Introduction: A day in the life of Damascus -- Palimpsests in stone and layered texts: the multiple histories of the Umayyad Mosque -- Tangled memories: the temple, church, and first mosque -- The ...

The first empire, after the four caliphs who succeeded Mohammed, was the Umayyad Empire (661-750), which had its capital in Damascus, a Byzantine city. At the start, the Muslim conquerors were in ...

In northern Jordan, along a wadi once called the Golden River, the ancient city of Jerash sits uneasily alongside its modern namesake. With its columned temples, Roman forum, and other monuments, it's ...

Borrowing the model of the palimpsest, George’s The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus: Art, Faith and Empire in Early Islam takes the reader on a vivid tour of the renowned mosque’s history, meaning, and ...

The history of caliphates in the Muslim community has been vast, but the groups have never provided solutions to Muslim politics, according to Douglas Streusand, a professor of international relations ...