Power and discourse: classical sculptures in the Islamic world and the past into the present: from al-Andalus to DAESH

• Grant number: 19/11019-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: July 25, 2019
• End date: November 16, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Glaydson José da Silva
• Grantee: Jorge Elices Ocón
• Supervisor: Eduardo Manzano
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/15102-7 - Classical sculptures in al-Andalus. From pagan idols to talismans, BP.PD

Abstract

Traditionally it has been considered that Islamic societies had no interest in knowing or preserving antiquity and ancient statues. The recent destructions of antiquities and statues in Syria and Iraq by the terrorists of the DAESH would be for many a proof. This project points out the need to reconsider this paradigm. The ancient statues have been studied in detail; what, however, has not received enough attention is the fate and reception of them in the Islamic world and in al-Andalus, the period of Islamic domination in the Iberian Peninsula.In this project I intend to study the references concerning Arabic written sources and archeology, with a specific aim for the research stay, as well as a part of the general project: the analysis of the recent destructions by the terrorists of DAESH as part of a discourse and a debate regarding the Islamic religion, the figurative image and the historiographical tradition about the use and abuse of antiquity by Islamic societies. Thanks to the study of these issues and their complexity and relationship it will be further got a fundamental first step to the study of the reception of the ancient statues in al-Andalus, conferring a catalog of references and analyzing how they are perceived and reinterpreted, emphasizing the differences and similarities between the different historical contexts studied. A particular case of study will be the set of statues of Madinat al-Zahra, for the link to the power and the discourse of the Umayyad Caliphs of al-Andalus.