The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years PDF
Preview The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years
T °." It \ I The Middle East A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LAST 2,000 YEARS Bernard Lewis P R A I SE F OR Bernard Lewis's The Muldl "KncwlojMollir in ranpe. The Vithllc hist is sympa thetic lo its subject while remaining judicious in IIHML It is «In- fruil of a lifetime ol M hol.irship."' —David IVwv-Jones. The Times «I omlon) " lliis iv i splendid book, halanceil. penetrating, com** t prehensive. I know of nothing to approach it in ibe I tiL'li>!i lamruaifc." —Chaim limnant. The Jetvish C.hnmicU In this book lirmard Lewis tels out to show with «real sun•«*ss thai there i* a great deal more to the Middle Eaidl— in particular a fas< matin*: past and a remarkable culture." —Mal< <»lm Yapp, Ihr Sunday Telegraph honk is a masterpiece. Bernard Lewis com "'HU.H bines profound depth of scholarship with encyclo pedic knowledge of the Middle East and. above all. readability. His limpid pros*- Hows alon» iioob str«i<ii<l hv the jar L'on which muddies ibe works of MI mail) academics. M\ problem was that I could not ration m\>clf lo so mum pages a dav. I had lo keep on reading. —Anthony Parsons The Daily Telegraph (Ixmdon) 5 3 0 0 0> 9 "78068*.'8071 ?6 ISBN 0 - b ô M - ô 0 7 ! 2 -2 0 5 ^ ^ 50 U.S. $30.00 s the birthplace of three religions and many civilizations, the Middle East has for centuries been a center of knowledge and ideas, of techniques and commodities, and, at times, of military and political power. With the historical—and still grow ing—importance of the Middle East in modern pol ities, historian Bernard Lewis's cogent and scholarly writing brings a wider understanding of the cultures of the region to a popular audience. In this immensely readable and broad history, lewis charts the successive transformations of the Middle East, beginning with the two great empires, the Roman and the Persian, whose disputes divided the region two thousand years ago; the development of monotheism and the growth of Christianity; the astonishingly rapid rise and spread of Islam over a vast area; the waves of invaders from the East and the Mongol hordes of Jengiz Khan; the rise of the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia, the Mamluks in Egypt and the Safavids in Iran; the peak and decline of the great Ottoman state: and the changing balance of power between the Muslim and Christian worlds. Within this narrative, Lewis details the myriad forces that have shaped the history of the Middle East: the Islamic religion and legal system; the traditions of government; the immense variety of trade and the remarkably wide range of crops; the elites—military, commercial, religious, intellectual and artistic—and the commonalty, including such socially distinct groups as slaves, women and non- believ ers. He finally weaves these threads together by looking at the pervasive impact in modem times of Western ideas and technology, and the responses and reactions thev evoked. Rich with vivid detail and the knowledge of a great scholar, this brilliant survey of the history and civilizations of the Middle East reveals the huge Islamic contribution to European life, as well as the European contri bution to the Islamic world. Ll.wis. a world-respected author it \ on BKKNAKD Islamic and Middle Lastern history, is Kmerilus Professor of Near Kastern Studies at Princeton I diversity, where he has taught since 1971. lie is also a frequent contributor to Hie Yen* York Review of Books and The Atlantic. He was horn in London in 1916 and was Professor of the History of tin- Middle Last at the School of Oriental and \lrican Studies. ( niversitv of London. 19 19-71. His many books include Hie Arabs in History* The Emergence of Modem Turkey. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire, Ihe Assassins, The Muslim Discovers' of Europe. The Political Language of Islam, Hare and Slavery in the Middl f East. Islam and the llest and Cultures in Conflict: Christians, Muslims and Jens in the Age of Discovery. His works have been translated into more than twent\ languages, including Arabic. Persian, Turkish and Indonesian. JWKH DKSIC.N in < \I\IN< lit JVCKKI \KI COl KTKS\ Ol MKIHOI'OI.IIW Ml Slit M OI ART M niOK INlOlOCKUMI in DKMM XITIIVUill* PHI vu i) IN i m. i s \ COPYRIGHT • i^«» SIMO\ \ >«:m STKH I\« in SIMON* SON STKR INC M S T R I B I T H» OTHER BOOKS BY BERNARD LEWIS Arabs in History Islam and the West Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East The Shaping of the Modem Middle East Race and Slavery in the Middle East: Historical Enquiry World of Islam The Political Language of Islam Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, Vol. I Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, Vol. II Semites and Anti-Semites The Assassins : A Radical Sect in Islam The Jews of Islam The Muslim Discovery of Europe The Origins oflsmailism: A Study of the Historical Background of the Fatimid Caliphate The Muslim Discovery of Europe Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire Emergence of Modern Turkey Middle East and the West THE MIDDLE EAST A BRIEF HISTORY 2,000 OF THE LAST YEARS Bernard Lewis SCRIBNER SCRIBNER 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, New York 10020 Copyright © 1995 Bernard Lewis First published in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SCRIBNER and design are trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc. 5 7 9 10 8 6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: a brief history of the last 2,000 years/Bernard Lewis. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. 1. Middle East—History. I. Title. DS62.L594 1996 956—dc2O 96-4384 CIP ISBN 0-684-80712-2 CONTENTS List of Maps vii List of Illustrations ix Preface xi PART I Introduction i PART II Antecedents I Before Christianity 21 2 Before Islam 33 PART III The Dawn and Noon of Islam 3 Origins 5i 4 The cAbbasid Caliphate 75 5 The Coming of the Steppe Peoples 86 6 The Mongol Aftermath 102 7 The Gunpowder Empires III PART IV Cross-Sections 8 The State 133 9 The Economy 157 10 The Elites 179 ii The Commonalty 205 12 Religion and Law 218 13 Culture 244 PART V The Challenge of Modernity Challenge 273 15 Change 286 16 Response and Reaction 305 17 New Ideas 315 18 From War to War 332 19 From Freedom to Freedom 357 Notes 388 Bibliographical Note 394 Note on Calendars 397 Chronology 399 Maps 407 Index 419 VI
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