Study on Abū Nuwās new on MENAdoc

Featured

“Abū Nuwās : a Study on the Arabic Literature of the Early Abbasid Period.” by Ewald Wagner

Abū Nuwās (756–814) was born in the city of Ahvaz in modern-day Iran. He was a master of all genres of Arabic poetry. He also became a popular figure in fiction. Abū Nuwās appears several times in “The Book of One Thousand and One Nights”.

In his 1965 study, Ewald Wagner introduces the life, views and cultural environment of Abū Nuwās. He presents the poet’s themes and examines his language and poetic means.

The book is now freely available as retro-digitisation in our open access repository MENAdoc.

Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative (ISMI)

Image from codex Petermann I 673, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, f. 98a

The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science starts the “Islamic Scientific Manuscript Initiative” (ISMI).

The mission of the Initiative (ISMI) is to make accessible information on all Islamic manuscripts in the exact sciences (astronomy, mathematics, optics, mathematical geography, music, mechanics, and related disciplines), whether in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, or other languages. Continue reading →

MENAdoc: Title No 15,000 is now online!

Kitāb-i Šāhnāma-i ḥakīm Abu-‘l-Qāsim Firdausī Ṭūsī

As title number 15,000 (fifteen thousand) in our open-access repository MENAdoc, we present a beautiful large-sized edition of the so-called “Book of Kings”.

The Persian epic poem “Šāhnāmah” is the life’s work of the poet Abūl-Qāsim Firdausī (940-1020).

Here you will find the 4 volumes free to view or for download as PDF.

This issue was published in Bombay in 1855. It is illustrated with numerous lithographs, which are more effective in an enlarged view.

Tip

Use the magnification function of our document viewer for better details. This will load scans with a higher resolution. You will find the magnifying glass symbol at the top in page view mode.

Open Access: Geschichte und Entwicklung der modernen persischen Literatur

“History and Development of Modern Persian Literature” by Bozorg Alavi written in 1964 is now available in our open access collection MENAdoc.

Professor Alavi describes the evolution of Persian prose and poetry since the beginning of the 20th century with a brief introduction on 19th century developments against the background of political and social change.