A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, June 23, 2014

Juan Cole reminds us of the Zangids

The medieval historian in me is delighted to see Juan Cole evoking the Zangids to discuss Iraq and Syria: ‘"Neo-Zangid State erases Syria-Iraq Border, cuts Hizbullah off from Iran."

He particularly notes that during the rule of ‘Imad al-Din Zangi (d. 1146 AD), who controlled northern Syria and Iraq but never held Damascus or Baghdad. (His son Nur al-Din took Damascus, but eventually was supplanted by Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (Saladin).

4 comments:

Brian Ulrich said...

A fellow medievalist! You apparently aren't anymore, but was it you studied?

Michael Collins Dunn said...

Doctoral dissertation was on Egypt under the Abbasid governors, but most of my career was spent dealing with the modern Middle East.

Brian Ulrich said...

If older history is still an interest, you should check out http://lostislamichistory.com, which has some good stuff. I also post about history some at my place (http://bjulrich.blogspot.com), but have been unsure of a good model since my ideas are either so broad I'm afraid of quickly running out of material or so narrow they depend on single books or articles. I have just been inspired by the post series approach of Bart Ehrman's blog, though, so I'll probably be trying that.

Michael Collins Dunn said...

Thanks. It will always be an interest, and I may link to these.