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Palatine Annals of the Caliph of Cordoba al-Hakam II
September 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 Thursday, September 25, Casa Árabe and the Almuzara Publishing Firm
are organizing the presentation of a new edition of this book in
Cordoba. It is an essential work for understanding the political and
cultural splendor of Cordoba Caliphate from 971 to 975. Come see it!
The text, originally written by Isa ibn Ahmad al-Razi and passed down by the great historian Ibn Hayyan, provides a rigorous, detailed description of the courtly atmosphere of Madinat al-Zahra, the fragile succession of Caliph al-Hakam II, and the silent emergence of the figure of Almanzor.
This edition came about based on the classical translation by Arabist Emilio García Gómez, a key figure in studies on Al-Andalus. The text was prepared by Daniel Valdivieso for the Almuzara Publishing Firm.
The presentation will feature Javier Rosón, an expert on Islamic studies and coordinator at Casa Árabe; Alberto Montejo, archeologist, and Daniel Valdivieso, an editor at Almuzara.
Palatine Annals of the Caliph of Cordoba al-Hakam II
The Caliphate of Córdoba in the Muqtabis of Ibn Hayyan
Historian Ibn Hayyan (d. 1076), within his encyclopedic work al-Muqtabis —”the ember lit by someone else’s fire”—collected and edited texts by eyewitnesses to the events that took place in Al-Andalus until the outbreak of the civil war that would end up bringing the Umayyad dynasty to an end. However, only a handful of fragments of his titanic work survived the test of time.
Fortunately, a manuscript found in the late nineteenth century contained a copy of an excerpt from the volume that the historian dedicated to the caliphate of al-Hakam II, with pages that faithfully reproduced texts by Isa al-Razi, someone who frequented the palatine circles of Madinat al-Zahra as the official chronicler of the caliph himself.
This document covers the exciting period between 971 and 975 and is an essential tool for understanding what Madinat al-Zahra was like, who the powerful figures were there, the succession crisis that foreshadowed the fragile health of Caliph al-Hakam, and the discreet but relentless rise of Ibn Abi Amir, a promising official who, a few years later, would seize power for himself under the nickname al-Mansur bi’llah: Almanzor.
In the classical translation by Emilio García Gómez, with timeless, engaging prose, the Palatine Annals of the Caliph of Cordoba al-Hakam II are being republished more than half a century later to the delight of historians, archeologists and anyone curious wanting to delve first-hand into the history of the Caliphate of Al-Andalus.
Book cover.