The Eastern Frontier: Limits of Empire in Late Antique and Early Medieval Central Asia (Early and Medieval Islamic World)

Transoxania, Khurasan, and ?ukharistan – which comprise large parts of today's Central Asia – have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the 'eastern frontier' in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions. Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 8 Abbreviations 9 Maps 10 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 14 Between the Oxus and the Jaxartes 16 Frontiers and the history of the Islamic world 18 The geography of the eastern frontier 22 Even Greater Khurāsān: Sīstān, Gorgān and Ṭabaristān 25 Between the steppe and the sown 26 A brief note on organization and sources 27 Chapter 1: The Gate of Iron: Conceptualizing the Eastern Frontier in Medieval Geographic Literature 30 Ḥadd and Thaghr: Borders and frontiers in late-antique and early-medieval Central Asia 32 Rāsht as frontier zone 34 The Gate of Iron and the Khurāsānī shatterzone 36 Nūshajān at the frontier of ambition 41 Ghūr, Bāmiyān and the frontier process 45 The walled oases of Balkh and Bukhara: The nodal frontier 49 The image of the frontier 53 Chapter 2: Shaping the Eastern Frontier: The Sasanian Empire and Its Eastern Neighbours 56 The organization of the Sasanian Empire 59 Vassal kings and imperial politics in the third century 63 Shifting balances along the Hunnic frontier of the fourth century 67 Pīrūz and the Great Wall of Gorgān: Building the frontier 71 Qubād and the Sasanian–Hephthalite alliance 74 The coming of the Turks and the eastern frontier at the end of the Sasanian Empire 77 Change and continuity along the eastern frontier 82 Chapter 3: The Arab–Muslim Conquests and the Late Antique Imperial Shatterzone 84 The opening of the frontier: Military adventures and the Arab–Muslim conquests 88 Parthian nobility and Sasanian generals on the frontiers of Khurāsān 93 Conflict and cooperation along the Sasanian–Hephthalite frontier 97 The first Arab incursions into Sogdiana 102 The Sasanian dynasty after Yazdgird III 105 The ‘loose-rein’ prefecture and the Tang model of frontier imperialism 107 The Arab–Muslim incursions and the imperial shatterzone 110 Chapter 4: The Frontier beyond the Caliphate: Khurāsān and the Second Fitna 112 The Second Fitna in Khurāsān 114 The Hephthalites and the Second Fitna 118 The rebel kingdom of Termez 119 The autonomous governorships of the eastern frontier 123 Chapter 5: Extending the Frontier: The Umayyads in Sogdiana and Beyond 124 The conquests of Qutayba b. Muslim 127 The rebellion of the Nīzak Ṭarkhān 132 The eastern frontier after Qutayba 135 Divided Arabs and divided Sogdians 137 The rise of the Türgesh and the defensive frontier 144 Conquest and the frontier process 148 Chapter 6: The Unsettled Frontier: The Abbasid and Other Revolutions and the Eastern Frontier 152 The Abbasid Revolution and Umayyad Khurāsān 156 Naṣr b. Sayyār and the breakdown of Umayyad Khurāsān 162 The shaping of the Abbasid frontier 165 Muqannaʿ and the eastern frontier 171 Settling the Abbasid frontier 176 The cycle of revolt 179 Chapter 7: Unifying the Frontier: The Formation of Greater Khurāsān 182 The origins of the Ṭāhirids and the revolt of Rāfīʿ b. Layth 184 The caliph on the frontier and the Ṭāhirid dynasty 188 The Sāmānids and a new frontier elite 192 The frontier as legitimation 196 The Shāhnāma of Abū Manṣūr Maʿmarī 198 Iranians and Turks in the service of the Sāmānids 201 The Shāhnāma and a broken frontier 203 The Qarākhānids and the end of the eastern frontier 205 The formation of Greater Khurāsān 207 Conclusion: At the End of the Frontier 210 Introduction 214 Chapter 1 216 Chapter 2 223 Chapter 3 236 Chapter 4 247 Chapter 5 249 Chapter 6 258 Chapter 7 266 Notes 214 Bibliography 272 Index 295 "Transoxiana, Khurasan, and Tukharistan - which comprise large parts of today's Central Asia - have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the 'eastern frontier' in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions."--Bloomsbury Publishing. "Transoxania, Khurasan, and?ukharistan - which comprise large parts of today's Central Asia - have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the 'eastern frontier' in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions."--Bloomsbury Publishing Transoxania, Khurasan, and Tukharistan – which comprise large parts of today’s Central Asia – have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the ‘eastern frontier’ in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions