Experts on History

A vibrant portrait of an age when Arabic enlightenment anticipated and inspired the European Renaissance, illuminated by its guiding figures and rivals, Ibn Sina and Biruni.

In The Genius of their Age, S. Frederick Starr follows up his acclaimed Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age with a portrait of the Arab enlightenment and its key figures—Abu-Ali al-Husayn ibn-'Abdallah Ibn-Sina and Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni. A thousand years ago, these two intellectual giants—known as Ibn Sina and Biruni for short—achieved stunning breakthroughs in fields as diverse as medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, geography, and physics. Biruni measured the earth more precisely than anyone else down to the sixteenth century, pondered a heliocentric universe, and hypothesized the existence of North and South America as inhabited continents. Ibn Sina's writing on philosophy and metaphysics enriched the writings of countless European thinkers, including St. Thomas Aquinas, while Sina's grand synthesis of medical knowledge became the standard for the next six hundred years in Europe, the Middle East, and India. They both also commented extensively on the works of ancient Greeks and earlier Muslim thinkers, whose works they aspired to synthesize—and to transcend.

Contemporaries, Ibn Sina and Biruni were born within the borders of what is now Uzbekistan and spent their lives in Central Asia. They also became rivals, launching a correspondence and commentary that galvanized them despite sometimes bitter disagreement. Centuries before the West caught up with them, Ibn Sina and Biruni reflected their age's feats and its intellectual high point, persisting with their inquiries and their independence amid turmoil and rapid change.

Though scholars have long dissected the works of Ibn Sina and Biruni, S. Frederick Starr focuses also on their lives and the times in which they lived. By contextualizing their work and by making the age palpable to the reader, S. Frederick Starr gives the achievements of Ibn Sina and Biruni a holistic and unforgettably human dimension.

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The Genius of their Age

Ibn Sina, Biruni, and the Lost Enlightenment

by S. Frederick Starr

https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0197675557

— MENTIONED BOOK —

Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane

by S. Frederick Starr

https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0691165858

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— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

https://www.ancientlyre.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

World History Encyclopedia

www.worldhistory.org

#history #historybooks

Join World History Encyclopedia as they sit down with author and Egyptologist Garry Shaw to hear all about his new book The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King

The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 sparked imaginations across the globe. While Howard Carter emptied its treasures, Tut-mania gripped the world—and in many ways, never left. But who was the “boy king,” and what was his life really like?

Garry J. Shaw tells the full story of Tutankhamun’s reign and his modern rediscovery. As pharaoh, Tutankhamun had to manage an empire, navigate influential courtiers, and suffer the pain of losing at least two children—all before his nineteenth birthday. Shaw explores the boy king’s treasures and possessions, from a lock of his grandmother’s hair to a reed cut with his own hands. He looks too at Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun’s wife, and the power queens held. This is a compelling new biography that weaves together intriguing details about ancient Egyptian culture, its beliefs, and its place in the wider world.

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The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King

https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0300267436

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https://www.worldhistory.store​/​

— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

https://www.ancientlyre.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

World History Encyclopedia

www.worldhistory.org

#tutankhamun #kingtut #authorinterview #ancientegypt

In our interview with Greg Woolf, we chat all about the second edition of his book Rome: An Empire's Story. What's the book about? Well, It's a total history of Rome. It starts with the 8th century BCE, when it's just a scatter of villages, which we only know through archaeology, and it ends up at the 8th century CE, when Arab armies have conquered Egypt and Syria and swept along North Africa and plunged into Spain. For some hundreds of years, the northwest has been ruled by German Kings and so on. I start from a tiny city on the river and end up with a tiny city on the Bosporus and in between, it sort of expands and contracts, just not back to the same point.

We know quite a lot more about very, very early Rome and quite a lot more about late Rome. For early Rome, there have been some studies on how Rome in the centuries before there's any local writing or local history writing, how it interacts with other Italian people. Again, naturally, that's the story that also owes a lot to archaeology. So, we have new accounts of that which are not just the Legends of Romulus and Remus and Aeneas and so on, but it's also stories about how different communities up and down the Italian Peninsula come together, form alliances. You can, if you like, see some of early Rome, not so much as one plucky little people conquering all their neighbours, but actually almost as a sort of process by which different groups of local allies sort of pull it together. And, of course, Rome still reigns at the centre, but you see how the vested interests of landowners and chiefs and warlords all come together to create a kind of, Italy wide project

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Rome: An Empire's Story

by Greg Woold

https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0190687452

— FURTHER READING, SUGGESTED BY GREG —

Archaeologists keep producing more information about the Roman World. Look at http://pompeiisites.org/en/comunicati/the-room-of-the-slaves-the-latest-discovery-at-civita-giuliana/ for a stunning example, the first slave-quarters found at Pompeii.

