Publisher's Synopsis
In the 7th and 8th centuries Islamic armies relied heavily on bedouin recruitment. As a result the nomads grew rich and influential in the desert areas. This book looks at one of the few remaining physical manifestations of that power - Ar-Risha, a newly-discovered settlement in Eastern Jordan. It looks at the site in detail and discusses the light shed by its discovery on the symbiotic state-nomad relationship back to the 4th millenium, as well as on the development of early Islamic architecture. It gives a reassessment of theories on the origins of the bedouin and Arabs, and looks at modern socio-economic parallels in the same area.;The author, Svend Helms, has also written "Jawa - Lost City of the Black Desert".