Medieval Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes: An Anthology of Political Advice

FAIN: FEL-262271-19

Louise Marlow
Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA 02481-8203)

Translation and writing toward the publication of an anthology of Arabic and Persia texts of political advice to rulers from the 10th to 12th centuries.

I wish to prepare an anthology that will present, in English translation, important texts drawn from the medieval Arabic and Persian ‘mirrors for princes’ literatures. Pre-modern Muslim societies saw the production of numerous 'mirrors for princes’ – writings that offer advice to rulers on their governance and comportment – first in Arabic, and later in Persian, Turkish and Urdu, across a terrain that stretched from Spain to South and Central Asia. Written by secretaries and administrators, historians, men of letters, religious scholars, jurists and judges, mirrors shed considerable light on the political and intellectual cultures in which they were produced. They complement and sometimes subvert other modes of political discourse, such as legal writings, philosophical treatises, historiography and panegyric poetry. My anthology provides a substantial introduction to the genre, in which I situate the selected textual examples in their historical, intellectual and literary contexts.

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