Quraysh, 1.1, 1.2*, 1.3, 1.4, 6.1, 6.2; as guardians of Ka’ba, 1.5; Umayyad dynasty, 1.6, 6.3; absence of in Roman registers, 6.4; derivation of name, 6.5, 6.6; doubts over Mecca as city of origin, 6.7; Abbasid dynasty, 7.1
rabbis, 1.1, 2.1; talmud (written record of learning), 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1; assume leadership role in Mesopotamia, 2.5, 3.2, 3.3; disagree on definitions of Jewishness, 3.4; refusal to engage with minim, 3.5, 3.6; rabbi-bishop “sibling rivalry”, 3.7; Moses as ultimate rabbi, 4.4; in Palestine, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7; Galilee as stronghold of, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10; converts to Islam, 7.2
Rahman, Fazlur, 1.1, 1.2
Rav Yehudai (rabbi), 7.1, 7.2
Ravenna, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
relics, Christian, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7; True Cross, 4.8, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1
Renan, Ernest, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Roman Empire, Eastern, New (Constantinople): pacification of Himyar, 1.1, 1.2, 4.1, 5.1; Arab conquest of former provinces, 1.3, 5.2; conflict with Persian Empire, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1, 6.2; founding of, 3.4; fall of western empire and, 3.5; subsidies/tribute to Persia, 3.6; frontier policy, 3.7, 3.8, 4.2, 4.3, 5.5, 6.3; re-militarisation of Persian frontier, 3.9, 3.10; Kavad’s embassies to Constantinople, 3.11, 3.12; imperial bureaucracy, 3.13, 3.14; Justinian’s codification of laws, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18; victory at Dara (530), 3.19, 5.6; Persian frontier, 3.20; Christian Church and, 3.21, 4.4, 4.5, 5.7, 5.8; Julian reasserts paganism, 3.22, 4.6; splits in Church after Chalcedon, 3.23; use of Temple Mount to humiliate Jews, 4.7; definitions of Jewishness (Ioudaismos), 4.8; regulation of empire’s Jews, 4.9; Samaritan revolts and (484-529), 4.10, 4.11; foederati (Barbarian mercenaries), 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 5.9, 5.10, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9; “Saracens” term for Arabs, 4.15, 6.10; Arab settlements, 4.16; Justinian-Khusrow peace treaty (532), 4.17, 5.11, 5.12; Mundhir’s activities and, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20; spread of Christianity to east and south, 5.13; map of in Justinian’s reign, 5.14; Christianity in lost western regions, 5.15; rule in former western provinces, 5.16; Justinian’s campaigns in west, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19; Khusrow’s invasion of (540), 5.20; plague epidemic (from 541), 5.21, 5.22, 5.23, 5.24, 5.25, 5.26, 5.27; economic effects of plague epidemic, 5.28, 5.29; harbingers of the End Days (mid-sixth century), 5.30; invaded by barbarian army (559), 5.31; nomads outnumber locals after plague, 5.32; Ghassanids as shields of Christian empire, 5.33, 6.11; weakness on southern frontiers, 5.34; frontier with Persia as supreme priority, 5.35; Maurice’s backing of Khusrow II, 5.36; Maurice cuts army pay, 5.37; Phocas overthows Maurice (602), 5.38, 5.39; Khusrow II invades (603-15), 5.40, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16; marks of ruin after Persian invasion, 5.41; compulsory baptism of Jews and Samaritans decreed (632), 5.42, 6.17, 6.18; Muhammad’s familiarity with, 6.19; rejection of Manichaeism, 6.20; Saracen invasion of Holy Land/Syria (634-6), 6.21, 6.22; Arab foederati revolt (582), 6.23; Saracen victory at the Yarmuk, 6.24, 6.25; spectacular violence in name of God, 6.26; loss of Alexandria (642), 6.27; Abd al-Malik pays tribute to, 7.1, 7.2; Cilicia as cordon sanitaire, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5; decay and impoverishment of, 7.6, 7.7; impregnable orthodoxy of shrunken empire, 7.8; victory at Acroinum (740), 7.9, 7.10; Haroun al-Rashid’s campaign against (806), bm1.1; see also Constantinople
