The Rise of the Fatimids: The World of the Mediterranean and the Middle East in the Tenth Century CE

AbstractPerfumes have been known as utilizable but exclusive products since antiquity. Use of aromatic substances was first mentioned in archaic sources of the ancient world. The origin of such fragrant substances was mainly vegetable and animal. Throughout history, the use of subtle perfumes increased and some of the exotic materials became expensive and valuable commodities. They were the source of wealth for cultures and rulers. The contribution of the Arabs to the distribution of new crops, knowledge, industrial techniques and substances is a well-known phenomenon. In our article we intend to focus on the new perfumes that were distributed throughout the world thanks to the Arab conquests and the knowledge of their other uses, mainly medicinal, that was handed down along with the products themselves. About 20 common perfumes are known to have been used in the medieval world, though half of them were not mentioned in earlier sources.These phenomena will be dealt with and presented in a profile we built up for four perfumes: agarwood, camphor, musk and ambergris. The theoretical and practical uses of these perfumes that are presented in detail (based on various sources including traders’ documents, medical literature and practical Genizah fragments, dealing mainly with medicine) will serve as case studies for the understanding of new trends in the uses of perfumes after the Muslim conquest. Arab perfumes can be divided into three groups, according to their level of importance:A. New perfumes, mainly from the vast region named “India”; most of which (such as camphor, ambergris and sandalwood and a compound made out of them known as nadd and ghāliya) were not known in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region until the Muslim conquests.B. Perfumes that kept their popularity including: a variety of cinnamon, costus, spikenard, frankincense, saffron and rose.C. Perfumes that lost their worth like balsam and myrrh.It seems that camphor was the best and most cherished perfume that substituted balsam. Like balsam, the importance of myrrh that was imported from Arabia and East Africa also declined and it seems that its substitute was musk. Transformations in perfume fashion were in fact only part of a wider revolution of the Arabic material culture which the Middle East, the Mediterranean region and even many European countries experienced due to the Arab conquests.

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Multi-vector Management of Soft Power Policies: Will Russian Soft Power Be Victimized by the Moscow-Erdogan Association?

RUDN Journal of Public Administration ◽

10.22363/2312-8313-2020-7-4-361-370 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 361-370

Author(s):

Costas Melakopides

Keyword(s):

Foreign Policy ◽

Middle East ◽

Soft Power ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Toxic Impact ◽

Significant Damage ◽

Vector Management ◽

The World ◽

Potential Impact ◽

The Mediterranean

This article analyzes the potential impact of Turkeys foreign policy on Russias soft power in several regions of the world. The author believes that the policy of President R.T. Erdogan in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Aegean Sea can cause significant damage to the image and international prestige of Moscow. The article argues that Russian policy should minimize the toxic impact of R.T. Erdogans foreign policy on Russias soft power in the considered regions.

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The Caliphate

10.1093/oso/9780197532768.003.0012 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 355-379

Author(s):

Andrew Marsham

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Economic History ◽

Tenth Century ◽

Organizational Structures ◽

Eighth Century ◽

Seventh Century ◽

Rapid Expansion ◽

Ethnic Identities ◽

Left Behind ◽

The Mediterranean

The first Muslim empire—the Caliphate—began with the conquests of the mid-seventh century CE and fragmented in the mid-tenth century. This chapter outlines the Caliphate’s political and economic history, its organizational structures, and forms of coercive and ideological power. During a long eighth century, the Mediterranean and the Middle East were transformed by the formation of new elites, by a new transregional coinage economy, by the rapid expansion of new cities and settlements, and by an agrarian revolution. The religion that became Islam was crucial in uniting the conquerors of the empire, and then as the idiom for the expression of the conquered peoples’ political ambitions. Eventual widespread conversion among the conquered populations meant that as the Caliphate collapsed, it left behind Muslim successor states, as well as new linguistic and ethnic identities—notably the Arabic and New Persian linguae francae, and a transregional “Arab” ethnicity.

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Nineteenth century Middle East through photographs : examining two photographic albums

10.32920/ryerson.14651916 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maryam Ghorbankarimi

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Middle East ◽

The Other ◽

Nile River ◽

Holy Land ◽

The World ◽

The Mediterranean

This thesis examines and compares two nineteenth-century photographic albums of travels in the Middle East from the collection of George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. The first album, compiled of amateur photographs, illustrates a trip up the Nile River from Egypt to Nubia. The other album is composed of commercial photographs depicting a journey from the Mediterranean to Algeria, with focus on the Holy Land. The commercial photographs are idealized and posed, while the amateur photographs are fresh, realistic, and capture the world as it is. However, these two albums both portray the Middle East as uncivilized, culturally backward, and frozen in antiquity and its people are depicted as primitive and or sexual objects. This misrepresentation is the result of the preconceived notions of the nineteenth-century Middle East created by Orientalist scholars.

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IS EDUCATION THE SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS IN AFRICA?

Problems of Education in the 21st Century ◽

10.33225/pec/15.64.04 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 4-5

Author(s):

Agnaldo Arroio

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Mediterranean Sea ◽

North Africa ◽

Prime Minister ◽

Growing Up ◽

Middle East Countries ◽

The World ◽

The Mediterranean ◽

Mediterranean Migration ◽

United Nation

In the last weeks the world has been facing a dramatic situation called as “Mediterranean migration”. In one week at least 1.000 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach European territories. More than 2.500 lives have been lost since June 2014, the United Nation refugee agency UNHCR believes, and the majority of them are coming from Africa and Middle East countries. Recently the Malta's prime minister warned after the Lampedusa tragedy, that the Mediterranean Sea was in danger of becoming a "cemetery" for desperate migrants. The situation is dramatic, considering that UNHCR figures suggest that some 25.000 people fled to Italy from North Africa in 2005, a number which dwindled to 9.573 in 2009. As it can be seen, the problem is growing up, the number of migrants is increasing and there is no chance to solve this problem easily.

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