A comparative analysis of Byzantine, Sasanian and Muslim armies and their impact on state resources. Contributions discuss the organization and financing of the army in the late Roman state, the transformations and continuities of the late Sasanid state and with authority and armies in the early Muslim state. Thus, the volume brings together perspectives from neighbouring fields, presents military issues in an intercultural manner and assembles important pieces of knowledge in a comprehensive manner. 1. Jean-Michel Carrie, L'Etat a la recherche de nouveaux modes de financement des armees (Rome et Byzance, IVe-VIIIe siecles) 2. Michael Whitby, Recruitment in Roman Armies from Justinian to Heraclius (ca. 565-615) 3. Benjamin Isaac, The Army in the Late Roman East: the Persian Wars and the Defence of the Byzantine Provinces 4. James Howard-Johnston, The Two Great Powers in Late Antiquity: a Comparison 5. Zeev Rubin, The Reforms of Khusro Anushirwān 6. Ella Landau-Tasseron, Features of the Pre-Conquest Muslim Armies in the Time of Muhammad 7. Fred McGraw Donner, Centralized Authority and Military Autonomy in the Early Islamic Conquests 8. Hugh Kennedy, The Financing of the Military in the Early Islamic State 9. John Haldon, Seventh-Century Continuities: the Ajnād and the "Thematic Myth" 10. Ralph-Johannes Lilie, Zum Einflua der arabischen Expansion auf die byzantinische Militarorganisation "Interdisciplinary enterprises such as [this] volume ... are to be applauded for getting us down to earth." (Patricia Crone)