Translating a collection of the most important descriptions of the Turks found in medieval Arabic texts into English, this book aims at delineating the coming of the Turkic people in the eleventh century, their military successes in Iran and Iraq, and the emergence of the sultanate. The book introduces the reader to the history of the Islamic Caliphate and the Turkic people. This introduction is followed by annotated translated sources which illuminate; the view of the Eurasian steppes in Muslim-Arabic geographical writing from the pre-Saljūq period, the self-image and ideology of the victorious Saljūqs and their fundamental claim to legitimacy, and the conventional narrative of the coming of the Saljūqs in later Arabic historiography. Illustrating the variety of sources available on the history of Turkic tribes in the Eurasian steppes and in central Islamic lands, ranging from geographical writing, to chronicles, to mythological legends, this book will be an essential resource for students and scholars with an interest in Turks and image, History, and Middle East Studies.

This book investigates the early history of the Seljuq Turks, founders of one of the most important empires of the mediaeval Islamic world, from their origins in the Eurasian steppe to their conquest of Iran, Iraq and Anatolia. The first work available in a western language on this important episode in Turkish and Islamic history, this book offers a new understanding of the emergence of this major nomadic empire Focusing on perhaps the most important and least understood phase, the transformation of the Seljuqs from tribesmen in Central Asia to rulers of a great Muslim Empire, the author examines previously neglected sources to demonstrate the central role of tribalism in the evolution of their state. The book also seeks to understand the impact of the invasions on the settled peoples of the Middle East and the beginnings of Turkish settlement in the region, which was to transform it demographically forever. Arguing that the nomadic, steppe origins of the Seljuqs were of much greater importance in determining the early development of the empire than is usually believed, this book sheds new light on the arrival of the Turks in the Islamic world. A significant contribution to our understanding of the history of the Middle East, this book will be of interest to scholars of Byzantium as well as Islamic history, as well as Islamic studies and anthropology.

This Festschrift honours Dr. Gerrit Reinink on the occasion of the end of his professional career as a senior lecturer of Syriac and Aramaic studies at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. The Festschrift includes, in addition to a brief biography and a complete bibliography of Reinink's scholarly writings, fifteen articles, arranged according to the chronology of their topics and covering a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the days of Julian the Apostate to the year of the fall of Constantinople, through the period of Late Antiquity, the Byzantine period, early Islam and the Middle Ages. The authors are all prominent experts in the field of Syriac studies and adjacent areas. The title of the book, Syriac Polemics, is a clear reference to one of Reinink's favourite research topics: Eastern Christian reactions to the rise of Islam. This volume is a valuable contribution to the study of Syriac literature and culture in general.

This is the first collection of studies entirely devoted to the terminological pair dār al-islām / dar al-ḥarb, “the abode of Islam” and “the abode of war”, apparently widely known as representative of “the Islamic vision” of the world, but in fact almost unexplored. A team of specialists in different fields of Islamic studies investigates the issue in its historical and conceptual origins as well as in its reception within the different genres of Muslim written production. In contrast to the fixed and permanent categories they are currently identified with, the multifaceted character of these two notions and their shifting meanings is set out through the analysis of a wide range of contexts and sources, from the middle ages up to modern times. Contributors are Francisco Apellániz, Michel Balivet, Giovanna Calasso, Alessandro Cancian, Éric Chaumont, Roberta Denaro, Maribel Fierro, Chiara Formichi, Yohanan Friedmann, Giuliano Lancioni, Yaacov Lev, Nicola Melis, Luis Molina, Antonino Pellitteri, Camille Rhoné-Quer, Francesca Romana Romani, Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti, Roberto Tottoli, Raoul Villano, Eleonora Di Vincenzo and Francesco Zappa.

