The Islamic-Byzantine border in history : from the rise of Islam to the end of the crusades

"One of the most formative areas and periods of historical inquiry, across the fields of Mediterranean history, Byzantine history, Islamic history and the history of Muslim-Christian relations, is the long warfare between the Islamic and Christian worlds in the period that began with the Islamic conquests of the formerly Byzantine lands of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 630s CE and ended with the closing of the Crusades in the Levant c.1300 CE. This cross-disciplinary book offers a broad spectrum of essays on important aspects of the political, social, religious and historical importance of the Islamic-Byzantine border between 630-c.1300CE, and in particular on the manifold ways in which the Islamic-Byzantine border affected the internal development and culture of each of the two civilisations. The chapters are written by twelve of the leading scholars in the field, including experts on both the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world, and explore developments ranging from anti-government riots and dynastic revolutions to the border's influence on religious law, apocalyptic literature, population policy and heroic culture."--Publisher's website The Islamic-Byzantine Border in History From the Rise of Islam to the End of the Crusades 1 The Islamic-Byzantine Border in History From the Rise of Islam to the End of the Crusades 2 CONTENTS 6 ILLUSTRATIONS 8 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 14 INTRODUCTION 16 1 THE HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ISLAMIC–BYZANTINE BORDER: FROM THE SEVENTH CENTURY TO 1291 26 2 THE BYZANTINE–MUSLIM FRONTIER FROM THE ARAB CONQUESTS TO THE ARRIVAL OF THE SELJUK TURKS 48 3 THE FORMATION OF AL-ʿAWĀṢIM 86 4 CAUCASIAN ELITES BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE CALIPHATE IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD 93 5 BYZANTINE BORDERS WERE STATE ARTEFACTS, NOT ‘FLUID ZONES OF INTERACTION’ 115 6 A CHRISTIAN INSURGENCY IN ISLAMIC SYRIA: THE JARĀJIMA (MARDAITES) BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE CALIPHATE 140 7 THE CHARACTER OF UMAYYAD ART: THE MEDITERRANEAN TRADITION 181 8 BYZANTINE HEROES AND SAINTS OF THE ARAB–BYZANTINE BORDER (NINTH–TENTH CENTURIES) 219 9 A COSMOPOLITAN FRONTIER STATE: THE MARWĀNIDS OF DIYĀR BAKR, 990–1085, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF POWER 241 10 BYZANTINE POPULATION POLICY IN THE EASTERN BORDERLAND BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE CALIPHATE FROM THE SEVENTH TO THE TWELFTH CENTURIES 258 11 THE ISLAMIC–BYZANTINE FRONTIER IN SELJUQ ANATOLIA 280 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 306 INDEX 326