A King's Book of Kings: The Shah-Nameh of Shah Tahmasp by Stuart Cary Welch.
NOTE: We have 75,000 books in our library, almost 10,000 different titles. Odds are we have other copies of this same title in varying conditions, some less expensive, some better condition. We might also have different editions as well (some paperback, some hardcover, oftentimes international editions). If you don’t see what you want, please contact us and ask. We’re happy to send you a summary of the differing conditions and prices we may have for the same title.
DESCRIPTION: HUGE hardcover in dustjacket w/magnificent color plates (199 pages). Metropolitan Museum of Art (1976 reprint of 1972). Size: 12¼ x 8¾ x 1 inch; 3¼ pounds. 100 photographs. 55 color (all or mostly full-page). 45 B+W (most are over half-page in size). Composed in the tenth century by the poet Firdowsi, the "Shah-nameb", or "Book of Kings", is Iran's central literary work, a historical epic peopled with monarchs. Monarchs some of inspiring goodness, others of unmatched wickedness. Also peopled with handsome paladins, beautiful maidens, malevolent witches, and treacherous demons. The particular manuscript of the "Shah-nameb" introduced here by Stuart Cary Welch, Curator of Indian and Islamic Painting at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, is the most sumptuous one every produced.
Containing scores of paintings where other sixteenth-century manuscripts contained perhaps a dozen, the Houghton "Shah-nameb" (identified with the name of its owner, Arthur A. Houghton) is thought to have been commissioned about 1522 by Shah Isma'il, the founder of the Safavid Dynasty, as a present for his son, Prince Tahmasp. Court artisans and craftsmen continued their work on the 759 folios for the better part of two decades. As a consequence, the book offers a fascinating mixture of artistic styles.
The extraordinary quality of the paintings was known even in Shah Tahmasp's time. One commentator wrote then of Sultan Muhammad's page representing "The Court of Gayumars"; "the boldest painters hung their heads in shame before it". While that superb image, reproduced within the book in color and gold, is called by Stuart Welch "perhaps the greatest painting in Iranian art", others of the pages he has selected for color reproduction and special comment are clearly in the same area of merit.
A number of these eight leaves, along with others not produced in the book, were presented to The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Mr. Houghton in 1970. In additional to tutoring the reader in the elements of early Safavid painting and the differing personalities of the masters who contributed to Shah Tahmasp's book, Mr. Welch explains the action in each of the illustrated scenes. Pictorial "close ups" for each scene permit one to savor their details, exquisite, charming, or astonishing.
CONDITION: NEW. HUGE hardcover w/dustjacket in mylar sleeve w/magnificent color plates. Metropolitan Museum of Art (1976 reprint of 1972) 199 pages. Looks like it sat on a bookshelf, well-protected, unsold for forty years. Clearly unread (though likely flipped through once or twice by bookstore "lookie-loo's), pages are absolutely pristine; clean, crisp, unmutilated, and unmarked. Dustjacket evidences only mild edge and corner shelfwear, basically limited to a wee bit of rubbing to the spine head and heel, and a tiny bit of minute chipping to the spine head (very minute). Also, the uppermost third or so of the dustjacket spine is ever-so-slightly light-faded. Dustjacket has been placed in a new mylar sleeve so as to prevent any further wear. Cloth covers are clean and without blemish. Notwithstanding the possibility that a few bookstore browsing "lookie-loo's" flipped though the book while it was on the bookstore shelf, and considering the book is forty years old, the condition of the book is entirely consistent with a new book which sat for four decades in an open-shelf bookstore environment such as Barnes & Noble or B. Dalton, wherein patrons are permitted to browse open stock, and so otherwise "new" books mike show minute, almost imperceptible signs of having been leafed through on occasion. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on-line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #1276j.
PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW FOR SAMPLE PAGES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK.
PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.
REVIEW: Reproduction and examination of a monumentally significant 16th century Persian manuscript. Originally issued in 1972 as part of the 2500th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Persian Empire. Overview of the so-called "Houghton Shah-nameh", including full-color reproductions of the illustrative material contained therein. Introductory statement by Amir Aslan Afshar; foreword by Thomas Hoving; includes checklist of the paintings and a bibliography of Safavid painting. Book design by Peter Oldenburg; printed in Switzerland.
REVIEW: When "A King's Book of Kings" first appeared in 1972 as part of the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire, reviewers called it "important and handsome", "a delight and an education". Thirty years later, it still is.
REVIEW: The Shah-Nameh (Book of Kings) is Iran's national epic, composed in the 10th century. This copy was written and illustrated in the 16th century and contains illustrations of stunning beauty.
REVIEW: A study of Persian miniature painting. Reproduces pages from a sixteenth-century Islamic manuscript which details early Iranian history and contains miniatures by leading Safavid painters.
REVIEW: Iranian painting-specifically miniature painting in books-has always been regarded as one of the most original and exquisite forms of the pictorial arts, and indeed its style is unique. The manuscript known as the Houghton Shah-nameh epitomizes Iranian art and provides the ideal artistic experience that only a true masterpiece can give. This shows the choicest paintings to be found in the manuscript.
REVIEW: First published in 1522 by Shah Isma'il, the founder of the Safavid dynasty, as a present to his son, Prince Tahmasp. Court artists continued their work on the 759 folios for almost two decades. No Islamic volume of the time has a more complete set of colorful, carefully executed miniatures, being a virtual art gallery compared to other royal illuminated manuscripts. Fully illustrated in color and black and white, with explanations of each scene as well as pictorial close-ups, and a lengthy introduction.
REVIEW: Composed in the tenth century by the poet Firdowsi this book is Iran's Primary literary work. This tome contains hundreds of magnificent paintings by Iranian artists.
ANCIENT IRANIAN CITIES: Even local archaeologists with the benefit of air-conditioned cars and paved roads think twice about crossing eastern Iran's rugged terrain. "It's a tough place," says Mehdi Mortazavi from the University of Sistan-Baluchistan in the far eastern end of Iran, near the Afghan border. At the center of this region is the Dasht-e Lut, Persian for the "Empty Desert." This treacherous landscape, 300 miles long and 200 miles wide, is covered with sinkholes, steep ravines, and sand dunes, some topping 1,000 feet. It also has the hottest average surface temperature of any place on Earth. The forbidding territory in and around this desert seems like the last place to seek clues to the emergence of the first cities and states 5,000 years ago.
