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This illuminating work describes--for the first time inEnglish--current research on the environmental background,physical human evolution, and cultural development in Central Europeand Moravia during the Pleistocene. ... Read more

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Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean, and lies at the nexus of many important ancient trade routes, from Asia Minor to Africa, from Persia, Assyria and other great eastern powers to Italy and Greece. In antiquity the island was famed for its great wealth, not only from trade but also from its natural resources of copper as well as wine and olive oil.

Recent excavations in Cyprus have radically altered our understanding of the earliest prehistory of the island. In this new appraisal Louise Steel explores the archaeological evidence for human occupation on Cyprus from the earliest hunter-gatherers and the first farming communities to the end of the Bronze Age. She examines major issues that dominate current research on Cypriot prehistory: island colonisation; population migrations; the interpretation of figured art; the emergence of social complexity; and the shift from isolation in earlier prehistory to a position at the centre of Mediterranean trade.

"Cyprus Before History" presents a social history of ancient Cyprus, exploring ways of life and death, changing farming practices and diet, social customs, early belief systems, and interaction with the Cypriot landscape and the wider Mediterranean. ... Read more

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A GREAT WORK ON EGYPTIAN RELIGION
Although now somewhat outdated in certain aspects of interpretation, this book surely will remain as one the pillars for the study of ancient Egyptian religion, and, in fact, is one of the never-absent bibliographic references. I do not agree in toto with Frankfort's ideas about several subjects, but I must confess that it is one of the most interesting studies that I ever read about the matter. There are many thought-provoking ideas! Buy it, read it, learn from it. Both for the learned and the newcomer! ... Read more

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Egypt's rich and celebrated ancient past has served many causes throughout history--in both Egypt and the West. Concentrating on the era from Napoleon's conquest and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone to the outbreak of World War I, this book examines the evolution of Egyptian archaeology in the context of Western imperialism and nascent Egyptian nationalism. Traditionally, histories of Egyptian archaeology have celebrated Western discoverers such as Champollion, Mariette, Maspero, and Petrie, while slighting Rifaa al-Tahtawi, Ahmad Kamal, and other Egyptians. This exceptionally well-illustrated and well-researched book writes Egyptians into the history of archaeology and museums in their own country and shows how changing perceptions of the past helped shape ideas of modern national identity.

Drawing from rich archival sources in Egypt, the United Kingdom, and France, and from little-known Arabic publications, Reid discusses previously neglected topics in both scholarly Egyptology and the popular "Egyptomania" displayed in world's fairs and Orientalist painting and photography. He also examines the link between archaeology and the rise of the modern tourist industry. This richly detailed narrative discusses not only Western and Egyptian perceptions of pharaonic history and archaeology but also perceptions of Egypt's Greco-Roman, Coptic, and Islamic eras.

Throughout this book, Reid demonstrates how the emergence of archaeology affected the interests and self-perceptions of modern Egyptians. In addition to uncovering a wealth of significant new material on the history of archaeology and museums in Egypt, Reid provides a fascinating window on questions of cultural heritage--how it is perceived, constructed, claimed, and contested.

