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From the dawn of writing in Sumer to the sunset of the Islamic empire, Founding Gods, Inventing Nations traces four thousand years of speculation on the origins of civilization. Investigating a vast range of primary sources, some of which are translated here for the first time, and focusing on the dynamic influence of the Greek, Roman, and Arab conquests of the Near East, William McCants looks at the ways the conquerors and those they conquered reshaped their myths of civilization's origins in response to the social and political consequences of empire. The Greek and Roman conquests brought with them a learned culture that competed with that of native elites. The conquering Arabs, in contrast, had no learned culture, which led to three hundred years of Muslim competition over the cultural orientation of Islam, a contest reflected in the culture myths of that time. What we know today as Islamic culture is the product of this contest, whose protagonists drew heavily on the lore of non-Arab and pagan antiquity. McCants argues that authors in all three periods did not write about civilization's origins solely out of pure antiquarian interest--they also sought to address the social and political tensions of the day. The strategies they employed and the postcolonial dilemmas they confronted provide invaluable context for understanding how authors today use myth and history to locate themselves in the confusing aftermath of empire.

Acculturation --- Arabs --- Romans --- Greeks --- Mythology, Middle Eastern. --- Civilization --- Ethnology --- Semites --- Italic peoples --- Latini (Italic people) --- Mediterranean race --- Middle Eastern mythology --- Mythology, Oriental --- Oriental mythology --- Philosophy and civilization --- Culture contact --- Development education --- Culture --- Assimilation (Sociology) --- Cultural fusion --- History. --- Philosophy. --- Middle East --- Asia, South West --- Asia, Southwest --- Asia, West --- Asia, Western --- East (Middle East) --- Eastern Mediterranean --- Fertile Crescent --- Levant --- Mediterranean Region, Eastern --- Mideast --- Near East --- Northern Tier (Middle East) --- South West Asia --- Southwest Asia --- West Asia --- Western Asia --- Orient --- Colonization. --- Intellectual life. --- Historiography. --- Arab conquests. --- Arabs. --- Greek conquests. --- Greek ethnography. --- Greek philosophy. --- Greeks. --- Ibn Qutayba. --- Islam. --- Islamic culture. --- Islamic thinking. --- Jews. --- Muhammad. --- Near East. --- Pliny. --- Qur'an. --- Roman conquests. --- Romans. --- ancient Greece. --- ancient culture. --- ancient mythology. --- ancient texts. --- civilization. --- conquerors. --- conquest. --- conquests. --- culture myths. --- ethnic belonging. --- ironsmithing. --- learned culture. --- medicine. --- native history. --- origin. --- origins. --- philosophy. --- postconquest period. --- pre-Islamic culture. --- protography. --- science. --- Culture contact (Acculturation)

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Essays on strategic thinking and practice in medieval warfare.

Military history, Medieval --- Military art and science --- Civilization, Medieval --- Politics and war --- War and society --- Society and war --- War --- Sociology --- Civilians in war --- Sociology, Military --- War and politics --- Fighting --- Military power --- Military science --- Warfare --- Warfare, Primitive --- Naval art and science --- Medieval military history --- History --- Social aspects --- Political aspects --- battle strategy. --- battle. --- crusades. --- euro. --- geography. --- historical. --- history of military stratedy. --- medieval history. --- medieval military. --- medieval war. --- militarian. --- military strategy europe. --- military. --- roman conquests. --- strategy models. --- strategy. --- war strategy. --- war.

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The Epic Mirror studies how Spanish-American writers and veterans in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century used epic poetry to search for ethical solutions to the violent conflicts of their age. The wars about which they wrote took place at the frontiers of the Spanish empire, where new political communities were emerging: fiercely independent Amerindian republics, rebellious Spanish settlers, maroon kingdoms of fugitive African slaves. This colonial reality generated a distinctive vision of just warfare and political community. Working across the fields of Hispanic literature, the history of political thought, and studies of empire, colonialism and globalisation, Choi reinterprets three major works of colonial Latin American literature: Alonso de Ercilla's La Araucana (1569-90), Pedro de Oña's Arauco domado (1596), and Juan de Miramontes Zuázola's Armas antárticas (1608-9). She argues that these works provide a rare insight into the development of political thought in Viceregal Peru. Through the imaginative mirrors of epic, the reader is forced to ask the same questions of the unfinished conquests of the Americas as of those in Africa, Asia or Europe: when conflicting forces are divided by irreconcilable world views, even if the war is won, how is it possible to achieve peace?

