Who Was Muhammad II Fatih?

Cyrus the Great ruled at a rare moment when empires could have chosen domination or cooperation. In this lecture, Dr. Roy traces the rise of the Persian Empire under Cyrus, exploring how conquest, restraint, and an unprecedented vision of tolerance reshaped the ancient world. Dr. ...  Show more

Khalid ibn al-Walid was one of the most formidable military commanders in history, operating at the precise moment when the Roman and Persian empires were exhausted, fragile, and unprepared for what came next. In this lecture, Dr. Roy Casagranda traces Khalid’s rise from opponent ...  Show more

May 1453 saw the siege that would lead to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the culmination of an age-long struggle between Christianity and Islam for control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Ottoman leader Mehmed II had dreamed of possessing the city since he ...

From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, militar ...  Show more

In the 10th century, a succession of Byzantine rulers reversed centuries of strategic policy by embarking on a series of campaigns that dramatically reshaped their empire. This effort and its consequences for the history of the region is the focus of Anthony Kaldellis‘s Streams o ...  Show more

When the capital of the Roman empire was moved from Rome to the city of Constantinople, the city on the Bosporus strait became one of the most important places on planet earth. One top being the heart of Roman religious, political, and cultural life for a millennium, the city had ...  Show more