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An Actual Book Review
The wholesale looting of the Baghdad Museum on Apr. 11-12, which U.S. troops did nothing to prevent, has lent a fresh plangency and interest to this remarkable new book about history, culture, museums, caretakers, theft, corruption and the dogfights between the West and Islam over antiquities vastly older than either culture.
In two days in Baghdad, thousands of priceless treasures up to 5,000 years old have disappeared into the pockets and pickup trucks of larcenous mobs. However the Bush administration's Iraqi adventure is seen a century from now, the loss to human history and culture it occasioned is probably irreparable. Artifacts older than Abraham the patriarch have been stolen, ruinously dispersed, probably destined to be melted down for modern bangles. They will exist only in photographs, if at all, for the mobs destroyed the museum's archives as well, according to the New York Times.
Donald Malcolm Reid, a professor of history at Georgia State University, has assembled a very clear, comprehensive account of another, longer, more complex process of ruin, preservation and expropriation. In this sharply written, poignantly illustrated and lucidly organized book, Reid describes how Egyptian civilization was rediscovered by Europe after Napoleon invaded the place in the early 19th century, and how its treasures were first plundered, then exported, then preserved by Europeans who generally regarded the country as their own private piggy-bank. The living Egyptians they encountered were, in their eyes, little more than ignorant Muslim fanatics.
But they weren't. As Reid makes clear, a handful of enlightened Egyptian scholars were fascinated by the Pharaohs and were proud of their land's past. One, named Rifaa al-Tahtawi, wrote a history of ancient Egypt in Arabic in 1868 after studying the land and its monuments for nearly 35 years. Even earlier Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, another scholar, had warned of the dangers of a European invasion of Egypt when Napoleon arrived with his armies in 1798. His words could come from an Iraqi citizen interviewed on CNN today:
"This is the beginning of a period marked by great battles; serious results were suddenly produced in a frightening manner; miseries multiplied without end, the course of things was troubled, the common meaning of life was corrupted and destruction overtook it and the devastation was general."
Worse was to come. Napoleon brought with him a remarkable entourage of scholars headed by the brilliant libertine, Vivant Denon, and the result was the monumental "Description de L'Egypte," one of the most beautiful multi-volume works of art and science ever published, a work so gorgeous that collectors commissioned special bookcases decorated with gilt sphinxes to hold it, and nothing but it.
But the result of the Napoleonic expedition, and its "Description," was ruinous, as Reid makes clear. A kind of Egyptian gold-rush opened up within the conquered country, and British and German scholars and diplomats descended on Egypt like locusts, determined to rescue it from itself � and take home as many antiquities as possible in the process. The Rosetta Stone was one of the earliest spoils of war, found by the French, captured by the British in 1801 and today in the British Museum in London. (Americans arrived too late: Not until 1924 did the University of Chicago set up a permanent bureau in Cairo.)
After the first rampage of looting � perhaps because the antiquities were so infernally heavy to transport, perhaps because the Europeans thought they'd be occupying Egypt in perpetuity � another, subtler form of sequestration followed. The French Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette, decided it might be a good idea to set up a museum of antiquities in Egypt itself. It is the ancestor of the modern Cairo Museum, but Mariette was opposed to letting native Egyptians inside:
"Egypt is still too young in the new life which she has just received to have a public easily impressed in matters of archeology and art," he explained.
This is one of many ironies that enliven Reid's text, and this book can be read on several levels, as a history of archeology, of politics and warfare, of culture, of prejudices and superstitions, both Egyptian and European, Western and Islamic.
Reid tells it all very clearly, and unflinchingly. Egyptians were finally allowed into their museum in 1915 and could get in free on Tuesdays. Some rubbed up against the antiquities "as a cure for various ills," and the Baedeker guide counseled European visitors to avoid the museum on Tuesdays when "Arab visitors of the lower classes" flocked in.
Some very famous Egyptologists, among them E. A. Wallis Budge and Gaston Maspero, emerge from Reid's pages in all their roguish glory, as brilliant thieves and snobs. Maspero's 13-volume "History of Egypt" now fetches fancy prices on abebooks.com and Budge's treatises ancient Egyptian religion are available in Dover paperback reprints. Reid exposes their thefts and prejudices very artfully.
This is above all a magnanimous book, an attempt at making restitution in ink for what has been stolen in stone. It is hard not to sympathize as Reid quotes the Egyptian scholar Ali Mubarak, who issued a huge 20-volume topographical encyclopedia of Egypt in 1887, with this humble, honest preface, expressing Arab humanism at its best:
"We look upon these works but do not know the circumstances of their creation, we wander through them but do not know who made them... But it is our duty to know these things, for it is not fitting for us to remain in ignorance of our country or neglect the monuments of our ancestors. They are a moral lesson to the reflective mind, a memorial to the thoughtful soul...
"For what our ancestors have left behind stirs in us the desire to follow in their footsteps, and to produce for our times what they produced for theirs; to strive to be useful even as they strove." ... Read more

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Ancient Israel did not emerge within a vacuum but rather came to exist alongside various peoples, including Canaanites, Egyptians, and Philistines. Indeed, Israel’s very proximity to these groups has made it difficult—until now—to distinguish the archaeological traces of early Israel and other contemporary groups. Through an analysis of the results from recent excavations in light of relevant historical and later biblical texts, this book proposes that it is possible to identify these peoples and trace culturally or ethnically defined boundaries in the archaeological record. Features of late second-millennium B.C.E. culture are critically examined in their historical and biblical contexts in order to define the complex social boundaries of the early Iron Age and reconstruct the diverse material world of these four peoples. Of particular value to scholars, archaeologists, and historians, this volume will also be a standard reference and resource for students and other readers interested in the emergence of early Israel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

BEST AND MOST CURRENT INFO ON ANCIENT ISRAEL
I have read many books on the history of ancient Israel.This book is clearly the best consolidation of both facts and relevant sources.Unlike other authors (Dever/Finkelstein) Killebrew gives a very balanced analysis of Israelite, Canaanite, and Philistine origins without criticizing individual archeologists.The endnotes and bibliography constitute nearly a third of the book.There are also many photos and diagrams of pottery styles relating to these three ethnic groups.If you were to buy only one book on this topic, this should be the one.

