaih

Avicenna

al-Biruni

Nasir-i Khusraw

Ibn Butlan

Ibn Ridwan

Ibn Hazm

al-Bakri

Ibn Sa'id al-Andalusi

Ellath Kul-'Ellan

Coptic Documents of the 10th-12th Century

al-Marwazi

al-Kharaqi

az-Zamakhshari

al-Zuhri

al-Idrisi

al-Idrisi Abridged

Ibn Qalanisi

Abu Hamid al-Andalusi

Abd al-Karim as-Sam'ani

Benjamin of Tudela

Ibn Jubayr

Ibn Wasif Shah

Usama Ibn Munqidh

Kitab al-Istibsar

al-Isfahani

al-Qadi al-Fadil

Michael the Syrian

Coptic Scalae 12th-14th Century

Abu Salih the Armenian

al-Harawi (d. 1215 A.D.)

Yaqut ar-Rumi (d. 1229 A.D.)

Ibn al-Athir (1160-1234 A.D.)

al-Marrakushi (d. about 1262 A.D.)

Abu Shama (1202-1267 A.D.)

al-Makin (1205-1273 A.D.)

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1273 A.D.)

al-Qazwini (d. 1274 A.D.)

Yahya al-Intaki (d. 1276 A.D.)

Ibn Muyassar (d. 1278 A.D.)

Ibn Khallikan (1211-1281 A.D.)

Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi (1206-1286 A.D.)

Barhebraeus (1226-1286 A.D.)

Ibn Abd az-Zahir (1223-1292 A.D.)

Ibn Wasil (1209-1299 A.D.)

Synaxarium Arabo-Jacobiticum (13th-14th cent. A.D.)

Synaxarium Aethiopicum (14th cent. A.D.)

Ibn al-Ji'ani (14th cent. A.D.)

al-Harrani (about 1295 A.D.)

Yusuf the Egyptian (about 1316 A.D.)

Rukn ad-Din Baybars ad-Dawadari (d. 1325 A.D.)

Ad-Dimishqi (d. 1327 A.D.)

ash-Shirazi (d. 1312 A.D.)

Abu-l-Fida' (1273-1331 A.D.)

an-Nuwayri (d. 1332 A.D.)

Safi ad-Din al-Baghdadi (d. 1338 A.D.)

al-Mufaddal (d. 1358 A.D.)

al-Edfuwi (1286-1347 A.D.)

Zayn ad-Din...al-Wardi (d. 1348 A.D.)

Adh-Dhahabi (1274-1348 A.D.)

al-'Umari (1300-1348 A.D.)

Gadla Ewostatewos Acta S.Eustathii (14th cent. A.D.)

Ibn Battuta (1304-1377 A.D.)

Anonymous Suwar al-Aqalim (before 1358 A.D.)

Ibn ash-Shatir (1304-1379 A.D.)

Ibn Duqmaq (d. 1407 A.D.)

Ibn al-Furat (1334-1405 A.D.)

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406 A.D.)

al-Bakuwi (d. 1413 A.D.)

al-Qalqashandi (d. 1418 A.D.)

Maqrizi (1364-1442 A.D.)

1. al-Khitat

2. as-Suluk

3. al-Bayan

4. al-Muqaffa

5. adh dhahab al-masbuk

Siraj ad-Din... al-Wardi (d. 1457 A.D.)

at-Taghribirdi (1411-1469 A.D.)

Acta Mercuri / Gadla Marqorewos (15th cent. A.D.)

as-Suyuti (d. 1505 A.D.)

David Reubeni (d. 1535 A.D.)

Ibn Abd as-Salam al-Manufi (d. 1525 A.D.)

Ibn Iyas (1448-1542 A.D.)

Leo Africanus (about 1526 A.D.)

Tabaqat Dayfallah (about 1700 A.D.)

The Fung Chronicle (final redaction about 1870 A.D.)