Jonathan M. Bloom

Mesopotamian Religious Architecture: Alexander through the Parthians

This book is a comprehensive treatment of the survival and reworking of earlier forms of Mesopotamian religious architecture in the periods of foreign occupation of the Near East, first by Greeks, who established the Seleucid kingdoms after the conquests of Alexander the Great, and second by Parthians, who gradually took political control from the Greeks in the second century B.C. The author argues that Mesopotamian traditions remained extraordinarily vital throughout these periods and up to the middle of the third century of the Common Era. She presents not only architectural analysis but a carefully documented picture of the mixture of peoples and beliefs in this focal region of the eastern Hellenistic world. The Seleucids revived traditional religious forms and practices in old Mesopotamian cities, notably Uruk and Babylon, while drawing on Mesopotamian and other oriental traditions to create original religious architecture in new colonies, such as Ai Khanoum in Afghanistan. The effects of the Parthian conquest varied. The Seleucid temples of Uruk were destroyed, but Duray-Europos, Assur, and Hatra demonstrate the continued vitality of Mesopotamian architecture.

The Origins of Fatimid Art

The Fatimid caliphs who ruled Egypt from 969 to 1171 are justly famed for their generous patronage of architecture and the arts and for their lavish ceremonies. Almost immediately after they moved from North Africa, where they had ruled for half a century, to Egypt, where they founded their new capital of alQahira, men and women of the Fatimid court began to finance major buildings. The arts of Egypt, most notably textiles and ceramics, flourished. While something of their character was anticipated in the artistic production of Tulunid Egypt, nothing known from that period quite prepares us for the splendid creativity that drew upon the traditions not only of Egypt but also of the entire medieval Mediterranean world.

Five Fatimid Minarets in Upper Egypt

Five minarets in Upper Egypt traditionally have been attributed to the patronage of the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali. They were thought to symbolize his reassertion of Fatimid power in the late 11th century. A re-examination of their formal, functional, and physical contexts suggests instead that these structures were the products of local patrons who found their models not in Lower Egypt, but in the Hijaz region of Arabia.

The Blue Koran Revisited

The “Blue Koran” is one of the most distinctive copies of the text, copied in 15 lines of an angular gold script on leaves of blue parchment. Leaves from the manuscript have been known to scholars since the early years of the 20th century, but it first came to wide scholarly attention in the 1970s, following the publication of several leaves in such international exhibitions as the Arts of Islam at the Hayward Gallery in London. It was attributed either to ninth-century Iran or Tunisia, where the bulk of the manuscript was said to remain. The present author published several articles on the manuscript, reconstructing it as a set of seven volumes and attributing it on the basis of its abjad numbering system as well as historical evidence to tenth-century Tunisia under Fatimid patronage. In the following decades other scholars have challenged this attribution, suggesting that the manuscript could have been produced in Umayyad Spain, Kalbid Sicily, or even Abbasid Iraq. Considering the additional pages from this manuscript that have come to light in the past decades as well as the significant advances made in the study of Koranic paleography and codicology, it is time to reexamine what is known about the manuscript and see which attribution makes the most sense.

Paper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World

Like the printing press, typewriter, and computer, paper has been a crucial agent for the dissemination of information. This engaging book presents an important new chapter in papers history: how its use in Islamic lands during the Middle Ages influenced almost every aspect of medieval life. Focusing on the spread of paper from the early eighth century, when Muslims in West Asia acquired Chinese knowledge of paper and papermaking, to five centuries later, when they transmitted this knowledge to Christians in Spain and Sicily, the book reveals how paper utterly transformed the passing of knowledge and served as a bridge between cultures. Jonathan Bloom traces the earliest history of paper - how it was invented in China over 2,000 years ago, how it entered the Islamic lands of West Asia and North Africa, and how it spread to northern Europe. He explores the impact of paper on the development of writing, books, mathematics, music, art, architecture, and even cooking. And he discusses why Europe was so quick to adopt paper from the Islamic lands and why the Islamic lands were so slow to accept printing in return. Together the beautifully written text and delightful illustrations of papermaking techniques and the many uses to which paper was put give new lustre and importance to a now-humble material.