Spanish American poetry --- Epic poetry, Spanish --- War in literature. --- Politics in literature. --- History and criticism. --- Political science in literature --- Spanish American literature --- To 1800 --- Africa. --- Alonso de Ercilla. --- Americas. --- Amerindian Republics. --- Arauco domado. --- Armas antárticas. --- Asia. --- Colonial Peru. --- Colonial Reality. --- Colonialism. --- Conflict Ethics. --- Conquests. --- Empire. --- Epic Mirror. --- Ethical Solutions. --- Europe. --- Globalization. --- Hispanic Literature. --- History of Political Thought. --- Irreconcilable World Views. --- Juan de Miramontes Zuázola. --- Just Warfare. --- La Araucana. --- Literature. --- Maroon Kingdoms. --- Peace. --- Pedro de Oña. --- Poetry. --- Political Communities. --- Political Community. --- Search for Solutions. --- Seventeenth Century. --- Sixteenth Century. --- Spanish Empire. --- Spanish Settlers. --- Spanish-American Writers. --- Veterans. --- Viceregal Peru. --- Violent Conflicts. --- Vision of Warfare.

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To all those who witnessed his extraordinary conquests, from Albania to India, Alexander the Great appeared invincible. How Alexander himself promoted this appearance-how he abetted the belief that he enjoyed divine favor and commanded even the forces of nature against his enemies-is the subject of Frank L. Holt's absorbing book. Solid evidence for the "supernaturalized" Alexander lies in a rare series of medallions that depict the triumphant young king at war against the elephants, archers, and chariots of Rajah Porus of India at the Battle of the Hydaspes River. Recovered from Afghanistan and Iraq in sensational and sometimes perilous circumstances, these ancient artifacts have long animated the modern historical debate about Alexander. Holt's book, the first devoted to the mystery of these ancient medallions, takes us into the history of their discovery and interpretation, into the knowable facts of their manufacture and meaning, and, ultimately, into the king's own psyche and his frightening theology of war. The result is a valuable analysis of Alexander history and myth, a vivid account of numismatics, and a spellbinding look into the age-old mechanics of megalomania.

Coins, Greek. --- Coins, Ancient. --- Elephants in numismatics. --- Ancient coins --- Antieke munten --- Coins [Ancient ] --- Coins [Greek ] --- Elephants in numismatics --- Eléphants dans la numismatique --- Greek coins --- Monnaies -- Antiquité --- Monnaies antiques --- Monnaies de l'Antiquité --- Monnaies grecques --- Munten [Antieke ] --- Munten [Griekse ] --- Munten van de oudheid --- Numismatiek [Olifanten in de ] --- Numismatique [Eléphants dans la ] --- Olifanten in de numismatiek --- Alexander, --- Numismatics. --- Elephant (in numismatics) --- Alejandro, --- Alekjhāṇḍara, --- Aleksandar, --- Aleksander, --- Aleksandr, --- Alekʻsandre, --- Aleksandros bar Filipos, --- Aleksandŭr, Makedonski, --- Alessandro, --- Alexander --- Alexandre, --- Alexandros --- Alexandros, --- Alexandros, Megalos, --- Alexandru, --- Alexantros, --- Iskandar, --- Maḳdonya, Aleksandros bar Filipos, --- Makedonski, Aleksandŭr, --- Megalexandros, --- Megas Alexandros, --- Nagy Sándor, --- Sikandar, --- Iskender, --- Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, --- Ἀλέξανδρος, --- Ἀλέξανδρος --- אלכסנדר בן פיליפוס, --- אלכסנדר, --- اسكندر كبير --- اسکندر اعظم --- سکندراعظم --- Numismatics --- Aleksandŭr, --- Александър, --- Македонски, Александър, --- Coins, Ancient --- Coins, Greek --- Alexander the Great --- Alexander, -- the Great, -- 356-323 B.C. -- Numismatics.. --- Coins, Ancient.. --- Coins, Greek.. --- afghanistan. --- alexander the great. --- ancient history. --- ancient medallions. --- battle of the hydaspes river. --- biographical. --- biography. --- conquests. --- discussion books. --- elephant medallions. --- european history. --- hellenistic culture. --- hellenistic period. --- hellenistic society. --- historians. --- historical perspective. --- india. --- iraq. --- megalomania. --- myths and legends. --- nonfiction. --- numismatics. --- popular history. --- rajah porus. --- retrospective. --- supernatural success. --- theology of war. --- war. --- warfare.

