RAS Lecture series 2024-25

While dress code in medieval societies was largely defined by religious, political, and social rules, personal preferences could still play a significant role in shaping dress culture. Focused on Mamluk Cairo, this lecture documents the involvement of sultans and emirs in the design of uniforms and ceremonial outfits to convey their political image, while at…

  In this essential new work, Christopher D. Bahl departs from the established historiography on trade, shipping, and pilgrimage to argue for the emergence of Arabic learning as a crucial form of transoceanic mobility from the ûfteenth to the seventeenth centuries. From Egypt to the Hijaz, Yemen and further on to Gujarat and the Deccan,…