In the early tenth century, a new Islamic movement emerged in North Africa and soon developed into a powerful empire. This book examines the rise and fall of the Fatimids, their expansion across the medieval world, and how their rule helped create a ‘Golden Age’ in Egypt.
Excerpt:
This book is intended to be in many ways a written portrait of the Fatimids as a dynasty, the regime it headed, the religious and geopolitical climate it intersected with, the cultural environment it generated and its legacy. In general terms, a portrait is a representation of a particular person; here the sitter is instead a dynasty and its age. In this portrait the Fatimids occupy centre stage to reflect the integral role this dynasty played in events that took place from the tenth to the twelfth century in medieval Europe, the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, the Indian Ocean region and beyond. This geographical expanse forms the symbolic canvas on which this portrait is painted. Placing the Fatimids at the heart of the picture serves to challenge the perception of a middle period of Islamic history in which observers have often conceived the role in it played by this dynasty to be an afterthought at the periphery of a medieval geopolitical map.
Who is this book for?
This book offers a good introduction to who the Fatimids were and the society they established. Historians have become increasingly interested in this period, when Egypt and the newly founded city of Cairo emerged as one of the leading centres of the medieval world. Most of the book focuses on the rise and height of the Fatimid Caliphate, while its decline and fall receive less attention. Chapters on the role of women and the legacy of the Fatimids round out the book.
While this book is an overview, anyone interested in the Fatimids will want to have it on their bookshelf. It will also appeal to readers wanting to learn more about medieval Islamic history in general, as well as the history of Egypt.
“Delia Cortese’s The Fatimids: Portrait of a Dynasty is a major contribution to the study of Shiʿi Islam and medieval Islamic history. It offers a richly textured, analytically sophisticated, and methodologically self-aware account of the Fatimid caliphate, a dynasty that ruled large parts of the Islamic world for more than two and a half centuries (909–1171) and left an enduring imprint on Islamic political thought, religious authority, material culture, and social life. Drawing on decades of scholarship in Ismaili studies, Fatimid history, and codicology, Cortese presents not merely a chronological narrative of dynastic rise and decline, but a carefully constructed ‘portrait’ that integrates doctrine, governance, ritual, gender, and cultural production.” ~ review by Amir De Martino in Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies
The Author
Delia Cortese is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Middlesex University. She also co-wrote Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam.
The Fatimids: Portrait of a Dynasty
By Delia Cortese
Reaktion Books
ISBN: 978 1 83639 019 0
In the early tenth century, a new Islamic movement emerged in North Africa and soon developed into a powerful empire. This book examines the rise and fall of the Fatimids, their expansion across the medieval world, and how their rule helped create a ‘Golden Age’ in Egypt.
Excerpt:
This book is intended to be in many ways a written portrait of the Fatimids as a dynasty, the regime it headed, the religious and geopolitical climate it intersected with, the cultural environment it generated and its legacy. In general terms, a portrait is a representation of a particular person; here the sitter is instead a dynasty and its age. In this portrait the Fatimids occupy centre stage to reflect the integral role this dynasty played in events that took place from the tenth to the twelfth century in medieval Europe, the Mediterranean basin, the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, the Indian Ocean region and beyond. This geographical expanse forms the symbolic canvas on which this portrait is painted. Placing the Fatimids at the heart of the picture serves to challenge the perception of a middle period of Islamic history in which observers have often conceived the role in it played by this dynasty to be an afterthought at the periphery of a medieval geopolitical map.
Who is this book for?
This book offers a good introduction to who the Fatimids were and the society they established. Historians have become increasingly interested in this period, when Egypt and the newly founded city of Cairo emerged as one of the leading centres of the medieval world. Most of the book focuses on the rise and height of the Fatimid Caliphate, while its decline and fall receive less attention. Chapters on the role of women and the legacy of the Fatimids round out the book.
While this book is an overview, anyone interested in the Fatimids will want to have it on their bookshelf. It will also appeal to readers wanting to learn more about medieval Islamic history in general, as well as the history of Egypt.
“Delia Cortese’s The Fatimids: Portrait of a Dynasty is a major contribution to the study of Shiʿi Islam and medieval Islamic history. It offers a richly textured, analytically sophisticated, and methodologically self-aware account of the Fatimid caliphate, a dynasty that ruled large parts of the Islamic world for more than two and a half centuries (909–1171) and left an enduring imprint on Islamic political thought, religious authority, material culture, and social life. Drawing on decades of scholarship in Ismaili studies, Fatimid history, and codicology, Cortese presents not merely a chronological narrative of dynastic rise and decline, but a carefully constructed ‘portrait’ that integrates doctrine, governance, ritual, gender, and cultural production.” ~ review by Amir De Martino in Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies
The Author
Delia Cortese is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Middlesex University. She also co-wrote Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website.
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