Dalla terra al cielo: oro e pietre preziose nel Mustaṭraf fī kull fann mustaẓraf di al-Abshīhī

Adopting an integrated approach that also takes into account contributions of ecocriticism, I focus on the territories of the imagination to address some issues concerning the relationship between humans and lithic material in Arab culture, a relationship that has been much less explored than the one between humans and other aspects of the natural world. Indeed, Arabs have dealt with non-human subjects, metals, stones and earthly materials in a broad sense, not only for practical purposes but also for intellectual projects, as can be seen in al-Abshīhī’s brief lapidary entries.