Biblical People & Ethnicity
In terms of the history of settlement in the holy land the book does a good job of describing three groups, the Canaanites, the Philistines, and the Egyptians' influence. These groups are well described. If however you are looking for the Israelites in this volume you are going to have difficulty finding them. The author comes to the conclusion that Israel arose from existing Canaanite groups or a combination of Canaanites and transient immigrant groups. The book approaches the subject from a scientific and archeological perspective. The fact that early Israel was semi nomadic presents a problem for this approach because of limited fixed Israelite settlement, predating the period of the kings, available for excavation of archeological evidence.

Interesting look at a topic of growing interest
Killebrew's book attempts to sift archaeological, historical and biblical data to discover what distincitves can be known about some of the ancient people groups of the Levant, specifically the Egyptians, Canaanites, Israelites, and Philistines.

Egyptian presence in Canaan is seen as an imperial link rather than aggressive domination (total control). The author disagrees with the view that Canaanites were attempting to emulate Egyptian styles and sees cultural artifacts as evidence of Egyptian enclaves, some especially set up as administrative districts for regulation and the collection of taxes. The Philistine occupation of the Levant is understood by the author as one of intentional colonization rather than a group of invaders or migrating conquerors and much of the author's writing moves in support of that view.For the Canaanites, mostly data from composite archaeological findings is presented, including temples, burials, housing, & especially pottery. Defining the Canaanites is a struggle and so they are identified primarily by date and region. Little is said about the Transjordanian Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites in the book.

Killebrew's acceptance of the current position that Israel emerged from native Canaanites makes her identification of Israel a bit speculative. Israel is seen as a mixed people group derived from the native Canaanite population under the influence of Egyptian politics. Briefly discussed are some of the ethnic identifiers for Israel that have been suggested previously, for example, the four room house or the collared rim storage jar. The author is sensitive to the biblical story but rejects much of the biblical record as having any historical value.

The book is a bit more orientated toward ethnic interchange or cultural migration than an examination of ethnic identity. It is well documented and Killebrew supports her views with ample reference to archaeological data, especially pottery, and there is little emphasis on linguistic material. Her discussions of pottery will be perceived as a bit tedious to some but they provide helpful material in support of her points and reduce perceptions of speculation. The emphasis on pottery is an expression of the author's expertise in that area but also a reminder of how little physical evidence for a discussion of ethnicity really exists.

The book is a helpful summary of archaeological data, especially pottery, and a helpful presentation of the many issues involved in seeking the ethnicity of ancient peoples. Her presuppositions about the origins of Israel and the biblical narrative shape her conclusions about Israel. ... Read more

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The culture of the ancient Greeks has often been described as emerging like a miracle from a genius of its own, owing practically nothing to its neighbours. Walter Burkert offers a decisive argument against that view, pointing toward a more balanced picture of the archaic period "in which, under the influence of the Semitic East - from writers, craftsmen, merchants, healers - Greek culture began its unique flowering, soon to assume cultural hegemony in the Mediterranean". ... Read more

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Southwest Asian influence on early Greece
People like to call Greece the "cradle of Western civilization", but as this book shows, the Greeks themselves were substantially influenced by the civilizations of Southwest Asia (the "Middle East") in the areas of language, art, literature, and other aspects of their culture. This book doesn't make as radical an argument for Afro-Asiatic influence on Greece as did Martin Bernal's "Black Athena" (which claimed, among other things, that 25% of ancient Greek words were of Semitic origin), but it is nonetheless a useful resource in challenging Eurocentrism.

I can only name two flaws with the book, neither of them serious. First, its tone is rather academic and dry. Secondly, it concentrates on Greece's archaic period. I would have like to see some discussion on how much influence, if any, Southwest Asia had on Greece in later periods (e.g. Classical or Hellenistic).

Those minor caveats aside, I highly recommend this book for those interested in non-Eurocentric history.

