From June 16-17, 2017, an international conference on the Battle of Yarmūk, a symbolic battle of a Muslim conquest at the beginning of the 7th century in the Middle East, and its broader context was organised at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen in Germany.

In line with the title of the congress, The Battle of Yarmūk – Rethinking ‘Conquest’ in the Late Antique Near East from Byzantium to Islam, most of the presenters focused on the process of the Muslim takeover. Furthermore, the rethinking of the reconstruction of the historical events was the central theme of several lectures. In agreement with the concept of the organisers, the invited lecturers attempted to explore a pre-selected set of questions within the thematic sessions.

Mónika Schönléber, a member of our Institute, in the session analysing the texts of early and classical Arabic historians concerning the course of the Battle of Yarmūk and the Muslim conquest, analysed various depictions of the series of events leading to the Battle of Yarmūk in a comparative study. In her lecture entitled The narration of the events preceding the battle, an attempt was made to present changes in the tradition associated with al-Azdī, pointing out that while the working method and the use of the sources can be examined in detail, the detection of traditions that are more closely related to the events is extremely limited.

Most of the presentations at the conference also stressed that limited sources are available to fully understand the events of the 7th century. Analysts of both Byzantine, Syrian and Islamic sources increasingly focus on the process of transformations and contemporary reinterpretations of historical tradition. The lectures will be published in the form of a volume soon.

The programme of the conference can be read here.