Students in Joe Glynias' first-year seminar this semester are learning about the long history of ascetic practices in the medieval Middle East.
Fasting, seclusion, intensive prayer, and abstinence were all part of monasticism and Sufism, Glynias said, ascetic trends that were "massive social phenomena" across the Christian and Muslim worlds and intimately connected with political, economic, and intellectual happenings at the time.
"A lot of the students in this course are encountering these texts for the first time and, I think, enjoying them," Glynias said. "It's a topic that feels very far away from our modern world in lots of ways, except that monasticism and Sufism still exist in this world and are still important socially in various places, which we will get to by the end of the course."
An assistant professor of history in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Glynias was "enthralled" with learning ancient languages and their relation to history as an undergraduate major in Classics and became fascinated by the transmission of religious ideas between the medieval Greek and medieval Arabic traditions.
He is currently working on a book about the translation movement in Byzantine Antioch in the 10th and 11th centuries, in which hundreds of Greek Christian texts were translated into Syriac and Arabic.
Prior to coming to Yale, he was a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.
In the latest edition of Office Hours, a Q&A series that introduces new Yale faculty members to the broader community, Glynias sat down with Yale News to talk about a traveling Baghdadi physician, his love of fantasy literature, and (what else?) pizza.
| Title | Assistant Professor of History |
|---|---|
| Research Interest | The cultural transmission of texts and ideas at the intersection of Islamic, Byzantine, and Eastern Christian history in the late antique and medieval Mediterranean and Middle East |
| Prior Institution | Harvard Society of Fellows |
| Started at Yale | July 1, 2025 |
Tell me about your research.
Joe Glynias: I work on the confluence of the medieval Greek and medieval Arabic traditions. I particularly look at the role that Eastern Christians played in transmitting text and ideas between the Islamic world and the Byzantine ones. Most of my work is in Greek and Arabic, and I study translation between them in both directions. I also do work with Syriac, which is a form of Aramaic particularly used by Christians.
You recently published a paper on a Baghdadi physician who traveled across the Byzantine and Islamic worlds. Why is he noteworthy?
Glynias: The physician I talk about in that paper, Ibn Buṭlān, was one of the more erudite Arabic physicians of his time [the 11th century]. He had one of the most elite Baghdadi educations. But because Baghdad was going through political complexities at the time, and other centers were emerging in the Middle East, he left Baghdad in search of opportunities and traveled all around the Islamic and Byzantine worlds. As he traveled, he continued to practice medicine and seek patronage. But he was a very difficult personality, and he got himself into trouble basically everywhere he went. He ended up in Constantinople at a moment of great schism between the Eastern and Western churches in 1054. He took the side of the Byzantines and, I argue, converted to becoming a Byzantine Christian. Finally, he moved to Antioch, which had recently been conquered by the Byzantines and made into their sort of Arabophone eastern center, where he found a community of Arabic-speaking Christian intellectuals who were kind of his peers.
He's a really interesting figure because we have a lot of his texts. We can trace his travels around and see the concrete connections between the Islamic and Byzantine intellectual traditions through his work and his activities.
How are you finding life here at Yale?
Glynias: The students are awesome. They engage critically, they teach me things. It's honestly a joy to teach them. And the history department is world class - I'm very fortunate to be in it. I've already learned a lot from my colleagues.
What do you like to do when you're not working?
Glynias: I'm a huge reader of fantasy and sci-fi literature.
Favorite author?
Glynias: This is a hard question. In recent years, I have loved reading all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi, including Ann Leckie, Kim Stanley Robinson, N.K. Jemisin, Brandon Sanderson, and others. Arkady Martine also stands out to me - she's not only an outstanding (and Hugo Award-winning) sci-fi writer but also has a Ph.D. in Byzantine history and wrote a great dissertation that I cited in my own. When it comes down to it, my love for all of this came from reading too much Tolkien. This might also be why I became a medievalist.
How about places to eat?
Glynias: I'm really enjoying the pizza in New Haven. It lives up to the hype. I live in Wooster Square, so I have very good access! Pepe's, Sally's, and Bar are all great, as is Zuppardi's. My partner and I go to different pizzerias depending on our mood and desire for a specific pizza experience.
What mood do you have to be in to go to Sally's?
Glynias: A patient one - willing to wait.
