Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-234) and index.
A stormy sea: the politics of the 'Abbasid caliphate -- From Baghdad to Cordoba: the cities of classical Islam -- Princes and beggars: life and society in the 'Abbasid Age -- The lifeblood of empire: trade and traders in the 'Abbasid Age -- Baghdad's 'Golden Age': Islam's scientific renaissance -- The 'Abbasid legacy.
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In this accessibly written history, Amira K. Bennison contradicts the common assumption that Islam somehow interrupted the smooth flow of Western civilization from its Graeco-Roman origins to its more recent European and American manifestations. Instead, she places Islamic civilization in the longer trajectory of Mediterranean civilizations and sees the Abbasid Empire as the inheritor and interpreter of Graeco-Roman traditions.