The Meadows of Gold
Encyclopedia
Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems (in Arabic
مروج الذهب ومعادن الجوهر transliteration: Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar) is an historical account in Arabic of the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve
up to and through the late Abbasid
Caliphate
by medieval Baghdadi historian Masudi (in Arabic
المسعودي).
Its only English version is the abridged The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids, translated and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone.
A first version of the book was allegedly completed in the year 947 AD but the author spent most of his life adding and editing the work as well.
The first European version of The Meadows of Gold was published in both French
and Arabic between 1861 and 1877 by the Societe Asiatique
of Paris by Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille. For over 100 years this version was the standard version used by Western scholars until Charles Pellat published a French revision between 1966 and 1974. This revision was published by the Universite Libanaise in Beirut
and consisted of five volumes.
Versions of the source text by Mas'udi have been published in Arabic for hundreds of years, mainly from presses operating in Egypt
and Lebanon
.
The only current English
version was published in 1989 and was translated and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. According to this edition's introduction, their English translation is heavily edited and contains only a fragment of the original manuscript due to the editors' own personal research interests and focuses almost exclusively on the Abbasid history of Mas'udi. Their introduction also outlines how the editors relied mainly on the Pellat revision in French and are therefore mainly working from the French translation with the Arabic source text as a background guide.
Historian Hugh N. Kennedy
calls the book “Probably the best introduction to the Arabic historical tradition for the non-specialist.”
and al-Ya'qubi, Meadows of Gold is composed in a format that contains both historically documented fact
s, hadith
s or sayings from reliable sources and stories, anecdote
s, poetry
and joke
s that the author had heard or had read elsewhere. Due to its reliance on and references to Islam this style of history writing makes up an example of what constitutes Islamic Historiography
in general.
Masudi also contributed an important role in this historicity by adding the importance of eye-witnessing a place or event in order to strengthen its veracity. Khalidi states that “Mas’udi’s own observations form a valuable part of his work.” And that “In contrast to Tabari, who provides little or no information on the lands and peoples of his own day, Mas’udi often corroborated or rejected geographical and other data acquired second-hand.”
In addition the book is unique in medieval Islamic history for its interest in other cultures and religions as scientific and cultural curiosities. According to the English translation’s introduction this outlook is a major “characteristic that distinguishes Mas’udi from other Muslim historians.”
The English edition focuses primarily on the Abbasid period in modern day Iraq
and begins with a story involving the Caliph Al-Mansur
and ends with the reign of Al-Muti
(Abu al-Qasim al-Fadl bin Ja’far al-Muqtadir Muti’li-Llah).
Some notable sections include several stories involving the various Caliphs and their interactions with commoners like “Mahdi and the Bedouin” (37) in which the Caliph is served a humble meal by a passing Bedouin
who in turn is rewarded with a large monetary reward.
A large portion of the English text is dedicated to stories involving the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid
and his Barmakid advisors. These stories from Masudi are key elements in several English language historical non-fiction books about Harun Al-Rashid including Hugh Kennedy’s When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, André Clot
’s Harun al-Rashid and the World of The Thousand and One Nights and H. St. John Philby’s Harun Al-Rashid.
Another significant portion of the text involves the civil war in the region between local rulers Al-Amin
, the ruler of Baghdad at the time, and al-Ma'mun
, who later defeated Amin and became Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. The text spends a considerable amount of pages relaying several lengthy poems about the horrors of civil war that occurred in the city of Baghdad at the time.
The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies review suggests that although the English version leaves out several passages of Pellat’s edited version the book still retains important historical text and the passages omitted “are digressions from the main story and interrupt its flow.”
The Journal of the American Oriental Society, however, takes issue with the fact that the English version relied heavily on the French edited version (and not the entire French or Arabic version) and that the editing of the text cut out parts that were “no less historical import than the ones included.”
This review also is critical of the English version’s use of vignette style segments versus the style of Mas’udi whose original work is not cut into small pieces but rather is written in full pages without apparent breaks or chapters.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
مروج الذهب ومعادن الجوهر transliteration: Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma'adin al-jawhar) is an historical account in Arabic of the beginning of the world starting with Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
up to and through the late Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
Caliphate
Caliphate
The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...
by medieval Baghdadi historian Masudi (in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
المسعودي).
Its only English version is the abridged The Meadows of Gold: The Abbasids, translated and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone.
A first version of the book was allegedly completed in the year 947 AD but the author spent most of his life adding and editing the work as well.
The first European version of The Meadows of Gold was published in both French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Arabic between 1861 and 1877 by the Societe Asiatique
Société Asiatique
The Société Asiatique is a French learned society dedicated to the study of Asia. It was founded in 1822 with the mission of developing and diffusing knowledge of Asia. Its boundaries of geographic interest are broad, ranging from the Maghreb to the Far East. The society publishes the Journal...
of Paris by Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille. For over 100 years this version was the standard version used by Western scholars until Charles Pellat published a French revision between 1966 and 1974. This revision was published by the Universite Libanaise in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
and consisted of five volumes.
