This book offers a radical perspective on what are conventionally called the Islamic Conquests of the seventh century. Placing these earthshattering events firmly in the context of Late Antiquity, it argues that many of the men remembered as the fanatical agents of Muhammad probably did not know who the prophet was and had, in fact, previously fought for Rome or Persia. The book applies to the study of the collapse of the Roman Near East techniques taken from the historiography of the fall of the Roman West. Through a comparative analysis of medieval Arabic and European sources combined with insights from frontier studies, it argues that the two falls of Rome involved processes far more similar than traditionally thought. It presents a fresh approach to the century that witnessed the end of the ancient world, appealing to students of Roman and medieval history, Islamic Studies, and advanced scholars alike.

The coming of Islam marks a watershed in world history. A new movement arose from the sands of Arabia. It destroyed old empires and reshaped lands that had been the very cradle of civilisation in its own image. Debate on the origins of Islam is fierce. Far from being born in the full light of history, fundamental issues remain obscure and basic questions, like how the Arabian backwater of the ancient world generated an all-conquering state, often go unasked. This book offers a new and bold explanation for these momentous events. It investigates the growth of a community of believers around their prophet in an Arabian oasis before looking at how their interactions with surrounding nomads set in store truly transformative developments. These developments took on a deeper significance given wider changes witnessed in the late antique Near East, which created the context for the earthshattering events of the seventh century. At the Origins of Islam: Muhammad, the Community of the Qur'an, and the Transformation of the Bedouin World unites the near and far horizons of early Islam into one story. It embraces a broad range of sources and comparative evidence to set new courses in the study of Late Antiquity and early Islam.

Profound cultural change defined the Byzantine world. For centuries after its embrace of Christianity, exchanges of ideas, objects, peoples and identities continued to flow across an empire that found itself located at the crossroads of so many other worlds. This book brings together a selection of important contributions to the study of cross-cultural exchange in the Byzantine world in its largest geographic and temporal sense. It employs an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, presenting papers first given by graduate and early career academic researchers from around the world at the XVII International Graduate Conference of the Oxford University Byzantine Society, held on 27 and 28 February 2015. Le monde byzantin se caracterise par de profondes mutations culturelles. Durant les siecles suivant l'adoption du christianisme, la diffusion des idees, la circulation des objets, les mouvements des peuples et le dialogue entre les identites n'ont pas cesse de metamorphoser cet empire lui-meme situe au carrefour d'un grand nombre d'autres civilisations. Cet ouvrage rassemble plusieurs contributions soigneusement choisies et constitue un apport majeur a l'etude des echanges culturels dans le monde byzantin dans un cadre geographique et temporel large. Son approche interdisciplinaire et comparative presente des interventions inedites d'etudiants et de jeunes chercheurs venus du monde entier pour participer a la dix-septieme conference internationale de l'Oxford University Byzantine Society qui s'est tenue les 27 et 28 fevrier 2015.