Arabs and Empires before Islam illuminates the history of the Arabs before the emergence of Islam, collating nearly 250 translated extracts from an extensive array of ancient sources. Drawn from a broad period between the eighth century BC and the Middle Ages, the sources include texts originally written in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic, inscriptions in a variety of languages and alphabets, and discussions of archaeological sites from across the Near East. More than twenty international experts from the fields of archaeology, classics and ancient history, linguistics and philology, epigraphy, and art history provide detailed commentary on and analysis of this diverse selection of material. Richly illustrated with sixteen colour plates, fifteen maps, and over seventy in-text images, the volume provides a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and up-to-date examination of what ancient sources had to say about the politics, culture, and religion of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic period. It offers a full consideration of the traces which the Arabs have left in the epigraphic, literary, and archaeological records, and sheds light on their relationship with their often more-powerful neighbours: the states and empires of the ancient Near East. Arabs and Empires before Islam gathers together a host of material never before collected into a single volume - some of which appears in English translation for the very first time - and provides a single point of reference for a vibrant and dynamic area of research.

About the Author
Greg Fisher is a graduate of the University of Oxford. An historian of antiquity, he is the author and editor of numerous works examining the ancient Middle East. He lives in Montreal.

Reviews
This book's title is too modest to give an accurate idea of its contents. In sober fact, it is an absolutely essential vade mecum for anyone seriously interested in the material culture of the Arabs across the Near East before the coming of Islam . . . an encyclopaedia, a mine of curious erudition, a challenge to take the wider view, a reminder that Islam did not come out of nowhere. This is a book to savour, to treasure, and to dip into anytime. * Robert Hillenbrand, Journal of Qur'anic Studies *
Review from previous edition [A] formidable achievement in the field of pre-Islamic Arabian studies ... It is a book that one will read with great excitement from cover to cover ... by far the best single work on pre-Islamic Arabia. * Ilkka Lindstedt, Review of Qur'anic Research *
[An] interesting book ... [The chapters] include numerous translations and transliterations and thus provide a rich body of evidence for anyone interested in the Middle East, especially in the period called Late Antiquity in Roman history. The collection shows how multifaceted that region was in linguistic, cultural, and religious terms, something contemporary forces want people to forget. Highly recommended. * M. Van De Mieroop, CHOICE *
Arabs and Empires Before Islam gives an excellent overview of the complexity of social, political and religious action in pre-Islamic Arabia ... especially valuable to those with an interest in ancient borderlands, empires, and people on their fringes. * Hamish Cameron, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Arabs and Empires Before Islam embraces a remarkable variety of sources, and the secondary references are comprehensive and up to date. The literary translations and the examination of the epigraphic evidence help ease readers into the spectrum of primary sources. A major merit of the volume is to have proved the relevance of epigraphic evidence to this particular historical enquiry. * Valentina A. Grasso, Journal of Roman Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198810148
Author Greg Fisher
Format Paperback
Page Count 610
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 157mm * 32mm