Through the accounts and diaries of Saladin’s closest advisers, the mysteries of the period are uncovered. Saladin’s fear at the imminent arrival of Richard and the opening of the Third Crusade, his indecision at the Siege of Acre and his failure to ensure the safe release of 3000 Muslim prisoners all paint a picture of a more complex man. Debunking many of the myths of the Crusades, and showing how the war changed both Saladin and Richard the Lionheart, leading them both to question the massive death toll of the conflict. In Saladin’s last days in Damascus, his spirit sapped by war, and of his last words, a denunciation of blood-shed.
Rafi Lewis - Archaeology of Conflict at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology University of Haifa
Rafi Lewis is an archaeologist who is currently conducting his PhD on the subject of "Archaeology of Conflict" at the Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa. He is currently directing an extensive survey with excavations in the eastern Galilee at the battle site of Hittin (1187). The aim of this study is to apply the approach and methods of “Archaeology of Conflict” to warfare in the Latin East as a whole, and to the decisive stage of the Battle of Hittin in particular. This is the first time a project of this kind has been carried out in Israel. This study incorporates a research model that will eventually facilitate the examination of archaeological evidence from other battlefields in this region.
Since 1998 he has been involved in a number of projects of Landscape and Urban Archaeology, as Field Supervisor, Co-Director and Director. Among them: Emmaus-Motza; the Titura hill in Modi’in; Suba (the "Cave of John the Baptist"); Ain Suba; Christ Church; Hinnom Valley (Aceldama); and Mount Zion. Between the years 2004-2006 Rafi served as an archaeological inspector in the Judean Hills for the Israel Antiquities Authority and carried out archaeological projects at Latrun, Areb as-Sawarche, Fattir and Kefar Uria.He has published a number of scientific articles and has undertaken background research for the final excavation reports of the Mount Zion work conducted in the 1970s.
Carole Hillenbrand - Professor of Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh
Carole Hillenbrand was educated at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. She was appointed Professor of Islamic History in 2000 and served as Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. In 2005 she was awarded the King Faisal Prize for Islamic Studies, 2005 (the first non-Muslim to be awarded this prize). She has been Islamic Advisory Editor at Edinburgh University Press since 1983 and Editor of the series entitled “Studies in Persian and Turkish History”, published by Routledge since 1999. She is Head of Sub-Panel L48 in the Research Assessment Exercise, 2008. She has just been named in the 2009 Queen's New Year's Honours list and is to be awarded an OBE for services to Higher Education.Her research interests include the Seljuqs of Iran and Turkey, the Crusades, medieval Muslim political thought, especially the work of al-Ghazali.
Dr A. R Azzam - Author
Dr Abdul Rahman Azzam obtained his doctorate in Islamic Studies from Oxford University and is the author of several books. His background as an Oxford scholar and a Muslim, with access to both original Arabic and western sources, has given him a uniquely authoritative perspective on Saladin and the Islamic world of the period
Reuven Amitai - Professor for the History of the Muslim Peoples at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Reuven Amitai is Eliahu Elath Professor for the History of the Muslim Peoples at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director there of the Nehemia Levtzion Center for Islamic Studies. He studies and teaches the history of the pre-modern Islamic world, specializing in the following fields: the coming of the Turks and Mongols to the Middle East, Muslim responses to the Crusades, the Mamluk Sultanate, the Ilkhanate (the Mongol state in the Middle East), medieval Palestine, the military history of the pre-modern Muslim world, and conversion to Islam.
Saladin
Under his personal leadership, his forces defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, leading the way to his re-capture of Palestine, which had been seized from the Fatimid Egyptians by the Crusaders 88 years earlier
Richard I (Richard the Lion Heart)
Leader of the crusader forces
Al Adil
Al Adil was an Ayyubid-Egyptian general and ruler of Kurdish descent. From his honorific "Sayf al-Din" (Sword of Faith) he was sometimes known to the Frankish crusaders as "Saphadin".
Saladin was renowned for his knightly virtues which matched those of Richard the Lionheart. When Richard Saladin supplied Richard with delicacies such as fruit. On another occasion, when Richard’s horse was killed in battle, Saladin supplied him a fine Arabian steed.
Saladin was Kurdish and born in Tikrit, Iraq in 1137. In 1174 he became Sultan of Egypt and Syria after the death of his once-mentor Nur ad-Din.
Before Richard could surround the city of Jerusalem Saladin burnt all the crops in the fields outside of the city walls.. Eventually Richard realized that even if he did capture Jerusalem, he would not be able to defend it against Saladin due to a lack of supplies, men and food.
When Saladin died he was near penniless, having donated most of his wealth to charitable causes.
Saladin is reported to have captured a segment of the true cross from Richard the Lion Heart
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