The Almoravid and Almohad Empires
Amira K. Bennison
£32.99
About this book
Explores the distinctive character of the Umayyad empire in its early Islamic context: its economy, society and political history
- Situates the Umayyad Empire in the wider history of Late Antiquity
- Includes thematic chapters on ecology and the economy, the religions of the Umayyad Middle East, and administration and government
- Draws upon extensive recent archaeological, art-historical and textual scholarship
The Umayyad Empire (644–750 CE) was the first Islamic empire and one of the largest empires of ancient and medieval times, extending over 5,000 miles between the Atlantic Ocean in the West and the Indian Ocean in the East. This book traces the empire’s origins to the Arabian Peninsula and the Syrian Steppe in the centuries before Islam. It explores the dynamics that shaped this formative era for the history of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. The century of Umayyad rule witnessed war with the Eastern Roman Empire, against whom the Umayyads defined their claims to rule as God’s deputies on Earth. This was the period in which the Qur’an was compiled, monuments such as the Dome of the Rock were built, and new Islamic and Arab identities developed.
Reviews
In his new book, Andrew Marsham – one of the great historians of the Umayyads – gives us a portrait of the first Muslim empire in all its vastness, turmoil, and diversity. Much more than a dynastic history, this book helps us see the environment in which Islam was first born and spread across the ancient world. A mighty achievement.
Readers will gain a greater understanding of the Umayyad involvement in the transformative growth of Islam as well as further insight into the Umayyad era’s historic role in connecting the pre-Islamic world with the eventual Abbasid Caliphate that succeeded it.
A work [...] which shows great mastery both of sources and bibliography, and which always highlights points of debate. Notably, the work benefits from a dozen box texts which offer valuable historiographical clarifications or discuss new themes in detail.
Table of contents
List of Box TextList of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsNotes on Dates, Transliteration and NamesAcknowledgementsIntroduction
Part I The Formation of the Umayyad Empire Introduction
1. The Origins of Arabian Empire
2. The Seventh Century ‘World Crisis’
3. The ‘Conquest Society’ and the Defeat of Rome and Iran
4. The Emergence of the Umayyad Empire
5. The Succession to Mu‘awiya and the Second Civil War
Part II The Marwanid Umayyad Empire, 692–750
Introduction
6. The Imperial Marwanid Caliphate
7. The Siege of Constantinople and the Short Caliphates of Sulayman, ‘Umar II, and Yazid II
8. Hisham b. ‘Abd al-Malik: Renewal and Defeat
9. The Collapse of Umayyad Power
Part III Ecology, Economy and Society in Umayyad Times
Introduction
10. Resources, Settlement Patterns and Commerce
11. Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews and Others in the Umayyad Empire
12. The Provinces, Government and Taxation
AfterwordBibliographyIndex
About the author
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