No man could hope to draw together the various fields from which the materials of this book are derived if he were a scholar in any one of them. No one could feel less scholarly than I do. This becomes particularly evident when the subject of Arabic transliteration arises, as it always does in forewords to books on the Middle East. I have before me the handiwork of Hitti, Gibb, and Calverley, three men whose erudition and integrity are of the highest order, and yet I cannot find complete a...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour.Learn about the Egyptian gods, mummification and how the Egyptians built the only wonder of the ancient world still standing – the Pyramids of Giza.Exploring the historic rise of Egyptian civilizationand its continued influence on the world today, Ancient Egypt in an Hour is an excellent companion to a mysterious and enthralling period of history.Know your stuff: discover ancient Egypt in just one hour.

'A stunning, clear-sighted history of ancient Egypt' Sunday TimesThe extraordinary history of Ancient Egyptian civilization - from its earliest origins to the creation of its greatest monument - from specialist John RomerThis exceptional book draws on a lifetime of research and thought to recreate the previously untold story of how a civilization which began with handfuls of semi-itinerant fishermen settled, spread...

The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt uniquely covers 700,000 years of ancient Egypt from the stone age to the Roman conquest. The story of the ancient Egyptians, from their prehistoric origins to their conquest by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans makes for fascinating reading, with subjects ranging from the changing nature of life and death in the Nile valley to some of the earliest masterpieces of art, architecture, and literature in the ancient world.An international team of experts in th...

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD. An unashamedly 'big history', it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way ...

Petra: A Brief History is an easy to read, popular history of Petra, "the rose red city, half as old as time" and the mysterious Nabataeans who carved into from the living rock.The author, with a dramatic flair, explains how geography and geology made the eventual site of Petra the most attractive real estate in the Middle East. He then tells the story of how the Nabataeans, coming from Arabia, moved into the region and established their capital there in the fifth century BCE. With...

Mention of Iran may bring to mind images of turbaned Mullahs and nuclear weapons. On the other hand Persia may provoke other images; of Persian Gardens, romantic poetry or the beautiful wives of the last Pahlavi Shah.But this in no way does justice to the people of Iran, or its rich and complex history. For much of the ancient period Iranian empires ruled vast areas from Afghanistan in the East to Egypt in the West. Starting around 600 BCE with the Medes and ending with the modern ...

A close look at the early life, military experiences and key battlefield exploits of Al-Malik al-Nasir Yusuf Ibn Najm al-Din Ayyub Ibn Shahdi Abu'l-Muzaffar Salah al-Din, broadly regarded as the greatest hero of the Crusades, even in Europe.Most chroniclers present him as a man of outstanding virtue, courage and political skill. More recently, however, efforts have been made to portray Saladin as an ambitious, ruthless and even devious politician, and as a less bri...

The Triangle of Trade in the Cradle of Civilization interestingly presents Mesopotamia as the supermarket of the ancient world. Although Sumeria was the nerve center for international trade, it had to import most everything from northern Mesopotamia, namely Armenia. Why have not the Armenians claimed their rightful place among the nations of Mesopotamia? The historical maze of humankind is fraught with mysteries, controversies, and inconsistencies.

Iran has rarely been out of the headlines. Yet media interest and extensive coverage has tended to hinder rather than help our understanding of Iran as an idea, an identity, and a people, leading to a superficial understanding of what is a complex and nuanced political culture and civilization. This Very Short Introduction presents a radical reinterpretation of Iranian history and politics, placing the Islamic Revolution in the context of a century of political change and social t...

Three thousand years ago, a group of Indo-Iranic tribes (called Balaschik at that time) settled in the northwestern Caspian region of Balashagan. Circumstances forced them to disperse and migrate towards south and eastern parts of Iranian plateau. In medieval times, they finally settled in present Balochistan where they became known as the Baloch. During their long and tortuous journey from Balashagan to Balochistan, the Baloch faced persecutions, deportations, and genocidal acts of variou...

A fascinating look at the ancient Nabataean Kingdom! During the time of the Greek and Roman Empires, this small Arabian empire built spectacular cities in the Arabian Desert. Their ships and camel caravans traveled to far off exotic places to bring luxury goods to European markets. Since they held a monopoly on almost all eastern goods, they slowly raised their prices, until they almost brought the great European Empires to their knees. Flush with cash, they built the incredible city of Pe...