Monthly Archives: May 2022

Andalusian Pottery

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

If you traveled in 10th or 11th century Spain, you’d see a sharp contrast in its regional pottery. During this high-water point in Muslim Andalusia’s power, the map had stabilized into a large southern Muslim nation and a strip of small kingdoms … Continue reading →

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10th Century Pottery

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

Having never been a potter myself, I could never understand why archeologists seemed to assume that some tribe or region made the same kind of pottery over and over. They name prehistoric cultures that way: the Grey Ware culture, the … Continue reading →

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The Western Caliph, 890-961

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

The dynasty of Abd al-Rahman, the Umayyad prince who successfully dodged Abbasid assassins until he took control of Spain, was still going on. He and his immediate heirs called themselves Emirs, rather than Caliphs. But by 912, when great-great-great-grandson Abd … Continue reading →

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The Fatimid Imam of Ifriqiyah, 909-34

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

The Ismaili branch of the Shi’a had pretty much gone into hiding and emigrated westward to escape persecution by the Abbasid Caliphs. They had a network of agents who spread the word about their Mahdi in waiting (Muhammad ibn Ismail … Continue reading →

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Abbasid Scientists

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Ruth

During Caliph al-Muqtadir’s reign, there were significant scientific advances. Here’s a round-up of the major names. Ishaq ibn Hunayn, from a family of translators, translated Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Almagest into Arabic. This turned out to matter tremendously when Greek … Continue reading →

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Ibn Fadlan and the Vikings, 920-2

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Ruth

Caliph Muqtadir sent an embassy to the Volga Bulgars, who lived at the intersection of the Volga and Kama Rivers. One of the embassy members, Ibn Fadlan, wrote an account of the embassy’s journey that became one of the earliest … Continue reading →

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Abbasid Caliphs and the Qarmatians, 892-932

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Ruth

Increasingly, the Caliph at Baghdad was not the main story in the Muslim world. At his own court, he could be sidelined by his brother, as al-Mutamid was. He could be outshone by a Vizier, as al-Muktafi was. A few, … Continue reading →

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Iranian Independence, 861

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Ruth

A humble family in Afghanistan gave four sons to the Ayyars, a particularly Persian class of warrior, and one of them rose to become the Emir of Sistan within a fairly short time. This was Yaqub ibn Layth, also known … Continue reading →

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the Zanj Uprising, 869-83

Posted on May 3, 2022 by Ruth

Arab explorers and traders established ports and bases along Africa’s southeastern coast; a favorable wind pattern made it easy to sail from there to India, where they traded regularly. The Bantu-speaking tribes who settled southern Africa were mostly cattle herders … Continue reading →

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