Report on the Excavations of Ḥīra in 2010-2011

Abstract

ost of the studies on the city of Ḥīra are based on Islamic Arabic and Syriac literary sources. Prominent among studies in Arabic is the research by Yousif Rizq-Allāh Ghanīma, which makes use of the 10century Kitāb al-Aghānī, among other sources, as well as the chapter on the same city by Dr. Jawad Ali in his Encyclopedia on the Arabs before Islam. Studies in foreign languages include the fundamental research by the German scholar Gustav Rothstein, which approached the literary sources critically while reconstructing the succession of princely rulers of Ḥīra. M. J. Kister’s research increased our knowledge about the city after he exploited the manuscript al-manāqib al-mazyadiyya of Abū al-Baqā’ (11-12 century), which offers relevant details not found elsewhere. Nöldeke’s translation and study of the history of al-Ṭabarī, in which he also consulted the Syriac sources, was a step forward in expanding the research on Ḥīra. The same can be said of the work of Nina V. Pigulevskaia, on the connection between Arabs, Sassanians, and Byzantines. There is also a survey article on Ḥīra by Irfan Shahid. The present paper adds another dimension to the sources mentioned above by making use of recent archaeological discoveries in Ḥīra unearthed during the latest season (2010-2011), in which important Christian remains were found.