Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Requisite: course 103C. Introduction to Arabic paleography and how to prepare editions of medieval manuscripts with critical apparatus and stemma. During past decades enormous number of previously unknown Arabic manuscripts have been discovered. While vast range of medieval texts have been published in editions of varying quality, equally large number of manuscripts remain unpublished. UCLA has outstanding collections of Near Eastern manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish, primarily in fields of medicine, literature, philology, theology, law, and history. It is rich in works related to studies of theologians and scholars at different centers of learning in Iran during Safavid period noted for works of Shiite theology, Islamic sciences, and philosophy. Course opens this treasure to graduate students interested in editing and/or translating manuscripts. S/U or letter grading.
