Petra M. Sijpesteijn

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Petra Marieke Sijpesteijn (born 2 February 1971, Naarden) [1] is Professor of Arabic at Leiden University. She was the founding president of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology.

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Early life

Sijpesteijn graduated in History in 1996 with the thesis Crisis, Continuity or a Turning Point? Syrian Cities in the Byzantine and Islamic Empires. In 1997, she obtained her doctorate in Arabic studies with Scribbles from the Past. A Catalog of Arabic Letters Written on Papyrus. After studying for a year at Cornell University and researching at Oxford University, she received her PhD from Princeton University where she won the annual departmental prize for best thesis in 2004. [2]

Career

Sijpesteijn was the founding president of the International Society for Arabic Papyrology (2001–2014). She is currently the chair of Arabic at Leiden University. [3]

Since 2008, Sijpesteijn has been Professor of Arabic language and culture at Leiden University. She is part of the Leiden University Center for the Study of Islam (LUCIS), and focuses on the history of Islam in the sixth and seventh centuries. Sijpesteijn works with Arabic, Greek and Coptic papyri from the Islamic period as historical sources, but mainly publishes Arabic papyri. In addition to being a professor of Arabic language and culture, Sijpesteijn is also one of the ten Arab papyrologists in the world. [4] Her research focuses on the relationship between Islam and political power in the Middle East. By deciphering Arabic papyri, she wants to contribute to adjusting the static image of Islam used in contemporary discussions.

Sijpesteijn has been awarded various research grants, including 3 million euros from the European Research Council. In June 2022, she was elected foreign member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. [5] In April 2024, she was appointed foreign member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. [6] She was elected an International Fellow of the British Academy in 2024. [7] She is a board member of the Association International de Papyrology, the G.H.A. Juynboll Foundation, the Oriental Institute and the editorial board of the Journal of Ancient History. [8] In February 2025, she was elected member of the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities). [9]

Selected publications

References

  1. "Petra Marieke Sijpesteijn at "Leiden Faculty since 1575" . Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. "Petra Sijpesteijn".
  3. "Petra Sijpesteijn".
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20190410182339/https://www.nporadio1.nl/de-kennis-van-nu/onderwerpen/331987-arabist-papyroloog-petra-sijpesteijn
  5. "SIJPESTEIJN Petra M".
  6. "ÖAW wählt 34 neue Mitglieder".
  7. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/petra-sijpesteijn-fba/
  8. "Journal of Ancient History".
  9. "Four Leiden professors elected members of the KHMW". Leiden University. 2025-02-24. Retrieved 2025-03-03.