Islamic–Byzantine Border in History

D.G. Tor is Associate Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, specialising in the history of the pre-thirteenth century Medieval Middle East and Central Asia. Tor’s publications include the books Violent Order: Religious Warfare, Chivalry, and the ʿAyyār Phenomenon in the Medieval Islamic World (2007); The ʿAbbasid and Carolingian Empires: Studies in Civilizational Formation (2017); together with A.C.S. Peacock, Medieval Central Asia and the Persianate World: Iranian Tradition and Islamic Civilisation (2015); and, with Minoru Inaba, The History and Culture of Iran and Central Asia: From the Pre-Islamic to the Islamic Period (2022). Tor has won numerous major research grants and awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; the American Council of Learned Societies; the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies; the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies; and Harvard University. Tor is also the Medieval History editor and a board member of the journal Iranian Studies. Alexander D. Beihammer is Heiden Family College Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in Byzantine History. His books include Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040-1130 (2019); with Maria Parani and Christoph Schabel, Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1500: Aspects of Cross-cultural Communication (2008); Quellenkritische Untersuchungen Zu Den Agyptischen Kapitulationsvertragen Der Jahre 640-646 (2000).

This important volume challenges us to rethink how we understand the frontier, both culturally and geographically, between the Byzantine and Islamic worlds from the 7th century CE onwards. Its eleven chapters present cutting-edge research and establish a new baseline from which this key region must now be studied.

• List of Illustrations | Notes on Contributors | AcknowledgementsIntroduction1 The Historical Significance of the Islamic–Byzantine Border: From the Seventh Century to 1291 - D.G. Tor2 The Byzantine-Muslim Frontier from the Arab Conquests to the Arrival of the Seljuk Turks - Alexander D. Beihammer3 The Formation of al-ʿAwāṣim - Hugh Kennedy4 Caucasian Elites between Byzantium and the Caliphate in the Early Islamic Period - Robert Hoyland5 Byzantine borders were state artifacts, not “fluid zones of interaction” Anthony Kaldellis6 A Christian Insurgency in Islamic Syria: The Jarājima (Mardaites) between Byzantium and the Caliphate - Christian Sahner7 The Character of Umayyad Art: the Mediterranean Tradition - Robert Hillenbrand8 Byzantine Heroes and Saints of the Arab-Byzantine Border (9th-10th c.) - Sophie Métivier9 A Cosmopolitan Frontier State: The Marwānids of Diyār Bakr, 990-1085 and the Performance of Power - Carole Hillenbrand10 Byzantine Population Policy in the Eastern Borderland between Byzantium and the Caliphate from the 7th through the 12th Centuries - Ralph-Johannes Lilie11 The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier in Seljuq Anatolia - Andrew C.S. PeacockSelected Bibliography | Index