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Dunash ben Labrat and the birth of Al-Andalus poetry in Hebrew under the Cordoba Caliphate
March 25, 20257:00 p.m.
CORDOBA
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish.
On Tuesday, March 25, there will be a new session in our event series "Semblances of Cordoba: The Umayyad era in the first person," given by Prof. José Martínez Delgado, from the University of Granada (UGR). Come learn more about this poet from the era of the caliphate.
Dunaš ben Labraṭ was one of the most important Jewish personages at the court of the Umayyad caliphs of Cordoba. During the reign of Caliph Abdarrḥman III, and under the protection of the courtesan Ḥasday ben Šapruṭ, Dunaš ben Labraṭ achieved great Arab poetry compositions in Hebrew. The ability of the Hebrew language to be expressed in Arabic poetry meter facilitated the process of Arabization of Arabic-speaking Jewish communities, in terms of both cultural forms (secular poetry) and popular forms of expression (religious poetry). Many of the compositions subsequent to those of Dunaš ben Labraṭ are still very much present in both liturgy and Jewish folklore today. From the manuscripts that have been preserved, we will be getting an overview of the biographical information about this author, his relationship with other intellectuals during his era and the context of the poem written by his wife, the only known composition written in Hebrew by a woman in the tenth century.
José Martínez Delgado (Cordoba, 1974), with a degree in Arabic and Hebrew Philology and a PhD in Hebrew Philology from the Universidad Complutense (2001), is a professor in the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Granada, where he has been teaching in the Hebrew and Aramaic Studies Department since 2005. His research revolves around the tenth-twelfth centuries with a focus on study of Biblical Hebrew in Al-Andalus, and a special emphasis on the lexicographical theories of medieval philologists.
His editions of medieval manuscript texts are most notable, both new editions of known texts and the publication of texts as of yet unknown to us, as well as producing studies on Al-Andalus Hebrew metrics and editions of Andalusian manuscripts from the Guenizah of Cairo which show us what the daily life of this Jewish community was like in the first person.
*Image: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Advanced Jewish Studies Library, Guenizah Collection of Cairo, Halper 317, f. 2v, from the tenth to twelfth centuries AD. Lines 21 et seq. contain a twenty-line riddle attributed to Dunash ben Labrat.
José Martínez Delgado (Cordoba, 1974), with a degree in Arabic and Hebrew Philology and a PhD in Hebrew Philology from the Universidad Complutense (2001), is a professor in the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Granada, where he has been teaching in the Hebrew and Aramaic Studies Department since 2005. His research revolves around the tenth-twelfth centuries with a focus on study of Biblical Hebrew in Al-Andalus, and a special emphasis on the lexicographical theories of medieval philologists.
His editions of medieval manuscript texts are most notable, both new editions of known texts and the publication of texts as of yet unknown to us, as well as producing studies on Al-Andalus Hebrew metrics and editions of Andalusian manuscripts from the Guenizah of Cairo which show us what the daily life of this Jewish community was like in the first person.
*Image: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Advanced Jewish Studies Library, Guenizah Collection of Cairo, Halper 317, f. 2v, from the tenth to twelfth centuries AD. Lines 21 et seq. contain a twenty-line riddle attributed to Dunash ben Labrat.
