check
Prof. Michal Biran | Department of Asian Studies

Prof. Michal Biran

Contact

Prof. Michal Biran
Email: michal.biran1@mail.huji.ac.il 

Personal website: Click Here


Phone: 02-5883460

Joint Research

Prof. Michal Biran's the project seeks to explain why, how, when and to where people, ideas and artifacts moved in Mongol Eurasia, and what were the outcomes of these huge movements. Studying the Mongol Empire in its full Eurasian context, the project combines a world history perspective with close reading in a huge array of primary sources in various languages

MB

(mainly Persian, Arabic and Chinese) and different historiographical traditions, and classifies the acquired information into a sophisticated prosopographical database, which records the individuals acting under Mongol rule in the 13th and 14th centuries. On the basis of this unique corpus, the project maps and analyzes mobility patterns, and the far-reaching effects that this mobility generated. More specifically, it analyzes modes of migrations in Mongol Eurasia; reconstructs the religious, scientific and commercial networks active both within and beyond the empire‘s frontiers; and scrutinizes the imperial institutions through the persons who manned them. 

For details see http://mongol.huji.ac.il/

 


 

 

Micha Biran Research

 

2017

 

Biran, Michal, ed. In the Service of the Khans: Elites in Transition in Mongol Eurasia, Asiatische
Studien 71.4 (2017),1051-1245; 194pp.

The Mongol empire (1206–1368) caused massive transformations in
the composition and functioning of elites across Eurasia. While the Mongols
themselves obviously became the new Eurasian elite, their small number as
compared to the huge territory over which they ruled and their initial inexperience
in administrating sedentary realms meant that many of their subjects
also became part of the new multi-ethnic imperial elite. Mongol preferences,
and the high level of mobility—both spatial and social—that accompanied
Mongol conquests and rule, dramatically changed the characteristics of elites
in both China and the Muslim world: While noble birth could be instrumental
in improving one’s status, early surrender to Chinggis Khan; membership in
the Mongol imperial guards (keshig); and especially, qualifications—such as
excellence in warfare, administration, writing in Mongolian script or astronomy
to name but a few—became the main ways to enter elite circles. The
present volume translates and analyzes biographies of ten members of this
new elite—from princes through generals, administrators, and vassal kings, to
scientists and artists; including Mongols, Koreans, Chinese and Muslims—
studied by researchers working at the project “Mobility, Empire and Cross
Cultural Contacts in Mongol Eurasia” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The annotated biographies assembled here not only add new primary sources
—translated from Chinese, Persian and Arabic—to the study of the Mongol
Empire. They also provide important insights into the social history of the
period, illuminating issues such as acculturation (of both the Mongols and
their subjects), Islamization, family relations, ethnicity, imperial administration,
and scientific exchange.
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/asia/71/4/html

 

2019


1. Kowner, Rotem,, Guy Bar-Oz, Michal Biran, Meir Shahar and Gideon Shelach. Animals
and Human Society in Asia: Historical, Cultural and Ethical Perspectives. Palgrave
Macmillan, 2019. Xviii+433 pp.


This book offers a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of human-animal
interactions in Asia throughout history. With twelve thematically-arranged chapters, it
examines the diverse roles that beasts, livestock, and fish ― real and metaphorical--have
played in Asian history, society, and culture.
Ranging from prehistory to the present day, the authors address a wealth of topics including
the domestication of animals, dietary practices and sacrifice, hunting, the use of animals in
war, and the representation of animals in literature and art. Providing a unique perspective
on human interaction with the environment, this volume is cross-disciplinary in its reach,
offering enriching insights to the fields of animal ethics, Asian studies, world history and
more.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-24363-0

2. Biran, Michal, ed. 2019. Mobility, Transformation and Cultural Exchange in Mongol
Eurasia. JESHO 62/2-3. 267pp.

The Mongol Empire is as an early example of the transformative role of mobility,
celebrated in the contemporary social sciences. The only way in which the Mongols
who by the time of Chinggis Khan numbered less than a million nomads, were able to
create and rule their huge empire was by fully mobilizing the resources—both human
and material—from the regions under their control. This high measure of mobility
fostered robust cross-cultural exchanges in various fields, resulting in a huge
expansion of knowledge and connectivity, cultural relativism, and a common imperial
culture—political, material, institutional—with regional variants. These developments
set the stage for major transformations in world history. The various case studies in
this double special issue- by Hodong Kim, Sheila Blair, Peter Jackson, Qiao Yang,
Yashuhiro Yokkaichi, David Robinson and Michal Biran tackle various case-studies of
mobility and transformation while looking at the Mongol Empire in Eurasian
perspective, and highlighting the impact of the Mongols’ indigenous culture on the
proto-global world of the 13th and 14th centuries.

