Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean World: From Constantinople to Baghdad, 500-1000 CE

REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE This series of 15 essays covers the final years of Byzantine control of Egypt, and the first 300 years of Muslim rule: first that of the Umayyads based in Damascus, and then the Abbasids in Baghdad. The chronological end-point is the take-over of Egypt by the Shi’ite Fatimid caliphs in the year AD 969. The book is divided into three parts. The first six essays explore the political situation in Egypt during this 500-year period. The volume begins with an assessment of the province in the reign of Justinian, and then an overview of the years AD 500-1000, examining the changes that took place. These are followed by special studies of the First Cataract re