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A MASTERPIECE OF ARAB PAINTING
The ‘Schefer’ Maqāmāt Manuscript in Context
of the best-known works of Arabic literature. Why and how did this impenetrable work of Mediaeval Arabic philology and linguistic acrobatics, dressed up as a collection of picaresque tales, become the vehicle for such extraordinarily lively, life-like and technically competent paintings? This study of the Schefer Maqamat manuscript looks at the work of the scribe-illustrator, Yahya ibn Mahmad al-Wasit, in detail. The author also suggests how the text is related to the illustrations and how it developed and altered over the centuries.
David James
May 2013
THE MARTYRED CHURCH
A History of the Church of the East
The Church of the East is arguably the most interesting of all the Syriac-speaking Churches. Few outside the Middle East are familiar with it, yet between the ninth and fourteenth centuries the Church of the East was the largest Christian Church in the world, with dioceses stretching from the Mediterranean to Asia and China. The church has been harried and persecuted throughout its history. The tragic story of this `martyred church' is brought vividly to life in this impressive book.
David Wilmshurst
EASTWARD HO!
Diplomats, Travellers and Interpreters
of the Middle East and Beyond, 1600-1940 Clifford Edmund Bosworth
The fifteen studies making up this book discuss the interaction of Westerners with the Islamic East and beyond. In the earlier years this involved mainly the journeys and explorations of diplomatic envoys and consuls, merchants and missionaries. But in the early nineteenth century were added such factors as the intellectual and artistic curiosity of scholars and antiquarians lured by exotic lands. Soon tourism exploded as well. The various experiences and discoveries of individuals from all these groups are here described and discussed.
Melisende of Jerusalem
The World of a Forgotten Crusader Queen
The World of a Forgotten Crusader Queen
Queen Melisende-the remarkable and forgotten ruler of the Middle Ages. Queen Melisende successfully ruled the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the twelfth century even as her own husband and son fought her for control. As the eldest of four daughters, she was raised to rule by her father, King Baldwin II, who took unprecedented steps to ensure his daughter would hold power. In order to grasp the person and world of Queen Melisende, it is necessary to piece together the scant information available about her and explore the world she inhabited.
Messiah And Mahdi
Messiah And Mahdi
MESSIAH AND MAHDI Caucasian Christians and the Construction of Safavid Isfahan Emma Loosley
Messiah and Mahdi explains the formation of the Safavid capital at Isfahan from a new angle by looking at Shah `Abbas I's expansion of the city from the point of view of his Christian subjects. By blending field work in Isfahan with contemporary academic evaluations of the rule of `Abbas and his successors, it is hoped that this book will offer some insight into Christian-Shi`a relations in seventeenth century Iran and offer new ways of interpreting the relationship between the Safavid court and the shah's Christian subjects in the field of material culture.
Lapis Lazuli
Lapis Lazuli
The amazing quality of lapis lazuli, the purity of its colour and the mystery of its origins have meant that it has been pursued through the ages as a rare and precious gemstone. Sarah Searight's passion, set ablaze at school by a line in a poem by Robert Browning, has led to a lifetime in search of the stone itself and the role it played in the great civilisations of the Old World.
ET IN ARCADIA
ET IN ARCADIA
A Re-embodiment of the frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai
Edited by Ramón Casanova and Jorge Egea Equipo Confluencias [The Crossing Lab]
Et in Arcadia: A Re-embodiment of the Frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai es un estudio del friso del templo de Apolo Epikourios en Bassai, uno de los ejemplos más sugerentes de relieves del siglo V a.C. El libro presenta una colección de textos e imágenes que se relacionan con la interpretación de Apolo Epikourios, analizando la obra a través del conocimiento adquirido de la práctica artística, que nos lleva al concepto de reencarnación.
10 January 2012
Music Wars: 1937-1945
Music Wars: 1937-1945
Music played an unprecedented role in World War II. Whether live or through the recently developed mechanical media of radio, film, and gramophone records, it was used by all sides for propaganda and morale-boosting. The heightened need for music felt by millions was satisfied and exploited in a multitude of ways. The pianist Myra Hess stiffened the resolve of Londoners by launching a series of lunchtime concerts at the National Gallery. The Bayreuth Festival opened its doors to war-wounded and munitions workers.
Series
Series
OUT OF ARABIA
Phoenicians, Arabs and the Discovery of Europe Warwick Ball
Asia in Europe and the
Making of the West
Volume 1
The first volume in a series that examines the spread of cultures from the East into Europe
January 3, 2010
TOWARDS ONE WORLD
Ancient Persia and the West
Warwick Ball
Asia in Europe and the
Making of the West
Volume 2
in a series that examines the spread of cultures from the East into Europe.The Persian Empire was the first major eastern power to actually extend its borders into Europe.
31 July 2010
SULTANS OF ROME
Volume 3
It has become conventional to think of the Turkish capture of Constantinople in 1453 as an Asiatic conquest. The Turks originated in Asia it is true but Constantinople was conquered from the west not the east: the Ottomans became a European power before they became a Middle Eastern one and remained a primarily European power.
THE GATES OF ASIA
Volume 4
The eastern limits of Europe are commonly set at the Ural Mountains. But the Urals are no Himalayas or even Alps: they are a low range of hills that has never acted as a barrier to ‘Asia’ or a limit to ‘Europe’, and throughout history communities on both sides have shared common identities and history.
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