Versions of the source text by Mas'udi have been published in Arabic for hundreds of years, mainly from presses operating in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
and Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
The only current English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version was published in 1989 and was translated and edited by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. According to this edition's introduction, their English translation is heavily edited and contains only a fragment of the original manuscript due to the editors' own personal research interests and focuses almost exclusively on the Abbasid history of Mas'udi. Their introduction also outlines how the editors relied mainly on the Pellat revision in French and are therefore mainly working from the French translation with the Arabic source text as a background guide.
Historian Hugh N. Kennedy
Hugh N. Kennedy
Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972...
calls the book “Probably the best introduction to the Arabic historical tradition for the non-specialist.”
Islamic Historiography
Written in the "new style" of historical writing of al-DinawariAl-Dinawari
Ābu Ḥanīfah Āḥmad ibn Dawūd Dīnawarī was a Persian polymath excelling as much in astronomy, agriculture, botany and metallurgy and as he did in geography, mathematics and history. He was born in Dinawar, . He studied astronomy, mathematics and mechanics in Isfahan and philology and poetry in...
and al-Ya'qubi, Meadows of Gold is composed in a format that contains both historically documented fact
Fact
A fact is something that has really occurred or is actually the case. The usual test for a statement of fact is verifiability, that is whether it can be shown to correspond to experience. Standard reference works are often used to check facts...
s, hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
s or sayings from reliable sources and stories, anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
and joke
Joke
A joke is a phrase or a paragraph with a humorous twist. It can be in many different forms, such as a question or short story. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices...
s that the author had heard or had read elsewhere. Due to its reliance on and references to Islam this style of history writing makes up an example of what constitutes Islamic Historiography
Historiography of early Islam
The historiography of early Islam refers to the study of the early origins of Islam based on a critical analysis, evaluation, and examination of authentic primary source materials and the organization of these sources into a narative timeline....
in general.
Masudi also contributed an important role in this historicity by adding the importance of eye-witnessing a place or event in order to strengthen its veracity. Khalidi states that “Mas’udi’s own observations form a valuable part of his work.” And that “In contrast to Tabari, who provides little or no information on the lands and peoples of his own day, Mas’udi often corroborated or rejected geographical and other data acquired second-hand.”
In addition the book is unique in medieval Islamic history for its interest in other cultures and religions as scientific and cultural curiosities. According to the English translation’s introduction this outlook is a major “characteristic that distinguishes Mas’udi from other Muslim historians.”
Contents
The contents of the English version are broken into small vignettes which take up less than a full page of text in most cases. In addition are several pages of poetry.The English edition focuses primarily on the Abbasid period in modern day Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and begins with a story involving the Caliph Al-Mansur
Al-Mansur
Al-Mansur, Almanzor or Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur was the second Abbasid Caliph from 136 AH to 158 AH .-Biography:...
and ends with the reign of Al-Muti
Al-Muti
Al-Muti was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 946 to 974. He had long aspired to the office. Between him and the previous Caliph, al-Mustakfi, bitter enmity existed, which led him to retire into hiding....
(Abu al-Qasim al-Fadl bin Ja’far al-Muqtadir Muti’li-Llah).
Some notable sections include several stories involving the various Caliphs and their interactions with commoners like “Mahdi and the Bedouin” (37) in which the Caliph is served a humble meal by a passing Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
who in turn is rewarded with a large monetary reward.
A large portion of the English text is dedicated to stories involving the Caliph Harun Al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766)....
and his Barmakid advisors. These stories from Masudi are key elements in several English language historical non-fiction books about Harun Al-Rashid including Hugh Kennedy’s When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, André Clot
André Clot
André Clot was a French historian and essayist.Clot worked from 1936 to 1942 for the news agency Agence Havas, from 1943 to 1945 for Radio-Brazzaville and finally from 1945 up to his superannuation for the Agence France-Presse.He lived for many years in Turkey and the countries of the Near and...
’s Harun al-Rashid and the World of The Thousand and One Nights and H. St. John Philby’s Harun Al-Rashid.
Another significant portion of the text involves the civil war in the region between local rulers Al-Amin
Al-Amin
Muhammad ibn Harun al-Amin , Abbasid Caliph. He succeeded his father, Harun al-Rashid in 809 and ruled until he was killed in 813.-Caliph:...
, the ruler of Baghdad at the time, and al-Ma'mun
Al-Ma'mun
Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...
, who later defeated Amin and became Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. The text spends a considerable amount of pages relaying several lengthy poems about the horrors of civil war that occurred in the city of Baghdad at the time.
English Version Reception
While the French version has been a key historical text for over a century, the newer English version has received mixed reviews.The British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies review suggests that although the English version leaves out several passages of Pellat’s edited version the book still retains important historical text and the passages omitted “are digressions from the main story and interrupt its flow.”
The Journal of the American Oriental Society, however, takes issue with the fact that the English version relied heavily on the French edited version (and not the entire French or Arabic version) and that the editing of the text cut out parts that were “no less historical import than the ones included.”
This review also is critical of the English version’s use of vignette style segments versus the style of Mas’udi whose original work is not cut into small pieces but rather is written in full pages without apparent breaks or chapters.
External links
- Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems, an English translation of the Muruj al-dhahab by Aloys Sprenger, London 1841
- Prairies d'or, Arabic edition and French translation of Muruj al-dhahab by Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Paris 1861-77