Natural science is changing the way we think about the past. This multidisciplinary team from Yale link massive eruptions of Alaskan volcanoes to traumatic change in the Roman Mediterranean

https://news.yale.edu/2020/06/22/climate-change-and-rise-roman-empire

Roman historians now understand migration better than ever before and relate it to modern experience. https://theconversation.com/immigration-how-ancient-rome-dealt-with-the-barbarians-at-the-gate-109933

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https://www.worldhistory.store​/​

— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

https://www.ancientlyre.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

World History Encyclopedia

www.worldhistory.org

#ancientrome #romanempire #romempire

Buy the book here - https://www.worldhistory.org/static/book-the-romans/en/

In this interview, Mark Cartwright, Publishing Director at World History Encyclopedia, discusses his new book, The Romans: Antiquity’s Ultimate Transformative Culture.

We move beyond traditional political and military history to focus on nine aspects of everyday Roman life, from family, religion, and government to food, clothing, marriage, and entertainment, and what these reveal about Roman identity.

The conversation also explores Rome’s achievements in art, architecture, science, and engineering, and how they shaped daily life across the empire, as well as why Roman society can still feel surprisingly familiar today despite being so distant in time.

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The Romans: Antiquity's Ultimate Transformative Culture (World History Encyclopedia)

by Mark Cartwright

https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B0H5C3N3DC

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The Roman Toga

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/48/the-roman-toga/

A Visitor's Guide to Pompeii

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1447/a-visitors-guide-to-pompeii/

Ancient Greek Clothing

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/20/ancient-greek-clothing/

Pompeii

https://www.worldhistory.org/pompeii/

— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

https://www.ancientlyre.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

World History Encyclopedia

www.worldhistory.org

#History #AncientRome

Michael Levy, a prolific composer of the ancient lyre and kithara, shares his inspiration and deep knowledge of these remarkable instruments.

A few tortoiseshell lyres have survived—most famously the Elgin Lyre in the British Museum—and several ancient Egyptian lyres remain as well. Michael plays a replica of the Leiden Lyre, crafted by Luthieros, based on the original preserved in Leiden and dating to around 1500 BCE. Among ancient Greek lyres, only the tortoiseshell chelys lyres have survived; unfortunately, no examples of the wooden kithara remain due to the material’s fragility.

Michael explains how his playing techniques come from studying ancient images of lyre players. On Greek pottery and paintings, musicians are shown using the left hand to block specific strings while striking others with a chunky plectrum. Unlike a harp, where strings are muted to stop unwanted sustain, lyre players block only the strings they don’t want to sound, keeping the needed ones open to create chords.

He also describes the tonal and social differences between the instruments. The kithara has a deeper tone and, in antiquity, was played only by professionals. The chelys lyre, by contrast, was used in domestic settings—such as symposia, the famous Greek drinking parties. Plato even recommends in the Republic that young boys learn musical theory on the lyre because of its clear, pure notes.

— MICHAEL'S LINKS —

Michael Website https://www.ancientlyre.com

Find Michael on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

Find Michael on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

Luthieros, whose wonderfully recreated ancient Greek lyres & kithara has made Michael's ongoing musical mission possible for so long. They are reintroducing the recreated ancient Greek lyres & kithara back into the hands of modern musicians to 'continue where the ancients left off. https://www.luthieros.com

The specialist musician who performs the replica of the aulos Barnaby Brown https://barnabybrown.info/

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— CHAPTERS —

0:00​ Introduction

0:45 Why the lyre? Why did you start playing the lyre?

5:55 Do the different lyres and kitharas need different playing techniques?

10:20 Everything that you know about the lyre, is that all from surviving images?

12:17 How do you go about learning the lyre?

13:43 Performance of The Cave of Hermes

16:19 Ancient Tuning Methods

31:57 Is it meant to be played alone or with other instruments?

34:06 Performance of Hymn to the Stars

37:35 Tell us about the track, Hymn to the Stars!

41:43 Do you have a favourite song that you have composed?

43:47 Outro

— WANT TO KNOW MORE? —

Lyre https://www.worldhistory.org/Lyre/

Ancient Greek Music https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Music/

Aulos https://www.worldhistory.org/Aulos/

Kithara https://www.worldhistory.org/Kithara/

Hermes https://www.worldhistory.org/Hermes/

Pythagoras https://www.worldhistory.org/Pythagoras/

— ATTRIBUTIONS —

The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

https://www.ancientlyre.com

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A

World History Encyclopedia

www.worldhistory.org