Reconstructing Archival Practices in Abbasid Baghdad
In: Journal of Abbasid StudiesSearch for other papers by Maaike van Berkel in
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The Abbasid administration relied extensively on the use of written documents. The central administrative apparatus in Baghdad, with its numerous specialised bureaus, seems to have been one of the main producers of documents and it must have possessed some of the largest archives of its era. However, only few documents issued by and written for the central administration have survived in their original form. Through an analysis of references found in narrative sources, this article seeks to provide a reconstruction of the functioning of the archives of the central administration in Baghdad during the caliphate of al-Muqtadir (r. 295/908-320/932).
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19
Qudāma b. Jaʿfar, Kharāj, 63; transl. Heck, Construction of Knowledge, 87, with small modifications.
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23
Ṣābiʾ, Wuzarāʾ, 163-164. For a more detailed description of this case, see van Berkel, Embezzlement. In some cases such a research in the records was extended by the dispatch of an official to the district in question in order to investigate the local situation; see Ṣābiʾ, Wuzarāʾ, 165; also, Løkkegaard, Taxation, 151.
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See, for example, van Berkel et al., Crisis and Continuity, 98-99.
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Reconstructing Archival Practices in Abbasid Baghdad
In: Journal of Abbasid StudiesSearch for other papers by Maaike van Berkel in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The Abbasid administration relied extensively on the use of written documents. The central administrative apparatus in Baghdad, with its numerous specialised bureaus, seems to have been one of the main producers of documents and it must have possessed some of the largest archives of its era. However, only few documents issued by and written for the central administration have survived in their original form. Through an analysis of references found in narrative sources, this article seeks to provide a reconstruction of the functioning of the archives of the central administration in Baghdad during the caliphate of al-Muqtadir (r. 295/908-320/932).
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1322 | 126 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 348 | 16 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 178 | 37 | 0 |