NES 369 / HIS 251 / JDS 251

The World of the Cairo Geniza

Marina Rustow

Back to "Fall 2018" courses

The importance of the Cairo Geniza, a cache of texts discovered in the attic of a medieval Egyptian synagogue, goes beyond Jewish history, crossing the breadth of the medieval world and offering an intimate view of commerce, slavery, heresy and seafaring; of what people wore, ate, rode, believed and did all day; of who married whom and why; of a Shi’ite state ruling over Sunnis, Christians and Jews; and of a society that remains the best documented of its period. Students in the course will read unpublished primary sources to gain an insider’s glimpse of what we can know and can’t know in premodern history.

View this course on the Registrar’s website.

<< Arts of the Medieval BookMarriage and Monotheism: Men, Women, and God in Near Eastern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam >>
Humanities Council Logo
Italian Studies Logo
American Studies Logo
Humanistic Studies Logo
Ancient World Logo
Canadian Studies Logo
ESC Logo
Journalism Logo
Linguistics Logo
Medieval Studies Logo
Renaissance Logo
Film Studies Logo