Anya King studied Central Eurasian Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, earning the PhD in 2007.  Her dissertation, The Musk Trade and the Near East in the Early Medieval Period, discussed the origins and development of the musk trade and its impact on medieval Islamic civilization.  Her research focuses on the commercial and cultural interactions between the pre-Islamic and early Islamic Near East and India, Southeast Asia, China, and Central Eurasia.  She is particularly interested in the trade in pharmaceuticals, aromatics, and dyes, as well as Islamic geographical and travel literature. 

Anya King offers courses on Middle Eastern and Asian history.  She also regularly teaches HIST 111: World Civilizations to 1500.

Publications

“The Importance of Imported Aromatics: Illustrations from pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Poetry.”  Journal of Near Eastern Studies 67 (2008).  

“Some 10th Century Material on Asian Toponymy from Sahlan b. Kaysan.” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 16 (2008/9).

“Tibetan Musk and Medieval Arab Perfumery,” In Islam and Tibet. Interactions along the Musk Routes.  Edited by Anna Akasoy, Charles Burnett, and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010.  [Forthcoming 11/10]

Conference Papers

“The Silk Road and Central Eurasia: Central Eurasian contributions to the goods traded in Early Medieval Eurasia,” 2004 Central Eurasian Studies Society conference, Indiana University, Bloomington.

“Musk in Medieval Central Asia.” Twelfth Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Indiana University, Bloomington, April 9, 2005.

“Tibetan Musk and Medieval Arab Perfumery.” Islam and Tibet: Cultural Interactions, The Warburg Institute, London, November 18, 2006.
http://www.warburg.sas.ac.uk/islamtibet/Conference.htm

“The Mukhtasar fi al-Tib of Sahlan b. Kaysan: A Unique Source for the History of Near Eastern Aromatics and Perfumery.” American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, March 14, 2008.

“The Late Antique Flowering of Asian Trade: The Role of the Sasanians in the Introduction of New Products of Asia.” World History Association Annual Meeting, Salem, MA, June 26, 2009.

“Beyond the Geographers: Information on Asia in Early Medieval Arabic Writings on Pharmacology and Perfumery.” Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, March 25-8, 2010.

“Early Arabic and Persian Sources on the Kitan Liao: The Role of Trade.”  Perspectives on the Liao, Yale University and Bard Graduate Center, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2010.
http://eastasianstudies.research.yale.edu/LiaoProgram.pdf

Phone:  464-1754

Office:   LA3043