LOS PARATEXTOS PROLOGALES COMO “TEXTOS VIAJEROS”. EN EL CAMINO DE LA CONFORMACIÓN DE UNA COMUNIDAD RETÓRICA EN EL MEDITERRÁNEO

Al-Tabari’s history marks a pivotal moment in the construction of Islamic historiography. On the one hand, it collects an age-old literary tradition, and on the other, it itself becomes an obligatory reference point for subsequent Islamic historiography, which can be traced even in the Iberian Peninsula, in the world of al-Andalus. In al-Tabari’s prologue, we can find reminiscences of the Hellenistic tradition of Byzantine origin – reaching back to Eusebius of Caesarea. In the prologues of Andalusian works, we can verify its influence, connecting the Arab historiography of al-Andalus with that of the Eastern Islamic world and, finally, with the Christian historiography of the Mediterranean; the latter, of course, had already been nourished by classical historiography. Over a vast temporal arc, we can appreciate how different societies converge on some common forms when it comes to writing history, thus forming a true Rhetorical Community in the Mediterranean, which is manifested in narrative modes, method (sources), and the inclusion of a prologue. These elements are found in the Latin and Greek Christian historiographical tradition – which is based on classical and Hellenistic traditions – but also abundantly in early Arab-Islamic historiography, which is transformed, within the framework of circulations, into its projection towards new frontiers. Prologues constitute an example of texts that travel through time, overcoming geographical and even religious barriers.