The Ancient Greeks In Context
First, let's make clear what Burkert does NOT say.This book does not argue that the Greeks are an offshoot of some middle eastern civilization, or that Greek genius was merely a late and relocated flowering of Egyptian or some other oriental genius.Burkert in no way detracts from the greatness and the uniqueness of the Greeks.

What he does is remove them from their isolation.He does this by showing a number of points where the Greeks, in the early Archaic Age, borrowed from the cultures around them or at least shared common beliefs or practices.

The book is divided into three chapters, each organized around a class of people through whom East-West contacts occurred: craftsmen, seers / healers (workers in the sacred), and poets / singers.Burkert in each chapter reviews archaeological, literary and philological evidence for cultural contacts or "continuum".And the evidence is not overwhelming, but it is considerable.

The achievement of _The Orientalizing Revolution_ is not to knock the Greeks off their pedestal.It is to help us better understand the Greeks, by seeing some aspects of their culture in a broader light and by teaching us to apply insights from other lands and peoples to the Greeks.This makes Burkert a worthy heir to Jane Ellen Harrison, for instance, and well worth reading.

Bringing an end to the Eurocentric version of history
This is a great book.Due to a number of trends in scholarshipon ancient history over the last two or three hundred years, thehistory of ancient Greece has been grossly distorted.The Near Eastern origin of much of the culture of ancient Greece was a recognized reality in ancient times.Until modern times, the foreign origin of ancient Greece according to ancient sources continued to be acknowledged, but that trend changed with the advent of the European nationalistic tendencies of the eighteenth century, which began increasingly to highlight Greece as the "cradle of civilization."

However, over the last sixty years, these prejudices have undergone a barrage of new findings.It appears that the ancient sources were correct.Walter Burkert, one of the foremost scholars of this century on the culture and religion of ancient Greece, examines the process by which Greece came to be imparted, in fact inundated, with Near Eastern cultural elements.Burkert's is now one of several books which should transform of conception of Greek civilization.I would also recommend the more detailed "The East Face of Helicon" by M. L.West, and "Alien Wisdom" by Arnoldo Momigliano... ... Read more

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Philip was a genius of extraordinary versatility. Inheriting a kingdom near to collapse, he made Macedonia the greatest military power in the Western world and left to his son Alexander the strongest state in Eastern Europe. This book gives full attention to the Macedonian state and the Macedonian people who made Philip's success possible, and to the high level of culture and of artistic skills revealed by recent archaeological discoveries. ... Read more

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A volume devoted to the archaeological finds of late Roman and early Mediaeval periods in northern Black Sea littoral and eastern Pontus. This collection of articles discusses the relationship between West and East, North and South in Roman and Mediaeval times. Most of the articles offer analysis of archaeological finds and sites in Crimea studies in recent years. ... Read more

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Although less well known than some Anatolian sites, it is Amorium's significance as a major settlement after the Roman period that makes it so important. The excavation programme's main aim has been to shed light on the Byzantine settlement that flourished here until the 11th century AD. This guidebook is an attempt to fill in some of the gaps in the archaeology, and to bring the city and its history back to life. ... Read more

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Since 1989, scores of bodies across Eastern Europe have been exhumed and brought to rest in new gravesites. Katherine Verdery investigates why certain corpses -the bodies of revolutionary leaders, heroes, artists, and other luminaries, as well as more humble folk -have taken on a political life in the turbulent times following the end of Communist Party rule, and what roles they play in revising the past and reorienting the present. Enlivening and invigorating the dialogue on postsocialist politics, this imaginative study helps us understand the dynamic and deeply symbolic nature of politics -and how it can breathe new life into old bones.Amazon.com Review
In The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, KatherineVerdery tries to jazz up political science by adding a dash ofanthropology, examining the ways in which political upheavals areoften accompanied by incidents involving the corpses of former leadersor other cultural heroes. "Dead bodies," she says, "have propertiesthat make them particularly effective political symbols. They are thusexcellent means for accumulating something essential to politicaltransformation: symbolic capital."