https://brill.com/view/journals/jesh/62/2-3/jesh.62.issue-2-3.xml

3. Biran, Michal. Cengiz Han, trans. Ahmet Fethi Yildirim. Istanbul: VakifBank Kultur yayinlari,
2019.


This is the Turkish translation of Biran’s Chinggis Khan 2007 (2013)..
Sadece Moğolların ve Orta Asya'nın değil, başta Çin ve İslam dünyası gelmek üzere, bütün
tarihin seyrini etkilemiş bir isim Cengiz Han. Yirmi yıllık bir mücadeleyle, tarihin en geniş
topraklarına hükmeden imparatorluklarından birini kuran ve İslam dünyasının 13. yüzyılda büyük
bir fetret devri yaşamasına yol açan bu sıradışı adamın hayatı hakkında hala çok az şey
biliyoruz.
Ortaçağ Moğol tarihi uzmanı Michal Biran bu kitabıyla, Cengiz Han'ın Asya ve İslam dünyası
üzerinde hem yıkıcı hem de yapıcı etkileri olduğunu göstermeyi amaçlıyor. Bir yandan kitlesel
katliamlar, yıkım ve yağmacılıkla anılan Cengiz'in, bir yandan da Orta Asya Türk-İslam
medeniyeti başta gelmek üzere büyük bir kültürel, siyasi, idari miras bıraktığını anlatıyor.
Cengiz Han'ın olağanüstü yaşam öyküsünü, onun çocukluğundan liderliğini kabul ettirişine,
fetihlerinden siyasi mirasına varıncaya kadar pek çok yönüyle anlatan bu kitap, tarihin hala en
çok merak uyandıran isimlerinden birine büyüleyici bir bakış.

https://www.amazon.com/Cengiz-Han-Turkish-Michal-Biran/dp/6057947401

 

2020


4. Biran, Michal, Jonathan Brack and Francesca Fiaschetti, eds. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol
Eurasia: Generals, Merchants, Intellectuals. Berkely: University of California Press, 2020]

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest
contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet,
and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled
people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk
Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people—military
commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to
the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple
languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching
transformations.

https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298750/along-the-silk-roads-in-mongo...

 

2021

 

5. Pines Yuri, Michal Biran and Jörg Rüpke, eds. The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires
Compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.


All major continental empires proclaimed their desire to rule 'the entire world' investing considerable
human and material resources in expanding their territory. Each, however, eventually had to stop
expansion and come to terms with a shift to defensive strategy. This volume explores the factors that
facilitated Eurasian empires 'expansion and contraction: from ideology to ecology, economic and
military considerations to changing composition of the imperial elites. Built around a common set of
questions, a team of leading specialists systematically compare a broad set of Eurasian empires - from
Achaemenid Iran, the Romans, Qin and Han China, via the Caliphate, the Byzantines and the
Mongols to the Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals, Russians, and Ming and Qing China. The result is a
state-of-the art analysis of the major imperial enterprises in Eurasian history from antiquity to the
early modern that discerns both commonalities and differences in the empires' spatial trajectories.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/limits-of-universal-rule/16E32FBD5C...

6. Michal Biran, Jonathan Brack and Francesca Fiaschetti, eds. 몽골제국, 실크로드의 개척자들:
장군, 상인, 지식인 Mongol jegug, Silk Road-eui gaecheokja deul: janggun, sang’in, jisik in... Tr.
Yi Jaehwang. Seoul: Chaekgwa hamggye (Cum Libro), 2021.[ Korean Translation of Along the
Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia: Generals, Merchants, Intellectuals. Berkely: University of
California Press, 2020]


During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest
contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet,
and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled
people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk
Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people—military
commanders, merchants, and intellectuals—from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to
the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple
languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/1289191328
https://product.kyobobook.co.kr/detail/S000001951255

 

2021

7. Etan Kolberg and Michal Biran, eds. Studies in Arabic and Islam for Yohanan Friedman on his 80 th
Birthday. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2021. [Hebrew]
איתן קולברג ומיכל בירן, עורכים. עיונים בערבית ובאסלאם. ירושלים: האקדמיה למדעים, תשפ"א.


https://academy.ac.il/Shop/Entry.aspx?nodeId=993&entryId=22503

The proceedings of a Symposium that took place at the Israel Academy of Sciences and
Humanities in honor of Professor Yohanan Friedman on the occasion of his 80 birthday. The six articles
discuss a variety of Islamic-related subjects from the inscriptions of the Dome of the Rock via Islamic
law, art history and Arabic philology to the Islamic polemic against ISIS. The book also includes an
introduction to Prof. Friedman’s research and his comments.

 

  • Mongol Riders