al-ʿAwāsim

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The term al-ʿAwāsim ( Arabic العواصم, DMG al-ʿawāṣim , literally "the protectors"; from Sing. al-ʿāṣima ) denotes in the narrower sense a number of fortified places in northern Syria, which the Abbasid caliph Hārūn ar-Raschīd in 786 combined to form a province in order to better secure the border with the Byzantine Empire in this way .

In a broader sense, this term is also used as a whole for the contested border area between the Arab-Islamic world and the Byzantine Empire . This border area, which stretched from Cilicia via the northern Bilad asch-Sham to Upper Mesopotamia , was created in the early 8th century after the first wave of Islamic expansion subsided , even if the term al-ʿAwāsim was not yet used at that time has been. It lasted until the middle of the 10th century when the Byzantines began a counter-offensive. While the chain of 'Awāṣim fortresses was the one that (from an Islamic point of view) existed before the border, i.e. H. was in the second row, the upstream castles and fortifications were right on the border as ath-Thughūr (الثغور, aṯ-ṯuġūr ; Sing.الثغر, aṯ-ṯaġr , mouths, openings [betw. known to Dār al-Islam and Dār al-Harb ]). The Byzantine side of the border (the fortresses were called ta stomia , τὰ Στόμια , The Mouths / Orifices ) consisted of the military districts of the Kleisoura, which were inhabited and guarded by the Akrites . The term Thughūr was also used in the border areas of al-Andalus and Transoxania and was revived in the 14th century by the Egyptian Mamluks when they came under their control of the areas in northern Syria and the northern Euphrates region.

The Byzantine-Arab border in southwestern Anatolia with the more important fortresses.

The Arab-Byzantine border area

Shortly after the swift Muslim conquest of Syria , an area between the two powers formed in Cilicia that was not really under the control of a power and, moreover, was devastated by fighting. The Arabs called this zone al-dawāḥī , the Byzantines ta ákra ( τὰ ἄκρα ), which means “the outer areas”. Both Emperor Herakleios (ruled 610–641) and Caliph Umar ibn al-Chattab (ruled 634–644) ensured that this area remained a devastated desert and thus turned it into an effective barrier between the two empires. The caliph's ultimate goal was to conquer the Byzantine capital Constantinople, but after the second unsuccessful siege of Constantinople (717–718) the strategy was changed: only raids into Byzantine Anatolia were undertaken and the conquest of the entire Byzantine Empire was abandoned. The 'Awāṣim became more and more a fixed limit. In the following two centuries, some border towns and fortifications changed hands, but this did not change the border between the Caliphate and Byzantium. Thus, over time, the word al-thughūr got the meaning “limit” such as B. in the terms thughūr al-Islām ("limit of Islam") or thughūr al-Rūmīya ("limit of the Romans"). The character of a military border was reinforced by the fact that the country was gradually settled and fortified, especially after the Byzantines surrendered Cilicia during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik (ruled 685–705).

The Muslims settled in Cilicia and repaired the Byzantine fortresses. This process began under the Umayyads and was intensified under the first Abbasids, especially during the reign of Hārūn ar-Raschīd (ruled 786–809). So the Muslims built a line of fortresses from Tarsus on the coast to Malatya (Arabic Malaṭiyā, Greek Melitene) and Kemah (Arabic Ḥiṣn Kamkh) on the upper reaches of the Euphrates . These were located at strategic points such as B. the larger trade routes and mountain passes.