Roman Empire: veneer of indestructibility, 1.1; legal system, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4; loss of western half of, 1.3, 1.4, 3.5, 3.6, 5.1, 5.2; conversion to Christianity, 1.5, 2.1, 3.7, 3.8, 6.1; Caliphate built on foundations of, 1.6; in Muslim histories, 1.7; Hephthalite mercenaries threaten, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4; Persian frontier, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.9; subsidies/tribute to Persia, 2.8, 2.9; Ctesiphon as target for, 2.10; de-militarisation of Persian border, 2.11; Kavad’s campaign against, 2.12, 3.10, bm1.1; rule of Jerusalem, 2.13; rise and expansion of, 3.11; feelings of inferiority in the East, 3.12; maps of, 3.13, 3.14; conquests in the West, 3.15; paganism in, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21; cultural inferiority to Greeks, 3.22; free men granted citizenship, 3.23; as bringer of peace, 3.24; golden age, 3.25; barbarians in northern reaches, 3.26, 3.27; foederati (Barbarian mercenaries), 3.28, 3.29, 4.1, 5.3; frontier policy, 3.30; threat from Goths, 3.31, 3.32, 3.33; expulsion from Mesopotamia, 3.34, 3.35; conflict with Persian Empire, 3.36; Valerian captured by Shapur, 3.37, 3.38, 4.2; hauling back from the brink (third century), 3.39; fiscal revolution in, 3.40; founding of Constantinople, 3.41; development of Dara (from 505), 3.42; incursion into Mesopotamia (504), 3.43; role of violence in, 3.44; rebuilding of Dara, 3.45; hostility to Judaism, 3.46; judicial murders of Christians, 3.47; full-scale persecution of Christians, 3.48, 3.49; Jerusalem as possession of, 4.3; naming of Holy Land as “Palestine”, 4.4; Arabs kingdoms, 4.5; Arab foederati, 4.6, 4.7; employment of barbarians, 4.8, 4.9, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4; castra (camps of frontier system), 4.10; strata (paved roads), 4.11, 6.5, 6.6; retaking of Rome (536), 5.4; cataloguing of Arabian tribes, 6.7; slavery in, 7.1, 7.2
Rome: the supernatural and, 3.1, 3.2; origins in Troy, 3.3, 3.4; the Palladium and, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7; millennium celebrated in (248 AD), 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 4.1; history of civil bloodshed in, 3.11, 3.12; coup (244), 3.13; relations with Constantinople, 3.14; fall of to Goths, 3.15; Circus Maximus, 3.16; Belisarius retakes for empire (536), 5.1; siege of (537-8), 5.2; effects of Justinian’s “victory” in, 5.3
Romulus, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Rushdie, Salman
“Sabaeans” (people featured in Qur’an), 6.1, 7.1
Samaritans, 1.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
Sarah (wife of Abraham), 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
Sasan, House of (Persian dynasty), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 3.1; Mesopotamia as “jewel in crown”, 2.9, 2.10; Ctesiphon as cockpit of, 2.11; Khusrow becomes king, 2.12; Veh-Ardashir as first capital city, 2.13, 2.14; Jewish “exilarch” in, 2.15, 2.16, 2.17; toleration of Jews, 2.18, 2.19; crumbling of Jewish compact, 2.20; Peroz’s persecution of Jews, 2.21, 2.22; Valerian captured by Shapur, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1; implications for Arabs of rise of, 4.2; deposition of Hormizd, 5.1; Shahrbaraz betrayal of, 5.2; Sasanian-Parthian civil war (630), 5.3; collapse of, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1; founding of, bm1.1
Schacht, Joseph, 1.1, 1.2
scientific enquiry, 1.1, 1.2
Seleucia (Babylon), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1
Serapis (god)
Sergius (Roman patrician), 6.1, 6.2
Shahrbaraz (Mihranid warlord), 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
Shapur I (King of Persia), 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 6.1
Sheba, 4.1, 4.2
Sicily, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3
Simeon of Antioch, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 6.1, 7.1
Simeon the “stylite”, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
Simon Peter, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3
Slavs (nomadic tribes), 5.1, 5.2
social justice, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 5.1, 7.1
Sodom and Gomorrah, 4.1, 6.1
Sogdians
Solomon, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Sozomen (scholar), 4.1, 5.1, 6.1
Spain, 1.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.1
Sri Lanka (Taprobane)
stylites, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 7.1, 7.2
Sukhra (head of the Karin)
Suleiman, Caliph, 7.1, 7.2
Sunna (body of laws): origin in hadiths, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3; compilers’ suspicion of Caliphate, 1.4, bm1.1; length of time taken over, 1.5; doubts over authenticity, 1.6; traditional version of origins, 1.7; as binding force, 4.1; authentication of, 7.1; school of Islamic law at Kufa, 7.2, 7.3, bm1.2; influence of Torah on, 7.4; Medina as origin of, 7.5; warrior-scholars, 7.6