The Arab Conquests
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Arab conquests - an extraordinary period in the 7th and 8th centuries when the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula conquered the Middle East, Persia, North Africa and Southern Europe and spread the ideas of the Islamic religion. In 632 the prophet Muhammad died and left behind the nascent religion of Islam among a few tribes in the Arabian Desert. They were relatively small in number, they were divided among themselves and they were surrounded by vast and powerful empires. Yet within 100 years Arab armies controlled territory from Northern Spain to Southern Iran and Islamic ideas had begun to profoundly refashion the societies they touched. It is one of the most extraordinary and significant events in world history that began the slow and profound transformation of Greek and Persian societies into Islamic ones. But how did the Arab armies achieve such extensive victories, how did they govern the people they conquered and what was the relationship between the achievements of the Arabs and the religious beliefs they carried with them?
Guests
- Hugh Kennedy
11 episodes
Professor of Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London - Amira Bennison
10 episodes
Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge - Robert Hoyland
2 episodes
Professor in Arabic and Middle East Studies at the University of St Andrews
Related episodes
-
The Almoravid Empire
3 May, 2018 960 History of Africa -
The Abbasid Caliphs
2 Feb, 2006 900 History -
Muslim Spain
21 Nov, 2002 940 History of Europe -
The Mamluks
26 Sep, 2013 950 History of Asia -
The Translation Movement
2 Oct, 2008 500 Science -
The Battle of Tours
16 Jan, 2014 940 History of Europe -
The Battle of Talas
9 Oct, 2014 950 History of Asia -
Third Crusade
29 Nov, 2001 940 History of Europe -
The Barbary Corsairs
9 Nov, 2023 900 History -
The Safavid Dynasty
12 Jan, 2012 950 History of Asia -
The 12th Century Renaissance
20 Oct, 2016 900 History -
Byzantium
19 Jul, 2001 940 History of Europe -
The Siege of Malta, 1565
11 Jan, 2018 940 History of Europe -
The Mughal Empire
26 Feb, 2004 950 History of Asia -
The Danelaw
28 Mar, 2019 940 History of Europe -
Maths in the Early Islamic World
16 Feb, 2017 510 Mathematics -
The Empire of Mali
29 Oct, 2015 960 History of Africa -
Roman Slavery
5 Apr, 2018 930 History of the Ancient World -
Ibn Khaldun
4 Feb, 2010 900 History -
Al-Ghazali
19 Mar, 2015 210 Philosophy and theory of religion
Programme ID: b00c5xzc
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c5xzc
Auto-category: 956 (History of the Middle East)