Scholarly competition in Third/Ninth Century Baghdad : the case of Thaʿlab and al-Mubarrad

This paper examines the theme of rivalry and jealousy between two renowned ninth century grammarians, Tha‘lab (d. 291/904) and al-Mubarrad (d. 286/898) as it is portrayed in the biographical dictionaries of al-Sirafi, al-Zubaydi, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Yaqut and Ibn Khallikan (fourth/tenth-seventh/thirteenth century). After illustrating its approach to the sources and identifying relevant passages, the paper analyses the means through which each biographer gives more or less importance to this proverbial rivalry: the use of certain stories within each scholar's entry, their repetition in other entries, the highlighting of individuals functional to the theme, and the construction of a net of cross-references. The conclusion summarises the different approaches to the theme found in the sources and comments on the significance of this kind of topos within the genre of biographical dictionary.