Yet archaeologists are finding an impressive array of ancient settlements on the edges of the Dasht-e Lut dating back to the period when urban civilization was emerging in Egypt, Iraq, and the Indus River Valley in Pakistan and India. In the 1960s and 1970s, they found the great centers of Shahr-i-Sokhta and Shahdad on the desert's fringes and another, Tepe Yahya, far to the south. More recent surveys, excavations, and remote sensing work reveal that all of eastern Iran, from near the Persian Gulf in the south to the northern edge of the Iranian plateau, was peppered with hundreds and possibly thousands of small to large settlements. Detailed laboratory analyses of artifacts and human remains from these sites are providing an intimate look at the lives of an enterprising people who helped create the world's first global trade network.
Far from living in a cultural backwater, eastern Iranians from this period built large cities with palaces, used one of the first writing systems, and created sophisticated metal, pottery, and textile industries. They also appear to have shared both administrative and religious ideas as they did business with distant lands. "They connected the great corridors between Mesopotamia and the east," says Maurizio Tosi, a University of Bologna archaeologist who did pioneering work at Shahr-i-Sokhta. "They were the world in between."
By 2000 B.C. these settlements were abandoned. The reasons for this remain unclear and are the source of much scholarly controversy, but urban life didn't return to eastern Iran for more than 1,500 years. The very existence of this civilization was long forgotten. Recovering its past has not been easy. Parts of the area are close to the Afghan border, long rife with armed smugglers. Revolution and politics have frequently interrupted excavations. And the immensity of the region and its harsh climate make it one of the most challenging places in the world to conduct archaeology.
The peripatetic English explorer Sir Aurel Stein, famous for his archaeological work surveying large swaths of Central Asia and the Middle East, slipped into Persia at the end of 1915 and found the first hints of eastern Iran's lost cities. Stein traversed what he described as "a big stretch of gravel and sandy desert" and encountered "the usual...robber bands from across the Afghan border, without any exciting incident." What did excite Stein was the discovery of what he called "the most surprising prehistoric site" on the eastern edge of the Dasht-e Lut. Locals called it Shahr-i-Sokhta ("Burnt City") because of signs of ancient destruction.
It wasn't until a half-century later that Tosi and his team hacked their way through the thick salt crust and discovered a metropolis rivaling those of the first great urban centers in Mesopotamia and the Indus. Radiocarbon data showed that the site was founded around 3200 B.C., just as the first substantial cities in Mesopotamia were being built, and flourished for more than a thousand years. During its heyday in the middle of the third millennium B.C., the city covered more than 150 hectares and may have been home to more than 20,000 people, perhaps as populous as the large cities of Umma in Mesopotamia and Mohenjo-Daro on the Indus River. A vast shallow lake and wells likely provided the necessary water, allowing for cultivated fields and grazing for animals.
Built of mudbrick, the city boasted a large palace, separate neighborhoods for pottery-making, metalworking, and other industrial activities, and distinct areas for the production of local goods. Most residents lived in modest one-room houses, though some were larger compounds with six to eight rooms. Bags of goods and storerooms were often "locked" with stamp seals, a procedure common in Mesopotamia in the era.
Shahr-i-Sokhta boomed as the demand for precious goods among elites in the region and elsewhere grew. Though situated in inhospitable terrain, the city was close to tin, copper, and turquoise mines, and lay on the route bringing lapis lazuli from Afghanistan to the west. Craftsmen worked shells from the Persian Gulf, carnelian from India, and local metals such as tin and copper. Some they made into finished products, and others were exported in unfinished form. Lapis blocks brought from the Hindu Kush mountains, for example, were cut into smaller chunks and sent on to Mesopotamia and as far west as Syria.
Unworked blocks of lapis weighing more than 100 pounds in total were unearthed in the ruined palace of Ebla, close to the Mediterranean Sea. Archaeologist Massimo Vidale of the University of Padua says that the elites in eastern Iranian cities like Shahr-i-Sokhta were not simply slaves to Mesopotamian markets. They apparently kept the best-quality lapis for themselves, and sent west what they did not want. Lapis beads found in the royal tombs of Ur, for example, are intricately carved, but of generally low-quality stone compared to those of Shahr-i-Sokhta. Pottery was produced on a massive scale. Nearly 100 kilns were clustered in one part of town and the craftspeople also had a thriving textile industry. Hundreds of wooden spindle whorls and combs were uncovered, as were well-preserved textile fragments made of goat hair and wool that show a wide variation in their weave. According to Irene Good, a specialist in ancient textiles at Oxford University, this group of textile fragments constitutes one of the most important in the world, given their great antiquity and the insight they provide into an early stage of the evolution of wool production. Textiles were big business in the third millennium B.C., according to Mesopotamian texts, but actual textiles from this era had never before been found.
A metal flag found at Shahdad, one of eastern Iran's early urban sites, dates to around 2400 B.C. The flag depicts a man and woman facing each other, one of the recurrent themes in the region's art at this time. A plain ceramic jar, found recently at Shahdad, contains residue of a white cosmetic whose complex formula is evidence for an extensive knowledge of chemistry among the city's ancient inhabitants. The artifacts also show the breadth of Shahr-i-Sokhta's connections. Some excavated red-and-black ceramics share traits with those found in the hills and steppes of distant Turkmenistan to the north, while others are similar to pots made in Pakistan to the east, then home to the Indus civilization.
Tosi's team found a clay tablet written in a script called Proto-Elamite, which emerged at the end of the fourth millennium B.C., just after the advent of the first known writing system, cuneiform, which evolved in Mesopotamia. Other such tablets and sealings with Proto-Elamite signs have also been found in eastern Iran, such as at Tepe Yahya. This script was used for only a few centuries starting around 3200 B.C. and may have emerged in Susa, just east of Mesopotamia. By the middle of the third millennium B.C., however, it was no longer in use. Most of the eastern Iranian tablets record simple transactions involving sheep, goats, and grain and could have been used to keep track of goods in large households. While Tosi's team was digging at Shahr-i-Sokhta, Iranian archaeologist Ali Hakemi was working at another site, Shahdad, on the western side of the Dasht-e Lut. This settlement emerged as early as the fifth millennium B.C. on a delta at the edge of the desert. By the early third millennium B.C., Shahdad began to grow quickly as international trade with Mesopotamia expanded. Tomb excavations revealed spectacular artifacts amid stone blocks once painted in vibrant colors. These include several extraordinary, nearly life-size clay statues placed with the dead. The city's artisans worked lapis lazuli, silver, lead, turquoise, and other materials imported from as far away as eastern Afghanistan, as well as shells from the distant Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
Evidence shows that ancient Shahdad had a large metalworking industry by this time. During a recent survey, a new generation of archaeologists found a vast hill—nearly 300 feet by 300 feet—covered with slag from smelting copper. Vidale says that analysis of the copper ore suggests that the smiths were savvy enough to add a small amount of arsenic in the later stages of the process to strengthen the final product. Shahdad's metalworkers also created such remarkable artifacts as a metal flag dating to about 2400 B.C. Mounted on a copper pole topped with a bird, perhaps an eagle, the squared flag depicts two figures facing one another on a rich background of animals, plants, and goddesses. The flag has no parallels and its use is unknown.
Vidale has also found evidence of a sweet-smelling nature. During a spring 2009 visit to Shahdad, he discovered a small stone container lying on the ground. The vessel, which appears to date to the late fourth millennium B.C., was made of chlorite, a dark soft stone favored by ancient artisans in southeast Iran. Using X-ray diffraction at an Iranian lab, he discovered lead carbonate—used as a white cosmetic—sealed in the bottom of the jar. He identified fatty material that likely was added as a binder, as well as traces of coumarin, a fragrant chemical compound found in plants and used in some perfumes. Further analysis showed small traces of copper, possibly the result of a user dipping a small metal applicator into the container.
Other sites in eastern Iran are only now being investigated. For the past two years, Iranian archaeologists Hassan Fazeli Nashli and Hassain Ali Kavosh from the University of Tehran have been digging in a small settlement a few miles east of Shahdad called Tepe Graziani, named for the Italian archaeologist who first surveyed the site. They are trying to understand the role of the city's outer settlements by examining this ancient mound, which is 30 feet high, 525 feet wide, and 720 feet long. Excavators have uncovered a wealth of artifacts including a variety of small sculptures depicting crude human figures, humped bulls, and a Bactrian camel dating to approximately 2900 B.C. A bronze mirror, fishhooks, daggers, and pins are among the metal finds. There are also wooden combs that survived in the arid climate. "The site is small but very rich," says Fazeli, adding that it may have been a prosperous suburban production center for Shahdad.
Sites such as Shahdad and Shahr-i-Sokhta and their suburbs were not simply islands of settlements in what otherwise was empty desert. Fazeli adds that some 900 Bronze Age sites have been found on the Sistan plain, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortazavi, meanwhile, has been examining the area around the Bampur Valley, in Iran's extreme southeast. This area was a corridor between the Iranian plateau and the Indus Valley, as well as between Shahr-i-Sokhta to the north and the Persian Gulf to the south. A 2006 survey along the Damin River identified 19 Bronze Age sites in an area of less than 20 square miles. That river periodically vanishes, and farmers depend on underground channels called qanats to transport water.
Despite the lack of large rivers, ancient eastern Iranians were very savvy in marshaling their few water resources. Using satellite remote sensing data, Vidale has found remains of what might be ancient canals or qanats around Shahdad, but more work is necessary to understand how inhabitants supported themselves in this harsh climate 5,000 years ago, as they still do today. The large eastern Iranian settlement of Tepe Yahya produced clear evidence for the manufacture of a type of black stone jar for export that has been found as far away as Mesopotamia.
Meanwhile, archaeologists also hope to soon continue work that began a decade ago at Konar Sandal, 55 miles north of Yahya near the modern city of Jiroft in southeastern Iran. France-based archaeologist Yusef Madjizadeh has spent six seasons working at the site, which revealed a large city centered on a high citadel with massive walls beside the Halil River. That city and neighboring settlements like Yahya produced artfully carved dark stone vessels that have been found in Mesopotamian temples. Vidale notes that Indus weights, seals, and etched carnelian beads found at Konar Sandal demonstrate connections with that civilization as well.
Many of these settlements were abandoned in the latter half of the third millennium B.C., and, by 2000 B.C., the vibrant urban life of eastern Iran was history. Barbara Helwig of Berlin's German Archaeological Institute suspects a radical shift in trade patterns precipitated the decline. Instead of moving in caravans across the deserts and plateau of Iran, Indus traders began sailing directly to Arabia and then on to Mesopotamia, while to the north, the growing power of the Oxus civilization in today's Turkmenistan may have further weakened the role of cities such as Shahdad. Others blame climate change. The lagoons, marshes, and streams may have dried up, since even small shifts in rainfall canB.C. have a dramatic effect on water sources in the area. Here, there is no Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, or Indus to provide agricultural bounty through a drought, and even the most sophisticated water systems may have failed during a prolonged dry spell.
It is also possible that an international economic downturn played a role. The destruction of the Mesopotamian city of Ur around 2000 B.C. and the later decline of Indus metropolises such as Mohenjo-Daro might have spelled doom for a trading people. The market for precious goods such as lapis collapsed. There is no clear evidence of widespread warfare, though Shahr-i-Sokhta appears to have been destroyed by fire several times. But a combination of drought, changes in trade routes, and economic trouble might have led people to abandon their cities to return to a simpler existence of herding and small-scale farming. Not until the Persian Empire rose 1,500 years later did people again live in any large numbers in eastern Iran, and not until modern times did cities again emerge. This also means that countless ancient sites are still awaiting exploration on the plains, in the deserts, and among the rocky valleys of the region.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA: The oldest known communities in Mesopotamia are thought to date from 9,000 B.C., and include the ancient city of Babylon. Several civilizations flourished in the fertile area created as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow south out of Turkey. The river valleys and plains of Mesopotamia, often referred to as the “fertile crescent”, lay between the two rivers, which are about 250 miles apart from one another. The ancient Sumerians and Babylonians were inhabitants of Mesopotamia, located in a region that included parts of what is now eastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and most of Iraq, lay between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. According to the Bible, Abraham came from this area. The area is commonly referred to as "the fertile crescent" by historians and archaeologists. By 4,000 B.C. large cities had grown up in the region. Considered one of the cradles of civilization, the region is referred to frequently in The Bible, and is mentioned as the birthplace of Abraham. The region produced the first written records, as well as the wheel.
The region was conquered by the Akkadians in the 24th century B.C. who ruled for about two centuries. The ancient city of Ur controlled the region for the next two centuries until about 2,000 B.C. Mesopotamia was not again united until about 1750 B.C., then the Kingdom of Babylon arose and reigned supreme in the area for about one and one-half centuries. The Babylonians in turn were conquered by Hittites from Turkey in about 1595 B.C. The longest control of the area was by the ancient Assyrians, who ruled the area from about 1350 B.C. through about 600 B.C. After a brief interlude of chaos, the Persians conquered the area and held it for three centuries until Persia and all of its territories were conquered by Alexander the Great in the last 4th century B.C. However the Greeks only held the region for about one century, before it again fell to the Persians. The Persians and Romans wrestled over the area for a number of centuries. Finally in the 7th century A.D. the area of Mesopotamia fell to the Islamic Empire [AncientGifts].
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM: Most historians agree that Islam originated in Mecca and Medina at the start of the 7th century (AD). Muslims, however, believe that it was the original faith of others whom they regard as prophets, such as Jesus, David, Moses, Abraham, Noah and Adam. In 610AD the Islamic Prophet Muhammad began receiving what Muslims consider to be divine revelations. Muhammad's message won over a handful of followers and was met with increasing opposition from Meccan notables. In 622 AD, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle Abu Talib, Muhammad migrated to Medina. Oith Muhammad's death in 632AD, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community during the Rashidun Caliphate.
By the 8th century, the Umayyad Caliphate extended from Iberia (Spain) in the west to the Indus River (India) in the east. The rulers of the Umayyads and Abbasid Caliphate (in the Middle East and later in Spain and Southern Italy), Fatimids, Seljuks, and Mamluks were among the most influential powers in the world. The Islamic Golden Age gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable astronomers, mathematicians, physicians and philosophers during the Middle Ages.
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th to 14th centuries. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809 AD) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into Arabic and Persian.
This period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258AD. A few scholars date the end of the golden age around 1350AD, while several modern historians and scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of fifteenth to sixteenth centuries. The medieval period of Islam is defined similarly, many sources defining it as 900-1300AD.
By the early 13th century, the Delhi Sultanate conquered the northern Indian subcontinent, while Turkic dynasties like the Sultanate of Rum and Artuqids conquered much of Anatolia (Turkey) from the Byzantine Empire throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. In the 13th and 14th centuries, destructive Mongol invasions and those of Tamerlane (Timur) from the East, along with the loss of population in the Black Death, greatly weakened the traditional centers of the Muslim world, stretching from Persia to Egypt, but saw the emergence of the Timurid Renaissance and major global economic powers such as West Africa's Mali Empire and South Asia's Bengal Sultanate.
Following the deportation and enslavement of the Muslim Moors from the Emirate of Sicily and other Italian territories,Islamic Spain was gradually conquered by Christian forces during the Reconquista. Nonetheless, in the Early Modern period, the Islamic gunpowder empires—the Ottoman Empire, Safavid Iran and Mughal India—emerged as great world powers.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the Islamic world fell under the influence or direct control of European "Great Powers." Their efforts to win independence and build modern nation-states over the course of the last two centuries continue to reverberate to the present day, as well as fuel conflict-zones in regions such as Palestine, Kashmir, Xinjiang, Chechnya, Central Africa, Bosnia and Myanmar.
The study of the earliest periods in Islamic history is made difficult by a lack of sources. The most important historiographical source for the origins of Islam is the work of al-Tabari. However much of his “history” is problematic, as he made liberal use of mythical, legendary, stereotyped, distorted, and polemical presentations of subject matter, and his descriptions of the beginning of Islam post-date the events by several generations, al-Tabari having died in 923 AD.
For the time prior to the beginning of Islam—in the 6th century—the sources covering the Sasanian realm of influence in the 6th century are poor, while the sources for Byzantine areas at the time are of a respectable quality, and complemented by Syriac Christian sources for Syria and Iraq. Islam arose within the context of Late Antiquity. The second half of the 6th century saw political disorder in Arabia, and communication routes were no longer secure. Religious divisions played an important role in the crisis.
Judaism became the dominant religion of the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen after about 380AD, while Christianity took root in the Persian Gulf. While much of Arabia remained polytheistic, in line with broader trends of the age there was yearning for a more spiritual form of religion. On the eve of the Islamic era, the Quraysh was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia. To counter the effects of anarchy, they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe.
The polytheistic Kaaba shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination, which had significant economic consequences for the city. According to tradition, the Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca around the year 570AD. His family belonged to the Quraysh. In 622AD Muhammad migrated to Medina, where he began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses he composed which emphasized his place among the long line of Biblical prophets, but also differentiated the message of the Quran from Christianity and Judaism.
Armed conflict with Meccans and Jewish tribes of the Yathrib area soon broke out. After a series of military confrontations Muhammad was able to secure control of Mecca and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629AD. In the time remaining until his death in 632, tribal chiefs across the peninsula entered into various agreements with him, paying the alms levy to his government.
After Muhammad died, a series of four Caliphs governed the Islamic state: Abu Bakr (632–634), Umar ibn al-Khattab (Umar І, 634–644), Uthman ibn Affan, (644–656), and Ali ibn Abi Talib (656–661). These leaders are known as the "Rashidun" or "rightly guided" Caliphs in Sunni Islam. They oversaw the initial phase of the Muslim conquests, advancing through Persia, Levant, Egypt, and North Africa.
