Tag Archives: Islam

The Turks in World History

Posted on November 3, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This book by Carter Vaughn Findley of Ohio State University (whose Wikipedia page is in Turkish), traces  the movement of the Turkic and Turkish peoples through history from the earliest records of steppe nomads on the margins of ancient empires … Continue reading →

Posted in read | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

surpassing Solomon

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

“Solomon, I have surpassed you”; that is what the 6th century Byzantine emperor Justinian is supposed to have said when he first entered the church he had commissioned, Aya Sofia, the shrine of the Holy Wisdom. In this mosaic he, … Continue reading →

Posted in anybody up there?, road | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

when baghdad ruled the muslim world

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

In January I read Hugh Kennedy’s book about the great Arab conquests, which burst rough-necked upon the world at the very moment when  the heavyweight, overweight Sassanid and Byzantine empires were punch-drunk from 30 years of grueling mutual warfare, destroying … Continue reading →

Posted in read | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The First Dynasty of Islam

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This history by G R Hawting (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) of the Umayyad Dynasty, who seized power in 661 after Ali, the last of the Rashidun (“rightly-guided” caliphs, the immediate successors to the Prophet), was murdered, and … Continue reading →

Posted in read | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The First Muslims: History and Memory

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This book by Asma Afsaruddin, who is Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University is, on the face of it, a history of the earliest Muslims, in particular the Rashidun Caliphs (the four immediate successors to the … Continue reading →

Posted in read | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Byzantium by bus

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

And so, 30 years after I first conceived the ambition while turning right at Thessaloniki, I came not sailing but on a highway bus (aware, always, of the tyre-tracks of history) to Istanbul-Constantinople-Byzantium. The rain had cleared and we descended … Continue reading →

Posted in anybody up there?, road | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

mosque heaven: Edirne

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

From Samothraki I took the ferry before dawn back to Alexandroupoli, arriving in brilliant, freezing sunshine. After 20 minutes, the bus to Orestiada turned inland into thick fog, passing through small towns among roads lined with white single-storey Thracian cottages … Continue reading →

Posted in anybody up there?, road | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment