The Studies in the History and Culture of the Islamic Orient (STIO) is the series of Supplements to the journal Der Islam. Both are published by the Section for the History and Culture of the Near East in the Asian-African Institute of the University of Hamburg. The Section was established in 1908, before the foundation of the University of Hamburg. Under its first Director, C.H. Becker, it was the first academic centre in Germany in which teaching and research concentrated on the historical and cultural aspects of the Islamic world, and not just on philological issues. Many of Germany s leading authorities in Islamic Studies have studied and/or taught here. The Supplements have maintained the same high quality and met the same high demands as the journal Der Islam and have published numerous studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world which have represented milestones in their relevant fields.
The New Series of Supplements appearing since 2004 carries this tradition forward and provides a platform for publishing studies on the history and culture of the Islamic world from the beginnings of Islam up to the present day.
Exploring and understanding how medieval Christians perceived and constructed the figure of the Prophet Muhammad is of capital relevance in the complex history of Christian-Muslim relations. Medieval authors writing in Latin from the 8th to the 14th centuries elaborated three main images of the Prophet: the pseudo-historical, the legendary, and the eschatological one. This volume focuses on the first image and consists of texts that aim to reveal the (Christian) truth about Islam. They have been taken from critical editions, where available, otherwise they have been critically transcribed from manuscripts and early printed books. They are organized chronologically in 55 entries: each of them provides information on the author and the work, date and place of composition, an introduction to the passage(s) reported, and an updated bibliography listing editions, translations and studies. The volume is also supplied with an introductory essay and an index of notable terms.
Michelina Di Cesare, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici, Naples, Italy.