Abu Bakr, the first of these four one of Muhammad’s closest associates, was chosen as the first caliph. A number of tribal leaders refused to extend agreements made with Muhammad to Abu Bakr, ceasing payments of the alms levy. Abu Bakr asserted his authority in a successful military campaign known as the Ridda wars, whose momentum was carried into the lands of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. By the end of the reign of the second caliph, Umar I, Arab armies conquered the Byzantine provinces of Syria and Egypt, while the Sassanids lost their western territories, with the rest to follow soon afterwards.
Umar improved administration of the fledgling empire, ordering improvement of irrigation networks and playing a role in foundation of cities like Basra. The expansion of the Islamic Empire was partially halted between 638–639 during the years of great famine and plague in Arabia and Levant. Local populations of Jews and indigenous Christians were taxed to finance the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars. By the end of Umar's reign, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, much of the Eastern Byzantine Empire, and much of Persia were incorporated into the Islamic State.
To stop the Byzantine harassment from the sea during the Arab–Byzantine wars, in 649 the Governor of Islamic Syria set up a navy, manned by Syrian Christian and Egyptian Coptic Christian sailors, together with Muslim troops. The Islamic navy defeated the Byzantine navy at the Battle of the Masts in 655AD, opening up the Mediterranean to Muslim ships.
Early Muslim armies stayed in encampments away from cities because Umar feared that they may get attracted to wealth and luxury. Some of these encampments later grew into cities like Basra and Kufa in Iraq and Fustat in Egypt. Umar was assassinated in 644AD. Uthman ibn Affan second cousin and twice son-in-law of Muhammad became the next caliph, and ordered a standard copy of the Quran to be prepared, copies of which were sent out to the different centers of the expanding Islamic empire.
After Muhammad's death, the old tribal differences between the Arabs started to resurface. Following the Roman–Persian Wars and the Byzantine–Sassanid Wars, deep-rooted differences between Iraq (formerly under the Persian Sassanid Empire) and Syria (formerly under the Byzantine Empire) also existed. Each wanted the capital of the newly established Islamic State to be in their area. When Uthman was assassinated in 656, Ali ibn Abi Talib, a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, assumed the position of caliph and moved the capital to Kufa in Iraq. The governor of Syria objected, resulting in Islam’s first civil war (the "First Fitna").
The war ended with a peace treaty which was broken by the establishment of the Umayyad dynasty, with a capital in Damascus. Husayn ibn Ali, Muhammad's only living grandson, refused to swear allegiance to the Umayyads. He was killed in the Battle of Karbala the same year, in an event still mourned by Shia on the Day of Ashura. Unrest known as the Second Fitna continued, but ultimately Muslim rule was extended under the Umayyad Dynasty to Rhodes, Crete, Kabul, Bukhara, and Samarkand, and expanded in North Africa. In 664AD Arab armies conquered Kabul, and in 665 pushed into the Maghreb.
The Umayyad dynasty ruled from 661 to 750, with Damascus as the capital as of 666AD. This led to profound changes in the empire. In the same way, at a later date, the transfer of the Caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad marked the accession of a new family to power. The Umayyad dynasty, with its wealth and luxury, was at odds with the Islamic message preached by Muhammad. All this increased discontent. The descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib rallied discontented poor Arabs, and some Shi'a against the Umayyads and overthrew them. This inaugurated the Abbasid dynasty in 750, which moved the capital to Baghdad.
A branch of the Ummayad family fled across North Africa to Al-Andalus, where they established the Caliphate of Córdoba (in Spain), which lasted until 1031AD. At its largest extent, the Umayyad dynasty covered more than 5,000,000 square miles, making it one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, and the fifth largest contiguous empire ever. The empire included a royal court rivaling that of Constantinople. The frontiers of the empire expanded, reaching the edge of Constantinople.
Sunni Muslims credit the founder of the dynasty with saving the fledgling Muslim nation from post-civil war anarchy. However, Shia Muslims accuse him of instigating the war, weakening the Muslim nation by dividing the Ummah, fabricating self-aggrandizing heresies slandering the Prophet's family and even selling his Muslim critics into slavery to the Byzantine empire.
In 682 Muslim North African armies won battles against the Berbers and Byzantines, and marched thousands of miles westward towards Tangier, reaching the Atlantic coast, and then marched eastwards through the Atlas Mountains. However the period was also marked by civil wars between the Muslism (the Second Fitna). Weakened by these civil wars, the Umayyad lost supremacy at sea, and had to abandon the islands of Rhodes and Crete. War with the Byzantine Empire under Justinian II (Battle of Sebastopolis) in 692AD in Asia Minor led to a decisive Byzantine defeat after the defection of a large contingent of Slavs.
This led to the next stage of Islamic conquests, wherein the early Islamic empire reached its farthest extent. Portions of Egypt were reconquered from the Byzantine Empire. Islamic armies moved on into Carthage and across to the west of North Africa. Muslim armies crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began to conquer the Iberian Peninsula using North African Berber armies. The Visigoths of the Iberian Peninsula were defeated when the Umayyad conquered Lisbon. The Iberian Peninsula was the farthest extent of Islamic control of Europe (they were stopped at the Battle of Tours).
In the east, Islamic armies under Muhammad bin Qasim made it as far as the Indus Valley, and the Islamic Empire stretched from the Iberian Peninsula to India. However subsequently when Islamic armies laid siege to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, the intervention of Bulgaria on the Byzantine side led to a decisive defeat for the Muslims, though in subsequent years Islamic armies expanded Muslim rule into the Caucasus.
In the first half of the eighth century regular raids against the Byzantines continued, however Islamic armies were decisively defeated at the Battle of Akroinon. In North Africa local restlessness produced the Berber Revolt. During this period of turmoil, anti-Umayyad sentiment became very prevalent, especially in Iran and Iraq. An Abbasid faction had gained much support in opposing the Umayyad Empire together. This led to a massacre of Umayyads by the Abbasids, save for a few who escaped to the Iberian Peninsula and founded a dynasty there.
The resulting Abbasid Caliphate was, as described by “The Cambridge History of Islam”, considered the “Golden Age of Islam”. The Abbasid dynasty rose to power in 750AD, conquering Mediterranean islands including the Balearics and in 827AD, Southern Italy. Under the Abbasids Islamic civilization flourished. Most notable was the development of Arabic prose and poetry, commerce and industry (particularly agricultural), and the sciences. The capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, due to the importance placed by the Abbasids upon eastern affairs in Persia.