The entire border zone was initially part of the military district of Homs ( Jund Homs ), an administrative part of Syria, and after the year 680 it became part of the Jund Qinnasrin (Greek Chalcis). Hārūn ar-Raschīd founded the Jund al-'Awāṣim in 786 , which encompassed the entire border area from north and west to the Euphrates in the east. The southern border of the new jund ran south of the cities of Antioch on the Orontes (Arabic Anṭākiya), Aleppo (Arabic Ḥalab) and Manbidsch (Greek Hierapolis). The administrative center was initially Manbij, later Antioch. The defense line ( thughūr ) beyond the 'Awāṣim comprised the cities of Baghras , Bayās, Gaziantep (Arabic Dulūk, Greek Doliche or Telouch), Alexandretta (Arabic Iskandarīya), Kyrrhos (Arabic Ķūrus), Ra'bān and Tīzīn. The Thughūr was divided into the Syrian ( Thughūr asch-Scha'mīya ) and the Upper Mesopotamian Thughūr ( Thughūr al-Jazīrīya ). The Amanos Mountains formed the approximate boundary between the two. There was no clear capital, the important cities were Tarsus and Malatya. Sometimes these regions were administered from the Jund al-'Awāṣim, and by the tenth century the terms thughūr and 'Awāṣim became interchangeable. When the Byzantines made forays into Armenia in the early tenth century, the third Thughūr al-Bakrīya was established in the Diyarbakır region .

Mopsuestia (Arabic al-Maṣṣīṣa) was the first Byzantine city that was repopulated and rebuilt by the Arabs. In 703 300 soldiers were billeted here, the number increased to 4,000 under the Abbasids . Adana (Arabic Adhana) and Tarsus followed 758–760 and 787–788. Tarsus quickly became the largest Arab city in the region, garrisoned from 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers. Other small but important fortresses in Cilicia were Anazarbus (Arabic 'Ayn Zarba), al-Hārūniya - founded by Hārūn ar-Raschīd  - Tall Gubair and al-Kanīsat al-Sawdā. In addition, small fortifications were scattered all over Cilicia, in which, however, only a few soldiers were stationed. In the more mountainous regions of Upper Mesopotamia the main fortresses were in the fertile valleys, these were Kahramanmaraş (Arabic Mar'asch, Greek Germanikeia), Adata (Arabic al-Ḥadath) with a crew of 4,000 and Malatya, which came from the hands of the Byzantines in that of the Arabs had changed and in the year 757–758 it housed 4,000 soldiers. Other smaller fortresses in Upper Mesopotamia were Salaghus, Kaisum, Zapetra / Sozopetra (Arabic: Ḥiṣn Zibaṭra), Samosata (Arabic: Sumaisaṭ), Ḥiṣn Qalawdhiya, Ḥiṣn Ziyad and Erzurum (Arabic. Qālīqalā, Greek. Theodosiopolis in the north and far north) According to the scholar Qudama ibn Ja'far , the Thughūr al-Bakrīya included Samosata, Ḥānī, Malikyan, Gamah, Ḥaurān and al-Kilis .

“[…] From all the great towns within the borders of Persia and Mesopotamia, and Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Morocco, there is no city but has in Tarsus a hostelry for its townsmen, where the warriors for the Faith from each particular country live. And, when they have once reached Tarsus, they settle there and remain to serve in the garrison; among them prayer and worship are most diligently performed; from all hands, funds are sent to them, and they receive alms rich and plentiful; also there is hardly a sultan who does not send hither some auxiliary troops. "

“[…] Of all the major cities within the borders of Persia and Mesopotamia, and Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and Morocco, none has the hospitality of Tarsus, which hosts religious warriors from different countries. And when they have reached Tarsus, they will settle there and serve the garrison; among them prayer and veneration are very diligently held; Donations come to them from everywhere and they receive large alms; there is also no sultan who does not send auxiliary troops there. "

- Ibn Hauqal description of Tarsus as the center of jihad against Byzantium

The caliphs populated the area with colonists and soldiers from Syria, but also with Persians , Slavs , Christian Arabs and even people from the easternmost part of the caliphate: settlers from Khorasan , Turks and Indians. The soldiers had to pay less taxes (instead of the haraj they only had to pay tithing ), were given more wages and a little land. In the early days of the Abbasids there were around 25,000 soldiers, half of them from Khorasan and the rest from Syria / Mesopotamia. They had all come voluntarily, attracted by the jihad against the Byzantines and the high salaries. In the ninth century, the annual raids on Byzantine territory took on a ritual character. According to Qudama ibn Ja'far the following patterns existed: A first raid took place in spring (May 10 - June 10) when the horses found enough food, followed by the actual raid in summer (July 10 - September 8) . Sometimes there was a third raid in winter (February, March). In the words of the Islam expert Hugh N. Kennedy, "the ṣā'ifa (summer raid ) was just as much a part of the symbolic and ritual functions of the caliph as the organization and management of the annual Hajj to Mecca ". These ritual raids, however, also meant a high financial outlay for the Abbasid state. During the reign of Hārūn ar-Raschīd, the Cilician part of the 'Awāṣim brought in 100,000 gold dinars per year. This money was spent on public works, salaries and espionage. But the annual raids cost between 200 and 300,000 dinars. The Mesopotamian portion of the 'Awāṣim earned about 70,000 dinars in taxes. Because of the cost of soldiers and fortifications, this part swallowed 120–170,000 dinars in addition to the 70,000.