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In the second half of the first millennium CE, the Christian Middle East fractured irreparably into competing churches and Arabs conquered the region, setting in motion a process that would lead to its eventual conversion to Islam. Jack Tannous argues that key to understanding these dramatic religious transformations are ordinary religious believers, often called "the simple" in late antique and medieval sources. Largely agrarian and illiterate, these Christians outnumbered Muslims well into the era of the Crusades, and yet they have typically been invisible in our understanding of the Middle East's history. What did it mean for Christian communities to break apart over theological disagreements that most people could not understand? How does our view of the rise of Islam change if we take seriously the fact that Muslims remained a demographic minority for much of the Middle Ages? In addressing these and other questions, Tannous provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the religious history of the medieval Middle East. This provocative book draws on a wealth of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources to recast these conquered lands as largely Christian ones whose growing Muslim populations are properly understood as converting away from and in competition with the non-Muslim communities around them.

Middle East --- Moyen Orient --- Religion --- 28 <5-011> --- 28 <5-011> Christelijke kerken, secten. Kristelijke kerken--(algemeen)--Nabije-Oosten. Midden-Oosten --- 28 <5-011> Les diverses Eglises chretiennes:--general--Nabije-Oosten. Midden-Oosten --- Christelijke kerken, secten. Kristelijke kerken--(algemeen)--Nabije-Oosten. Midden-Oosten --- Les diverses Eglises chretiennes:--general--Nabije-Oosten. Midden-Oosten --- Christians-Middle East-History. --- Middle East-Church history. --- Middle East-Religion-History-To 1500. --- RELIGION / Christianity / History. --- Abbasid Baghdad. --- Arab Muslim immigrants. --- Arab conquerors. --- Arab conquests. --- Arab encampments. --- Arabic. --- Chalcedonians. --- Christian Middle East. --- Christian authorities. --- Christian beliefs. --- Christian communities. --- Christian community. --- Christian confession. --- Christian doctrines. --- Christian education. --- Christian history. --- Christian identity. --- Christian leaders. --- Christian literature. --- Christian message. --- Christian movements. --- Christian schools. --- Christian tradition. --- Christianity. --- Christians. --- Christian–Muslim interaction. --- Christian–Muslim relations. --- Church of the East. --- Eucharist. --- Islam. --- Islamic history. --- Islamic tradition. --- Jacob of Edessa. --- Jews. --- Miaphysite church. --- Miaphysite. --- Miaphysites. --- Middle Ages. --- Middle East. --- Middle Eastern Christian. --- Muhammad. --- Muslim habitation. --- Muslim rule. --- Muslim tradition. --- Muslims. --- Prophet. --- Qenneshre. --- Roman Middle East. --- Roman Syria. --- Roman state. --- Syria. --- Syriac language. --- basic education. --- canons. --- church leaders. --- clergy. --- community formation. --- confessional allegiance. --- confessional indifference. --- continuities. --- cultural institutions. --- debate. --- doctrinal difference. --- doctrinal theology. --- educational institutions. --- family connections. --- garrison cities. --- intercultural exchange. --- learned philosophers. --- literacy. --- material benefits. --- medieval Middle East. --- military upheaval. --- monasteries. --- non-Muslims. --- political discontinuity. --- political power. --- post-Chalcedonian. --- religious believers. --- religious claims. --- religious competition. --- religious conversion. --- religious difference. --- religious diversity. --- religious dynamics. --- religious framework. --- religious minority. --- religious motivation. --- religious questions. --- religious tradition. --- religious traditions. --- rival churches. --- sacraments. --- salaf. --- shared experiences. --- shared settings. --- simple Christians. --- simple Muslims. --- simple believer. --- simple believers. --- simple faith. --- simplicity. --- theological literacy. --- theological speculation. --- translations. --- violence.