Iranian Cities: Settlements and Water Management from Antiquity to the Islamic Period

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 39-76
Author(s):  
Rocco Rante
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Iranian Plateau ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Geomorphological Features

AbstractThis article attempts a long-term perspective on cities and water from Late Antiquity to the early Islamic centuries (until ca. 1000 CE). It focuses on the question of how cities and their agricultural hinterland were supplied with water. The topography of the site, its geomorphological features, are shown to influence both the setup and subsequent history of the cities. The article uses two sets of examples, one chosen from the Iranian plateau where qanāt irrigation predominates, and the other one from Persianate Central Asia (Transoxiana), where water is derived from larger and medium-sized rivers. The type of irrigation influences the ways in which the city grows, and more generally, the layout of the city is also determined by the water supply. Cities tend to grow towards the source of water, and it can also be observed that in many cases, the political and administrative centre is located where the best water is available. One of the major questions is whether imperial will was behind the construction of irrigation systems or whether local players such as landlords were the decisive factor.The article combines archaeological research and the study of textual sources but is mostly based on recent archaeological fieldwork.

EXPLORATION OF THE EASTERN GATE AND FORTRESS WALLS OF THE MEDIEVAL CITY OF SYGANAK

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-40
Author(s):  
K ZHETIBAYEV ◽  
B SYZDYKOV ◽  
M BAKHTYBAYEV ◽  
M GURSOY
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Research Work ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Syr Darya

The article, based on medieval historical sources and research conducted on the medieval city of Sygnak, provides a brief overview of the role and significance of the city in the history of the Kazakh nation.One of the major centers on the Great Silk Road, the most important city on the Syr Darya, Sygnak has long been a well-developed culture, economy, crafts and trade, agriculture and cattle breeding.In the XI–XIII centuries it was known as one of the centers of the Kypchak Khanate, in the XIV–XV centuries it was the capital of Ak Orda, and in the XV–XVI centuries it was the capital of the Kazakh Khanate, becoming the political and economic center of the khanate. The defensive system of the medieval city of Sygnak, including the fortified walls with gates, has not been sufficiently studied, therefore, within the framework of this topic, we decided to conduct research work, identify the specifics of the city's defensive system and introduce it into scientific circulation.The article examines the results of archaeological research carried out at the medieval settlement of Syganak, analyzes the architectural features of the eastern gates and fortress walls of the city, manufacturing technology and building materials. In addition, a comparative analysis of the Signak gate with the gates of medieval cities in the region was carried out and additional scientific conclusions were drawn. Based on field data obtained during the excavations, the chronology of the eastern gate and fortress walls was determined.

Whence Diyār Bakr? An Inquiry into Early Jazīran Administrative Geography

Der Islam ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-344
Author(s):  
Hannah-Lena Hagemann
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tentative Explanation ◽  
Administrative History ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Early Islamic

Abstract This article discusses the emergence of Diyār Bakr as the northern subdivision of the Jazīra in the early Islamic period. It shows that this sub-province is a product of the 10th century CE and not, as has hitherto been assumed, of the conquest or Umayyad period. As a first step, the paper traces the appearance of the name Diyār Bakr in the Arabic sources to the mid-10th century. It then turns to the ʿAbbāsid geographical tradition and gives an overview of the various portrayals of the region of the Jazīran north up to al-Muqaddasī (d. after 990), who is the first to provide a rudimentary depiction of the Jazīran north as ‘Diyār Bakr’. The article then turns to the history of the Banū Shaybān of Bakr/Rabīʿa in the Jazīran north to offer a tentative explanation for the origin of the term and administrative district of Diyār Bakr. It concludes with a brief discussion of the need to re-evaluate the political and administrative history of the Jazīra before the 10th century.

Zoroastrian law and the spread of Islam in Iranian society (ninth–tenth century)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Christian C. Sahner
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Questions And Answers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Early Islamic

Abstract This article explores three important Zoroastrian legal texts from the ʿAbbasid period, consisting of questions and answers to high-ranking priests. The texts contain a wellspring of information about the social history of Zoroastrianism under Islamic rule, especially the formative encounter between Zoroastrians and Muslims. These include matters such as conversion, apostasy, sexual relations with outsiders, inheritance, commerce, and the economic status of priests. The article argues that the elite clergy responsible for writing these texts used law to refashion the Zoroastrian community from the rulers of Iran, as they had been in Late Antiquity, into one of a variety of dhimmī groups living under Islamic rule. It also argues that, far from being brittle or inflexible, the priests responded to the challenges of the day with creativity and pragmatism. On both counts, there are strong parallels between the experiences of Zoroastrians and those of Christians and Jews, who also turned to law as an instrument for rethinking their place in the new Islamic cosmos. Finally, the article makes a methodological point, namely to show the importance of integrating Pahlavi sources into wider histories of Iran and the Middle East during the early Islamic period.

The long-term geopolitics of the pre-modern Middle East

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
MICHAEL COOK
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Random Fluctuations ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThe geopolitical shape of the Middle East has varied greatly over time. This article is concerned with the period from Late Antiquity to the end of the eighteenth century, during which four basic configurations succeeded each other. Late Antiquity was marked by the coexistence of two large empires, one based in the western Middle East and the other in the eastern Middle East; the early Islamic period saw the dominance of a single empire the location of whose centre was unstable; the medieval period was characterised by the absence of large and lasting empires and a shifting plurality of smaller states; finally in the Ottoman period we see the renewed dominance of a single empire, now based in the western Middle East. Are these changes to be seen as random fluctuations, or can they be explained in terms of a small number of underlying factors? The point of this article is to argue that a focus on the potential imperial heartlands of the Middle East can help us to explain much—though not all—of the changing geopolitical configuration of the region.

Imprints: the history of water management and canals in Piacenza, Italy

Urban History ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-207
Author(s):  
CHERYL BRADBEE
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Water System ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Yield Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

ABSTRACTThe political ecology of historical urban water systems can yield information on the long-term, social organization of resource infrastructure and its management. In this article, the water system of Piacenza, Italy, is examined through its history and the documents of the Congregazione sopra l'ornato, the committee in charge of water management in the city, under the Farnese dukes, from 1545 to 1736. The documents include letters from residents, responses and orders from the committee, tax documents and engineering reports. These records tell a story of a water system and its relationship to the city residents.

Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Machado
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

This book analyses the physical, social, and cultural history of Rome in late antiquity. Between AD 270 and 535, the former capital of the Roman empire experienced a series of dramatic transformations in its size, appearance, political standing, and identity, as emperors moved to other cities and the Christian church slowly became its dominating institution. Urban Space and Aristocratic Power in Late Antique Rome provides a new picture of these developments, focusing on the extraordinary role played by members of the traditional elite, the senatorial aristocracy, in the redefinition of the city, its institutions, and spaces. During this period, Roman senators and their families became increasingly involved in the management of the city and its population, in building works, and in the performance of secular and religious ceremonies and rituals. As this study shows, for approximately three hundred years the houses of the Roman elite competed with imperial palaces and churches in shaping the political map and the social life of the city. Making use of modern theories of urban space, the book considers a vast array of archaeological, literary, and epigraphic documents to show how the former centre of the Mediterranean world was progressively redefined and controlled by its own elite.

