Al-'Awasim
Encyclopedia
The al-'awāṣim was the Arabic term used to refer to the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire
and the Ummayyad and Abbasid
Caliphates in Cilicia
, northern Syria
and northern Mesopotamia
. It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests
ebbed, and lasted until the late 10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as the al-thughūr , and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, which was known as the al-'awāṣim proper. On the Byzantine side, the Muslim marches were mirrored by the institution of the kleisourai
districts and the akritai border guards.
The term thughūr was also used in the marches of al-Andalus
and Mawara al-Nahr, and survived in historical parlance, to be revived by the Egyptian Mamluks
in the 14th century, when the areas traditionally comprising the awāṣim and thughūr in northern Syria and the northern Euphrates
region came under their control.
slowed down, a wide zone, unclaimed by either Byzantines or Arabs and virtually deserted (known in Arabic as al-Ḍawāḥī, "the outer lands" and in Greek
as , ta akra, "the extremities") emerged between the two powers in Cilicia
, along the southern approaches of the Taurus
and Anti-Taurus
mountain ranges, leaving the Anatolian plateau in Byzantine hands. Both Emperor Heraclius
(r. 610–641) and the Caliph 'Umar
(r. 634–644) pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, trying to transform it into an effective barrier between their realms. Nevertheless, until the defeat of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–718, the ultimate aim of the caliphs remained the outright conquest of Byzantium, as they had done with its provinces in Syria and North Africa. Despite frequent and often deep raids into Anatolia, the Muslims failed to gain a permanent stronghold there, and after 718, the military cost of the defeat, coupled with internal instability, forced a revision of strategic outlook: although raids into Anatolia continued, the goal of conquest was abandoned, and the border between the two powers began to acquire more or less permanent characteristics.
This process was marked by a gradual consolidation of the previously deserted zone and its transformation into a settled and fortified borderland, especially after the Byzantines abandoned Cilicia during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). The Muslims began to move into the area, reoccupying and repairing the abandoned towns and forts. The process began under the Ummayyads, but intensified under the first Abbasids, especially during the rule of Harun al-Rashid
(r. 786–809). The caliphs repopulated the area by bringing in colonists and regular soldiers from Greater Syria
but also Persians, Slavs, Arab Christians, and people from the eastern edges of the Muslim world: settlers from Khorasan
, the Turkic Sayābija tribe or Jatts (Ar. Zuṭṭ) from India
. The troops stationed there were favoured with lower taxes (the tithe or 'ushr instead of the kharāj
land tax), higher pay and small land grants. They were complemented by volunteers, drawn by the religious motivation of djihad towards the Byzantines but often paid by the state. Annual or semi-annual raiding expeditions were launched against Byantium, which gradually assumed an almost ritual character.
Thus a line of forts, stretching from Tarsus
(Ar. Ṭarsūs) on the Mediterranean coast, through Adana
(Ar. Adhana), Mopsuestia
(Ar. al-Maṣṣīṣa), Zapetra/Sozopetra (Ar. Zibaṭra) and Kahramanmaraş
(Ar. Mar'ash, Gr. Germanikeia) to Adata
(Ar. Al-Ḥadath), Malatya
(Ar. Malaṭiyā, Gr. Melitene) and Samosata
(Ar. Sumaisaṭ) on the northern Euphrates
was established. These were strategic choke points, located at the intersections of major roads or at the mouths of important passes, and complemented by smaller forts. Although the Arabs did occasionally occupy Byzantine cities inside Anatolia, these advances were only temporary, and this line in effect marked a boundary of the Muslim world. The term al-thughūr, which initially meant "fissures, clefts" (cf. their Greek name , ta Stomia, "the mouths/openings") and designated the actual borderlands, thus came to mean "boundaries", employed in phrases like Thughūr al-Islām, "boundary of Islam
" or Thughūr al-Rūmīya, "boundary of the Romans
".
The entire frontier zone was initially part of the jund
(one of the military administrative divisions into which Greater Syria
was divided by the Muslims) of Homs
, and after 680 of the jund
of Qinnasrin
(Gr. Chalkis), until Harun al-Rashid established a separate jund al-'Awāṣim in 786, covering the entire region from the Byzantine border to the Euphrates in the west and a line running south of Antioch
(Ar. Anṭākiya), Aleppo
(Ar. Ḥalab) and Manbij (Gr. Hierapolis). Manbij and later Antioch were the province's capitals. The Thughūr, the actual fortified frontier zone, was divided into the Syrian (Thughūr al-Sha'mīya) and the Upper Mesopotamian
(Thughūr al-Jazīrīya) sectors, roughly separated by the Amanus mountains; occasionally, the frontier around Diyarbakir
(Ar. Diyār Bekr) is named as a third sector, Thughūr al-Bakrīya. They had no clear capital, although Marash and Melitene were the most important towns in Cilicia and the Mesopotamian sector respectively. The various towns of the Thughūr came variously under the control of the jund al-'Awāṣim or functioned as separate, independent districts. By the 10th century however, the two terms were often used interchangeably.
