by Tom Holland
Iraq under the Abbasids remained what it had been under the Sasanians: a prodigiously wealthy land of rivers and canals. The Tigris is on the right-hand side of the map and flows southwards from the bottom of the page towards Baghdad, the greatest and most cultured city in the world. (Bridgeman/Egyptian National Library, Cairo)
About the Author
Historian Tom Holland is the author of the works of history Rubicon, Persian Fire, and The Forge of Christendom. He reviews regularly for the TLS, and has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio. Rubicon was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and won the 2004 Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, and Persian Fire won the Anglo-Hellenic League’s 2006 Runciman Award.
Also by Tom Holland
The Forge of Christendom:
The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West
Rubicon:
The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic
Persian Fire:
The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgements
List of Maps
Epigraph
I INTRODUCTION
1 KNOWN UNKNOWNS
II JAHILIYYA
2 IRANSHAHR
3 NEW ROME
4 THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
5 COUNTDOWN TO APOCALYPSE
III HIJRA
6 MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
7 THE FORGING OF ISLAM
ENVOI: PLUS ÇA CHANGE?
Timeline
Dramatis Personae
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
About the Author
Also by Tom Holland