The border zone was fought over. Counter-raids and looting followed, of course, on raids. Fortresses often changed hands, so that the areas depopulated by the acts of war had to be repopulated. Yet there were also signs of prosperity based on agriculture and trade, especially during the second half of the ninth century. Then the frontier was an important trading post between Basra on the Persian Gulf and Constantinople. Over time, the areas on the border gained a certain independence. These new centers included Tarsus, Malatya, and Erzurum. With the decline of the Abbasids after 842, the cities had to defend themselves against the Byzantines. With the Battle of Lalakaon in 863, the Byzantines broke the power of Malatya and slowly began to conquer the entire border strip. When the Abbasids were still struggling from 928 onwards, the Ichschidid and Hamdanid dynasties took control of the border. In the 930s, the Byzantines under General Johannes Kurkuas conquered the Mesopotamian part of the Thughūr . The resistance of the Hamdan ruler of Aleppo Saif ad-Daula (r. 946–967) lasted only briefly: In 964–965, Emperor Nicephorus II conquered Cilicia and a short time afterwards Antioch, while Aleppo had to pay tribute from now on.

The Mamluk – Turkmen border area

The Mamluk al-thughūr wa-l-'awāṣim served to protect Syria from the Turkish empires (first the Beyliks , then the Ottoman Empire ) in Anatolia and the Caucasus. Like the earlier system, the Mamluk system was divided into a Syrian and a Mesopotamian part. Beyond the border, the Mamluk vassals Ramazanids and Dulkadir served to protect the border. In addition, to keep the two vassals under control, the Mamluks had set up garrisons in seven strategically important locations: Tarsus, Ayas , Sarventikar , Sis , Darende , Malatya and Divriği . The scholar Ahmad al-Qalqaschandi lists the subdivision of the 'Awāṣim as follows: eight districts in the Syrian part (Malatya, Divriği, Darende, Elbistan , Ayas, Tarsus, Adana, Sarventikar and Sis) and three districts in the part of the Euphrates ( al- Bira , Qalʿat Jaʿbar and Ruha ). The Mamluk Empire was finally conquered by the Ottomans in 1516/1517.

See also

  • Uc , the Turkish-Byzantine border
  • Ghāzī , mostly Turkish border guards
  • Ribāṭ , typical Muslim border fortress

swell

  • M. Canard: al-'Awāṣim . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition . Volume I: A-B . BRILL, Leiden / New York 1986, ISBN 978-90-04-08114-7 , pp. 761-762 .
  • Nadia Maria El-Cheikh: Byzantium viewed by the Arabs . Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 2004, ISBN 0-932885-30-6 ( books.google.com ).
  • Shai Har-El: Struggle for domination in the Middle East: the Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485-91 . BRILL, 1995, ISBN 978-90-04-10180-7 ( books.google.com ).
  • E. Honigmann: Byzance et les Arabes . III: The eastern border of the Byzantine Empire from 363 to 1071 according to Greek, Arabic, Syrian and Armenian sources . Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, Brussels 1935.
  • E. Honigmann: AL-THUGHŪR . In: Martijn Theodoor Houtsma (ed.): EJ Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 . Volume VIII: Ṭa'if – Zūrkhāna . BRILL, Leiden 1987, ISBN 90-04-08265-4 , pp. 738-739 ( books.google.com ).
  • Walter Emil Kaegi: Byzantium and the early Islamic conquests . Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-521-48455-8 ( books.google.com ).
  • Alexander Kazhdan : Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 .
  • Hugh N. Kennedy: The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State . Routledge, 2001, ISBN 978-0-203-45853-2 .
  • Maximilian Streck, Martijn Theodoor Houtsma: AL-'AWĀṢIM . In: EJ Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 . Volume I: A – Bābā Beg . BRILL, Leiden 1987, ISBN 90-04-08265-4 , pp. 515-516 ( books.google.com ).
  • Arnold J. Toynbee : Constantine Porphyrogenitus and His World . Oxford University Press, 1973, ISBN 0-19-215253-X .
  • Alexander Vasiliev: Byzance et les Arabes . I: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820-867) . Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, Brussels 1935.
  • Paul Wheatley: The Places Where Men Pray Together: Cities in Islamic Lands, Seventh Through the Tenth Centuries . University of Chicago Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-226-89428-7 ( books.google.com ).
  • Mark Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025 . University of California Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-520-20496-6 .

