Rasāʾil Nisāʾiyya Min Al-Sharq Al-Qadīm - (Bibliotheca Islamica) by Hekmat Dirbas (Hardcover)

About the Book

Bibliotheca Islamica (BI) is the Orient-Institut Beirut's platform for the critical edition of mainly Arabic texts. The series dates back to 1929, when Hellmut Ritter edited the Kitāb Maqālat al-islamīyīn wa-ḫtilāf al-muṣallīn of Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī al-Asʿarī, a seminal text on dogmatic positions in the early Islamic period. Since then, the OIB has published more than fifty titles in this series.

Book Synopsis

The book provides an Arabic edition of Old Babylonian letters from the Mari Archives (Tell Hariri, Syria) known among Assyriologists as 'women's letters' or 'feminine correspondence'. Court and elite women from Mari and neighboring areas act as receivers, senders, or both. They tell about their personal stories, but also deliver information on political, cultural, religious, and social aspects of life in ancient Mesopotamia and Syria.

About the Author

Hekmat Dirmas, The Ohio State University, USA.