Baghdad blossomed, becoming the world's largest city. It attracted immigrants from Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Persia and as far away as India and Spain. Baghdad was home to Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Zoroastrians, in addition to the growing Muslim population. In 909AD in Northwest Africa (the “Maghreb”), Abbasid rulers were deposed by the Shiite Fatimid dynasty. By around 960, the Fatimids had conquered Abbasid Egypt, building a capital in Cairo there in 973AD. In Persia the Turkic Ghaznavids snatched power from the Abbasids. Abbasid influence had been consumed by the Great Seljuq Empire (a Muslim Turkish clan which had migrated into mainland Persia) by 1055AD.
On other fronts expansion of the Islamic Empire continued. The first stage in the conquest of India began just before the year 1000AD. Two centuries later the area up to the Ganges River had fallen. In sub-Saharan West Africa, Islam was established just after the year 1000AD. Muslim rulers were in Kanem starting from sometime between 1081 and 1097, with reports of a Muslim prince at the head of Gao as early as 1009. The Islamic kingdoms associated with Mali reached prominence in the 13th century.
Toward the beginning of the high Middle Ages, the doctrines of the Sunni and Shia, two major denominations of Islam, solidified and theological divisions of the world of Islam would form. These trends would continue into the Fatimid and Ayyubid periods. The Abbasids soon became caught in a three-way rivalry among Coptic Arabs, Indo-Persians, and immigrant Turks. In addition, the cost of running a large empire became too great.
The Turks, Egyptians, and Arabs adhered to the Sunnite sect; the Persians, a great portion of the Turkic groups, and several of the princes in India were Shia. Doctrinal differences between Sunni and Shi'a Islam became more pronounced. The political unity of Islam began to disintegrate, and the rising power of the Iranian Tahirid dynasty became a threat. Byzantine emperor Theophilus launched an attack against Abbasid fortresses, however the Byzantine forces were defeated at the Battle of Anzen. However the victorious Muslim armies had been forced to rely upon Turkish commanders and slave-soldiers (foreshadowing the Mamluk system).
The growing independence of the Tahirid dynasty contributed to Abbasid decline in the east. There occurred revolts result of an increasingly large gap between Arab populations and the Turkish armies. The revolts were put down, but antagonism between the two groups grew, as Turkish forces gained power. Al-Mutawakkil was the last great Abbasid caliph; and built the Great Mosque of Samarra. After his death the dynasty fell into decline. However there was continued reliance on Turkish statesmen and slave soldiers to put down rebellions and lead battles against foreign empires, notably capturing Sicily from the Byzantines. Ultimately Al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by a Turkish soldier.
Though he was implicated in the murder, his successor became the Caliphate on that same day with the support of the Turks. When he died, the Turkish chiefs held a council to select his successor as well. The Arabs and western troops from Baghdad revolted. However, the Caliphate no longer depended on Arabian choice, but depended on Turkish support. At Samarra, the Turks were having problems with the "Westerns" (Berbers and Moors), while the Arabs and Persians at Baghdad regarded both the Turks and the “Westerns” with equal hatred. Ultimately Africa was lost, and Egypt nearly. Mosul threw off its dependence, and the Greeks raided across the undefended border.
At the end of the Early Baghdad Abbasids period, Byzantine Empress Zoe Karbonopsina pressed for an armistice while the Byzantine frontier was threatened by Bulgarians. This only added to Baghdad's disorder, as a series of successive Caliph’s were assassinated. By the beginning of the mid-tenth century, the Baghdad Abbasid Caliphate had become of little importance. A Shi’ite army advanced on Baghdad, where mercenaries and well-organized Turks, staunch Sunnis, repelled them. However Baghdad fell to a latter attack. The city fell into chaos, and the Caliph's palace was looted.
Thereafter the Caliph’s power was shorn, and Shi'a observances were established. The Buwayhids held on Baghdad for over a century. For the next century, though Baghdad retained religious significance, its power waned due to continuous factional strife. The Abbasid borders were the defended only by small border states. There continued struggle between Sunni and Shi’ite. However Islamic literature, especially Persian literature, flourished, and by 1000AD the global Muslim population had climbed to about 4 percent of the world, compared to the Christian population of 10 percent.
The Late Baghdad Abbasids reigned from the beginning of the Crusades to the Seventh Crusade. In the First Crusade in Syria, Raymond IV of Toulouse attempted to attack Baghdad, losing at the Battle of Manzikert. Jerusalem was captured by crusaders who massacred its inhabitants. But the Empire of Islam was fractured by factional strife and civil war. Bosra was plundered and Baghdad attacked anew. An Abbasid army was crushed by a Turk Seljuq army. During the civil wars, Mosul was besieged for three months, and in 1134AD Damascus was besieged.
Continued disunion and infighting between Seljuq Turks resulted in the loss of control of Baghdad and throughout much Iraq. Even while the Crusades raged, Baghdad was besieged by a Seljuq army in the Siege of Baghdad (1157). Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, a vassal of the Mamluk Sultans, defeated and extinguished the Fatimid dynasty. The Fatimid Dynasty had reigned for 260 years after originating originated in Tunisia and Algeria, and eventually extended into Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, North Africa, and Libya, and for a while even into Sicily and Italy). The Ayyubid dynasty was founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. In 1174, Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan and conquered the Near East region. The Ayyubids ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries, controlling Egypt, Syria, northern Mesopotamia, Hejaz, Yemen, and the North African coast up to the borders of modern-day Tunisia. However the Islamic Dynasties were no match for the Mongols.
Mosul and Cilician Armenia surrendered in 1236AD to a Mongol army. By 1237AD the Mongol Empire had subjugated most of Persia, excluding Abbasid Iraq and Ismaili strongholds, and all of Afghanistan and Kashmir. Georgia fell to the Mongols, and Baghdad was again sacked. In 1250, the dynasty in the Egyptian region was overthrown by slave regiments, from which the Mamluk Dynasty arose. The surviving Abbasid caliph of Cairo reigned under the tutelage of the Mamluk sultans, and lacked any temporal power.
