Since 2004, the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University has organized a series of short, intensive courses for graduate students on a variety of subjects in the broad field of Islamic studies not normally covered in the Princeton curriculum. In each case, an internationally-recognized expert has been brought in to teach the course over a period of five weekdays.
This year, we plan to offer such a course entitled, “From Gindibu to Muhammad – Pre-Islamic Arabias, Arabics, and Arabs.”
The course will take place from January 13-16, 2026. The course is intended primarily for graduate students, both from Princeton and from other universities.
The instructor will be Dr. Ahmad al-Jallad, a leading expert in the study of pre-Islamic Arabia, the religions and cultures of its inhabitants, and the region’s linguistic history. The objective of the program is to present important aspects of these fields.
The program will cover the following topics:
- From Pre-Historic Arabia to the Peninsula of the “Arabs”
- The history of writing in Arabia – literacy, writing cultures, and languages
- Origins of writing in Arabia, from the late Bronze Age until late antiquity
- The emergence of the Arabic script in its late antique cultural setting
- Selection of key epigraphic texts
- Ancestral Arabian Religion(s)
- The Nomads
- The oases of Ancient North Arabia
- Ancient Yemen
- Pre-Islamic Oman unlocked – the deciphered Dhofari script: paleography, language, and religion
- The Archaeology of the Quran
Applications must be emailed to Meriam Essa ([email protected]) in the Near Eastern Studies Department at Princeton University by August 1, 2025. The subject line of the email should read, "Application for Pre-Islamic Arabic and Arabia Workshop."
Applications should comprise the following:
Letter of application with statement of interest, CV, names, positions, and email addresses of two referees. All items should be included in a single attachment, which may be a pdf. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance around August 15, 2025, and those accepted will receive a small grant to help defray the costs of attending the course.