Herodotos' has been regarded by some as the source of Western Orientalism, a set of views which regards the "Oriental", and in particular the Persian, as inferior. This article wishes to set the record straight and find out Herodotos' actual views about the Persians
In this article, Professor Idriz introduces us to the intriguing history and functioning of the hammām in Muslim society, whose use dates all the way back to Umayyad times.
One of the most vital and treacherous segments of the Silk Road extended from the western rim of the Taklamakan Desert to the eastern capital of Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an). Crossing harsh deserts, fertile oases, and military outposts, this route encapsulated the complexity and endurance of Silk Road exchanges. The movement of goods such as silk, wool, indigo, paper, and porcelain between empires was accompanied by the transmission of religious philosophies, artistic motifs, and technical know-how—much of which survives today in the archaeological record.
The complexity of the scribal art in Ancient Mesopotamia necessitated the emergence of specialised institutions devoted entirely to the teaching of cuneiform to the next generation. This article aims to shed light on these schools, focusing on the Old Babylonian period (2000–1600 BCE), which is best represented in our archaeological and written source material. How did they function? What were they like?
In her first contribution to Along the Silk Road, Cemre Melis Yordamlı explores, through the example of Princess Maria Komnena Palaiologina, how the Late Byzantine court used political marriages to secure favorable alliances and promote Orthodox Christianity.
In this essay, Prof. Dr. Mesut Idriz outlines the necessity of, and practical steps toward, establishing a Global Silk Road University and a Global Silk Road Library.
Join Dr. Ankur Barua, Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies at the University of Cambridge, in his discussion of how the religious poetry composed in Bengali of two major South Asian poet-thinkers – Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) – interweaves Islamic and Indic idioms.
In this piece, our linguistic specialist Rik Verachtert takes a look at the Greek term for barbarian, what it actually means, and whether it carried any negative connotations.
The introduction of tobacco into the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 16th century profoundly transformed social and cultural practices across Ottoman territories. In a short time, smoking became a daily habit shared by all social classes, from humble artisans to the sultan himself. The rapid growth in consumption led to the emergence of a specific craft: the production of clay pipes, with Tophane in Istanbul becoming its most iconic center.
This article aims to highlight one factor that played a crucial role in the extraordinary expansion of the Assyrian Empire: its army. For roughly three centuries, the Assyrian monarchs commanded a military force that had no equal. Praised for its effectiveness and lamented for its cruelty, this formidable army left a lasting mark on military history unlike any other from the ancient Near East.
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