Project description
Identity in Arab architecture
Scholars have long identified Roman and Sasanian influences in Umayyad architecture; however, the distinctive spatial logic of audience halls in 7th- and 8th-century Syria and Mesopotamia remains insufficiently explained. The relationship between early Islamic architecture and its late antique roots remains a key question. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BAYT project will study the links between pre-Islamic Arabian and Umayyad architecture to identify patterns in meeting and reception spaces. It will analyse Arabic and Syriac texts to explore how architectural features were perceived as intrinsically Arab in Umayyad society. The hypothesis is that Umayyad audience halls reflect the assimilation of pre-Islamic designs, which were viewed as quintessentially Arab.
Objective
For decades, scholars of Islamic Archaeology and Art History have regarded the Roman and Sasanian worlds as the principal influences on the formation of Umayyad formal architecture. Yet this perspective has not yielded compelling prototypes for the distinctive spatial concepts of the Umayyad audience halls that emerged in Syria and Mesopotamia during the 7th–8th centuries CE. Thus, the relationship between early Islamic reception architecture and its late antique background—together with its embodied material spatiality—remains an open and fundamental question. BAYT seeks to shed light on these issues along two main lines. First, it undertakes a new analysis of formal parallels between Arabian pre-Islamic and Umayyad architecture, in order to identify previously unexplored patterns of continuity in forms of meeting and reception that extend beyond the conventional Roman–Sasanian dichotomy. Second, it investigates Arabic and Syriac textual sources to reconstruct the material performativity of these spaces, and to assess how certain architectural features and related social customs were understood in terms of their presumed intrinsic Arabness within Umayyad circles. The working hypothesis is that the conceptualisation of Umayyad audience halls may reflect an active process of assimilating architectural forms—and their associated rituals—from pre-Islamic contexts that the early Islamic elite perceived as quintessentially Arab. Architecture and space functionality will therefore be considered for the first time as a potential important aspect in the making of the Arab ethnos in this period. This bifocal methodology will enable a more nuanced understanding of the architectural roots, conceptual genesis, and functioning of Umayyad sreception paces. It will also provide a framework for examining how the Umayyad elite forged a royal consciousness and articulated it in relation to the socio-religious landscape of Late Antique Western Asia.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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- humanities history and archaeology history ancient history
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1010 Wien
Austria
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