The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier: Interaction and Exchange Among Muslim and Christian Communities

Library of Middle East History

by A. Asa Eger

The retreat of the Byzantine Army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested the annual raids between the two, the line of fortified fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man's land in between and the birth of jihad. In their early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future 'clash of civilizations' that often envisions a polarised world. A. Asa Eger examines the two aspects of this its ideological and physical ones. By uniting an exploration of both the real and material frontier and its more ideological military and religious implications, he 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 and religious texts, Eger brings together a nuanced exploration of this vital element of medieval history.

Genres: History, Middle East, Islam, Nonfiction

432 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

I research and teach the Early and Medieval Mediterranean and Islamic Near East focusing on the intersection of archaeology and history and how these two lines of evidence relate and create dialogue that strengthens both fields. Specifically, I am interested in frontiers, landscape archaeology, and environmental history. My area of specialization is Anatolia and Syria-Palestine (the Levant) from the Byzantine period through the Early and Middle Islamic periods (until the 12th century). I have excavated and surveyed in Israel, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey since 1996 and recently completed directing excavations at a site on the coast of Turkey in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean known as Tüpras Field, the 10th century frontier fortress of Hisn al-Tinat. I also work on issues of gender and sexuality in classical and modern Mediterranean cultures.