Gog and Magog in Early Eastern Christian and Islamic Sources

by Van Donzel, Emeri; Schmidt, Andrea; Ott, Claudia (CON)

• ISBN13: 9789004174160
• ISBN10: 9004174168
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-30
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

An important contribution to the discussion about Christian Syriac influence on Koran and Early Muslim Tradition, this volume studies Eastern Christian and Islamic views on the Biblical and Koranic Gog and Magog. Connected with this theme is the quest for Alexander's wall.

Author Biography

Andrea B. Schmidt, Ph.D. (1990) is Professor for Christian Orient at the University of Louvain. Her publications deal with manuscript studies, text editions as well as research on the history and theology of the Syriac, Armenian and Georgian people. She is the editor of the journal Le Muscon and several book-series, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium being the foremost of these.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xiii
List of Illustrations	p. xv
List of Maps	p. xvi
Note on Transliteration and Measures	p. xvii
Preface	p. xix
Gog and Magog in Pre-Islamic, Jewish and Christian Sources
Names and Identification of Gog and Magog	p. 3
The Bible	p. 4
Jewish Literature	p. 6
The Sibylline Oracles	p. 8
Flavius Josephus	p. 9
Early Christian Literature	p. 11
Alexander and Gog and Magog in Early Oriental Christian Sources
The Syriac Alexander Romance	p. 15
The Syriac Alexander Legend	p. 17
The Syriac Alexander Poem	p. 21
A Syriac Sermon On the Last Days	p. 24
The Syriac Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius	p. 26
The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian	p. 32
The Coptic and Ethiopic Alexander Romance	p. 33
The Coptic Apocalypses	p. 36
The Armenian tradition	p. 38
The Georgian tradition	p. 44
Gog and Magog and Iskandar 'the two-horned one' in the Koran
Koran XVIII: 83-98	p. 51
Koran XXI: 95-96	p. 52
Rudi Paret's commentary on Koran XVIII: 82ff	p. 52
Barrier/Rampart/Gate (sadd/radm/bab)	p. 53
Gog and Magog in Islamic Tradition
The Sunni collections	p. 55
The Shi'i collections	p. 55
Koran commentators and Arab lexicographers	p. 56
Common Themes	p. 57
Appearance	p. 58
Origin	p. 60
Numbers	p. 62
Food	p. 64
Role in eschatology	p. 65
Names	p. 73
Location	p. 73
Identification	p. 74
Human Aspects	p. 76
Description of the barrier	p. 77
Gog and Magog in mediaeval Arabic, Persian and Turkish prose
Common Themes	p. 80
Appearance	p. 80
Origin	p. 84
Numbers	p. 85
Food	p. 86
Role in eschatology	p. 87
Names	p. 89
Location and identification	p. 90
Human Aspects	p. 93
Description of the barrier	p. 99
Gog and Magog and the barrier in Arab poetry, Adab literature, popular epics and anecdotes
Arab Poetry	p. 104
Adab literature	p. 107
Epic literature	p. 108
Anecdotes	p. 112
Persian and Turkish verse	p. 114
Some modern works in Arabic	p. 117
Sallam's journey and the barrier of 'the two-horned one'
Interpreter and Traveller	p. 121
The travel account-Text and Translation	p. 123
Description of the Barrier of Gog and Magog	p. 123
Arabic authors	p. 142
Ibn Khurradadhbih	p. 142
The manuscripts of Ibn Khurradadhbih's "Book of Routes and Kingdoms"	p. 143
al-Jayhani/al-Idrisi	p. 146
Ibn Rusta	p. 148
Ibn al-Faqih	p. 151
al-Ya'qubi/Ibn Hawqal	p. 152
al-Muqaddasi	p. 153
al-Tha'alibi	p. 153
Abu Hamid	p. 154
Ibn al-Jawzi	p. 155
Yaqut	p. 158
al-Nuwayri	p. 159
Sallam's travel account in Persian sources	p. 160
Criticism on Sallam's travel account by some Arab and Western authors	p. 163
Gog and Magog and the barrier: the origin of Sallam's description
Early Arabo-Muslim poets and the Syriac tradition	p. 166
Islamic traditionists	p. 167
The barrier as described in the Syriac tradition compared with Sallam's description	p. 170
The Background to the Journey
The political environment	p. 173
Reasons for the journey	p. 176
Sallam's journey and the so-called map of Caliph al-Ma'mun	p. 178
Dates of the journey	p. 181
The outward journey: Samarra-Yumenguan (ca. July-August 842-November-December 843)
Samarra-Tiflis	p. 182
The Master of Sarir	p. 184
The king of the Alans	p. 185
The Filan-shah	p. 187
The Khazars	p. 187
TheBashkirts	p. 191
The Fetid Land, and the Turks in Central Asia	p. 191
Dzungaria	p. 195
The Tarim Basin	p. 197
Qocho, and the Christian presence in Eastern Turkestan	p. 202
Fortified Places	p. 206
Igu	p. 207
Igu-Anxi	p. 209
Igu/Hami-Dunhuang	p. 212
Dunhuang	p. 215
Summary of the outward journey	p. 216
Distances and duration	p. 217
Yumenguang: destination reached
Yumenguan or the Jade Gate	p. 220
Various locations	p. 220
Abu Dulaf's Risala and Sallam's account	p. 223
Yumenguan: the gate to the West	p. 226
Yumenguan: the barrier of 'the two-horned one'?	p. 227
The homeward journey: Yumenguan-Samarra (ca. December 843/January 844-December 844/January 845)
The itinerary	p. 229
Xuanzang's itinerary	p. 230
Stages	p. 233
Yumenguan-Lop Nor	p. 233
Lop Nor-Korla	p. 235
Korla-Kucha-Kara-köl	p. 236
Lakhman-Ghuriyan-Barskhan-Tabanuyan	p. 236
Kara-köl-Taraz	p. 237
Isfijab-Nishapur	p. 238
Tirmidh-Samarra	p. 240
Summary of the homeward journey	p. 241
Distances and duration of the journey	p. 242
Conclusion	p. 244
Bibliography	p. 246
Index of Names and Places	p. 257
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