{"word_count": 390, "character_count": 2982}
10-11 October 2014, Berlin, Freie UniversitätEarly Arabic literature stands at the crossroad of multiple influences:South-Arabian, Persian, In­dian, Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian. Wisdom maytherefore take the shape of divine knowl­edge, practical discipline,scientific achievements, moral teachings, ethics, etc. Furthermore, theliterary genres used for transmitting sapiential, ethical, and philosophicalmaterials are diverse: bi­ographies of prophets, saints, sages, ascetics andphilosophers; mirrors for princes; collections of sayings (gnomologies);philosophical commentaries, etc. Thus, sapiential material in Arabic medie­valliterature is to be found in both religious texts and in secular works.            Important agents in the creation and transmission of thismultifarious material are Wahb ibn Munabbih, Ibn al-Muqaffaʻ, Hunayn ibnIshaq, and al-Kindi. Their works, often lost, have at times been partiallypreserved in later epitomes and compilations, in larger historicalencyclopaedias and in phi­losophical compendiums. Through the translations ofsuch works as the pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-asrar (Secretum Secretorum) andMubashshir ibn Fatik’s Mukhtar al-hikam (Bocados de Oro), ex­amples of thisliterature – which often echoed works already available in Greek and Latin– were passed to Europe, where they were avidly read in translations allalong the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.            This conference aims at discussing the multifarious representationof wisdom and the phenom­ena of translation, adaptation, and transmission thatcan be found within this kind of litera­ture, bringing together scholars fromdifferent fields. We welcome papers on any work related to the early stages ofArabic sapiential/philosophical literature. The Syriac transmission of Paganand rhetorical material could also be considered. Furthermore, we welcomepapers on the European ver­sions of the Adab al-falasifa, the Sirr al-asrarand the Mukhtar al-hikam.            Questions that may be asked include: Why were Arabic speakingauthors interested in this type of literature? How did they pick their materialto fit their actual religious, political, social, and literary contexts? Whichsages were their favourites? And which ones did they neglect? How were theseArabic texts received in other literatures, within and without the Middle East?What usages were made of these texts? Were they considered as handbooks forscholars, as belles-lettres, or as a kind of resources to be used in order toproduce new texts?Conference languages are English, German, and French.Speakers will get free accommodation and will be reimbursed for their travelexpenses.Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words to Emily Cottrell (emily.cottrell@fu-berlin.de) and Regula Forster (forster@zedat.fu-berlin.de) by 1st March 2014. Contact: Dr Emily Cottrell and Prof Dr Regula Forster Seminar für Semitistik und Arabistik Freie Universität Berlin Altensteinstr. 34 14195 Berlin Germany