Table of Contents

Introduction: Islamic Frontiers Real and Imagined Part I: The Syro-Anatolian Thughur Chapter 1: The Central Thughur: The Two Amuqs Chapter 3: The Central Thughur: The Steppe and the River Chapter 3: The Eastern Thughur Chapter 4: The Jazira (Balikh and Khabur River Valleys) Chapter 5: The Western Thughur: Crossroads of Cilicia Part II: Hydraulic Villages and Fortified Castles: A Narrative of Settlement Chapter 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 Interactions Conclusion: Dismantling and Rebuilding the Frontier

Promotional Information

Eger 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.

About the Author

A. Asa Eger is Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He holds a PhD in Islamic Archaeology from the University of Chicago.

Reviews

This is a long-awaited and much-needed contribution to the study of the Byzantine-Islamic frontier that will force a step-change in approaches to the study of the region as well as to the study of medieval frontier societies and their archaeology. The author is to be congratulated on a clear, concise and well-argued analysis of complex textual and archaeological data.' John Haldon, Shelby Cullom Davis '30 Professor of European History, and Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies, Princeton University. The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier is a well-constructed, original, and convincing book that challenges conventional opinions on the Islamic-Byzantine frontier, and in doing so raises important theoretical and methodological questions on understanding the dynamics of frontier zones in general. His study further weakens the conventional view of frontiers as sparsely populated, marginal, and disconnected peripheries. The "core and periphery" model for explaining the geopolitical patterning of settlements has never seemed so outdated, given the compelling argumentation presented in Dr Eger's ground-breaking study.' Alan Walmsley, Professor of Islamic Archaeology and Art, University of Copenhagen; 'Eger is to be credited with questioning previous assumptions' - Unnamed reviewer, Today's Zaman;