Islamic conquests in India under Mahmud of Ghazni in the 12th century resulted in the establishment of the Ghaznavid Empire in the Indus River basin and the subsequent prominence of Lahore as an eastern bastion of Ghaznavid culture and rule. The Islamic domain was extended until the Bengal, and in 1206 Delhi was conquered, initiating the reign of the Delhi Sultanate. Many prominent sultanates and emirates administered various regions of the Indian subcontinent from the 13th to the 16th centuries, but none rivaled the power and extensive reach of the Mughal Empire at its zenith, at which time the Mughal Empire comprised almost all of South Asia.
Persian culture, art, language, cuisine and literature grew in prominence in India due to Islamic administration and the immigration of soldiers, bureaucrats, merchants, Sufis, artists, poets, teachers and architects from Iran and Central Asia, resulting in the early development of Indo-Persian culture.
The Mongol invasion of Central Asia began in 1219 at a huge cost in civilian life and economic devastation. The Mongols spread throughout Central Asia and Persia. For the Islamic Dynasties, the Mongol invasion of the 13th century marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age. Under the leadership of Genghis Khan, the Mongols put an end to the Abbasid era. Some historians assert that the eastern Islamic world never fully recovered.
The fall of Bagdhad to the Mongols in 1258 destroyed what had been the largest city in Islam. The last Abbasid caliph, al-Musta'sim, was captured and killed; and Baghdad was ransacked and destroyed. The cities of Damascus and Aleppo fell in 1260, and wrested control of what remained of the Ayyubid territories soon after.
In the years immediately preceding Timur’s conquests, the Middle East had still been recovering from the Black Death, which may have killed one third of the population in the region. The plague began in China, and reached Alexandria in Egypt in 1347AD, spreading over the following years to most Islamic areas. The combination of the plague and the wars left the Middle Eastern Islamic world in a seriously weakened position. The conquering Timur founded many branches of Islam, including the Mughals of India.
The Mongol invaders were finally stopped by Egyptian Mamluks, whoi were Turkic, north of Jerusalem in 1260 at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut. The Mongols were again defeated by the Mamluks at the Battle of Hims a few months later, and then driven out of Syria altogether. The Mamluks then conquered the last of the crusader territories in the Levant.
The surviving Mongol khanates, in power in Mesopotamia, Persia and further east, gradually all converted to Islam over the rest of the 13th century. They in turn were conquered by the new Mongol power founded by Timur (himself a Muslim, also known as “Tamerlane”), who conquered Persia in the 1360s, and moved against the Delhi Sultanate in India and the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia. Samarqand, the cosmopolitan capital of Timur's empire, flourished under his rule as never before, while Iran and Iraq suffered large-scale devastation.
Military prestige was at the center of Mamluk society, and it had played a key role in the confrontations with the Mongol forces whereby the Mamluk’s wrested control of Syria and Egypt from the Mongols. The Mamluks united Syria and Egypt for the longest interval between the Abbasid and Ottoman empires (1250–1517). Ultimately however in 1517AD, Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated the Mamluk Sultanate, and made Egypt part of the Ottoman Empire.
The rise of the Ottoman Dynasty occurred as the power of Seljuq Turks declined in the second half of the 13th century, after the Mongol invasion. Early on the Ottoman Dynasty engaged the Byzantines in a series of battles. By 1331, the Ottomans had captured Nicaea, the former Byzantine capital. Victory at the Battle of Kosovo against the Serbs in 1389 then facilitated their expansion into Europe. At the same time the Ottomans added to their growing empire the Balkans and Anatolia
Growth of the Ottoman Empire was arrested by the conquests of Mongol warlord Timur, who prevailed against the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. However the empire recovered, reuniting Asia Minor in 1413. Around this time the Ottoman naval fleet developed, such that they were able to challenge Venice. By the mid-15th century the Ottomans could lay siege to Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium. The Byzantine fortress succumbed in 1453, after 54 days of siege. Without its capital the Byzantine Empire disintegrated.
In the 15th and 16th centuries three major Muslim empires had formed: the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, the Balkans and Northern Africa; the Safavid Empire in Greater Iran; and the Mughal Empire in South Asia. In the early 16th century, the Shi'ite Safavid dynasty assumed control in Persia. The Ottomans repelled Safavid expansion, challenging and defeating them at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and then deposed the ruling Mamluks in Egypt, absorbing their territories in 1517.
Suleiman I (also known as Suleiman the Magnificent) took advantage of the diversion of Safavid focus to the Uzbeks on the eastern frontier and recaptured Baghdad, which had fallen under Safavid control. Nonetheless Safavid power remained substantial, rivaling the Ottomans. Suleiman I advanced deep into Hungary following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, reaching as far as the gates of Vienna. While Suleiman's rule (1520–1566) is often identified as the apex of Ottoman power, the empire continued to remain powerful and influential until the decline of its military strength in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The Shia Safavid dynasty rose to power in Tabriz in 1501 and later conquered the rest of Iran. The Safavids were from Azarbaijan and ruled from 1501 to 1736, establishing Shi'a Islam as the region's official religion and united its provinces under a single sovereignty, thereby reigniting the Persian identity. The Safavid Dynasty was toppled in 1722.
In India the Mughal Dynasty combined Persian and local Indian culture. All Mughal emperors were Muslims. One of the greatest and well-known Mughal monuments is the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The reign of Shah Jahan (1628–1658) represented the height of Mughal architecture, with famous monuments such as (in addition to the Taj Mahal) Moti Masjid, Red Fort, Jama Masjid and Lahore Fort, all constructed during his reign.
The end of the Medieval period in India and beginning of the European colonialism witnessed a weakening of the Mughal Dynasty, leading to its break-up and declarations of independence of its former provinces by the Nawab of Bengal, the Nawab of Awadh, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the major economic and military power known as Kingdom of Mysore ruled by Tipu Sultan and other small states. In 1739, the Mughals were crushingly defeated in the Battle of Karnal by the forces of Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty in Persia, and Delhi was sacked and looted, drastically accelerating its decline.
During the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. The last remnants of the empire were formally taken over by the British, and the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858 to enable the Crown to assume direct control of India in the form of the new British Raj.
