Treasures of the Medieval Islamicate World: Stories of Empire and the Everyday



Overview

Explore the period from the 8th to the 13th centuries in the Islamicate East, characterised by remarkable intellectual flourishing, scientific innovation, vibrant intercultural exchange, and dynamic participation in Silk Road trade networks. 

Uniquely, this course will centre the periphery of this empire - modern day Afghanistan and Central Asia - in an exploration of treasures of the medieval islamicate world.

This era, often referred to as the Islamic Golden Age, parallels the European Renaissance in its transformative impact on knowledge production, artistic expression, and cross-cultural interaction.   

This day event will offer a window into life in the medieval Islamicate East during a period of major transformation and reform. Students will be introduced to the sources for this history, in a region spanning from Iran to Afghanistan, Central Asia and western China, in interactive lectures from Oxford Lifelong Learning researchers and their colleagues. 

Please note: this event will close to enrolments at 23:59 on 25 March 2026.

Programme details

9.45am
Registration 

10am
Rise and Fall of Caliphs and Sultans

The Islamic empire founded in the 7th century was one of the largest, most expansive, and enduring empires in history until the Mongol conquests of the 13th century. In this lecture, renowned historian and author Hugh Kennedy takes us on a journey that reveals the secrets of the success of the Islamic empire in political, military, economic, and cultural arenas.
Hugh Kennedy 

11am 
Tea/coffee break

11.30am  
The Barmakids: Stories of a Glamorous and Tragic Family 

The Barmakids are the most famous non-Arab family in medieval Islam, having gone from serving one of the largest Buddhist complexes in 7th century Afghanistan to being the right hands of the caliphs of the Islamic empire. In this lecture, Oxford Lifelong Learning’s Arezou Azad, who has recently published the first English translation of a history of the Barmakids, gives us an intimate view of palace life, replete with tempestuous relationships, skullduggery, and tragic endings.
Arezou Azad 

12.30pm
Lunch break

1.30pm
Walk to Bodleian

1.45pm
Document and Manuscript Session

The highlight of the day will be a visit to the Bodleian Library with exclusive access to medieval documents and manuscripts, including Cairo Geniza documents and a rare manuscript of the most famous of all Persian epics - the Shāhnāma ("Epic of Kings”). 
Arezou Azad and Nadia Vidro

3pm
Walk back to Rewley House

3.15pm
Tea/coffee break

3.45pm
Scribes, Subjects and Suprises from Life Outside the Palace Walls

The medieval Islamic world produced a vast number of texts, on a par with those written in Latin and Chinese. Highly-trained scribes working across the empire resulted in an incredible congruence of writing conventions from Cairo to Bamiyan long before the digital age, spanning genres, languages and scripts. In this lecture, led by a leading expert on medieval Jews, we also explore the routes of transmission between scribes, as well as the stories of the people who hired them, including women, peasants and slave owners.
Nadia Vidro

5pm  
End of day  

Fees

Description Costs
Event fee (includes tea/coffee) £120.00
Baguette lunch £7.50
Hot lunch £21.25

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit or are a full-time student in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of the event fee. Please note that the discount does not apply to catering or accommodation.

Concessionary fees for short courses

 

Tutors

Dr Arezou Azad

Arezou Azad holds the Chair in the Art and Heritage of Afghanistan at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientale in Paris and is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and Director of the Invisible East programme. She is the author of Sacred Landscape of Medieval Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Warehouse of Bamiyan (Edinburgh University Press, 2025).

Prof Hugh Kennedy

Hugh's research interests include Early Islamic History from 600 to1100, Arabic historiography, Islamic archaeology, historical geography of the Middle East, castle building in the Middle East and the history of al-Andalus (Muslim Spain and Portugal).

Dr Nadia Vidro

Nadia Vidro is the Editorial Fellow for the Invisible East programme and a cultural and intellectual historian of medieval Jews in the Middle East. She holds a PhD in Hebrew Studies from Cambridge (2010), and an MA in Jewish Studies (major), Islamic Studies (minor) and General Linguistics (minor) from the University of Cologne (2004). Nadia researches Jewish manuscripts from the Islamicate world, from Egypt and the Levant in the West to Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan in the East.

Application

Please use the 'Book' button on this page. Alternatively, please contact us to obtain an application form.

Accommodation

If you wish to stay with us before and/or after the event, please contact our Residential Centre for availability and discounted rates.

Call +44 (0) 1865 270362 or email res-ctr@conted.ox.ac.uk

Our accommodation in Wellington Square has been rated as 4-Star Campus Accommodation under Visit England. All bedrooms are modern, comfortably furnished with tea/coffee making facilities, Freeview television, private bath/shower rooms and free WiFi. For more details see our accommodation information.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support