Islamic Glass in the Making

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Schibille
Keyword(s):  
Glass Industry ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Early Islamic ◽  
Plant Ash ◽  
Islamic Glass

The ancient glass industry changed dramatically towards the end of the first millennium. The Roman glassmaking tradition of mineral soda glass was increasingly supplanted by the use of plant ash as the main fluxing agent at the turn of the ninth century CE. Defining primary production groups of plant ash glass has been a challenge due to the high variability of raw materials and the smaller scale of production. Islamic Glass in the Making advocates a large-scale archaeometric approach to the history of Islamic glassmaking to trace the developments in the production, trade and consumption of vitreous materials between the eighth and twelfth centuries and to separate the norm from the exception. It proposes compositional discriminants to distinguish regional production groups, and provides insights into the organisation of the glass industry and commerce during the early Islamic period. The interdisciplinary approach leads to a holistic understanding of the development of Islamic glass; assemblages from the early Islamic period in Mesopotamia, Central Asia, Egypt, Greater Syria and Iberia are evaluated, and placed in the larger geopolitical context. In doing so, this book fills a gap in the present literature and advances a large-scale approach to the history of Islamic glass.

scholarly journals Colonial Values and Asylum Care in Brazil: Reclaiming the Streets Through Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Julia Evangelista ◽  
William A. Fulford
Keyword(s):  
Local Community ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Mental Well Being ◽  
The City

AbstractThis chapter shows how carnival has been used to counter the impact of Brazil’s colonial history on its asylums and perceptions of madness. Colonisation of Brazil by Portugal in the nineteenth century led to a process of Europeanisation that was associated with dismissal of non-European customs and values as “mad” and sequestration of the poor from the streets into asylums. Bringing together the work of the two authors, the chapter describes through a case study how a carnival project, Loucura Suburbana (Suburban Madness), in which patients in both long- and short-term asylum care play leading roles, has enabled them to “reclaim the streets,” and re-establish their right to the city as valid producers of culture on their own terms. In the process, entrenched stigmas associated with having a history of mental illness in a local community are challenged, and sense of identity and self-confidence can be rebuilt, thus contributing to long-term improvements in mental well-being. Further illustrative materials are available including photographs and video clips.

scholarly journals SANITARY GUARDIANS IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38
Author(s):  
Anna B. Agafonova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
City Community ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The City ◽  
Public Oversight

The article describes the history of creation and activities of sanitary guardians in the cities of the Russian Empire. The study aims to identify organizational and social contradictions in guardianships’ activities, which hindered citizens from involvement in solving local sanitary problems. Boards of sanitary guardians were established by order of local authorities to involve the population in the fight against epidemics and conducting sanitary measures. The sanitary guardians’ activities consisted of timely notification of local authorities about the emergence of epidemics, participation in sanitary inspections of households, and conducting preventive conversations with homeowners about their compliance with public health and urban improvement regulations. The practice of citizens social participation in monitoring the urban area’s cleanliness was intended to level out the contradictions between homeowners and temporary doctors and sanitary executive commissions “alien” to the city community. Still, it often provoked conflicts between sanitary guardians and homeowners who defended the rights to inviolability of their property. In general, public oversight conducted by sanitary guardians has proven ineffective in the long term.

scholarly journals “Mother of the Faithful” and “Lion of Allah” in the Prophetic Tradition and Early History of the Caliphate or Why the Islamic Jama at Disintegrated?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
F. A. Asadullin
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Islamic Schools ◽  
Regional Conflicts ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The One ◽  
Early Islamic Period ◽  
Early Islamic

The problem of disintegration of the Islamic Ummah a long time ago became the one of the most important for the Islamic world and worldview. The wave of violence in the Near and Middle East sharpened some regional conflicts, which have already taken place before. The paper deals with the roots of this conflict atmosphere in the Early Islamic period. As the tradition affirms, the Prophet Muhammad predicted the Ummah to split in 73 sects. Today there exist in any case not less than 73 different Islamic schools, movements and organizations, which mutually and constantly contest their doctrinal authenticity. Moreover, the activity of quasi- Islamic extremist organisations like the ISIS, which is forbidden inside as well as outside the Russian Federation, is quite remarkable. All these factors demonstrate, that from the academic point of view it is actual to critically research the nature of fragmentation and disintegration of Islamic communities through the prism of prophetic legends. This paper is to consider as an attempt to resolve this multidimensional problem.

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