Unfortunately, much of the inherent interest in matters such as thereturn of Transylvanian Catholic bishop Inochentie Micu's bones to hishomeland more than two centuries after his death is crushed under theweight of Verdery's prose. By all rights, the role of historicalpersonages in shaping nationalist myths ought to be afascinating subject, deserving of analysis more dynamic than this:"Because corpses suggest the lived lives of complex human beings, theycan be evaluated from many angles and assigned perhaps contradictoryvirtues, vices, and intentions." (Simon Schama's Landscape andMemory, for example, discusses several cases of theintersection of nationalism, historical memory, and natural landscapein a lively, engaging style perfectly accessible to a broad audience.) And although Verdery presents her work as a counterpoint to "therationalistic and dry sense of politics that so many politicalanalysts employ," readers--even those with patience for vehementlyacademic writing--may ask themselves who hasn't figured out bythe end of the 1990s that culture shapes politics in chaotic andunpredictable ways. --Ron Hogan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Lively, Readable Book
I'm surprised to read the two reviews above, obviously written by readers who missed the point. The book is full of lively, concrete detail written in extremely readable prose.(Anyone who finds this kind of writingdifficult to read obviously hasn't read much in the social sciences lately. Go read something by Homi Babha or Judith Butler, sweethearts, and comeback and tell me Verdery uses too much jargon!)

I found the particularcases--particularly the one on Inochentie Micu--a remarkable window intounderstanding why the postcommunist transition hasn't worked out accordingto the blueprints of neoliberal planners.It says a remarkable amountabout the hopes, fears, and passions of people in the region, none of whichare taken into account by those who seek to apply bloodless ideal-typicalmodels to a region with an often bloody history.

very poor
it is a real pitty that the amazon editors didn't choose to publish the whole of Bickerton's review -- there we would, for example, see that Bickerton actually hopes "for a sequel" in order to have the bookactually says something one could appreciate.this title certainly doesn'tdo justice to Verdery's otherwise excellent academic record.it is writtenin haste, with a complete lack of attention and needed careful reading ofdetails.at the end we get an impression that she is making fun of otherpeople's misery.it was obviously a too difficult task for her aims: theanalysis is highly superficial, as if she aspired more to amuse than reallyteach.but dead bodies is something I find difficult to laugh about, nomatter how pathetic the circumstances of their manipulations are. ... Read more

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The nineteen papers in this collection derive from a conference held in 1992 under the auspices of the Department of Adult Education of the University of Leicester. Its aim was to consider theoretical approaches which might help to advance our underdstanding of Roman small towns, to look at practical methodologies such as aerial photography and geoprospection, and to place the sites of Eastern England in context with similar sites in the western Empire. Contributors include: A Brown (Roman small towns and medieval small towns); B Burnham (Small towns: The British perspective); D Wilson (The aerial view); M Millett (Strategies for Roman small towns); J Taylor (The Romano-British roadside settlement at Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire); D Gurney (Small towns and villages of Roman Norfolk); P Liddle (Roman small towns in Leicestershire); F Condron (`Small towns' on the Nene and Welland in their context); M Eddy (Kelvedon and the fort myth in the development of Roman small towns in Essex); G Burleigh (The plan of Romano-British Baldock, Hertfordshire); A King (Secondary urban centres in Gaul); M Gechter (Small towns of the Ubii and Cugerni/Baetasii civitates, Lower Germany). 208p with text-figs & illus. (Oxbow Monograph 52, 1995) ... Read more

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Geschichte der hethitischen Religion presents the first comprehensiverepresentation of the religious history of the Hittites, using both cuneiformand archaeological sources of the Ancient Near East, as from the beginning ofthe Neolithic until the end of the era of the Hittite Great Kingdom around1150 B.C.Special attention will be paid to Ancient Near Eastern cosmologies, theHittite Kingship and the world of the gods. The book will lead the reader from`national' to regional divinities and from `types' of gods, local numina,divine attributes and symbols to the cultic inventory. A fascinating insightin sacrificial practices, in myths and popular religious customs renders thereader a comprehensive overview of the Hittite festive calendar.A historical survey will give the reader the essential reference. FR Mit diesem Werk liegt die erste umfassende Darstellung derreligionsgeschichtlichen Uberlieferung der keilinschriftlichen undarchaologischen Quellen des Vorderen Orients vor. In einem weitgespanntenBogen fuhrt das Werk vom Beginn des Neolithikums im 10. Jahrtausend bis zumEnde der hethitischen Grossreichszeit um 1150 v.Chr.Im Vordergrund der Darstellung stehen die altorientalischen Kosmologien, dashethitische Konigtum und die Gotterwelt; sie fuhrt von den uberregionalen zuden regionalen Gottheiten und von den "Gottertypen", lokalen Numina,Gotterattributen und Symbolen zu dem Kultinventar. Einen faszinierendenEinblick in das opferwesen, in die Mythen und in das volkstumliche religioseBrauchtum gewahrt eine ausfuhrliche Darstellung des hethitischenFestkalenders.Der in der Einleitung gegebene historische Uberblick gibt dem Leser dienotwendige Orientierung.CURRIC.Volkert Haas ist professor fur Altorientalische Philologie an derFreien Universitat Berlin. Seine Forschungsschwerpunkte sind die Hethitologieund Hurritologie. ... Read more

