Nadia Maria El-Cheikh

THE ISLAMIC VIEW OF LATE BYZANTIUM

From : “Byzantium through the Islamic Prism from the Twelfth to the Thirteenth Century”, included in The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, ed. Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy Parviz Mottahedeh, Dumbarton Oaks © 2001 - Here published with title and subtitles by Elpenor.

Historiography ||| The twelfth and thirteenth centuries ||| al-Rum ||| Byzantine skills ||| General character ||| Constantinople ||| Constantinople and Jerusalem ||| 1204 ||| Symbols of Constantinople ||| Islamic monuments of Constantinople 

General character

The real rupture from the earlier image appears, however, in conjunction with the character and morals of the Byzantines. While the earlier sources are replete with accusations of sexual immorality, lack of generosity, treachery, and women’s improper behavior, the twelfth-and thirteenth-century sources surprise us by their silence. The absence of such criticisms constitutes a significant breach, since the earlier negative image concentrated primarily on the character, morals, behavior, and customs of the Byzantines.

Al-Qazwini alone has a word on their character, and it is positive: “they are playful and joyful.” What a complete turnabout from the earlier Arabic sources, which, if they praised the Byzantines for their beauty and artistic skills, reserved all their animosity and vehemence for their character and morals. By eliminating such comments, the texts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries end by providing a less variegated, more consistent, and clearly more positive image of the Byzantines.

Cf.  Christianity and Islam - Two related, yet different religions * Koran – the invention of an artificial religion * Turkey * The Orthodox Church * Byzantine history * On the Byzantine Military Strategy * Greek Language

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