The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean

ISBN-13: 9781107023352 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 284 str.

Ronnie Ellenblum

Opis

As a 'Medieval Warm Period' prevailed in Western Europe during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the eastern Mediterranean region, from the Nile to the Oxus, was suffering from a series of climatic disasters which led to the decline of some of the most important civilisations and cultural centres of the time. This provocative study argues that many well-documented but apparently disparate events such as recurrent drought and famine in Egypt; mass migrations in the steppes of central Asia; and the decline in population in urban centres such as Baghdad and Constantinople are connected and should be understood within the broad context of climate change. Drawing on a wealth of textual and archaeological evidence, Ronnie Ellenblum explores the impact of climatic and ecological change across the eastern Mediterranean in this period, to offer a new perspective on why this was a turning point in the history of the Islamic world."

Recenzje

'The study of environmental history in the early Middle Ages is still very much in its infancy; thus Ronnie Ellenblum's contribution, not least because it argues so lucidly for a real climatic impact in various areas of human activity, is to be welcomed wholeheartedly.' Mark Humphries, Early Medieval Europe

Spis treści

Part I. The Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean: 1. Presenting the events; 2. Deconstructing a 'collapse'; 3. 950–1027 - an impending disaster; Part II. Regional Domino Effects in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1027–60 AD: 4. The collapse of Iran; 5. The fall of Baghdād; 6. A crumbling empire: the Pechenegs and the decimation of Byzantium; 7. Egypt and its provinces, 1050s–1070s; Part III. Cities and Minorities: 8. Jerusalem and the decline of classical cities; 9. Water supply, declining cities and deserted villages; 10. Food crises and accelerated Islamization; 11. Reflections.