In the Shadow of the Sword: The Battle for Global Empire and the End of the Ancient World

In the sixth century AD, the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years later, one had vanished forever, while the other was left as a dismembered, bleeding trunk. In their place, a completely new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world. But the changes that marked this period were more than merely political or cultural; they represented a total transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future.

Today, over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during these last centuries of antiquity. Wherever people are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age. As Tom Holland brilliantly demonstrates, much of what Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe about the origins of their faiths remains deeply open to debate. This book explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a revolutionary understanding of the divine, delivering a history vivid with drama, horror, and startling achievement.