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Thought-provoking analysis of the vital role of the Red Sea in medieval trade networks and the development of political control with the rise of Islam, based on archaeological evidence, new in paperback
“A highly approachable and authoritative narrative”—International Journal of Middle East Studies
This book examines the historic process traditionally referred to as the fall of Rome and rise of Islam from the perspective of the Red Sea, a strategic waterway linking the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and a distinct region incorporating Africa with Arabia. The transition from Byzantium to the Caliphate is contextualized in the contestation of regional hegemony between Aksumite Ethiopia, Sasanian Iran, and the Islamic Hijaz. The economic stimulus associated with Arab colonization is then considered, including the foundation of ports and roads linking new metropolises and facilitating commercial expansion, particularly gold mining and the slave trade. Finally, the economic inheritance of the Fatimids and the formation of the commercial networks glimpsed in the Cairo Geniza is contextualized in the diffusion of the Abbasid ‘bourgeois revolution’ and resumption of the ‘India trade’ under the Tulunids and Ziyadids.
Combining archaeological evidence with historical sources, Timothy Power’s careful analysis reveals the complex cultural and economic factors that provided a fertile ground for the origins of the Islamic civilization to take root in the Red Sea region, offering a fresh perspective on a vital period of history.
“[W]ell documented and systematically presented. Power composes a highly approachable and authoritative narrative by drawing upon a barrage of excavation reports, geological surveys, ceramic and pottery studies, and the writings of a host of Roman, Byzantine, and Arab authors. . . . consistently thought-provoking.”—International Journal of Middle East Studies
“[A] substantive contribution to the field. . . .Power provides a refreshing overview of a region that has often received less attention than the Mediterranean or the greater Levant. The primary value of his work, even as tentative as the author notes at times, is that it combines the growing body of archaeological evidence with the historical sources.”—International Journal of Archaeology and Social Sciences in the Arabian Peninsula
“The most powerful effect of reading such a book about the Red Sea, turning from one unfamiliar toponym to another, is to bring a sharpness of focus to a map which might otherwise remain blurry in our minds. The prospect of learning something from scrutinizing this map—and the evidence Power has gathered—over a half-millennium so foundational for today’s culture, politics, institutions, and religions is on its own enough to recommend this book.”—The Marginalia Review of Books
“This book shows the potential of combining written and material evidence, something done too
seldom in this period of Middle Eastern history but accomplished here by an author skilled in both worlds. Timothy Power’s work is of interest not only for Arabian, Ethiopian, and Middle Eastern history, but has implications for scholars of the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, as well as those who examine the broad themes of world history.”—Journal of Arabian Studies
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations of Journal Titles
Introduction: The Context of Study
Red Sea Studies
The Chronological Parameters of Investigation
The Geographical Parameters of Investigation
1. The Late Roman erythra Thalassa (ca. 325–525)
Introduction
The Formation of Late Antiquity in the Red Sea
Northern Ports and Hinterlands
Emporia and Merchants
Southern Ports and Hinterlands
Development of Commerce and Communications
2. Contested Hegemony (ca. 525–685)
Introduction
Ethiopian Hegemony (ca. 525–70)
Persian Hegemony (ca. 570–630)
Arab Hegemony (ca. 630–85)
3. The ‘Long’ eighth Century (ca. 685–830)
Introduction
Sinaitic Ports and Hinterlands
Hijazi Ports and Hinterlands
Yemeni Ports and Hinterlands
Sudanese Ports and Hinterlands
4. The early Islamic Bahr al-Qulzum (ca. 830–970)
Introduction
Northern Ports and Hinterlands
Sudanese Ports and Hinterlands
Southern Ports and Hinterlands
Conclusion: The ‘Long’ Late Antiquity from the Perspective of the Red Sea
Introduction
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the Red Sea
Muslim Conquests and the Caliphate in the Red Sea
Legacies: Creating the World of the Cairo Geniza
Gazetteer of Sites
Notes
Bibliography
Latin, Greek, Coptic, and Syriac Sources
Arabic and Persian Sources
Secondary Literature
Index