The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier

A. Asa Eger is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in the US.

The retreat of the Byzantine army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring motif: that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested border: the annual raids between the two, the line of fortified fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man's land in between and the birth of jihad. In their early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future 'clash of civilizations' that often envisions a polarised world. A. Asa Eger examines the two aspects of this frontier: its physical and ideological ones. By highlighting the archaeological study of the real and material frontier, as well as acknowledging its ideological military and religious implications, he offers a more complex vision of this dividing line than has been traditionally disseminated. With analysis grounded in archaeological evidence as well the relevant historical texts, Eger brings together a nuanced exploration of this vital element of medieval history.

The retreat of the Byzantine army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring motif: that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested border: the annual raids between the two, the line of fortified fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man's land in between and the birth of jihad. In their early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future 'clash of civilizations' that often envisions a polarised world. A. Asa Eger examines the two aspects of this frontier: its physical and ideological ones. By highlighting the archaeological study of the real and material frontier, as well as acknowledging its ideological military and religious implications, he offers a more complex vision of this dividing line than has been traditionally disseminated. With analysis grounded in archaeological evidence as well the relevant historical texts, Eger brings together a nuanced exploration of this vital element of medieval history.

Introduction: Islamic Frontiers Real and ImaginedPart I: The Syro-Anatolian ThughurChapter 1: The Central Thughur: The Two AmuqsChapter 3: The Central Thughur: The Steppe and the RiverChapter 3: The Eastern ThughurChapter 4: The Jazira (Balikh and Khabur River Valleys)Chapter 5: The Western Thughur: Crossroads of CiliciaPart II: Hydraulic Villages and Fortified Castles: A Narrative of SettlementChapter 6: Upland Settlements in the Late Roman Period (Fourth to Seventh Centuries)Chapter 7: Hydraulic Villages in the Early Islamic Period (Seventh to Tenth Centuries)Chapter 8: Pastoralism on the Byzantine Frontier (Seventh to Tenth Centuries)Chapter 9: Fortified Castles of the Middle Islamic/Byzantine Period (Tenth to Fourteenth Centuries)Chapter 10: Frontier or Frontiers: Social and Environmental InteractionsConclusion: Dismantling and Rebuilding the Frontier