A human history of the oceans, published by penguin in the uk and by oxford university press in the us in october 2019. As the dialog between the mystic and the form proceeds, the reader understands that the form is the image of the mystic himself. The mediterranean in history by david abulafia goodreads. Sefer haot the book of the sign by abraham abulafia. Buy great sea book online at low prices in india great sea. This book applies a similar method to his history of the mediterranean, looking at the people who moved across the open sea, and emphasizing the role of maritime trade in the political, cultural and economic history of humanity.
At the end of 1273 or early abulafia and ecstatic kabbalah 1274 he left spain. Abulafia relates his experiences and visions, some of which are really frightening. Human history, observes professor david abulafia in the introduction to his brilliantly panoramic, witty, wry and erudite book, involves. Abraham abulafias most popular book is abraham abulafia. From what we know of his biography based on his own accounts, and those of outside sources he lived a very unusual life for a kabbalist. A human history of the mediterranean reprint by david abulafia isbn. Abulafia adopted the understanding of prophecy found in the philosophical writings of moses maimonides 15. This is one of the rare autobiographic books in kabbalah. I have not attempted to write what pretends to be a complete or comprehensive history of the oceans, david abulafia states in the preface to the boundless sea. However, initially it is not clear who this form is. Abraham abulafia has 34 books on goodreads with 282 ratings. Yet of course, since the book covers thousands of years, it is necessary to tell the individual stories in capsule fashion while retaining the most important aspects of the history of the region.
Contained in this history of the great sea are the st. Abulafia is a professor at cambridge university who has written other books on similar topics and has done extensive research to launch this long and detailed book. Conversation with david abulafia chicago journal of history. David abulafias new book about the mediterranean sea, the great sea, has everything a major work of history requires. Books by abraham abulafia author of abraham abulafia. Join facebook to connect with marcos abulafia and others you may know. Abraham abulafia describes the experience of seeing a human form many times in his writings. Were my caravel ever to be becalmed, lost in some hot oceanic doldrum, i would hope to have david abulafias grand book on hand, both to remind me of. The book departs from the traditional view of mediterranean history with its emphasis on the influences of physical geography. Abraham abulafia 12401291 is the most important figure in the prophetic kabbalah, and among the most fascinating kabbalists in our historical record. Instead it regards physical context as a staging ground for decisive action with, at center stage, human catalysts at all levels of societyfrom great kings and emperors to the sailors of medieval amalfi to the sephardic jews who were expelled from spain in 1492. Farabi and ibn sina, to the effect that the prophet receives an overflow from, and thereby attains a state of conjunction with, the active intellect, the last of the. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes.