This travel guide and survey to Islamic art, architecture and culture in Tunisia shows the country's treasures displayed within their historical and cultural context. It includes up-to-date information, detailed descriptions of the items on display, an exhaustive historic and artistic introduction, a number of itineraries, practical information (distances, opening hours etc), and tips for appreciating the natural environment surrounding the sites. The descriptions of monuments, archaeological sites, artefacts and architecture are written by local academics and specialists.

A new history of North Africa within the Islamic period from the Arab conquest to the present.

Born from the fields of Islamic art and architectural history, the archaeological study of the Islamic societies is a relatively young discipline. With its roots in the colonial periods of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its rapid development since the 1980s warrants a reevaluation of where the field stands today. This Handbook represents for the first time a survey of Islamic archaeology on a global scale, describing its disciplinary development and offering candid critiques of the state of the field today in the Central Islamic Lands, the Islamic West, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. The international contributors to the volume address such themes as the timing and process of Islamization, the problems of periodization and regionalism in material culture, cities and countryside, cultural hybridity, cultural and religious diversity, natural resource management, international trade in the later historical periods, and migration. Critical assessments of the ways in which archaeologists today engage with Islamic cultural heritage and local communities closes the volume, highlighting the ethical issues related to studying living cultures and religions. Richly illustrated, with extensive citations, it is the reference work on the debates that drive the field today.

Dynasties Intertwined traces the turbulent relationship between the Zirids of Ifriqiya and the Normans of Sicily during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In doing so, it reveals the complex web of economic, political, cultural, and military connections that linked the two dynasties to each other and to other polities across the medieval Mediterranean. Furthermore, despite the contemporary interfaith holy wars happening around the Zirids and Normans, their relationship was never governed by an overarching ideology like jihad or crusade. Instead, both dynasties pursued policies that they thought would expand their power and wealth, either through collaboration or conflict. The relationship between the Zirids and Normans ultimately came to a violent end in the 1140s, when a devastating drought crippled Ifriqiya. The Normans seized this opportunity to conquer lands across the Ifriqiyan coast, bringing an end to the Zirid dynasty and forming the Norman kingdom of Africa, which persisted until the Almohad conquest of Mahdia in 1160. Previous scholarship on medieval North Africa during the reign of the Zirids has depicted the region as one of instability and political anarchy that rendered local lords powerless in the face of foreign conquest. Matt King shows that, to the contrary, the Zirids and other local lords in Ifriqiya were integral parts of the far-reaching political and economic networks across the Mediterranean. Despite the eventual collapse of the Zirid dynasty at the hands of the Normans, Dynasties Intertwined makes clear that its emirs were active and consequential Mediterranean players for much of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with political agency independent of their Christian neighbors across the Strait of Sicily.

The tenth edition of Gold Coins of the World expands on its predecessor, digging more deeply into new areas of collector interest, and expanding many sections. From the coins of Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Byzantine Empire, and from Afghanistan through Zanzibar, it includes the addition of many new discoveries for dozens of countries. From the 384 pages of the 1958 edition, the work has expanded to 852 pages, which have been completely revised and updated. The authors have listed more than 22,000 coin types, which are illustrated with more than 8,500 photos—now, for the first time, each one of them in color. Each country’s section includes tables of weight and fineness. The market valuations are extensively revised to reflect both the higher price of gold as well as the skyrocketing demand for numismatic rarities. Valuations are now provided, for the first time, in up to three states of preservation. Many of the prices, especially for great rarities and coins in higher grades, have at least doubled. In fact, as collectors recognize the scarcity of coins in the highest states of preservation, the premium for such coins relative to lower-graded ones is escalating beyond traditional proportions. The coinage of India and the Islamic world, long dismissed by western collectors as difficult to decipher, unimportant, and lacking in value, is now the subject of intense interest, and has shown some of the most dramatic increases of all. The reader will also find a useful directory of the world’s leading gold-coin dealers and auction houses. For the numismatist, banker, economist, historian, or institution of higher learning, the tenth edition of Gold Coins of the World is a book for every library, public and private.

A History of the Muslim World to 1750 traces the development of Islamic civilization from the career of the Prophet Muhammad to the mid-eighteenth century. Encompassing a wide range of significant events within the period, its coverage includes the creation of the Dar al-Islam (the territory ruled by Muslims), the fragmentation of society into various religious and political groups including the Shi'ites and Sunnis, the series of catastrophes in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that threatened to destroy the civilization, and the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires. Including the latest research from the last ten years, this second edition has been updated and expanded to cover the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Fully refreshed and containing over sixty images to highlight the key visual aspects, this book offers students a balanced coverage of the Muslim world from the Iberian Peninsula to South Asia, and detailed accounts of all cultures. The use of maps, primary sources, timelines, and a glossary further illuminates the fascinating yet complex world of the pre-modern Middle East. Covering art, architecture, religious institutions, theological beliefs, popular religious practice, political institutions, cuisine, and much more, A History of the Muslim World to 1750 is the perfect introduction for all students of the history of Islamic civilization and the Middle East.

This book is a comprehensive examination of the historical process of social formation that gave rise to the communal consciousness of the Arab nation and determined its sense of identity. It aims to provide a historical context for the assessment of prevailing concepts and suggests hypotheses for the development of modern Arab consciousness. The book firstly traces Arab origins and the formation of Arab societies after the emergence of Islam, assessing the perspectives and factors that shaped the rise of the Arab nation in both practical and intellectual terms. It then examines the beginning of the Arab awakening and the course of its development in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth, focusing on the emergence of a nationalist perspective in the development of intellectual positions on patriotism and Arabism.

This comprehensive history of Tunisia covers an essential period in the country's development, from the Arab conquest of the 7th century to the Jasmine Revolution and the fall of Ben Ali's regime in 2010. The book describes the evolution of the Tunisian state, its place in the Mediterranean basin, and its contacts with the civilizations of that region. Beginning with the conquest of AD 648-669, it analyzes the crucial events that shaped the country's history in the dynastic age. The book then goes on to discuss the impact of the Ottoman conquest, as well as the impact of the European competition in the Mediterranean, on the development of the Tunisian state. Tunisia since the Arab Conquest provides a thorough coverage of the French conquest and the French Protectorate, and their influence on the country's development. It discusses Franco-Tunisian relations in a vivid manner and explores the impact of the first and second World Wars on the country. The book then examines the Tunisian nationalist movement and the country's struggle for independence, assessing the main personalities who played a role in that movement. Tunisia's relations with France and the methods by which the country obtained its independence are discussed in great detail. The narrative continues with an analysis of the political, social, economic, and cultural developments in Tunisia since its independence, including an in-depth analysis of the country's achievements and failures under the regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali. Based on primary and secondary sources in Arabic, French, Italian, Hebrew, and English, this book provides the reader with a comprehensive history of the country. It will be essential reading for students and academics who wish to understand the formative years of the Tunisian state, as well as the political developments which took place after its independence. *** "Abadi provides a comprehensive, detailed, and factual narrative of Tunisian history..." Recomended. - Choice, July 13, Vol. 50 No. 11

Muslims first appeared in the early seventh century as members of a persecuted religious movement in a sun-baked town in Arabia. Within a century, their descendants were ruling a vast territory that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indus River valley in modern Pakistan. This region became the arena for a new cultural experiment in which Muslim scholars and creative artists synthesized and reworked the legacy of Rome, Greece, Iran, and India into a new civilization. A History of the Muslim World to 1405 traces the development of this civilization from the career of the Prophet Muhammad to the death of the Mongol emperor Timur Lang. Coverage includes the unification of the Dar a1-Islam (the territory ruled by Muslims), the fragmentation into various religious and political groups including the Shi'ite and Sunni, and the series of catastrophes in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that threatened to destroy the civilization. Features: Balanced coverage of the Muslim world encompassing the region from the Iberian Peninsula to South Asia. Detailed accounts of all cultures including major Shi'ite groups and the Sunni community. Primary sources. Numerous maps and photographs featuring a special four-color art insert. Glossary, charts, and timelines.