The Agricultural Landscape of the Umayyad North and the Islamic-Byzantine Frontier
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- A. Asa Eger, Full Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: The Islamic-Byzantine frontier has become the centre of scholarly attention and, as a result,redefined. Recent archaeological and textual work on the ?ugur or Islamic-Byzantine frontier,supports the presence of settlements, communities, and people traversing back and forth andrefute the notion of a »no-man’s land«. However, textual evidence, mainly from Abbasid periodsources, largely dates these activities from the mid-eighth to tenth centuries 1. Evidence fromarchaeological surveys and excavations also supports more intensive settlement in the eighth totenth centuries. Nevertheless, the idea of an unsettled frontier, as a default, should not necessarilyinclude the period from the mid-seventh to mid-eighth centuries, implying an initial century offrontier fighting over a depopulated no-man’s land. Focusing on the initial settlement of thefrontier bears important implications for understanding the relationships between locals andbetween locals and the Umayyad ruling elite. This paper will utilize results from surveys andexcavation combined with textual evidence from Greek, Arabic, and Syriac sources to closelyexamine the nature of settlement and social organization in the newly-acquired Islamic lands ofthe ?ugur in the seventh and eighth centuries. During this century, the Umayyad state and local,predominately Miaphysite Syriac-speaking Christian communities, both autonomously and incooperation, developed key agricultural settlements alongside irrigation systems on the frontier.
The Agricultural Landscape of the Umayyad North and the Islamic-Byzantine Frontier
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Created on 1/25/2023
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Ambassadors, Artists, and Theologians: Byzantine Relations with the Near East from the Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries
- Language: English
- Date: 2018
- Keywords
- agriculture, agricultural landscape, archaeology, excavations, Islamic-Byzantine