Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking: Kindi's Treatise "On Swords and Their Kinds"

Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking: Kindi's Treatise Author: Robert G. Hoyland
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780906094570
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
One of the problems pervading the study of medieval Islamic technology is the lack of surviving technical treatises. Tradition tended to be handed down by example and by word of mouth, and apprenticeships could last for decades. Fortunately, however, occasional treatises do exist. The treatise "On swords and their kinds" was written by the 9th century Muslim philosopher Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. This work was commissioned by a powerful patron of scholarship, the Abbasid caliph Mu'tasim, and the content of the treatise presumably reflects the ruler's general interest in his army and its equipment, and his specific interest in the technical aspects of sword production. In this work, Kindi discusses the difference between iron and steel, distinguishes different qualities of sword blade, and different centres of swordsmithing. He refers to the Indian Ocean trade in steel ingots and to the distinctive character of European swords of the period. He includes technical terms used by the makers, and distinguishes swords by their physical features - form, measurements, weight, watered pattern, sculptured details, or inlaid ornaments. This publication includes the text and a translation of Kindi's treatise, and a detailed commentary on the work. The volume also includes a translation of Friedrich Schwarzlose's work on swords, which is based on the hundreds of references to swords in early Arabic poetry. Written in German, this extraordinary compendium of information was first published some 120 years ago; this volume makes it available again, and for the first time in English.

Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking: Kindi's Treatise "On Swords and Their Kinds"

Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking: Kindi's Treatise Author: Robert G. Hoyland
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780906094570
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book

Book Description
One of the problems pervading the study of medieval Islamic technology is the lack of surviving technical treatises. Tradition tended to be handed down by example and by word of mouth, and apprenticeships could last for decades. Fortunately, however, occasional treatises do exist. The treatise "On swords and their kinds" was written by the 9th century Muslim philosopher Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi. This work was commissioned by a powerful patron of scholarship, the Abbasid caliph Mu'tasim, and the content of the treatise presumably reflects the ruler's general interest in his army and its equipment, and his specific interest in the technical aspects of sword production. In this work, Kindi discusses the difference between iron and steel, distinguishes different qualities of sword blade, and different centres of swordsmithing. He refers to the Indian Ocean trade in steel ingots and to the distinctive character of European swords of the period. He includes technical terms used by the makers, and distinguishes swords by their physical features - form, measurements, weight, watered pattern, sculptured details, or inlaid ornaments. This publication includes the text and a translation of Kindi's treatise, and a detailed commentary on the work. The volume also includes a translation of Friedrich Schwarzlose's work on swords, which is based on the hundreds of references to swords in early Arabic poetry. Written in German, this extraordinary compendium of information was first published some 120 years ago; this volume makes it available again, and for the first time in English.

Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths

Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths PDF Author: Ünsal Yücel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789290631033
Category : Islamic swords
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description


Sword and Scimitar

Sword and Scimitar PDF Author: Raymond Ibrahim
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306825562
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
A sweeping history of the often-violent conflict between Islam and the West, shedding a revealing light on current hostilities The West and Islam -- the sword and scimitar -- have clashed since the mid-seventh century, when, according to Muslim tradition, the Roman emperor rejected Prophet Muhammad's order to abandon Christianity and convert to Islam, unleashing a centuries-long jihad on Christendom. Sword and Scimitar chronicles the decisive battles that arose from this ages-old Islamic jihad, beginning with the first major Islamic attack on Christian land in 636, through the Muslim occupation of nearly three-quarters of Christendom which prompted the Crusades, followed by renewed Muslim conquests by Turks and Tatars, to the European colonization of the Muslim world in the 1800s, when Islam largely went on the retreat -- until its reemergence in recent times. Using original sources in Arabic and Greek, preeminent historian Raymond Ibrahim describes each battle in vivid detail and explains how these wars and the larger historical currents of the age reflect the cultural fault lines between Islam and the West. The majority of these landmark battles -- including the battles of Yarmuk, Tours, Manzikert, the sieges at Constantinople and Vienna, and the crusades in Syria and Spain--are now forgotten or considered inconsequential. Yet today, as the West faces a resurgence of this enduring Islamic jihad, Sword and Scimitar provides the needed historical context to understand the current relationship between the West and the Islamic world -- and why the Islamic State is merely the latest chapter of an old history.

The Sword of Islam

The Sword of Islam PDF Author: Arthur Naylor Wollaston
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
The Sword of Islam by Arthur Wollaston Naylor, first published in 1905, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Mecca and Eden

Mecca and Eden PDF Author: Brannon Wheeler
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226888045
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
Nineteenth-century philologist and Biblical critic William Robertson Smith famously concluded that the sacred status of holy places derives not from their intrinsic nature but from their social character. Building upon this insight, Mecca and Eden uses Islamic exegetical and legal texts to analyze the rituals and objects associated with the sanctuary at Mecca. Integrating Islamic examples into the comparative study of religion, Brannon Wheeler shows how the treatment of rituals, relics, and territory is related to the more general mythological depiction of the origins of Islamic civilization. Along the way, Wheeler considers the contrast between Mecca and Eden in Muslim rituals, the dispersal and collection of relics of the prophet Muhammad, their relationship to the sanctuary at Mecca, and long tombs associated with the gigantic size of certain prophets mentioned in the Quran. Mecca and Eden succeeds, as few books have done, in making Islamic sources available to the broader study of religion.

Sword of Islam

Sword of Islam PDF Author: Arthur Naylor Wollaston
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780243604289
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The Sword of Islam

The Sword of Islam PDF Author: Arthur Naylor Wollaston
Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC
ISBN: 9781494142094
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
This Is A New Release Of The Original 1905 Edition.

The Sword of Islam

The Sword of Islam PDF Author: Rafael Sabatini
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781465575265
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Arms and Armour of Arabia in the 18th-19th and 20th Centuries

The Arms and Armour of Arabia in the 18th-19th and 20th Centuries PDF Author: Robert Elgood
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
In the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, the Arab nomads who inhabited a great stretch of the Near East from Aleppo in northern Syria to the southern shores of the Arabian peninsula continued a way of life virtually unchanged from the time of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. Wars and raids were carried out by tribesmen armed like their ancestors with sword, mace and lance. Firearms came slowly to the Bedouin, and multishot weapons were very rare until the end of the 19th century.

The Sword of Allah, Khalid Bin Al-Waleed: His Life and Campaigns

The Sword of Allah, Khalid Bin Al-Waleed: His Life and Campaigns PDF Author: A. I. Akram
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description