This lecture aims at illustrating the multilingual material found in the Umayyad Great Mosque’s Qubbat al-khazna. The particular way of preservation of this material, a clear case of Genizah-like practice in an Islamic context, offers an unique opportunity to deal with the Damascus cultural life, animated by different languages and identities, through many centuries.
Arianna D'Ottone Rambach is Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Sapienza University where she teaches Arabic, Arabic Palaeography and Numismatics. Her researches are devoted on the one hand to the Arabic written culture through the study of papyri, codices and block-printed material and, on the other, to the study of the numismatic history through coins, glass jetons and engraved gems and seals.
Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies