Resources
Arabic Dictionaries
| Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon | |
| Lisan al-?Arab |
Persian Dictionaries
| Steingass’ Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary | |
| Dehkhoda’s Lughat-namah |
Syriac Dictionaries
| Dukhrana Lexicon Search |
Encyclopaedias
| Encyclopaedia Iranica | |
| Danishnamah-yi Jahan-i Islam |
Transliteration tools
| Arabic Scripts Unicode Fonts | |
| Gentium | |
| Charis SIL | |
| TITUS Cyberbit | |
| Jaghbub Unicode |
Desktop layouts
| Mac: | Useful resources to transliterate Arabic with detailed installation instructions can be found on The Arabic Macintosh. | |
|---|---|---|
| PC: | Keyboard layouts can be created and modified using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. |
On-Line Catalogues
| Fihrist, catalogue of Islamic manuscripts in UK libraries (in development) | |
| Agabozorg, catalogue of Islamic manuscripts in Iranian libraries | |
| Yazma Eser Kütüphaneleri, catalogue of Islamic manuscripts in Turkish libraries | |
| Handschriften Katalog Online | |
| Harvard Islamic Heritage Project |
Digital Libraries
| Alfabetical List of Open Access Islamic Manuscripts Collections | |
| Cambridge Digital Library (includes several examples of Abbasid Qur’ans) | |
| The Minassian Collection of Qur’anic Manuscripts (includes several examples of Abbasid Qur’ans) | |
| Library of the Iranian Parliament (30000 digitised manuscripts) |
Digital Lessons
| Lessons Mouse and Manuscript
Leiden University offers a free online collection of lessons –Mouse and Manuscript-in codicology and palaeography from the Muslim world. The lessons will guide you through the ways books were made and used before the printing press, by investigating the traces left by producers, owners and readers of manuscripts. The lessons are based on the rich Oriental Manuscripts collection of Leiden University Library which holds plenty of reference to Abbasid times, though the classes are not specifically aimed at this period. |
Latest news
Most recent conference
The fifteenth conference of the School of Abbasid Studies took place from Tuesday July 12 till Saturday July 16, 2022
at Oxford University, UK.
Join a round table!
Journal of Abbasid Studies Round Tables provide the opportunity for participants to move outside their areas of specific expertise and challenge established approaches within their field.
Read more »
New publication
Popeye and Curly: 120 Days in Medieval Baghdad
Written and Illustrated by Emily Selove
Popeye and Curly is a book of cartoons about Abbasid Baghdad, starring book-loving author Popeye (al-Jahiz) and winebibbing poet Curly (Abu Nuwas), along with their friends Coral (a singing girl) and the Caliph of one of the world’s most influential empires in history. Each episode is derived from historical sources, and designed to entertain, educate, and amaze.
It includes a short preface by Geert Jan van Gelder, as well as a bibliography and index. The full-colour pictures are inspired by illustrations of al-Hariri’s Maqamat.