A one-time actress, whore and comedian who became Justinian’s wife.
Belisarius
Justinian’s best general.
Maurice (582–602)
Sponsor of Khusrow II. Deposed by Phocas.
Phocas (602–10)
Deposed and killed by Heraclius.
Heraclius (610–41)
A proto-crusader whose reign witnessed extraordinary highs and lows.
Sergius
Defeated and killed by the Arabs outside Gaza.
The Christian Church
Peter
Chief of Christ’s disciples.
Paul
Early Christian apostle who argued that Gentiles, if they converted to Christ, were not obliged to follow the Jewish Law.
Ignatius
Supposedly appointed Bishop of Antioch by Peter himself, he was the first Christian to deploy the word
Christianismos
—“Christianity.”
Basilides
The second-century author of a heretical gospel that claimed Christ had not died on the cross.
Marcion
Another second-century heretic. He viewed the deity of the Old Testament as inferior to the True God, the Father of Christ, and dismissed the entire Old Testament itself as worthless.
Tertullian
Born in Carthage in the mid-second century, he was the first Christian to define the Trinity. He died around 220.
Arius
A priest from Alexandria who argued that God the Father had existed before God the Son. His teachings were condemned as heretical at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
Athanasius
Bishop of Alexandria who took a leading role against Arius at the Council of Nicaea, and was the first to prescribe the contents of what is still the Christian New Testament.
Cyril
Bishop of Jerusalem in the fourth century.
Epiphanius
A bishop from Cyprus who compiled an exhaustive encyclopedia of heresies in the fourth century.
Jerome
A translator of the Bible into Latin who settled permanently in Bethlehem in 388.
Nestorius
Bishop of Constantinople who was condemned as a heretic in 431 for arguing that the relationship between the human and the divine in Christ had been one of coexistence rather than union.
Dioscorus
Thuggish Bishop of Alexandria who helped to provoke the summoning of the Council of Chalcedon.
Theodoret
A Syrian bishop in the first half of the fifth century who took a keen interest in the Arabs.
Sozomen
A historian from Gaza who in around 440 published a history of the Church that repeatedly touched on Arab affairs.
Simeon the Elder
The first and most famous of the pillar-topping saints known as stylites.
Simeon the Younger
The most celebrated stylite of the sixth century.
Paul
An Egyptian monk appointed by Justinian to be Bishop of Alexandria.
Zoilus
A Syrian sent by Justinian to replace Paul as Bishop of Alexandria.
Barbarians, Mercenaries and Rebels
Zenobia
Queen of Palmyra and—briefly, following Shapur I’s capture of Valerian—much of the Roman East.
Mavia
Fourth-century Arab queen who briefly emulated Zenobia’s conquests.
Mundhir
Persian attack-dog and King of the Lakhmids.
Arethas
Roman attack-dog and King of the Ghassanids.
Julian
Leader of the Samaritan revolt against Justinian.
Yusuf As’ar Yath’ar
Jewish king of Himyar.
Theoderic
Mustachioed Ostrogothic king of Italy.
Nehemiah
Jewish leader who attempted, after the capture of Jerusalem by the Persians, to rebuild the Temple.
Arculf
A Frankish pilgrim to Jerusalem in the reign of Mu’awiya.
The Arab Empire
Muhammad
The Prophet of Islam.
Abu Bakr (632–4)
According to Muslim tradition, the first of the
Rashidun
—the “rightly guided” Caliphs.
Umar I (634–44)
Warrior leader and mighty ascetic.
Uthman (644–56)
Heir to Umar as leader of the Arab Empire, and the man responsible, according to Islamic tradition, for the compilation of Muhammad’s revelations into a single book. An Umayyad.
Ali (656–61)
Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.
Yazid
Umayyad general who took a leading role in the conquest of Syria.
Mu’awiya (661–80)
Brother of Yazid, governor of Syria, and rival of Ali for control of the Arab Empire.
Yazid I (680–3)
The son and heir of Mu’awiya. Alternately idolised as a man of the people and loathed as a drunken playboy.
Husayn
Muhammad’s youngest and favourite grandson.
Marwan I (684–5)
Uthman’s half-brother: a smooth operator.
Abd al-Malik (685–705)
Marwan’s son: the Arab Empire’s equivalent of Constantine.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr
Venerable Companion of Muhammad, and Abd al-Malik’s principal rival in the second civil war for control of the Arab Empire.
Mus’ab
Brother of Ibn al-Zubayr, who entrusted him with the pacification of Iraq.
Mukhtar
Nicknamed the “Deceiver” by his enemies, he led a revolutionary movement in Iraq against the regime of Ibn al-Zubayr. He owned a holy chair.
Al-Hajjaj
Nicknamed “Little Dog.” Abd al-Malik’s principal and most brilliant lieutenant.
Walid I (705–15)
Son and heir of Abd al-Malik who built the great mosque of Damascus.
Suleiman (715–17)
Son of Abd al-Malik and heir of Walid who sponsored the second siege of Constantinople.
Maslama
Son of Abd al-Malik and commander in charge of the expedition against Constantinople.
Ali ibn Bakkar
Warrior-scholar.
Abu Ishaq
Warrior-scholar.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak
Warrior-scholar.
Umar II (717–20)
Nephew of Abd al-Malik and sufficiently pious to be recognised by subsequent Islamic tradition as an authentic Caliph—the only Umayyad to be granted that honour.
Hisham (724–43)
Last of Abd al-Malik’s sons to become Caliph.
Walid II (743–4)
Abd al-Malik’s great-nephew, and a renowned playboy, whose murder precipitated a third bout of civil war.
Marwan II (744–50)
Last of the Umayyad Caliphs.
Abu Muslim
An enigmatic Abbasid-sponsored rebel who led a revolt in the far east of the Caliphate that culminated in the overthrow of the Umayyads.
Glossary
Abbasids
The second dynasty to rule the Caliphate, after the toppling of the Umayyads in 750.
Ahriman
The evil spirit in Zoroastrianism, opposed to Ohrmazd.
Al-’Uzza