Baghdad: From its Beginnings to the 14th Century offers an exhaustive handbook that covers all possible themes connected to the history of this urban complex in Iraq, from its origins rooted in late antique Mesopotamia up to the aftermath of the Mongol invasion in 1258. Against the common perception of a city founded 762 in a vacuum, which, after experiencing a heyday in a mythical "golden age" under the early 'Abbasids, entered since 900 a long period of decline that ended with a complete collapse by savage people from the East in 1258, the volume emphasizes the continuity of Baghdad's urban life, and shows how it was marked by its destiny as caliphal seat and cultural hub. Contributors Mehmetcan Akpinar, Nuha Alshaar, Pavel Basharin, David Bennett, Michal Biran, Richard W. Bulliet, Kirill Dmitriev, Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst, Hend Gilli-Elewy, Beatrice Gruendler, Sebastian Gunther, Olof Heilo, Damien Janos, Christopher Melchert, Michael Morony, Bernard O'Kane, Klaus Oschema, Letizia Osti, Parvaneh Pourshariati, Vanessa van Renterghem, Jens Scheiner, Angela Schottenhammer, Y. Zvi Stampfer, Johannes Thomann, Isabel Toral.

This volume explores aspects of religious culture in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula across Late Antiquity - the period of dynamic and historically crucial developments, culminating in the emergence of Islam. While it would be impossible to provide an exhaustive examination of the topic in a single volume, it is the main aim of this book to further stimulate scholarly research on the Late Antique context of the origins of Islam and the history of early Arab-Muslim culture.

In al-Hira. Eine arabische Kulturmetropole im spatantiken Kontext, Isabel Toral-Niehoff draws a vivid portrait of this multicultural Late Antique Arab city located in the frontier zone between Byzantium and Iran and emphasizes its significance for Arab culture and early Islam. In al-Hira. Eine arabische Kulturmetropole im spatantiken Kontext zeichnet Isabel Toral-Niehoff ein lebendiges Portrat dieser spatantiken multikulturellen arabischen Stadt im Grenzraum zwischen Byzanz und Iran und unterstreicht deren Bedeutung fur den Fruhislam und die arabische Kulturgeschichte.