The frontier zone was fiercely contested between the Arabs and the Byzantines, with raids and counter-raids being a permanent fixture of warfare, and forts on either side being captured and razed. As a result, the region was often depopulated, necessitating repeated resettlement. There is nevertheless evidence of some prosperity, based on agriculture and commerce. In the 9th century, the Abbasids' control over the Thughūr devolved to the semi-independent border emirate
s, chiefly Tarsus, Malatya and Erzurum
(Ar. Qālīqalā, Gr. Theodosiopolis). After 842, with the decline of Abbasid power, they were left largely to fend on their own against a resurgent Byzantium. The Battle of Lalakaon in 863 broke the power of Melitene, altering the balance of power in the region, and beginning the gradual Byzantine encroachment on the Arab borderlands. With the onset of a prolonged period of crisis in the Abbasid Caliphate after 928, control of the Muslim frontier cities shifted to the Ikhshidid and Hamdanid dynasties. The Byzantines under John Kourkouas
conquered the Mesopotamian sector of the Thughūr in the 930s, and although the Hamdanid emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla (r. 946–967) managed to stem the tide, his success was only temporary: in 964–965, the Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969) captured Cilicia, followed soon after by Antioch, while Aleppo became a tributary state.
states of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, including at a later stage the Ottoman Empire
. Like the earlier model, the thughūr were divided into a Syrian and a Mesopotamian march, as well as a rear zone along northern Syria. The Mamluks entrusted the defence of the Syrian/Cilician march to the client Turkmen principality of Ramadanids, while the Dulkadirid principality fulfilled the same role in the Mesopotamian thughūr. To safeguard their control of the frontier zone, and to keep the two client beyliks separated and under control, the Mamluks also retained garrisons in seven strategically important sites: Tarsus, Ayas, Serfendikar
, Sis
, Darende
, Malatya and Divriği
. Ahmad al-Qalqashandi
gives the subdivisions (niyābāt) of the Mamluk thughūr as follows: eight for the Syrian sector (Malatya, Divriği, Darende, Elbistan
, Ayas, Tarsus and Adana, Serfendikar and Sis) and three on the Euphrates sector (al-Bira
, Qal'at Ja'bar
and al-Ruha).
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and the Ummayyad and Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
Caliphates in Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, northern Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and northern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
ebbed, and lasted until the late 10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as the al-thughūr , and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, which was known as the al-'awāṣim proper. On the Byzantine side, the Muslim marches were mirrored by the institution of the kleisourai
Kleisoura (Byzantine district)
In the Byzantine Empire, a kleisoura was a term traditionally applied to a fortified mountain pass and the military district protecting it. By the late 7th century, it came to be applied to more extensive frontier districts, distinct from the larger themata, chiefly along the Empire's eastern...
districts and the akritai border guards.
The term thughūr was also used in the marches of al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
and Mawara al-Nahr, and survived in historical parlance, to be revived by the Egyptian Mamluks
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt was the final independent Egyptian state prior to the establishment of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1805. It lasted from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. The sultanate's ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, Arabised...
in the 14th century, when the areas traditionally comprising the awāṣim and thughūr in northern Syria and the northern Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
region came under their control.
Byzantine–Arab frontier zone
Already from late 630s, after the initial rapid pace of the Muslim conquestsMuslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
slowed down, a wide zone, unclaimed by either Byzantines or Arabs and virtually deserted (known in Arabic as al-Ḍawāḥī, "the outer lands" and in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
as , ta akra, "the extremities") emerged between the two powers in Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, along the southern approaches of the Taurus
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...
and Anti-Taurus
Anti-Taurus Mountains
Anti-Taurus is a mountain range in southern and eastern Turkey, curving northeast from the Taurus Mountains. The tallest mountain in the range is Mount Erciyes,...
mountain ranges, leaving the Anatolian plateau in Byzantine hands. Both Emperor Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...
(r. 610–641) and the Caliph 'Umar
Umar
`Umar ibn al-Khattāb c. 2 November , was a leading companion and adviser to the Islamic prophet Muhammad who later became the second Muslim Caliph after Muhammad's death....
(r. 634–644) pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, trying to transform it into an effective barrier between their realms. Nevertheless, until the defeat of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–718, the ultimate aim of the caliphs remained the outright conquest of Byzantium, as they had done with its provinces in Syria and North Africa. Despite frequent and often deep raids into Anatolia, the Muslims failed to gain a permanent stronghold there, and after 718, the military cost of the defeat, coupled with internal instability, forced a revision of strategic outlook: although raids into Anatolia continued, the goal of conquest was abandoned, and the border between the two powers began to acquire more or less permanent characteristics.
