Come explore the beauty of Arabic gardens and their pleasure palaces, linguistic connections, the architectural magnificence of Arab-Norman cathedrals, and this period’s intellectual involvement in the Translation Movement. The introduction of new agricultural practices, crops, and spices was fundamental to Arabic cooking, which underlies much of Sicily’s creative cuisine. Week 4 entails a discussion of the novel “A Sultan in Palermo” by Tariq Ali (available at Amazon). Don’t read?—come anyway: we will be discussing the great mapmaker Muhammad al-Idrisi.

Moderator: Roger Pomplas is a retired geologist, science teacher, and Arabic research assistant.