This open access book discusses socio-environmental interactions in the middle to late Holocene, covering specific areas along the ancient Silk Road regions. Over twenty chapters provide insight into this topic from various disciplinary angles and perspectives, ranging from archaeology, paleoclimatology, antiquity, historical geography, agriculture, carving art and literacy. The Silk Road is a modern concept for an ancient network of trade routes that for centuries facilitated and intensified processes of cultural interaction and goods exchange between West China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Coherent patterns and synchronous events in history suggest possible links between social upheaval, resource utilization and climate or environment forces along the Silk Road and in a broader area. Post-graduates in studying will benefit from this work, as well as it will stimulate young researchers to further explore the role played by the environment in long-term socio-cultural changes.

This volume brings together a series of articles by John France, published over a span of more than forty years, covering a number of aspects of the military and crusading history of the Middle Ages, both in Europe and the Near East. An interest in understanding how war worked and why informs a first group of articles, ranging from Carolingian armies to the organisation of war in the 13th century. The focus then turns to the Crusades, the most ambitious conquests of the era, with a set of studies on the First Crusade and others on the manner and conduct of warfare in the territories of the Latin East. The volume also includes a major unpublished analysis, co-authored with Nicholas Morton, of the problems faced by the local Islamic powers in the early Crusading period, reminding us that an army is only as strong as its enemies permit, and suggesting that the crusaders should be seen in this light.

This volume includes cutting-edge research on the spread of Syrian Christianity along the Silk Road from the 6th to the 14th century. Recent archaeological discoveries and excavations of ancient and medieval Christian sites in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China shed new light on Christian communities in Central Asia, China and Mongolia. Scholars from such fields as archaeology, manuscript studies, history and theology have contributed, offering new insights into the influence of Syriac Christianity along the Silk Roads. Li Tang is Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Christian East (ZECO), University of Salzburg/Austria. Dietmar W. Winkler is Head of the Department of Biblical Studies and Ecclesiastical History, and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the Christian East (ZECO), University of Salzburg/Austria

For medieval Christians, Islam presented a series of disquieting challenges, and individual Christians portrayed Muslim culture in varied ways, according to their interests and prejudices. These fifteen original essays focus on unfamiliar texts that reflect the wide range of medieval Christianity's preoccupation with Islam, treating works from many different periods and in a wide range of genres and languages.

I.B.Tauris in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation From the Sasanian to the Safavid Empire, and from Qajar Iran to the current Islamic Republic, the history of Iran is one which has been coloured by a rich tradition of myths and narratives and shaped by its wealth of philosophers, cultural theorists and political thinkers. Perceptions of Iran dissects the construction of Iranian identity, to reveal how nationalism has been continually re-formulated and how Iran's self-perception has been moulded by its literary past. Here, Ali M. Ansari gathers together a varied and wide-ranging account of the long history of Iranian encounters with the Western world, whether via the observations of Herodotus, or the knowledge – via the Old Testament – of Cyrus liberating the Jews from Babylon, or into the modern era when nineteenth and twentieth century interactions reflect the unequal power relationship between Iran and the West. Perceptions of Iran also explores the salient elements in the country's narrative which helped to form Iran's identity, such as Ferdowsi's creation of the Shahnameh – the national epic – the exquisite architecture of Safavid Isfahan or the unfulfilled promise of the Constitutional Movement in the early twentieth century. It offers analysis of the Qajar Shahs' use of a mythical and dynastic past, as they drew on the narratives of Jamshid's glory and Khusraw's splendour in order to legitimise their rule. At the same time, it examines the ways in which foreign travellers and diplomats understood and conceived of the royal courts of Safavid Persia. As it covers 2,500 years of political and intellectual history, Perceptions of Iran ties together the diverse threads of Iranian experience that have underpinned the country's social and cultural movements, spanning Mirza Agha Khan Kermani's writing on Persian history and liberal nationalism, through to the strident anti- Western discourses of Seyyed Jamal al-Afghani, Jalal Al-e Ahmad and Ayatollah Khomeini. The book is therefore vital for researchers of Iranian history and those interested in the use of myth in the construction of national identity more widely.