In the shadow of the sword : the birth of Islam and the rise of the global Arab empire /

Holland, Tom

In the shadow of the sword : the birth of Islam and the rise of the global Arab empire / Birth of Islam and the rise of the global Arab empire Tom Holland - 1st Anchor Books ed - New York : Anchor Books, 2013 - x, 526 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 21 cm

Originally published: London : Little, Brown, 2012

Includes bibliographical references (p. 481-507) and index

Introduction. Known unknowns -- Jahiliyya. Iranshahr -- New Rome ; The children of Abraham ; Countdown to apocalypse -- Hijra. More questions than answers ; The forging of Islam -- Envoi : plus ̨ca change? -- Timeline -- Dramatis personae

In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished forever, while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword, Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning Constantinople to the Arabian desert, and starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived, he tells a story vivid with drama, horror and startling achievement

9780307473653 (pbk.) 0307473651 (pbk.)


Islam--History


Islamic Empire--History


History.

ARCH FRBC 956.01 H734I