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Ṭabarī
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The History of Al-Tabari: The Sasanids, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen (5) (TABARI//HISTORY OF AL-TABARI/TA'RIKH AL-RUSUL WA'L-MULUK)

by Clifford Edmund Bosworth (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 8 ratings
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This volume of al-?abari's History has a particularly wide sweep and interest. It provides the most complete and detailed historical source for the Persian empire of the Sasanids, whose four centuries of rule were one of the most glorious periods in Persia's long history. It also gives information on the history of pre-Islamic Arabs of the Mesopotamian desert fringes and eastern Arabia (in al-Hira and the Ghassanid kingdom), and on the quite separate civilization of South Arabia, the Yemen, otherwise known mainly by inscriptions. It furnishes details of the centuries'-long warfare of the two great empires of Western Asia, the Sasanids and the Byzantine Greeks, a titanic struggle which paved the way for the subsequent rise of the new faith of Islam. The volume is thus of great value for scholars, from Byzantinists to Semitists and Iranists. It provides the first English translation of this key section of al-?abari's work, one for which non-Arabists have hitherto relied on a partial German translation, meritorious for its time but now 120 years old. This new translation is enriched by a detailed commentary which takes into account up-to-date scholarship.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0791443558
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0791443552
  3. Publisher
    State Univ of New York Pr
  4. Publication date
    November 4, 1999
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
  7. Print length
    458 pages
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ State Univ of New York Pr (November 4, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 458 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0791443558
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0791443552
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.76 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

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Ṭabarī

Ṭabarī

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
8 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Stefano Nikolaou
5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Source for Byzantine/Persian Interactions
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2017
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Islam arrived on the scene relatively late so al-Tabari had to include a fair amount of background information before the advent of Muhammad. This volume contains accounts of the interactions betweeen the Persians and Byzantines, especially wars. Both sides employed Arab allies. The Lakhmids were a famous tribe with their capital at Hira. They were probably the group that developed the Arab alphabet. By the 6th century they were Christianised, despite being Persian allies.

This account contains information unavailable anywhere else so it is important source for these two civilisations. There is an extensive section on Mazdakism, a social revolutionary movement and heresy of Zoroastrianism.
4 people found this helpful
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amazonuser
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2017
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Excellent book and translation
One person found this helpful
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Dr.Partho Sarathi Roy
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2017
Must read book for TERRORIST.
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Top reviews from other countries

Diana
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 11, 2016
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A solid reference work that clearly highlights how tenth-century historians perceived the sixth and seventh centuries.
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Bookworm
4.0 out of 5 stars Through The Eyes of Others
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2013
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This is just one of 39 volumes translating the Universal History of al Tabari, and it is a dense text. The book covers Arab involvement in the titanic struggle between Byzantium and Iran, or as the Ancients would have said Rome and Persia. The translation has copius notes, showing links with other Islamic and eastern Christian sources. Helpfully it often uses the Arab term in the text as well as the modern term for an office, Roman name or district. Eastern Christian sources have now been translated often for the first time by Liverpool and other University presses. This allows access to an even more alien historical tradition. This gives the Arab perspective on the Roman empire; other volumes give this perspective on Greek and Jewish history, seemingly preserving alternative traditions and chronologies, from those inherited through greek ands Latin.
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