Circling the Mediterranean: Europe
and the Islamic World (Volume B)
History and Nation
Roman Rule of Judea
“Christianity”
Constantinople
Islam
•
•
•
•
•
“obedience”
Prophet Muhammad
Ca. 632 C.E.
monotheism
Shi’a, Sunni Islam
Spread of Islam
Islam: Articles of Faith
Sunni Muslims
• God’s oneness
• angels
• four books
• messengers
(prophets)
• days of judgment and
resurrection
• destiny
Shi’a Muslims
• God’s oneness
• justice
• prophethood
• day of judgment
• caliphate
(leadership)
Abbasid Empire
Mongol Invasion
•
•
•
•
•
•
Baghdad, 1258
Ottomans, 1453
Arabic language
al-Andalus
Persian influence
Shahnameh,
Ferdowsi
Ottoman Empire, 1300 C.E.
• cultural elite = new converts from
Christianity
• linguistically and religiously diverse
• languages: Turkish, Arabic, Persian
• nomadic origins resigned to character
tales
• slave-based political and military elite
• feudal army
• religious tolerance did not mean equality
Mi’raj
The Thousand and One Nights
Mappamundi
Crusades
• First Crusade, 1095
• Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem
• economic
opportunities
• anti-Semitism
• Song of Roland
Literary Developments
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
epic
romance
Beowulf
Ferdowsi, Shahnameh
Chrétien de Troyes
Marie de France
French and Italian as literary languages
Petrarch
Frame Narrative
Travel Literature
• accuracy, truth
value
• descriptive
elements
• writer’s
impressions,
personal values
• versus travel
guides
“They would have wild
elephants and lots of unicorns
that are no smaller than
elephants: they have hair like
buffalo and feet like
elephants, with a very thick,
black horn in the middle of the
forehead. And I tell you it
doesn’t do harm with its horn
but with its tongue” (p. 815).
Marco Polo
• merchant guide
• prison writing
• French-Italian
vernacular
• Silk Road
• Kublai Khan
John Mandeville
•
•
•
•
synthesist work
Classical influence
Sumatra
nudity, marriage,
property
Europe, North Africa, Arabia,
Asia Minor & Western Central Asia
Europe
Test Your Knowledge
In 382 Saint Jerome was commissioned to
produce:
a. a common prayer book
b. a Latin Bible
c. a translation of Plato’s work
d. a synthesis of Greek philosophy and
Christian doctrine
Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following were recognized as
capital cities in the Roman Empire under
Constantine?
a. Rome and Constantinople
b. Cairo and Damascus
c. Persia and Europe
d. Athens and Constantinople
Test Your Knowledge
What text is central to the Islamic faith?
a. the Qur’an
b. Muhammad
c. Allah
d. the Latin Vulgate
Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following is NOT a frame
narrative?
a. The Thousand and One Nights
b. Decameron
c. Mi’raj-nameh
d. Canterbury Tales
Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following was pivotal in helping
to solidify the idea of “the West”—i.e., of
Christian Europe—during the Middle Ages?
a. the fall of the Ottoman Empire
b. the discovery of America
c. the Crusades
d. the sack of Rome
This concludes the Lecture
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The Norton Anthology
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