Antarah ibn Shaddad

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the woman who, as a child bride, became mother to the boy who would eventually become the first king in the Tudor dynasty. Lady Margaret Beaufort (c1443-1509) was twelve when she married Edmund Tudor, half his age, and gave birth to their son Henry ...  Show more

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exchange of cultures and biology across the Atlantic and Pacific after 1492. That was when Columbus reached the Bahamas, a time when Europe had no potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers or, arguably, syphilis in its most virulent form; the Americas had ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mamluks, who ruled Egypt and Syria from about 1250 to 1517. Originally slave soldiers who managed to depose their masters, they went on to repel the Mongols and the Crusaders to become the dominant force in the medieval Islamic Middle Easte ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Arab philosopher al-Kindi. Born in the early ninth century, al-Kindi was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and supervised the translation of many works by Aristotle and others into Arabic. The author of more than 2 ...  Show more

ورث السّيادة والشّرف عن أبيه، فقِيل إنّه تزعّم قومه وهو ابن خمسة عشر عاماً. أبوه كُلثوم بن مالك، مِن أسياد بني تغلِب، أقوى القبائل العربية. أمّا أمّه فهي ليلى بنت المُهلهِل صاحبة الحسَب والنّسَب، وهذا ما جعله ينشأ على الفخر والاعتزاز بأصله ونسَبه، عاش عُمراً طويلاً أمضاه في شر ...