HISTORY CRAFTER - THE REAL AND SIMULATED HISTORY

'Ensemble' (Copyright Salvatore Puleio 2020) PRE-ISLAMIC SOCIETY IN ARABIA: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRIBES   If you wonder how society was structured before the advent of Islam, the answer is simple; the tribe, as a matter of fact, was the horizon guiding people lives. Everyone belonged to one of the many tribes, which were groups, organized around kinship, whose members helped each other. There was no State, and there were no particular institutions which had to keep the order and apply the law; the only safeguard came from the relatives of the same family, who were tasked to protect each other. These were duties each member was supposed to fulfil; in the case this did not happen, the person was regarded as the worst criminal. This kind of action, in fact, could bring disruption to the entire tribe.   It was a very different setting from what we know nowadays, although the tribal belonging still plays a significant role in the Arabian Peninsula still now; in fact, all the male a

ARABIA BEFORE ISLAM   When we think at the Arabian peninsula, we immediately associate it with Islam; Arabia is the cradle of Islam, and this is not only a Religion but a culture as well. Arabic culture and Islam are strictly associated, and it’s difficult to think at one without the other. Nonetheless, there was an Arabia before the advent of Islam, very different from what we know nowadays; it is so far in time that it is practically lost. However, historians can help us to rebuild that world, and, as a matter of fact, there were many religious traditions; among them, one can mention, above all, Christianity and Paganism. Judaism, Zoroastrism, and Manicheism were there as well, but played a secondary role; thus, while we acknowledge their existence, from an historic point of view, we have to focus on the two main groups that played a major role.   Christianity   The importance of Christianity, as a social and religious phenomenon, mainly relies upon its relevance in shaping the late

  A PICTURE OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ FROM AL-TABARI   Who was Al-Tabari?   Al-Tabari was an influential scholar and he was the muslim who compiled a huge work on early Islamic history. He was born in Tabaristan, modern Iran around 839 CE and died in Bagdad, Iraq, in 923 CE. To him, we owe a tafsir too, namely an exegesis of the Quranic verses. Every historian nowadays quote him when it comes to the Islamic early history; his work is really immense and precise and from his account we can have an internal point of view on what happened in the first centuries of the Caliphate. For this reason, I’ll use many volumes, and in particular: - the 5 th  volume, on Sasanids, Byzantines, and Lakmids - the 10 th  volume, on the conquest of Arabia, the Riddah wars, 632-633 CE - the 11 th  volume, on the challenge to the empires (633-635 CE)   As I don’t know Arabic, I’ll use the english translation.   A LETTER OF ABU BAKR AL SIDDIQ TO THE APOSTATES   In the previous post, I gave account of the elect

PERSIAN EMPIRE IN 790'S CE: ZOROASTRIANISM EXPANDS FURTHER IN THE ARABIC PENISULA!!! Welcome back to our adventure with the Persian Empire in Crusader Kings II; Zoroastrians expanded their reach, as you can see in the map below, around 790 CE.   Compared to 756 CE, the changing is significant, as you can see from the picture below. It seems that our politics of conversion is beginning to work, although slowly, as it is reasonable to expect, both in reality and in the simulation as well.   Interestingly, the two Holy Cities of Islam surrendered to Zoroastrianism, and abandoned their former beliefs; let’s see if this event will enrage and encourage the Muslims to get back their lands and restore the Islamic faith.   As you can see, Makkah is no longer Muslim and this is a very powerful blow to the Islamic forces and rulers; there are some provinces that were formerly Zoroastrian and now embraced some heresies in the same religious group. The Sunni tradition, on the other hand, is a m

  Welcome back to our simulation and our alternate history!!! In the previous post about the simulated history, we have considered the period between 654 CE and 693 CE. Now it’s time to have a look at the VIII  century, to see how things evolved; well, our Emperor, as you can see from the image below, is Keyghobad, known as ‘The Wise’, who began to rule at the end of 753 CE.   Our timeline, as is evident in the picture above, has evolved a lot, and new emperors came to power; in particular, the current one is the 9 th  descendant of the founder of our dynasty, the Samanids. In fact, as far as the simulation is concerned, the first half of VIII  century proved very dynamic, although the succession has been regular and undisputed so far. As a matter of fact, there have been no major disruptions and revolts, and no one challenged the rightful heir to the throne.   The map has not changed, and we hold the same territories as shown at the end of the VII  century; the historical map was very

(COPYRIGHT: THOMAS COLE/PUBLIC DOMAIN) La sorte dell’Impero Romano d’Occidente nel Quinto Secolo E.V.   Gli storici solitamente indicano il 476 dell’E.V. come l’anno in cui cade l’Impero Romano d’Occidente ed inizia l’era nota come ‘Medio-Evo’; una tale narrazione, tuttavia, sottende una concezione della storia errata. In effetti, sembrerebbe che nella storia succedano eventi improvvisi, che farebbero da spartiacque ad un ‘prima’ ed un ‘dopo’. Anche se il 476 E.V. rimane una data importante, essa, nondimeno, è frutto di una scelta arbitraria; effettivamente, l’evento che si consuma nel corso dell’anno in menzione non è accaduto ex abrupto . Al contrario, come sempre succede con gli eventi storici, si tratta di processi molto lunghi che esplicano i loro risultati nel corso del tempo, ed il 476 dell’E.V. non fa certamente eccezione. Nel quinto secolo dell’Era Volgare, in realtà, si sta consumando un processo storico molto importante, ovvero la fine dell’antichità; per questa ragione, si