The impetus for writing this book was my interest in two topics that have long troubled me: first, the Hellenization of the eastern Mediterranean in antiquity, and second, the prolonged confrontation between the two heirs of the semi-Hellenized eastern Mediterranean - namely, Byzantine society and Islamic society.

The decline of Byzantine Hellenism and the phenomenon of the Islamization of Asia Minor from the 11th to the end of the 15th century focus on this region and during this time when the two processes followed a converging path for the last time.

It may have been excessively bold for me to undertake the investigation of this topic, which covers a vast geographical and temporal range and necessitates knowledge from three different specialized historians (the Byzantinist, the Islamicist, and the Turkologist).

Now that this work has been completed, the words that Helmut Ritter shared with me in a restaurant in Istanbul in 1959, which at the time seemed to me a challenge, take on a different meaning. This renowned orientalist simply and calmly told me that it was impossible for anyone to write the history of this great cultural transformation.