Week 9 - March 14-16
Islam and Byzantium

Haghia Sophia Constantinople [today's Istanbul] ca. 537 CE [minarets were added after 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks]

"Dome of the Rock" Jerusalem, Umayyad dynasty ca. 685 CE

Read:

• Duiker/Spielvogel:  pp. 135-158.
• Diamond:  pp. 264-292.
• Christian: pp. `333-363.

Written Assignment 9: Due on email by Sunday, 6 pm, March 12.  In 4 or 5 paragraphs, answer one of the following two questions - both relate to the "Islam" part of this week's assignment - though we will be discussing both in class.

1. What do historians now believe to have been the major reasons for the Arabs’ success in establishing their empire?
2. What were the basic political structures of the Arab Empire under the Abbasids?

Primary Source Questions for Week 9

Maps