Al-Gaziratu al-Siqilliyya: tradizione e cultura della Sicilia arabo-islamica

Abstract

This piece examines the historical transition in the so-caled Jazirat al-Siqilliyya region from the Christian Bizantine tradition to the Islamic one, passing throught literary, geographical and philosophical masterpieces. The linguistic and cultural diversity will emerge from the texts of the Arab geographers, who visited that area in the XIth century, as well as from the production of philological and grammatical manuals developed to correct the Sicilian population speaking Arabic, the language of the new rulers. The work will also analyze the Norman era, witnessing both the dismissal of the Islamic conquerors who will seek refuge in Ifriqya, and the new spirit of cohabitation established by King Ruggero towards a population highly affected by two centuries of Islamic establishment in its social substratum. The historical phase of Federico II closes this excursus with its uncountable philosophical interests in the landscape of the scientific dialogue and its Islamic essays.