Monuments Of Afghanistan
History, Archaeology and Architecture
Ball, Warwick
Hardcover
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BOOK SUMMARY
Despite bearing witness to ancient and more recent battles the scarred landscape of Afghanistan is strewn with the monuments to illustrate this rich history: from the recently uncovered Bronze Age Oxus civilization at Dashli in the northern plains, the re
Submit a book reviewBOOK SYNOPSIS
Despite bearing witness to ancient and more recent battles the scarred landscape of Afghanistan is strewn with the monuments to illustrate this rich history: from the recently uncovered Bronze Age Oxus civilization at Dashli in the northern plains, the remains of the Greek civilization of Ai Khanum in the north-east and the spectacular twelfth-century minarets at Jam in the mountains of the west to the magnificent palatial complexes of the eleventh-century Sultans at Lashkar Bazar in the south and what remains of the fifth and seventh-century Buddhist world of Bamiyan in the Hindu Kush (notoriously destroyed by the Taliban in 2001). This book, therefore, fills the need for a general, accessible background to the history and cultural heritage of Afghanistan. It provides broad summaries of the history, architecture and archaeology, together with a gazetteer of the main monuments and archaeological sites. As well as maps and site plans it includes photographs of main monuments.
BOOK EXCERPTS
06
AUTHOR BIO
Warwick Ball, F.S.A., M.I.F.A., is a distinguished writer and archaeologist who has conducted excavations in Afghanistan, Iran, Libya and Ethiopia. From 1972-1981 he worked in Afghanistan under successive regimes from kingdom to Soviet occupation. Between 1981-82 he was Acting Director of the British Institute of Afghan Studies. From 1983-85 he was Architectural Conservator in the Department of Antiquities in Jordan, and then between 1985-88 he served as Director of Excavations and Assistant Director of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. He is now Director of Eastern Approaches, a company organizing tours to central Asia and beyond. He has published numerous books, which include Syria: A Historical and Architectural Guide (1994), Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire (2000) and (with Leonard Harrow) Cairo to Kabul: Afghan and Islamic Studies Presented to Ralph Pinder-Wilson (2002). Rome in the East won the James Henry Breasted Prize for History in 2000, and was Choices Outstanding Academic Book in the same year.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface * List of Plates * List of Drawings * Note on Transliteration * Abbreviations * Introduction * General Background * The Land * The People * The Historical Background * Disruption: From Hunter-gatherer to Settler * Consolidation: Towards Civilisation * Transcendence: First Civilisations of the Bronze Age * Disruption: The Arrival of the Indo-Iranians * Consolidation: The Iron Age Kingdoms * Transcendence: The Persian Empire * Disruption: Alexander of Macedon * Consolidation: Greeks and Indians * Transcendence: The Greaco-Bactrian Kingdom * Disruption: Nomadic Invaders * Consolidation: The Early Kushans * Transcendence: The Kushan Empire and Gandharan Art * Disruption: Huns and Turks * Consolidation: The Turk Kaganate * Transcendence: Last Flowering of Gandharan Art * Disruption: The Arrival of Islam * Consolidation: The First Muslim Dynasties * Transcendence: The Ghaznavid and Ghurid Empires * Disruption: Mongol Invasions * Consolidation: The 'Pax Mongolica' * Transcendence: The Timurid Renaissance * The Architectural Background * Groundwork: Bronze Age Beginnings * Culminating Traditions: Iron Age Development * Convergent Traditions: Hellenism from the West, Buddhism from the East * Greek, Roman, Buddhist: The Art of Gandhara * Formation of the New and Transformation of the Old: The Architecture of Islam * Late Islamic Architecture * The Discovery of Afghanistan * Greeks Bearing Gifts * Pilgrims of the Middle Way * Exotic Imagery and the First Muslims * The European Re-awakening * Arcadia Found: The First Mogul * Soldiers, Charlatans and Scholars * Players in the Great Game * Advance of the Archaeologists * Road to Katmandu and Road to Ruin * Gazetteer of Main Sites and Monuments * Atlas * Glossary * Bibliography
Preface * List of Plates * List of Drawings * Note on Transliteration * Abbreviations * Introduction * General Background * The Land * The People * The Historical Background * Disruption: From Hunter-gatherer to Settler * Consolidation: Towards Civilisation * Transcendence: First Civilisations of the Bronze Age * Disruption: The Arrival of the Indo-Iranians * Consolidation: The Iron Age Kingdoms * Transcendence: The Persian Empire * Disruption: Alexander of Macedon * Consolidation: Greeks and Indians * Transcendence: The Greaco-Bactrian Kingdom * Disruption: Nomadic Invaders * Consolidation: The Early Kushans * Transcendence: The Kushan Empire and Gandharan Art * Disruption: Huns and Turks * Consolidation: The Turk Kaganate * Transcendence: Last Flowering of Gandharan Art * Disruption: The Arrival of Islam * Consolidation: The First Muslim Dynasties * Transcendence: The Ghaznavid and Ghurid Empires * Disruption: Mongol Invasions * Consolidation: The 'Pax Mongolica' * Transcendence: The Timurid Renaissance * The Architectural Background * Groundwork: Bronze Age Beginnings * Culminating Traditions: Iron Age Development * Convergent Traditions: Hellenism from the West, Buddhism from the East * Greek, Roman, Buddhist: The Art of Gandhara * Formation of the New and Transformation of the Old: The Architecture of Islam * Late Islamic Architecture * The Discovery of Afghanistan * Greeks Bearing Gifts * Pilgrims of the Middle Way * Exotic Imagery and the First Muslims * The European Re-awakening * Arcadia Found: The First Mogul * Soldiers, Charlatans and Scholars * Players in the Great Game * Advance of the Archaeologists * Road to Katmandu and Road to Ruin * Gazetteer of Main Sites and Monuments * Atlas * Glossary * Bibliography
BOOK REVIEWS
I recommend this book heartily. Warwick Ball knows Afghanistan better than anyone else I know; he writes well, accessibly and accurately.--Professor Georgina Herrmann, Professor Emerita in Asiatic Archaeology, University College, London.
"There is no-one better equipped than Warwick Ball to chart the monuments and sites of Afghanistan. Not only does he offer his readers a trustworthy and scholarly account, but his already authoritative text is richly augmented by superb colour photographs. Ball covers the entire country and poignantly reveals many sites that have now vanished or been destroyed. The Monuments of Afghanistan is a complete survey of this remarkable land and its legacy. It will delight scholars while also making a sumptious addition to the library of the generalist."-- Richard N. Frye, Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian, Harvard University
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MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 1850434360
ISBN(13-digit): 9781850434368
Dewey Decimal: 725.9409581
Library of Congress: 2008300470
Book Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 298
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