The Fatimids: Portrait of a Dynasty(Dynasties)

The Fatimids (909–1171), one of the most significant and intriguing Islamic dynasties, built an empire that included North Africa, Egypt and parts of Sicily, Syria, Palestine and Arabia. Theirs is the only pre-modern Shi‘i dynasty to have established an independent empire and the only one known by a female’s name, Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter. The Fatimids promoted women to unprecedented positions of authority and visibility in Islamic history. From Cairo – which they founded in 969 – this dynasty fostered cultural and artistic excellence as well as overall tolerance and prosperity across the empire. By blending historical and material sources, personalities and events that defined the Fatimid era are brought to life in this book. Examining their impact within the context of medieval history across Europe, Africa and Asia, the book also tells of the Fatimids’ legacy and influence on contemporary culture worldwide.

About the Author :
Delia Cortese is Senior Research Fellow at Middlesex University, London, and is affiliated to the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. She has published extensively on the Fatimids and medieval Ismailism and her books include Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam (with Simonetta Calderini, 2006).

Review :
Delia Cortese’s book on the origin and history of the Fatimids sheds fresh light on such special aspects as the court life, culture, arts and the role of women and tells the story of the strange regime and sudden disappearance of the enigmatic caliph al-Hakim. A fascinating new view on one of the most dramatic epochs in the history of the Near East. Drawing on a wide array of primary sources and secondary studies, Delia Cortese has produced here a comprehensive and fascinating account of the dynasty of the Ismaili Shi‘i imams who ruled for 262 years as Fatimid caliphs over a flourishing empire. This book traces the evolution of this dynasty, from its origins in 909 to its demise in 1171. Permeated with extensive insights and new interpretations, and written in a highly accessible style with numerous images, this book also covers a number of hitherto relatively unexplored territories, such as the treatment of women under the Fatimids, and pays ample attention to the contributions of the Fatimids to Islamic civilisation. The Fatimids: Portrait of a Dynasty will be of great value to specialists in Fatimid-Ismaili studies as well as students and readers interested in medieval Islamic history in general and this Shi‘i dynasty in particular. Navigating flawlessly through the complex geopolitical narrative that saw a marginal movement of North African Berbers engender the Islamic world’s most intellectually vibrant and enlightened dynasty – one that founded Cairo and at times ruled from Sicily to the Levant – Delia Cortese brings the Fatimid story to life with brilliant descriptions of its surviving physical residue. While grasping the millennial theology that energised the movement, she transcends normative historiography by showing how Fatimid architecture, jewellery, textiles and royal artefacts must have dazzled people living well beyond Egypt and the Mediterranean nearly a millennium ago. Her book is not only a vital contribution to “Islamic” history, but to World history.