This process was marked by a gradual consolidation of the previously deserted zone and its transformation into a settled and fortified borderland, especially after the Byzantines abandoned Cilicia during the reign of Caliph Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). The Muslims began to move into the area, reoccupying and repairing the abandoned towns and forts. The process began under the Ummayyads, but intensified under the first Abbasids, especially during the rule of Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766)....
(r. 786–809). The caliphs repopulated the area by bringing in colonists and regular soldiers from Greater Syria
Greater Syria
Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
but also Persians, Slavs, Arab Christians, and people from the eastern edges of the Muslim world: settlers from Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
, the Turkic Sayābija tribe or Jatts (Ar. Zuṭṭ) from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The troops stationed there were favoured with lower taxes (the tithe or 'ushr instead of the kharāj
Kharaj
In Islamic law, kharaj is a tax on agricultural land.Initially, after the first Muslim conquests in the 7th century, kharaj usually denoted a lump-sum duty levied upon the conquered provinces and collected by the officials of the former Byzantine and Sassanid empires or, more broadly, any kind of...
land tax), higher pay and small land grants. They were complemented by volunteers, drawn by the religious motivation of djihad towards the Byzantines but often paid by the state. Annual or semi-annual raiding expeditions were launched against Byantium, which gradually assumed an almost ritual character.
Thus a line of forts, stretching from Tarsus
Tarsus (city)
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
(Ar. Ṭarsūs) on the Mediterranean coast, through Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...
(Ar. Adhana), Mopsuestia
Mopsuestia
Mopsuestia , later Mamistra, is the ancient city of Cilicia Campestris on the Pyramus river located approximately 20 km east of ancient Antiochia in Cilicia .The founding of this city is attributed in legend to the soothsayer, Mopsus, who lived before the Trojan war, although...
(Ar. al-Maṣṣīṣa), Zapetra/Sozopetra (Ar. Zibaṭra) and Kahramanmaraş
Kahramanmaras
-Industry:Kahramanmaraş's industry is mainly based on textile and ice cream. Kahramanmaraş is one of the biggest textile industry cities of Turkey. Companies like Kipaş, İskur, Arsan and Bozkurt are one of the richest companies in the city...
(Ar. Mar'ash, Gr. Germanikeia) to Adata
Adata
Adata , in Arabic al-Ḥadath al-Ḥamrā , was a town and fortress in the mountains of Cilicia , which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab Wars....
(Ar. Al-Ḥadath), Malatya
Malatya
Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...
(Ar. Malaṭiyā, Gr. Melitene) and Samosata
Samosata
Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam....
(Ar. Sumaisaṭ) on the northern Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
was established. These were strategic choke points, located at the intersections of major roads or at the mouths of important passes, and complemented by smaller forts. Although the Arabs did occasionally occupy Byzantine cities inside Anatolia, these advances were only temporary, and this line in effect marked a boundary of the Muslim world. The term al-thughūr, which initially meant "fissures, clefts" (cf. their Greek name , ta Stomia, "the mouths/openings") and designated the actual borderlands, thus came to mean "boundaries", employed in phrases like Thughūr al-Islām, "boundary of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
" or Thughūr al-Rūmīya, "boundary of the Romans
Rûm
Rûm, also Roum or Rhum , an indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in Asia Minor, and referring to Greeks living outside of Greece or non-muslims...
".
The entire frontier zone was initially part of the jund
Jund Hims
Jund Hims was one of the four military districts of the Caliphate province of Syria. Its capital was Homs, from which the district received its name...
(one of the military administrative divisions into which Greater Syria
Greater Syria
Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
was divided by the Muslims) of Homs
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...
, and after 680 of the jund
Jund Qinnasrin
Jund Qinnasrin was one of five sub-provinces of Syria under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, organized soon after the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century CE. Initially, its capital was Qinnasrin, but as the city declined in population and wealth, the capital was moved to Aleppo...
of Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin , was a historical town in northern Syria. It gained fame as an important religious and cultural centre of Syriac Christians before the coming of Islamic conquests....
(Gr. Chalkis), until Harun al-Rashid established a separate jund al-'Awāṣim in 786, covering the entire region from the Byzantine border to the Euphrates in the west and a line running south of Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
(Ar. Anṭākiya), Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
(Ar. Ḥalab) and Manbij (Gr. Hierapolis). Manbij and later Antioch were the province's capitals. The Thughūr, the actual fortified frontier zone, was divided into the Syrian (Thughūr al-Sha'mīya) and the Upper Mesopotamian
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...