The modern age of recent centuries brought technological and organizational changes to Europe while the Islamic region continued the patterns of earlier centuries. The European powers, and especially Britain and France, globalized economically and colonized much of the region. By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was in a serious state of decline. The decision to back Germany in World War I meant they shared the Central Powers' defeat in that war. The defeat led to the overthrow of the Ottomans by Turkish nationalists led by the victorious general of the Battle of Gallipoli: Mustafa Kemal, who became known to his people as Atatürk, "Father of the Turks."
Following World War I, the vast majority of former Ottoman territory outside of Asia Minor was handed over to the victorious European powers as protectorates. Ottoman successor states include today's Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Balkan states, North Africa and the north shore of the Black Sea.
Some Muslim countries, such as Turkey and Egypt, sought to separate Islam from the secular government. In other cases, such as Saudi Arabia, the government brought out religious expression in the re-emergence of the puritanical form of Sunni Islam known as Wahabism, which found its way into the Saudi royal family.
The Arab–Israeli conflict spans about a century of political tensions and open hostilities. It involves the establishment of the modern State of Israel as a Jewish nation state. The Six-Day War of 1967 was fought between Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab countries closed the Suez Canal, and it was followed in 1970 by the closure of the "tapline" from Saudi Arabia through Syria to Lebanon.
In 1973 a new war between Israel and its Muslim neighbors, known as the Yom Kippur War, broke out. In response to the emergency resupply effort by the West that enabled Israel to put up a resistance against the Egyptian and Syrian forces, the Arab world imposed the 1973 oil embargo against the United States and Western Europe.
In 1979 the Iranian Revolution transformed Iran from a constitutional monarchy to a theocratic Islamic Republic under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shi'i Muslim cleric. Thus followed the development of the two opposite fringes of Islam. On the one hand, the Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam and its reinforcement by the Iranian Revolution. One the other hand the Salafi in Saudi Arabia. The consequential Iran–Saudi Arabia relations resulted in these governments using sectarian conflict to enhance their opposing political interests.
The centrality of petroleum, the Arab–Israeli conflict and political and economic instability and uncertainty remain constant features of the politics of the region. Many countries, individuals and non-governmental organizations elsewhere in the world feel involved in this conflict for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with Islam, Arab culture, Christianity, Judaism, Jewish culture, or for ideological, human rights, or strategic reasons. Many consider the Arab–Israeli conflict a part of (or a precursor to) a wider clash of civilizations between the Western World and the Muslim world.
SHIPPING & RETURNS/REFUNDS: We always ship books domestically (within the USA) via USPS INSURED media mail (“book rate”). Most international orders cost an additional $19.99 to $53.99 for an insured shipment in a heavily padded mailer. There is also a discount program which can cut postage costs by 50% to 75% if you’re buying about half-a-dozen books or more (5 kilos+). Rates vary a bit from country to country, and not all books will fit into a USPS global priority mail flat rate envelope. This book does barely fit into a flat rate envelope, but with NO padding, it will be highly susceptible to damage. We strongly recommend first class airmail for international shipments, which although more expensive, would allow us to properly protect the book. Our postage charges are as reasonable as USPS rates allow.
ADDITIONAL PURCHASES do receive a VERY LARGE discount, typically about $5 per book (for each additional book after the first) so as to reward you for the economies of combined shipping/insurance costs. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers. All of our shipments are fully insured against loss, and our shipping rates include the cost of this coverage (through stamps.com, Shipsaver.com, the USPS, UPS, or Fed-Ex).
International tracking is provided free by the USPS for certain countries, other countries are at additional cost. We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex). Please ask for a rate quotation. Please note for international purchasers we will do everything we can to minimize your liability for VAT and/or duties. But we cannot assume any responsibility or liability for whatever taxes or duties may be levied on your purchase by the country of your residence. If you don’t like the tax and duty schemes your government imposes, please complain to them. We have no ability to influence or moderate your country’s tax/duty schemes.
If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked 30-day return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price; 1) less our original shipping/insurance costs, 2) less any non-refundable fees imposed by eBay. Please note that though they generally do, eBay may not always refund payment processing fees on returns beyond a 30-day purchase window. So except for shipping costs and any payment processing fees not refunded by eBay, we will refund all proceeds from the sale of a return item. Obviously we have no ability to influence, modify or waive eBay policies.
ABOUT US: Prior to our retirement we used to travel to Eastern Europe and Central Asia several times a year seeking antique gemstones and jewelry from the globe’s most prolific gemstone producing and cutting centers. Most of the items we offer came from acquisitions we made in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) during these years from various institutions and dealers. Much of what we generate on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay goes to support worthy institutions in Europe and Asia connected with Anthropology and Archaeology. Though we have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, our primary interests are ancient/antique jewelry and gemstones, a reflection of our academic backgrounds.
Though perhaps difficult to find in the USA, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia antique gemstones are commonly dismounted from old, broken settings – the gold reused – the gemstones recut and reset. Before these gorgeous antique gemstones are recut, we try to acquire the best of them in their original, antique, hand-finished state – most of them originally crafted a century or more ago. We believe that the work created by these long-gone master artisans is worth protecting and preserving rather than destroying this heritage of antique gemstones by recutting the original work out of existence. That by preserving their work, in a sense, we are preserving their lives and the legacy they left for modern times. Far better to appreciate their craft than to destroy it with modern cutting.
Not everyone agrees – fully 95% or more of the antique gemstones which come into these marketplaces are recut, and the heritage of the past lost. But if you agree with us that the past is worth protecting, and that past lives and the produce of those lives still matters today, consider buying an antique, hand cut, natural gemstone rather than one of the mass-produced machine cut (often synthetic or “lab produced”) gemstones which dominate the market today. We can set most any antique gemstone you purchase from us in your choice of styles and metals ranging from rings to pendants to earrings and bracelets; in sterling silver, 14kt solid gold, and 14kt gold fill. When you purchase from us, you can count on quick shipping and careful, secure packaging. We would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from us. There is a $3 fee for mailing under separate cover. I will always respond to every inquiry whether via email or eBay message, so please feel free to write.