Leeds International Medieval Congress, July 4, 2023

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Abstracts of the RomanIslam Team (Early Islam)

Joud Nassan Agha - From the Roman Pons to Islamic qanṭara

The first two centuries after the Muslim conquest of al-Andalus represent a hybrid phase of adaptation and creation. Adaptation to the Roman road network indicates the process of recognition of the entire peninsular geography and the creation of a new politico-administrative system that shows the spirit of the conquest and the Muslim formalization of the Andalusi cities. This paper examines these two concepts of adaptation and creation through an architectural object; al-qanṭara. The Roman pons or the Islamic qanṭara form a crucial part of the urban landscape, which contains representative indications of the political, administrative, and social system in both Roman and Andalusi societies. In this sense, this paper aims to answer questions regarding the transformation process, the infrastructure, and its representative role in the Umayyad policy through the study of two cases; the bridge of Córdoba and that of Zaragoza. These two case studies will symbolize the policy of adapting to the Roman utilitarian constructions, and the nature of the Muslim administrative system towards these communal constructions. I will combine literary textual sources with archaeological material.

Carmen González Gutiérrez - Life Beyond the City Walls: Urban Infrastructure in Islamic Córdoba’s Western Suburbs

This paper aims to illustrate some dynamics of (re)occupation, (re)conditioning and general change occurred progressively in urban spaces with the arrival of Islam to the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th c. In order to do so, the city of Cordoba (Madinat Qurtuba), capital of al-Andalus under the Umayyad rule, has been chosen as a study case. My research focuses specifically on the archaeological analysis of a particular sector of the former Qurtuba dated roughly in the IX-X centuries, fully and extensively excavated in the last years but barely published yet. The objective is twofold: First, we want to address how life was developed in the neighbourhood after the first Umayyad planning by exploring the relations established between singular infrastructure and facilities for the community -an almunia and a secondary mosque- and dwellings. Secondly, we aim to better understand the influence and scope of regular individuals in the creation, configuration and modification of urbanism and domestic spaces. This emphasis on particulars builds towards bottom-top approaches to identify the influence and scope of private initiative in the design and evolution of urban space and to sketch a social profile of the inhabitants of the city beyond the already well-known elites.

 

Dana Katz - City of Suburbs? Islamic Palermo/Balarm and its Extramural Districts 

Islamic Palermo was a city in boom: after the conquest of the Byzantine city by the North African dynasty of the Aghlabids, Balarm reached its greatest extent under the Fatimids and then their Kalbid clients. The harbor, the principal economic engine, was monumentalized at this time, and the city became fully integrated into larger networks of maritime exchange in the Mediterranean. This increase in commerce sparked a population influx that joined earlier waves of immigrants in the first phase of Sicily’s Islamication. These newcomers likely settled around the city in a series of suburban quarters, whose size, and the fact that some became enclosed by walls, indicate they could be conceived as independent communities.

The natural topography of Palermo is made up of a narrow limestone platform bordered by two rivers and the sea certainly meant that expansion would not be contiguous with its fortified ancient core. Thus, this major demographic push created a new patchwork of urban environments that together would form an immense polynuclear city. The paper examines comparable case studies of so-called inherited cities, while also challenging the older historiography on the Islamic city and its transformation from antiquity, weighing whether an alternate model of an aggregate or continuous network of urban communities is viable. Other considerations include toponyms and whether ethnic and sectarian divisions defined these extramural quarters in this bustling Mediterranean port city.

 

Stefan Heidemann - Islamic Foundations as Military Cities Language

The Roman Empire disseminated its distinct culture and way of life trough settlements and cities. Many of them were military garrisons and colonies. Often overlooked – although frequently noted – is the role of the military in the settlement and increasing urbanization of the Early Islamic Empire. The foundation of cities as military hubs (amṣār), encampments (muʿaskar), garrison cities (madīna, qaṣr, ḥiṣn), or border defenses (ribāṭ, thaghr) can be seen as the driving force of urbanization. There are not only differences to the Roman experience but also in the military settlements between East and West. The city is not an administrative body. The army travels with family, and forms instantaneously a city, often beside cities indigenous population. The resulting larger agglomeration is multi-religious and distinctly multi-ethnic, a hallmark of the forming Islamicate culture.