Overview

What is the line between the ancient and medieval worlds? 330? 476? 800? Most historians acknowledge that these are arbitrary distinctions, but they remain nevertheless, taking on lives of their own. Alex Feldman is challenging us to see them as the same world, except for the imposition of a given monotheism. In this process, he studies top-down, monotheistic conversions in Western Eurasia and their respective mythologisations, preserved both textually and archaeologically, serving as the foundation of recognisable state-formation. Applying this idea to Byzantium's policies around the Black and Caspian Seas, he reveals how what we today call the 'Migration-Age' continued perpetually up to the Mongolian invasions and perhaps later. This book enhances our understanding, not only of Western history, but presents it in the context of global monotheisation.

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9781474478113

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This sweeping study challenges our understanding of conversion to monotheism in Pontic-Caspian Eurasia. Feldman's impressive range, his immersion in languages and literatures, and his telling insights illuminate the obscure early histories of the Khazars, Volga Bulgars, Magyars, Pečenegs, Cuman-Qıpčaqs and Rus'. --Paul Stephenson, author of New Rome, The Serpent Column and Byzantium's Balkan Frontier

Author Information

Alex M. Feldman is a professor at the College of International Studies of Madrid

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