Court of the Caliphs

Professor Hugh Kennedy makes no apology for the 'fair share of booze and sex' involved in The Court of the Caliphs. Every element of his story is drawn from the original Arabic texts: 'the writers of the ninth and tenth centuries knew their rulers had their fair share of human frailties and were quite happy to describe them. To produce a sanitized and whitewashed version of history does no service to our understanding of the caliphate.' In this fast-paced and colourful narrative, Professor Hugh Kennedy takes us back to Baghdad and Samarra and the glory days of the Caliphate. From a rebellion planned in a remote desert town to the founding of Baghdad in AD 762, the rule of the Abbasid dynasty was looked back on as the golden era of the Islamic Conquest. The muslim world was ruled by a single sovereign, who waged holy war against the Byzantines and protected the holy cites of Mecca and Medina. For what was to be the last time in history, a mighty empire was based on the ancient Mesopotamian heartland that had once supported the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The Caliphs formed the model for succeeding muslim regimes. From military conquests to patronizing poetry, building palaces, and the formal structure of the court - harems, viziers, eunuchs and the tales of the Arabian Nights - the Abbasid Caliphate and offered a historical ideal for later empires and their rulers to aspire to. Yet the true story of this fascinating empire has been forgotten outside the academic world. And it deserves to be rescued: it is an epic story in every sense, with larger-than-life rulers, exotic slave girls, inventive tortures, and enough court intrigue to frighten a Borgia.

ISBN 0297830007   Pages 352 ISBN13 9780297830009 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 749 Publisher Orion Publishing Co   Published in London Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson   Height (mm) 234 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 156 Publication date 09 Sep 2004   Spine width (mm) 35 DEWEY 953.02   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22   Interest age From 16 To 99

1		Revolution		1
2		Mansur and his legacy		11
3		Harun al-Rashid : the golden prime		51
4		The war between the brothers		85
5		Poetry and power at the early Abbasid court		112
6		Landscape with palaces		130
7		The harem		160
8		Ma'mun to Mutawwakil		200
9		Abbasid court culture		243
10		High noon in Samarra		261

'a remarkable narrative history of the Abbasids is...a major event and should be required reading for the Washington neocons and their Islamist theocon adversaries...[a] lively and compelling study.' -- William Dalrymple THE TIMES (4.9.04) 'Hugh Kennedy describes the procession of caliphs from the 8th to the 10th century, including a wealth of incidental detail that renders his book both an entertainment and a valuable source work.' -- Geoff Simons MORNING STAR (4.10.04) 'fabulous...[a] highly readable and exciting introduction to the 'glory days of the caliphate'...No fan of history will put this down unfinished.' GOOD BOOK GUIDE 'This skilful and fascinating history of the regime steers the reader through a contradictory body of evidence: on one hand the professional historian's reticence, on the other, the racy harem stories that accreted to the Abassids...Kennedy guides us through this murky territory with intelligence and wit...This is one of the most rewarding books of history I've read this year.' -- SB Kelly SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY (24.10.04) 'a rewarding and enjoyable read...a commendable, necessary book.' -- Hazhir Teimourian LITERARY REVIEW (December/January 2005) 'with the very first line the reader is hooked into this epic roller-coaster of a historical narrative which takes us through the nail-biting adventures of ten deperate generations of Abbasid Caliphs.' -- Barnaby Rogerson TLS (10.12.04)

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