The eastern frontier : limits of empire in late antique and early medieval Central Asia / by Robert Haug.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Haug, Robert, author.

Series:

Early and medieval Islamic world.

Early and medieval Islamic world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asia, Central--History--To 1500.

Asia, Central.

Asia, Central--Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 296 pages) : illustrations, maps.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2019.

Summary:

"Transoxiana, Khurasan, and Tukharistan - which comprise large parts of today's Central Asia - have long been an important frontier zone. In the late antique and early medieval periods, the region was both an eastern political boundary for Persian and Islamic empires and a cultural border separating communities of sedentary farmers from pastoral-nomads. Given its peripheral location, the history of the 'eastern frontier' in this period has often been shown through the lens of expanding empires. However, in this book, Robert Haug argues for a pre-modern Central Asia with a discrete identity, a region that is not just a transitory space or the far-flung corner of empires, but its own historical entity. From this locally specific perspective, the book takes the reader on a 900-year tour of the area, from Sasanian control, through the Umayyads and Abbasids, to the quasi-independent dynasties of the Tahirids and the Samanids. Drawing on an impressive array of literary, numismatic and archaeological sources, Haug reveals the unique and varied challenges the eastern frontier presented to imperial powers that strove to integrate the area into their greater systems. This is essential reading for all scholars working on early Islamic, Iranian and Central Asian history, as well as those with an interest in the dynamics of frontier regions."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Introduction

Chapter 1 - The Gate Of Iron: Conceptualizing The Eastern Frontier In Medieval Geographic Literature

Chapter 2 - Shaping The Eastern Frontier: The Sasanian Empire And Its Eastern Neighbors

Chapter 3 - The Arab-Muslim Conquests And The Late Antique Imperial Shatterzone

Chapter 4 - The Frontier Beyond The Caliphate: Khurasan And The Second Fitna

Chapter 5 - Extending The Frontier: The Umayyads In Sogdiana And Beyond

Chapter 6 - The Unsettled Frontier: The Abbasid And Other Revolutions And The Eastern Frontier

Chapter 7 - Unifying The Frontier: The Formation Of Greater Khurasan

Conclusion: At The End Of The Frontier.

Notes:

Compliant with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Content is displayed as HTML full text which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781788318778

1788318773

9781786736147

1786736144

OCLC:

1107583175