al-Idrisi 371Icons(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990);
Daniel Sahas, ed., Icon and Logos: Sources in Eighth Cen-
tury Iconoclasm(Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1986).
icons, history and theology of Icons were movable,
portable images in PAINTINGor MOSAICor in a wooden
panel, showing Christ, the Virgin MARY, a saint, or a reli-
gious scene. In Greek iconmeant “image” or “resem-
blance,” and designated a religious work of art or image
that was the object of a cult. Its scale, technique, or
medium—painting, mosaic, marble, IVORY, ENAMEL, gold,
bronze, or cloth—was unimportant. The BYZANTINES
sought realism in the portrait and valued the artist’s skill
in expressing the spiritual qualities and the miraculous
capabilities of the subject.
Icons have been omnipresent in the Eastern
Church, in churches, monastic cells, private homes,
shops, public monuments, and the imperial palace.
Important in every aspect of private and public life,
icons continued the traditions of classical portraiture, in
technique, hieratic frontal aspect, and commemorative
function. However, medieval icons rather emphasized
the magical and religious value of these images. The
number and scale of these icons exploded from the sixth
century. From that time also have survived the oldest
icons, those created at Saint Catherine’s monastery at
the Sinai Peninsula, at KIEV, and at ROME. The venera-
tion and making of such images were never limited to
the Eastern Church.
MIRACLESattributed to these icons grew, giving them
supernatural power. Icons became much like RELICSas
vehicles with supernatural capabilities. Distinctions
between the image and the person represented began to
disappear. They became true and magical mediators
between humans and GOD, the source of support against
evil. Icons were deployed to protect cities during wars
and catastrophes. They allowed viewers to commune
with the divine or sacred personage represented, who was
believed actually to be almost present by some. There was
always some opposition to such beliefs or practices in
both the East and the West. In the Byzantine Empire this
led to long period of ICONOCLASM.
Further reading:Hans Belting, Likeness and Presence:
A History of the Image before the Era of Art(1990; reprint,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994); Robin Cor-
mack, Writing in Gold: Byzantine Society and Its Icons
(London: George Philip, 1985); Léonide Ouspensky, The
Meaning of Icons,ed. Urs Graf-Verlag and trans. G. E. H.
Palmer and E. Kadloubovsky (Boston: Boston Book and
Art Shop, 1952); Léonide Ouspensky, Theology of the
Icon, 2 vols., trans. Anthony Gythiel (New York: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1992); David and Tamara Tal-
bot Rice, Icons and Their History(Woodstock, N.Y.: Over-
look Press, 1974).
al-Idrisi(Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad
Abd Allah ibn Idris al-Ali bi-Amr Allah)(1100–1165)
geographer, traveler
Al-Idrisi was born in 1100 in Ceuta in MOROCCO,a
descendant of the HAMDANID dynasty, who had ruled
Malaga in AL-ANDALUSuntil 1057 and over Ceuta and
Tangier in Morocco until 1084. He studied at CÓRDOBA.
In his youth he traveled widely, visiting ANATOLIA, North
AFRICA, Spain, FRANCE, and probably even the English
coast. At the invitation of ROGERII, the Norman king of
SICILY, he went sometime before 1144 to live at Roger’s
court in PALERMO. As a descendant of a dynasty who
ruled in Muslim Spain and North Africa, he had a consid-
erable knowledge of those regions. He might have poten-
tial as a useful tool in Roger’s ambitious plan to rule the
entire western Mediterranean.GEOGRAPHICAL INTERESTS
Roger also had a keen theoretical interest in geography.
Since 1139 he had provided support for an ambitious
project on a world geography, based on Greek, LATIN, and
Arabic literature as well as on contemporary research.
There was even a commission to gather information, of
which Al-Idrisi became a leading member.
At the order of Roger, al-Idrisi constructed a silver
celestial sphere with an enormous map of the world in
disk form or a planisphere form on a silver base. As a
commentary for it, he wrote a large geography of the
world. Completed in January 1154, it became known as
The Book of Rogerin recognition of the king’s patronage.
In this original and unique work al-Idrisi divided the
known world, in accordance with Greek tradition, into
seven regional climates and described each in detail. The
book has long been generally recognized as the most
detailed and accurate account of the known world in the
12th century. It included information about ethnic
groups, their cultures, general economic life, and com-
merce. The Book of Rogercontained 71 maps, some in
color, among the most accurate produced in the Middle
Ages in Europe and the Islamic world. Al-Idrisi used the
geography of Ptolemy and many works of Arab geogra-
phers as sources, though some escaped him. He also
relied on reports of contemporary travelers and, for the
regions he had visited, his own observations and memory.
His descriptions of the countries of Europe were original
and generally precise.
After the death of Roger in 1154, al-Idrisi produced
an enlarged but lost version of his geography for Roger’s
son and successor, WILLIAMI. Al-Idrisi left Sicily, perhaps
as a result of the anti-Muslim riots in Palermo in 1161.
Later he composed a shorter compendium of world geog-
raphy. Al-Idrisi also wrote a pharmacological treatise and
some poetry. He died probably in Ceuta about 1165.
Further reading: S. Maqbul Ahmad, “Al-Idrı ̄sı ̄,”
in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 7.7–9; al-Idrisi,
India and the Neighbouring Territories in the Kitab Nuzhat