RESOURCESdiscussed in O. Grabar's "The Architecture of Power: Palaces, Citadels
and Fortifications," in Architecture of the Islamic World, ed. C. Mitch-
ell (London, 1978), pp. 48-79. Impressed by the number of fortified
rural palaces from the early Islamic period, Grabar argues that urban
citadels developed later. If so, the Kufan citadel is an important ex-
ception.
The field of art history has so far made the most extensive use of
material remains. In addition to Pope's Survey, one can consult
K. Erdmann's Die Kunst Irans zur Zeit der Sasaniden (Berlin, 1943)
and R. Girshman's Persian Art: The Parthian and Sassanian Dynasties,
249 B.C.-A.D. 651, tr. S. Gilbert and J. Emmons (New York, 1962).
Specialized studies include J. Schmidt's "Figiirlich sasanidische Stuck-
dekorationen aus Ktesiphon," Ars Islamica 4 (1937): 175-84; R. Venco
Ricciardi's "Note sull' arte tessile sasanide," Mesopotamia 3-4 (1968-
69): 385-415; and especially C. Bier's comments on "Textiles" in P.
Harper's Royal Hunter: Art of the SasanianEmpire (New York, 1978),
pp. 119-40. P. M. Costa, "The Mosaic from Tell Khwaris in the Iraq
Museum," Iraq 33 (1971): 119-24, concerning a late Sasanian or very
early Islamic floor mosaic from the region of the lower Zab, should
be compared with M. Taha's "A Mural Painting from Kufa," Sumer
27 (1971): 77-79, which reveals important continuities in decoration.
Of all the vast literature on Islamic art, the most important for a study
such as this are R. Ettinghausen's From Byzantium to Sasanian Iran
and the Islamic World: Three Modes of Artistic Influences (Leiden,
1972), and O. Grabar's The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven,
1973). Fortunately, in their concern for how objects were made, art
historians have led the way in recent years in discovering the techniques
of artisanal production.
Arabic Inscriptions and Documents
It is no secret that the Arabic language began to be written in the
Kufic script in the sixth century. The earliest inscriptions appear to
be those at Zebed (A.D. 512) and at Harran (A.D. 568). There are
contemporary written sources in Arabic from the seventh and eighth
centuries in the form of inscriptions on buildings, tombstones, coins,
seals, and weights, and on papyri which contain doctrinal, chrono-
logical, administrative, paleographic, and onomastic information.
N. Abbott pioneered the interpretation and use of these materials in
The Rise of the North-Arabic Script and Its Kur'anic Development
(Chicago, 1939). For an early criticism of her position and counter-