The Fatimids

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. * Heinz Halm, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Tübingen and author of The Shiʿites: A Short History * 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. * Farhad Daftary, Governor and Director Emeritus, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, and author of The Ismaili Imams * 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. * Malise Ruthven, author of Islam in the World and Unholy Kingdom: Religion, Corruption and Violence in Saudi Arabia *