The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire PDF Author: David C. Thomas
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743325428
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
The iconic minaret of Jām stands in a remote mountain valley in central Afghanistan, the finest surviving monument of the enigmatic 12th-century Ghūrid dynasty. The re-discovery of the minaret half a century ago prompted renewed interest in the Ghūrids, and this has intensified since their summer capital at Jām became Afghanistan’s first World Heritage site in 2002. Two seasons of archaeological fieldwork at Jām, the detailed analysis of satellite images and the innovative use of Google Earth as a cultural heritage management tool have resulted in a wealth of new information about known Ghūrid sites, and the identification of hundreds of previously undocumented archaeological sites across Afghanistan. Drawing inspiration from the Annales School and the concept of an ‘archipelagic landscape’, Thomas has used these data to re-assess the Ghūrids and generate a more nuanced understanding of this significant Early Islamic polity. In addition to complementing the événements which form the focus of the urban-based historical sources, the new archaeological data are used by Thomas to reconsider the urban characteristics of the Ghūrids’ summer capital. Throughout The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire, Thomas uses this to explore the issues of Ghūrid identity, ideology and the sustainability of their polity.

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire PDF Author: David C. Thomas
Publisher: Sydney University Press
ISBN: 1743325428
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Get Book Here

Book Description
The iconic minaret of Jām stands in a remote mountain valley in central Afghanistan, the finest surviving monument of the enigmatic 12th-century Ghūrid dynasty. The re-discovery of the minaret half a century ago prompted renewed interest in the Ghūrids, and this has intensified since their summer capital at Jām became Afghanistan’s first World Heritage site in 2002. Two seasons of archaeological fieldwork at Jām, the detailed analysis of satellite images and the innovative use of Google Earth as a cultural heritage management tool have resulted in a wealth of new information about known Ghūrid sites, and the identification of hundreds of previously undocumented archaeological sites across Afghanistan. Drawing inspiration from the Annales School and the concept of an ‘archipelagic landscape’, Thomas has used these data to re-assess the Ghūrids and generate a more nuanced understanding of this significant Early Islamic polity. In addition to complementing the événements which form the focus of the urban-based historical sources, the new archaeological data are used by Thomas to reconsider the urban characteristics of the Ghūrids’ summer capital. Throughout The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire, Thomas uses this to explore the issues of Ghūrid identity, ideology and the sustainability of their polity.

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire PDF Author: David C. Thomas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781743325438
Category : Archaeology, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description


The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire

The Ebb and Flow of the Ghūrid Empire PDF Author: David C. Thomas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781743325414
Category : Archaeology, Medieval
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
The iconic minaret of Jām stands in a remote mountain valley in central Afghanistan, the finest surviving monument of the enigmatic 12th-century Ghūrid dynasty. The rediscovery of the minaret half a century ago prompted renewed interest in the Ghūrids, and this has intensified since their summer capital at Jām became Afghanistan's first World Heritage site in 2002. Two seasons of archaeological fieldwork at Jām, the detailed analysis of satellite images and the innovative use of Google Earth have resulted in a wealth of new information about known Ghūrid sites, and the identification of hundreds of previously undocumented archaeological sites across Afghanistan. Drawing inspiration from the Annales school and the concept of an 'archipelagic landscape', David Thomas has used this data to reassess the Ghūrids and generate a more nuanced understanding of this significant Early Islamic polity.

The Golden Road

The Golden Road PDF Author: William Dalrymple
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408864444
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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Book Description
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CO-HOST OF THE CHART-TOPPING EMPIRE PODCAST – A REVOLUTIONARY NEW HISTORY OF THE DIFFUSION OF INDIAN IDEAS 'A master storyteller' Sunday Times 'Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve' Spectator 'A more masterful and accessible survey ... would be hard to find ... Enthralling' Literary Review India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India's oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it. Praise for William Dalrymple and The Anarchy 'A superb historian with a visceral understanding of India' The Times 'Magnificently readable, deeply researched and richly atmospheric' Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday

