Witnesses to a World Crisis: Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century, by James Howard-Johnston

Abstract

What James Howard-Johnston dubs ‘The Last Great War of Antiquity’ (between Rome and Persia, 603–630) has been his fruitful preoccupation for decades. The restoration of the ‘binary world order’ in 630 was rapidly eclipsed by the Arabs of the Hijaz who punctured the heart of both empires, leading to a ‘new world order’ in which the centre of economic and political power shifted from the Mediterranean to the Middle East. The ‘World Crisis’ of this ground-breaking book runs from c.603 to c.717 and a coherent and fluent narrative account of this period is found towards the end of the volume (chs. 14–16, plus ‘Conclusion’). These final chapters contain several notable emphases: the Persian king Khusro aspiring to liquidate Rome (pp. 439–40); the risk of exaggerating Persian war damage (p. 444); the impact of Muhammad’s message on his followers (pp. 450–51); re-orienting the prayer direction from Jerusalem to Mecca (pp. 455–6); Arab advancement facilitated by faith and mobility, not by plagued and war-weary Roman and Persian realms (p. 464); the development of Byzantine naval capability under Constans II (pp. 475–86); the deployment of Muslim epigraphic currency (pp. 505–7); and the mechanisms of the early Muslim state (pp. 514–16). These chapters display the author’s trademark close knowledge of geography and landscape, combined with a keen insight into military strategy by land and by sea. With little extra work, fore and aft, they could be turned into a separate monograph which would become the most economical, readable and stimulating introduction to this important period. They deserve better than to be tucked away at the end of a long and expensive volume.