{"id":102349,"date":"2016-09-06T14:19:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T18:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=102349"},"modified":"2016-09-06T14:55:32","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T18:55:32","slug":"trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trouser Cords of Armenia (Et Cetera)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_102358\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9780143107484-copy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102358\" class=\"wp-image-102358\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9780143107484-copy.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"461\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-102358\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Gianni Dagli Orti.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>This week, we\u2019re publishing four short excerpts from<\/em>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316708\/the-ultimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition-by-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri-edited-translated-and-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-elias-muhanna\/9780143107484\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition<\/a><em>, a fourteenth-century encyclopedia\u00a0of \u2026 well, everything, or everything known to Arab civilization circa 1314. Compiled with dogged dedication by Shih\u0101b al-D\u012bn al-Nuwayr\u012b, the book runs to more than nine thousand pages; an abridged version is now available for the first time in English.\u00a0<\/em>Ultimate Ambition\u00a0<em>lives up to its bold title\u2014its eclectic, protean entries cover lunar cults, the sugary drinks in the sultan\u2019s buttery, and how to attract your dream woman by burying a crow\u2019s head.<\/em><em>\u00a0Its translator, Elias Muhanna, believes the compendium affords\u00a0<\/em><em>\u201ca view into the kaleidoscopic and multifarious intellectual tradition of the classical Islamic world\u201d; the\u00a0<\/em>New York Review of Books\u00a0<em>calls it \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/daily\/2016\/08\/24\/in-the-attic-of-early-islam-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri\/\" target=\"_blank\">a bizarre, fascinating book that illustrate[s] the sprawlingly heterodox reality of the early centuries of Islam<\/a>.\u201d Today\u2019s extract:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>On Qualities of Places with Respect to Different Things such as Knowledge, Work, Gems, Clothes, Furs, Carpets, Steeds, Poisonous Animals, Sweets, Fruits, Aromatics, Physical Features and Manners, Diseases, and Meteorological Phenomena<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As for intellectual and professional qualities, one talks about the sages of Greece, the doctors of Jundays\u0101b\u016br, the jewelers of Harr\u0101n, the weavers of Yemen, and the scribes of al-Saw\u0101d (in Iraq).<\/p>\n<p>With jewels, one talks of the turquoise of Nishapur, the rubies of Sarand\u012bb (Sri Lanka), the pearls of Oman, the emeralds of Egypt, the carnelian of Yemen, the onyx of Zaf\u0101r, the garnets of Balkh, and the coral of Ifr\u012bqiya.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As for clothing, one hears of the striped garments of Yemen, the embroidery of San\u2018\u0101\u2019, the thin singlets of Syria, the colored linen garments of Egypt, the brocade of the Byzantines, the silk of S\u016bs and China, the wraps of F\u0101rs and Isfahan, the embroidered silk of Baghdad, the turbans of al-Ubulla, the silken cloth of Rayy and Marw, the trouser cords of Armenia, the kerchiefs of al-D\u0101magh\u0101n, and the stockings of Qazw\u012bn.<\/p>\n<p>As for furs, there are the squirrel pelts of Khirkh\u012bz, the sable of Bulgaria, the fox fur of al-Kharaz, the mink of K\u0101shghar, the pelican plumage of Herat, and the ermine of Tughuzghuz.<\/p>\n<p>As for steeds, one speaks of the fine horses of the desert, the noble camels of the Hij\u0101z, the work horses of Takh\u0101rist\u0101n, the \u2028donkeys of Egypt, and the mules of Bardha\u2018a. \u2028<\/p>\n<p>With regard to poisonous animals, one speaks of the vipers of \u2028Sijist\u0101n, the snakes of Isfahan, the serpents of Egypt, the scorpions \u2028of Shahraz\u016br, the yellow scorpions of Ahw\u0101z, the fleas of Armenia, \u2028the rats of Arzan, the ants of Mayy\u0101f\u0101riq\u012bn, the flies of Tall F\u0101f\u0101n. \u2028<\/p>\n<p>As for sweet delicacies, one speaks of the sugar of Ahw\u0101z, the honey of Isfahan, the sugarcane syrup of Makr\u0101n, and the \u2028molasses of Arraj\u0101n. \u2028<\/p>\n<p>As for fruits, one speaks of the fresh dates of Iraq, the dry \u2028dates of Kirm\u0101n, the jujube of Jurj\u0101n, the pears of Bust, the \u2028quince of Nishapur, the apples of Syria, the apricots of T\u016bs, the \u2028pears of Nah\u0101wand, the citrons of Tabarist\u0101n, the oranges of \u2028Basra, the figs of Hulw\u0101n, the grapes of Baghdad, the apricots \u2028of Herat, the bananas of Yemen, the walnuts of India, the melons of Khw\u0101razm, and the beans of Kufa. \u2028<\/p>\n<p>As for aromatic plants, one speaks of the narcissus of Jurj\u0101n, \u2028the roses of J\u016br, the water lilies of al-S\u012braw\u0101n, the gillyflowers of \u2028Baghdad, the saffron of Qom, and the sweet basil of Samarqand.<\/p>\n<p>As for physical features and manners, one speaks of the ruddiness of the Byzantines, the black skin of the Zanj, the coarse\u2028ness of the Turks, the churlishness of the G\u012bl, the foulness of \u2028the Chinese, and the shortness of the people of Gog. \u2028<\/p>\n<p>As for illnesses, one speaks of the plagues of Syria, the spleen dis\u2028ease of Bahrain, the boils of al-Jaz\u012bra, the fever of Khaybar, the \u2028madness of Homs, the sweats of Yemen, the pestilence of Egypt, the \u2028pleurisy of Iraq, the carbuncles of Persia, and the ulcers of Balkh.<\/p>\n<p>As for meteorological phenomena, one speaks of the rain of \u2028Armenia, the summer rains of Oman, the thunderbolts of Tih\u0101ma, \u2028and the earthquakes of Dab\u012bl.<\/p>\n<p>Al-J\u0101hiz wrote in his <em>Book of Cities<\/em>: \u201cCraftsmanship is found in \u2028Basra, eloquence in Kufa, effeminacy in Baghdad, boastfulness \u2028in Samarqand, error in Rayy, churlishness in Nishapur, beauty in \u2028Herat, chivalry in Balkh, miserliness in Merv, and wonders in \u2028Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316708\/the-ultimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition-by-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri-edited-translated-and-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-elias-muhanna\/9780143107484\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-102353 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9780143107484.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>From\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316708\/the-ultimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition-by-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri-edited-translated-and-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-elias-muhanna\/9780143107484\/\" target=\"_blank\">T<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316708\/the-ultimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition-by-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri-edited-translated-and-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-elias-muhanna\/9780143107484\/\" target=\"_blank\">he Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/316708\/the-ultimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition-by-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri-edited-translated-and-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-elias-muhanna\/9780143107484\/\" target=\"_blank\">: A Compendium of Knowledge from the Classical Islamic World<\/a><em> by Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri; edited and translated by Elias Muhanna,\u00a0published by Penguin Classics, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Translation, abridgement, introduction, and notes copyright \u00a9 2016 by Elias Muhanna.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Translated from the Arabic by Elias Muhanna.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, we\u2019re publishing four short excerpts from\u00a0The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition, a fourteenth-century encyclopedia\u00a0of \u2026 well, everything, or everything known to Arab civilization circa 1314. Compiled with dogged dedication by Shih\u0101b al-D\u012bn al-Nuwayr\u012b, the book runs to more than nine thousand pages; an abridged version is now available for the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1052,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[489],"tags":[22649,24363,24360,12203,24354,24364,1773,24353,24355,14829,24359,24358,4425,20236,13303,24356,24362,24357,24361,24352,530,12807],"class_list":["post-102349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-2","tag-arabic","tag-aromatics","tag-carpets","tag-clothes","tag-compendia","tag-diseases","tag-egypt","tag-elias-muhanna","tag-encyclopedia","tag-fruits","tag-furs","tag-gems","tag-islam","tag-knowledge","tag-meteorology","tag-miscellany","tag-poisonous-animals-sweets","tag-shihab-al-din-al-nuwayri","tag-steeds","tag-the-uitimate-ambition-in-the-arts-of-erudition","tag-translation","tag-work"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Kaleidoscopic Encyclopedia from the Fourteenth Century<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aphrodisiacs? 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You can learn it all in \u201cThe Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Trouser Cords of Armenia (Et Cetera) by Shihab Al-Din Al-Nuwayri","og_description":"September 6, 2016 \u2013 This week, we\u2019re publishing four short excerpts from\u00a0The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition, a fourteenth-century encyclopedia\u00a0of \u2026 well,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-09-06T18:19:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-06T18:55:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Shihab Al-Din Al-Nuwayri","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shihab Al-Din Al-Nuwayri","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/"},"author":{"name":"Shihab Al-Din Al-Nuwayri","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2a73877581433a7fc46a5c6ef47f994b"},"headline":"The Trouser Cords of Armenia (Et Cetera)","datePublished":"2016-09-06T18:19:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-06T18:55:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/"},"wordCount":853,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9780143107484-copy.jpg","keywords":["Arabic","aromatics","carpets","clothes","compendia","diseases","Egypt","Elias Muhanna","encyclopedia","fruits","furs","gems","Islam","knowledge","meteorology","miscellany","poisonous animals sweets","Shih\u0101b al-D\u012bn al-Nuwayr\u012b","steeds","The UItimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition","translation","work"],"articleSection":["Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/","name":"A Kaleidoscopic Encyclopedia from the Fourteenth Century","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/06\/trouser-cords-armenia-et-cetera\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/9780143107484-copy.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-06T18:19:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-06T18:55:32+00:00","description":"Aphrodisiacs? 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