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Jewish Diaspora in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods from the 1st to the 8th centuries C.E. is the subject of this work. The author investigates origin, symbolism and significance of the mainly synagogal and funerary art forms in the Diaspora. This text a companion to "Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology in the Land of Israel" (1988) by the same author. The first section examines the characteristic features of Diaspora Art synagogue architecture and art (including the Torah shrine and mosaic pavements). Another section deals with burial and funerary practices. Of special importance are the sections on the "Biblical scenes", designs and iconography of the Dura Europos synagogue, and the Jewish symbols such as the Menorah, ritual objects, the Ark, the conch and the "Torah Scrolls". ... Read more

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This volume provides an overview of the present state of knowledge of the archaeology of the Early and High Middle Ages. A comprehensive account is given of the most recent reinterpretations - dendrochronology, interpretations from cultural history and historical modelling. The main focus is on the history of culture, settlement, society and economy of the Western Slavs between the Elbe/Saale and the Vistula. Brief summaries of the historical framework and the history of Slavic Archaeology contextualise these aspects. Access to many detailed questions is provided by a thematically arranged bibliography. ... Read more

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wonderful
This book is a wonderful reference for any reader who wants to learn about Batavia (now, Jakarta) of Netherland Indies. The book explores the social life of the people who build the city.A must for scholars too.

An excellent study of 350 years Dutch presence in Indonesia
The title of the book perfectly describes author's purpose: study the Dutch and Eurasian society in Indonesia.We live through the rough conditionsof the early colonists under the stingy United East IndianCompany (VOC), the lack of contacts between Dutch and Indonesian society,most of the relations being between non-Dutch mercenaries and localIndonesian people, the influence of Enlightenment on Batavia, the changewith the bankrupcy of the VOC in 1800 and the British occupation. And thenDutch direct administration until 1942 which many Dutch and Eurasianremember as Tempo Doeloe, a magic era with European children being raisedin a totally javanese world of music, gamelan, puppet theater, contactswith the refined Indonesian courts at their adulthood, a society obsessedby Dutch speaking as symbol of class and fear of indentity loss but mostlyusing Indonesian because the refined and ancient local society.This wasnot so dreamlike for the Indonesian (Dutch were nicknamed the Butchers ofAsia).Anyway an excellent book on one of the longest Western presence inAsia that ended abruptly with the Japanese invasion in 1942 and Dutch finaldeparture in 1949. ... Read more

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Pearson brings a cogent, well-argued case for the understanding of much prehistoric art as shamanistic practice. Using the theoretical premises of cognitive archaeology and a careful examination of rock art worldwide, Pearson is able to dismiss other theories of why ancient peoples produced art-totemism, art-for-art's sake, structuralism, hunting magic. Then examining both ethnographic and neuropsychological evidence, he makes a strong case for the use of shamanistic ritual and hallucinogenic substances as the genesis of much prehistoric art. Bolst ered with examples from contemporary cultures and archaeological sites around the world, Pearson's thesis should be of interest not only to archaeologists, but art historians, psychologists, cultural anthropologist, and the general public. ... Read more

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"This book studies the Arabic-Islamic view of Byzantium, tracing the Byzantine image as it evolved through centuries of warfare, contact, and exchanges. Including previously inaccessible material on the Arabic textual tradition on Byzantium, this investigation shows the significance of Byzantium to the Arab Muslim establishment and their appreciation of various facets of Byzantine culture and civilization. The Arabic-Islamic representation of the Byzantine Empire stretching from the reference to Byzantium in the Qur'an until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 is considered in terms of a few salient themes. The image of Byzantium reveals itself to be complex, non-monolithic, and self-referential. Formulating an alternative appreciation to the politics of confrontation and hostility that so often underlies scholarly discourse on Muslim-Byzantine relations, this book presents the schemes developed by medieval authors to reinterpret aspects of their own history, their own self-definition, and their own view of the world.