Byzantium and Islam : age of transition, 7th-9th century / edited by Helen C. Evans, with Brandie Ratliff.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam : age of transition (7th-9th century), held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, March 14-July 8, 2012.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-319) and index.

Byzantium. Byzantium and Islam : age of transition (7th-9th century) / Helen C. Evans. Gerasa / Lisa R. Brody ; Heraclius / Helen C. Evans ; Classical survival / Helen C. Evans ; Sasanian expansion to the Mediterranean / Alexander Nagel -- Christian communities during the early Islamic centuries / Brandie Ratliff. Sinai from the seventh to the ninth century : continuity in the midst of change / Hieromonk Justin of Sinai ; Icons from the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai / Kathleen Corrigan ; Arab Christians ; Sidney H. Griffith ; The Syriac Church / Nancy Khalek ; Coptic Christianity / Elizabeth S. Bolman ; The White Monastery Federation and the angelic life / Elizabeth S. Bolman ; The Coptic Monastery of Bawit / Dominique Bénazeth ; The Stylites of Syria / Brandie Ratliff ; Mosaics during the Byzantine and early Islamic periods / Robert Schick ; Jews and Judaism between Byzantium and Islam / Steven Fine ; Christian mosaics in early Islamic Jordan and Palestine : a case of regional iconoclasm / Finbarr B. Flood -- Commerce. "Ornaments of excellence" from "the miserable gains of commerce" : luxury art and Byzantine culture / Thelma K. Thomas. Arab-Byzantine coins : money as cultural continuity / Clive Foss ; Weights and measures from Byzantium and Islam / Stefan Heidemann ; Silks / Thelma K. Thomas ; Dress styles from Syria to Libya / Cäcilia Fluck ; Materials and techniques of late antique and early Islamic textiles found in Egypt / Kathrin Colburn ; Animal motifs / Mina Moraitou ; Vine rinceaux / Gabriele Mietke ; Inscribed textiles / Cäcilia Fluck ; Inscribed objects / Robert Schick ; Jewelry : ideologies and transformation / Stephen R. Zwirn ; Women / Mina Moraitou -- Islam. Country estates, material culture, and the celebration of princely life : Islamic art and the secular domain / Anna Ballian. Qasr al-Mshatta / Anna Ballian ; Al-Fudayn / Anna Ballian ; Al-Qastal / Anna Ballian ; An Abbasid residence at al-Humayma / Rebecca M. Foote ; Ornamental motifs in early Islamic art / Mina Moraitou ; Fustat / Iman R. Abdulfattah ; Secular inscriptions / Mina Moraitou -- Faith, religion, and the material culture of early Islam / Finbarr B. Flood. Religious inscriptions in early Islamic art / Linda Komaroff ; The Qur'an / Finbarr B. Flood.

This magnificent volume explores the epochal transformations and unexpected continuities in the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 9th century. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Empire's southern provinces, the vibrant, diverse areas of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, were at the crossroads of exchanges reaching from Spain to China. These regions experienced historic upheavals when their Christian and Jewish communities encountered the emerging Islamic world, and by the 9th century, an unprecedented cross-fertilization of cultures had taken place. This extraordinary age is brought vividly to life in insightful contributions by leading international scholars, accompanied by sumptuous illustrations of the period's most notable arts and artifacts. Resplendent images of authority, religion, and trade--embodied in precious metals, brilliant textiles, fine ivories, elaborate mosaics, manuscripts, and icons, many of them never before published--highlight the dynamic dialogue between the rich array of Byzantine styles and the newly forming Islamic aesthetic. With its masterful exploration of two centuries that would shape the emerging medieval world, this illuminating publication provides a unique interpretation of a period that still resonates today.