Enclosed beyond Alexander’s Barrier On the Comparative Study of ʿAbbāsid Culture

Abstract

This is a review article of Gog and Magog in Early Christian and Islamic Sources: Sallam’s Quest for Alexander’s Wall. By Emeri van Donzel and Andrea Schmidt. Brill’s Inner Asian Library, vol. 22. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Pp. xx + 271. $147; and Mapping Frontiers across Medieval Islam: Geography, Translation and the ‘Abbāsid Empire. By Travis Zadeh. Library of Middle East History, vol. 27. London: i. B. tauris, 2011. Pp. xiv + 316. £59.50, $99.