literature

  • Michael Bonner: The naming of the frontier: 'Awāṣim, Thughūr, and the Arab geographers . In: Cambridge University Press (Ed.): Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies . 57, 1994, pp. 17-24. doi : 10.1017 / S0041977X0002807X .
  • John F. Haldon, Hugh Kennedy: The Arab-Byzantine Frontier in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries: Military Organization and Society in the Borderlands . In: Recueil des Travaux de l'Institut d'Etudes Byzantins . 19, Belgrade, 1980, pp. 79-116.
  • David Nicolle , Adam Hook: Saracen Strongholds AD 630-1050: The Middle East and Central Asia . Osprey Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84603-115-1 ( books.google.com ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. M. Canard: Art. Al-ʿAwāṣim in EI² p. 761a and al-Balādhurī : Kitāb Futūḥ al-Buldān. Edited by Michael Jan de Goeje . Brill, Leiden 1866, p. 132; German translation by Oskar Rescher : El-Beladori's "Kitâb futûh el-buldân" (Book of the Conquest of Lands) . Leipzig 1917, p. 134, Textarchiv - Internet Archive .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Streck (1987), p. 515.
  3. ↑ a b Honigmann (1987), p. 739.
  4. ↑ Kaegi (1995), pp. 236-244.
  5. ↑ Kaegi (1995), pp. 246f.
  6. ↑ Toynbee (1973), pp. 108f.
  7. ↑ a b Whittow (1996), p. 212.
  8. ↑ El-Cheikh (2004), p. 84.
  9. ↑ Honigmann (1987), p. 738.
  10. ↑ a b c El-Cheikh (2004), p. 83.
  11. ↑ a b Wheatley (2000), pp. 260f.
  12. ↑ Vasiliev (1935), p. 94ff.
  13. ↑ a b Kazhdan (1991), p. 238.
  14. ↑ Wheatley (2000), p. 116.
  15. ↑ Honigmann (1987), pp. 738f.
  16. ↑ Wheatley (2000), pp. 116, 260.
  17. ↑ a b c d Honigmann (1935), pp. 42–43
  18. ↑ a b c Kennedy (2001), pp. 82, 98.
  19. ^ Wheatley (2000), p. 261.
  20. ↑ Toynbee (1973), p. 114 f.
  21. ↑ a b Streck (1987), pp. 515f.
  22. ↑ Wheatley (2000), pp. 116f., 261.
  23. ^ Wheatley (2000), p. 262.
  24. ^ Toynbee (1973), p. 113.
  25. ^ Toynbee (1973), p. 115.
  26. ↑ Whittow (1996), p. 212f.
  27. ↑ Kennedy (2001), p. 106.
  28. ↑ Vasiliev (1935), pp. 96-97.
  29. ↑ Wheatley (2000), pp. 116f., 262f.
  30. ↑ a b Streck (1987), p. 516.
  31. ↑ Toynbee (1973), pp. 110f., 113f.
  32. ↑ Whittow (1996), pp. 310f.
  33. ↑ Kazhdan (1991), p. 1479.
  34. ↑ Wheatley (2000), pp. 116, 261.
  35. ↑ Whittow (1996), pp. 317f., 326-329.
  36. ↑ Har-El (1995), pp. 43-47
  37. ↑ Har-El (1995), p. 44