The Coming of the Mongols

The Coming of the Mongols PDF Author: David O. Morgan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786733838
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
The Mongol invasions in the first half of the thirteenth century led to profound and shattering changes to the historical trajectory of Islamic West Asia. As this new volume in The Idea of Iran series suggests, sudden conquest from the east was preceded by events closer to home which laid the groundwork for the later Mongol success. In the mid-twelfth century the Seljuq empire rapidly unravelled, its vast provinces fragmenting into a patchwork of mostly short-lived principalities and kingdoms. In time, new powers emerged, such as the pagan Qara-Khitai in Central Asia; the Khwarazmshahs in Khwarazm, Khorosan and much of central Iran; and the Ghurids to the southeast. Yet all were blown away by the Mongols, who faced no resistance from a sufficiently muscular imperial competitor and whose influx was viewed by contemporaries as cataclysmic. Distinguished scholars including David O Morgan and the late C E Bosworth here discuss the dynasties that preceded the invasion - and aspects of their literature, poetry and science - as well as the conquerors themselves and their rule in Iran from 1219 to 1256.

India and Iran in the Long Durée

India and Iran in the Long Durée PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004460632
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
This book is the result of a conference held at the University of California, Irvine, covering the contacts between Iran and India from antiquity to the modern period.

Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World

Calligraphy and Architecture in the Muslim World PDF Author: Gharipour Mohammad Gharipour
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 147446842X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
This major reference work covers all aspects of architectural inscriptions in the Muslim world: the artists and their patrons, what inscriptions add to architectural design, what materials were used, what their purpose was and how they infuse buildings with meaning. From Spain to China, and from the Middle Ages to our own lifetime, Islamic architecture and calligraphy are inexorably intertwined. Mosques, dervish lodges, mausolea, libraries, even baths and market places bear masterpieces of calligraphy that rival the most refined of books and scrolls.

Afghanistan's Islam

Afghanistan's Islam PDF Author: Nile Green
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520294130
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
"This book provides the first ever overview of the history and development of Islam in Afghanistan. It covers every era from the conversion of Afghanistan through the medieval and early modern periods to the present day. Based on primary sources in Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Urdu and Uzbek, its depth and scope of coverage is unrivalled by any existing publication on Afghanistan. As well as state-sponsored religion, the chapters cover such issues as the rise of Sufism, Sharia, women's religiosity, transnational Islamism and the Taliban. Islam has been one of the most influential social and political forces in Afghan history. Providing idioms and organizations for both anti-state and anti-foreign mobilization, Islam has proven to be a vital socio-political resource in modern Afghanistan. Even as it has been deployed as the national cement of a multi-ethnic 'Emirate' and then 'Islamic Republic,' Islam has been no less a destabilizing force in dividing Afghan society. Yet despite the universal scholarly recognition of the centrality of Islam to Afghan history, its developmental trajectories have received relatively little sustained attention outside monographs and essays devoted to particular moments or movements. To help develop a more comprehensive, comparative and developmental picture of Afghanistan's Islam from the eighth century to the present, this edited volume brings together specialists on different periods, regions and languages. Each chapter forms a case study 'snapshot' of the Islamic beliefs, practices, institutions and authorities of a particular time and place in Afghanistan"--Provided by publishe

Archaeology of Afghanistan

Archaeology of Afghanistan PDF Author: Raymond Allchin
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474450474
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description
First published in 1978, this was the first book in English to provide a complete survey of the immensely rich archaeological remains of Afghanistan. It has now been thoroughly revised and brought up to date to incorporate the latest discoveries and research.

Archaeology of Afghanistan

Archaeology of Afghanistan PDF Author: Allchin Raymond Allchin
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 1474450466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 998

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Book Description
Afghanistan is at the cultural crossroads of Asia, where the great civilisations of Mesopotamia and Iran, South Asia and Central Asia overlapped and sometimes conflicted. Its landscape embraces environments from the high mountains of the Hindu Kush to the Oxus basin and the great deserts of Sistan; trade routes from China to the Mediterranean, and from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea cross the country. It has seen the development of early agriculture, the spread of Bronze Age civilisation of Central Asia, the conquests of the Persians and of Alexander of Macedon, the spread of Buddhism and then Islam, and the empires of the Kushans, Ghaznavids, Ghurids and Timurids centred there, with ramifications across southern Asia. All of which has resulted in some of the most important, diverse and spectacular historical remains in Asia.First published in 1978, this was the first book in English to provide a complete survey of the immensely rich archaeological remains of Afghanistan. The contributors, all acknowledged scholars in their field, have worked in the country, on projects ranging from prehistoric surveys to the study of Islamic architecture. It has now been thoroughly revised and brought up to date to incorporate the latest discoveries and research.