Lecture
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Tuesday 17.02.2026
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Ottomans vs. Safavids
Tuesday 17.02.2026
How to watch
This lecture starts on 17 February at 5:00pm (UK).
Summary
This presentation focuses on the Gunpowder Empires, with particular emphasis on the Ottoman Empire and the Safavids of Persia, who played a crucial role in reorganizing the Muslim world. Exploring the emergent manifestations of political Islam and the re-emergence of the Sunni-Shiite rivalry presents a complex geopolitical landscape.
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Zvi Ben-Dor Benite teaches Chinese History, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, and sometimes Jewish history, at New York University. He is author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China (Harvard, 2005); The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, 2009); co-editor of Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Culture, and Politics (Brandeis, 2013); The Scaffolding of Sovereignty: Global and Aesthetic Perspectives on the History of a Concept (Columbia University Press, 2017); and Time and Language: New Sinology and Chinese History (Hawaii University Press, 2023).