This study deals with the characteristics of Arabic historiography in Iraq down to the time of Abu Ja'fer Tabari (d. 310/923). The historical annals of Taberi provide both the specific focus of the study and a methodological approach. Since Tabari's work may be regarded as an anthology of the writings of the early historians, our first question concerns the characteristics of Iraqi historiography as they are reflected in the annals. Then we are concerned with the ways in which Tabari's work differed from his predecessors. Part One of the study comprises a historical survey of the main historians of the period including Tabari. Part two deals with certain specific characteristics of history writing, suoh as the khabar element, based upon illustrative material provided by a translated portion of the annals, which itself appears as an Appendix to the study. Again drawing upon the translated material, we deal with certain problems, such as the nature of the sources, with which Tabari was confronted in compiling his own work.

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