(Thughūr al-Jazīrīya) sectors, roughly separated by the Amanus mountains; occasionally, the frontier around Diyarbakir
Diyarbakir
Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
(Ar. Diyār Bekr) is named as a third sector, Thughūr al-Bakrīya. They had no clear capital, although Marash and Melitene were the most important towns in Cilicia and the Mesopotamian sector respectively. The various towns of the Thughūr came variously under the control of the jund al-'Awāṣim or functioned as separate, independent districts. By the 10th century however, the two terms were often used interchangeably.
The frontier zone was fiercely contested between the Arabs and the Byzantines, with raids and counter-raids being a permanent fixture of warfare, and forts on either side being captured and razed. As a result, the region was often depopulated, necessitating repeated resettlement. There is nevertheless evidence of some prosperity, based on agriculture and commerce. In the 9th century, the Abbasids' control over the Thughūr devolved to the semi-independent border emirate
Emirate
An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Muslim monarch styled emir.-Etymology:Etymologically emirate or amirate is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any emir ....
s, chiefly Tarsus, Malatya and Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
(Ar. Qālīqalā, Gr. Theodosiopolis). After 842, with the decline of Abbasid power, they were left largely to fend on their own against a resurgent Byzantium. The Battle of Lalakaon in 863 broke the power of Melitene, altering the balance of power in the region, and beginning the gradual Byzantine encroachment on the Arab borderlands. With the onset of a prolonged period of crisis in the Abbasid Caliphate after 928, control of the Muslim frontier cities shifted to the Ikhshidid and Hamdanid dynasties. The Byzantines under John Kourkouas
John Kourkouas
John Kourkouas , also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His successes in battle against the Muslim states in the East definitively reversed the course of the centuries-long Byzantine–Arab Wars and began Byzantium's 10th-century...
conquered the Mesopotamian sector of the Thughūr in the 930s, and although the Hamdanid emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla (r. 946–967) managed to stem the tide, his success was only temporary: in 964–965, the Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969) captured Cilicia, followed soon after by Antioch, while Aleppo became a tributary state.
Mamluk–Turkmen frontier zone
The Mamluk al-thughūr wa-l-'awāṣim was intended to defend Syria from the TurkomanTurkmen people
The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Western Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai,...
states of Asia Minor and the Caucasus, including at a later stage the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Like the earlier model, the thughūr were divided into a Syrian and a Mesopotamian march, as well as a rear zone along northern Syria. The Mamluks entrusted the defence of the Syrian/Cilician march to the client Turkmen principality of Ramadanids, while the Dulkadirid principality fulfilled the same role in the Mesopotamian thughūr. To safeguard their control of the frontier zone, and to keep the two client beyliks separated and under control, the Mamluks also retained garrisons in seven strategically important sites: Tarsus, Ayas, Serfendikar
Servantikar
Servantikar is a medieval castle of the former Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in today's Osmaniye Province of Turkey...
, Sis
Kozan, Adana
Kozan is a city in Adana Province, Turkey, 68 km north of the city of Adana, in the northern section of the Çukurova plain. The city is the capital of Kozan district. The Kilgen Stream, a tributary of the Ceyhan River , flows through Kozan crossing the plain south into the Mediterranean Sea....
, Darende
Darende
Darende is a district of Malatya Province of Turkey. The mayor is İsa Özkan .Darende is in Malatya.Darende is a city that is a centre of science and culture, on the ancient silk road. The city center of the charm on the East Anatolia Region is a statue of door which is the entrance of city...
, Malatya and Divriği
Divrigi
Divriği is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The town lies on gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river....
. Ahmad al-Qalqashandi
Ahmad al-Qalqashandi
Shihab al-Din abu 'l-Abbas Ahmad ben Ali ben Ahmad Abd Allah al-Qalqashandi was a medieval Egyptian writer and mathematician born in a village in the Nile Delta. He is the author of Subh al-a 'sha, a fourteen volume encyclopedia in Arabic, which included a section on cryptology...
gives the subdivisions (niyābāt) of the Mamluk thughūr as follows: eight for the Syrian sector (Malatya, Divriği, Darende, Elbistan
Elbistan
Elbistan is a district in Kahramanmaraş Province in southern Turkey. Elbistan city center's population is 85,642 ....
, Ayas, Tarsus and Adana, Serfendikar and Sis) and three on the Euphrates sector (al-Bira
Birecik
Birecik , also formerly known as Bir and during the Crusades as Bile, is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on the River Euphrates....
, Qal'at Ja'bar
Qal'at Ja'bar
Qal'at Ja'bar is a castle on the left bank of Lake Assad in Ar-Raqqah Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can only be reached by an artificial causeway...
and al-Ruha).
See also
- Ghazi warriors
- ribāṭRibatA ribat is an Arabic term for a small fortification as built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of North Africa to house military volunteers, called the murabitun...
and maḥras, typical Muslim fortifications