Power, Patronage, and Memory in Early Islam: Perspectives on Umayyad Elites

by Alain George (Editor), Andrew Marsham (Editor)

Overview

When the Umayyads, the first Islamic dynasty, rose to power shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), the polity of which they assumed control had only recently expanded out of Arabia into the Roman eastern Mediterranean, Iraq and Iran. A century later, by the time of their downfall in 750, the last Umayyad caliphs governed the largest empire that the world had seen, stretching from Spain in the West to the Indus valley and Central Asia in the East. By then, their dynasty and the ruling circles around it had articulated with increasing clarity the public face of the new monotheistic religion of Islam, created major masterpieces of world art and architecture, some of which still stand today, and built a state apparatus that was crucial to ensuring the continuity of the Islamic polity. Within the vast lands under their control, the Umayyads and their allies ruled over a mosaic of peoples, languages and faiths, first among them Christianity, Judaism and the Ancient religion of Iran, Zoroastrianism. The Umayyad period is profoundly different from ours, yet it also resonates with modern concerns, from the origins of Islam to dynamics of cultural exchange. Editors Alain George and Andrew Marsham bring together a collection of essays that shed new light on this crucial period. Power, Patronage, and Memory in Early Islam elucidates the ways in which Umayyad élites fashioned and projected their self-image, and how these articulations, in turn, mirrored their own times. The authors, combining perspectives from different disciplines, present new material evidence, introduce fresh perspectives about key themes and monuments, and revisit the nature of the historical writing that shaped our knowledge of this period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190655952
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/27/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Edited by Alain George, University of Oxford, and Edited by Andrew Marsham, University of Cambridge Alain George is I.M. Pei Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the University of Oxford. He has previously taught at the University of Edinburgh. In 2010, he was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for his research. He is the author of The Rise of Islamic Calligraphy (2010) and of numerous articles on Qur'anic manuscripts, Arabic illustrated books and the arts in early Islam. Andrew Marsham is Reader in Classical Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge and formerly Head of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Rituals of Islamic Monarchy: Accession and Succession in the First Muslim Empire and a number of book chapters and articles on the early history and historiography of Islam and its Late Antique context.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: "God's Caliph" Revisited Andrew Marsham Chapter 2: Paradise and Empire Alain George Chapter 3: A Qur'anic Script from Umayyad Times François Déroche Chapter 4: Hisham's Balancing Act Robert Hillenbrand Chapter 5: Khanasira and Andarin in the Umayyad Period and a New Arabic Tax Document Robert G. Hoyland Chapter 6: Two Possible Caliphal Representations from Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi and their Implication for the History of the Site Denis Genequand Chapter 7: Umayyad Palace Iconography Nadia Ali and Mattia Guidetti Chapter 8: Christians in Umayyad Iraq Philip Wood Chapter 9: The Future of the Past Antoine Borrut Chapter 10: Caliphs and Conquerors Nicola Clarke Chapter 11: The Umayyads in Contemporary Arab TV Drama Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen References Index

Editorial Reviews

"The book offers both important novel research and an overview of some of the main themes of wider research into the Umayyad era." — Harry Munt , Early Medieval Europe

From the Publisher