In Between Empires Greg Fisher tackles the problem of pre-Islamic Arab identity by examining the relationship between the Roman Empire and the Empire of Sasanian Iran, and a selection of their Arab allies and neighbours, the Jafnids, Nasrids, and Hujrids. Fisher focuses on the last century before the emergence of Islam and stresses the importance of a Near East dominated by Rome and Iran for the formation of early concepts of Arab identity. In particular, he examines cultural and religious integration, political activities, and the role played by Arabic as factors in this process. He...

When Greg Fisher was a child his mother said he d either be very successful or end up in jail. It turns out he s done both. After a comfortable upbringing in Sydney s eastern suburbs, Greg Fisher did what he thought good Jewish boys should do. He married, had a child and started making his way up the corporate ladder. But after coming out and leaving his wife and daughter, Greg s life veered into the fast lane. A-list parties and a growing business empire proved a heady mix, and by the early 2000s his high-stakes lifestyle began to spiral dangerously out of control. Eventually jailed for...

Rome and the Arabs before the Rise of Islam provides a concise introduction to the complex world of pre-Islamic Arabia and its relationship with the Roman Empire. Although concentrating on the relationship between the Arabs and the Romans, the book also draws on sources and material from the Sasanian Empire. The Sasanian Empire played an important role in the growing political and religious identity of Arabs in the pre-Islamic period, though one which is not very well understood.

Taking Romans, Sasanians, and Arabs together, the book sets out, from an historical...