HISTORY 439 Notes All

8/3/2019 HISTORY 439 Notes All

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Religious Studies 439- The center of the course is the geographical place called theArid Zone.

- How did this geographic entity become a cultural entity?

- Well see a civilization that fuses all the areas of the Arid Zone to bring together Ideas,

cultural products, etcand puts a stamp on it.

- 19th

Century German Diffusionism: diffusionists were interested in finding the origins

of everything and seeing everything else as a copy of that original thing. What is itsorigin and trace its path of diffusion

Arid Zone- Rain fall falls in which it cant be used immediately. Floods in ways very difficult touse for agriculture. Tend to have highly concentrated areas in using specialized irrigation

techniques.

-Mazandaran: rain shadow on northern part of Iran.*Almost no annual rain fall in most of the area

*Border between Libya and Egypt was a mystery. Myths of Oasis and wells.*We are going to look at several exceptions to the general rule of getting water from

floods.

Exceptions: Mazandaran, Yemen, and Oasis.

Mazandaran- Weather gets stuck by mountains.

- There is a very thin bend of agriculture surrounded by wasteland.- Has huge amounts of rainfall, year round. Looks more like Switzerland than the middle

east.

- Grow crops that you would grow in very wet areas. (Cotton, Rice paddies)

Yemen- one part of the Arabian peninsula that benefits from the Indian Ocean.

- one of worlds oldest continuous civilizations- quite a mountainous place. Have developed agricultural techniques to exploit their

resources.

- Noted for their tall buildings. Makes use of land. Isolated farmstead never existed inthe middle east. Peasants live in buildings.

*No matter how long a river, people will find a way to utilize it.

Empty Zone of Saudia Arabia- one of the most inhospitable places in the world.

- No dry river beds, just desert. Sand dunes shift, so people move by the stars.

- In contrast to China, Europe, and North Americapopulation density is extremelyvaried.


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Great River Valleys

- Civilization follows them.- Do they produce enough to be declared a state, or are they tribal peoples?

- Egypt is the classic river valley. Thin areas along the river and then the river delta.

- Irrigation systems were complex, the annual flood is unpredictable.

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Pure Deserts

- Dashtikabir (central western Iran)- Empty Quarter in Arabia

- Eastern and Western (Libyan) deserts in Egypt

The Arid Zone

- Mazandharan, Yemen are the big exceptions to the reliance on flooding rivers.River floods

- Nile: floods the entire Nile valley once a year (up to 12-15 ft)- Limestone cliffs on sides of Nile valley (have basins carved out to catch water and

then lead it to the fields below.

- Areas other than the Nile would have to dig ditches to get water out of.

- If you rely on dry agriculture, the rainfall appears as water in a pure form. If you wantto bring nutrients to your land you have to make deals with nomads.

- Productivity of a few acres of land of the agricultural or river valleys was much higher

than the areas that relied on rainfall. (80 grains for every 1 grain planted)- such a large surplus that it can be taken by someone else to support the large

populations that arent directly tied to agricultural which eventually led to cities beingformed.

Egypt- Due to the isolation of the Nile valley and the communication within it, there has not

been a lot of ethnic or language differences among the Nile river valley inhabitants.- States have found Egypt very easy to control

- Whoever rules Egypt generally starts around Cairo

Yemen- mountainous.a very small region of irrigated land.

Date Palm

- if you are harvesting in a very dry placeyou want to do everything you can to stopyour water source from getting dried up.

- Date palms are a valuable commodity, and they can lower the temperature and trap

humidity.

- they make your agriculture much more efficient.- Protect water from direct effects of sun


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*building the high dam on the southern part of Egypt has been greatly enhanced- land has been ruined by cheap agricultural practices and pollution is a big problem.

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Looking at the interrelationships of city people, peasants, nomads.

Distinctive form of agriculture in the arid zone requires storing water, moving water (this

lifting of water was the biggest challenge of this region)

Irrigation

- Irrigation in its simplest formriver risesyou dig a canal that is at the level of therise of the river, and the canal moves it out to where you are planting.

- simplest way of carrying water is to hire guys to put buckets around their necks to

carry water. (best for small plots)

Shaduf: doesnt carry a lot of water but can lift it very high. Like a catapult with a

counterweight to reduce human energy. The counterweight must weight more than thebucket. Perhaps the earliest form of irrigation. One great advantage is that you can build

it and maintain it out of local materials. (Called el Bebelete in Mexico)Handle, you stick it in the water, you turn the handle and it brings water in. It can move

more water per unit of human effort than the Shaduf can.

Water Wheel: If you hang buckets along every rung of the wheel to bring water up.

*The fear of instability is something that every peasant community faced. This is why

you dont get the expenses on very expensive irrigation methods. Without stability of

cities, places could become uninhabitable very quickly.

Jesulees Machine: Lots of gears bring water high, but could get busted easily.

Qanat: an underground tunnel that has very regular openings. Could stretch enormous

distances. You could put the opening at the bottom of a mountain range and if you had

the labor to move it to where you are growing, you could move it a long distance andkeep it from evaporating.

Move from wooden to metal plowsbrought by westerners.

Ox: An ox is the most important animal for agriculture. The input of what you feed it

and the output of what it gets you is much better than other animals such as a horse.

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- No agricultural people in the region for 5000 years. Once it finally happened there wereagricultural settlements all along the river.

- In order to exploit Iraq river valleys and the like, new technology was needed.

- Most of the animals successfully domesticated came from this region.

- You usually have settlements with no pastoral nomads on the outskirtsonly huntersand gatherers.


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Pastoral Nomads

Pastoralists: oldest form of human lifestyle. Didnt pay taxes, organized their ownaffairs, and went about extremely heavily armed. Also, no permanent housing. Often

romanticized as the perfectly free life.

- occupied a specialized niche within an agrarian economy- if you try to survive entirely on animals you are nutritionally doomed.

- pastoral nomads become specialists and exploiting the most marginal land which the

peasants no longer worked. Raised animal products for sales to cities and peasantcommunities in exchange for vegetable products. Dates became perfect

- Pastoralist people and peasants do not get along very well.

- so peasants need one of three things:1. essential state that could sustain large armies to inflict punishment. (This was

easier along the river valley with lots of surplus.)

2. could pay other nomads to punish them.

3. could make a deal with the nomads to let their animals eat the stubble and

fertilize the fields.- culture of pastoral nomads celebrates raids and valor.

- often hire themselves off to states as auxiliaries for their armies- if they are good to the state they might get a yearly pay for keeping watch of the

borders

- fights often were between heroes and people didnt often die.

- merchants absolutely rely on pastoral nomads for local and long distance trade.- merchants would contract with nomads to congregate high value trade groups into

places at certain times.

- Best way to accumulate jewelry was to put it on the women. To take jewelry awayfrom a woman in this way would be shocking.

- they build almost their entire physical environment.

- referred to by the arabs as people of the black tents.

- males are superfluous. They can go off and be boys: raid, fight, or be hired fighters.- another big difference between peasants and nomads is that nomadic populations

tended to be much healthier than peasant populations.

- peasants had lots of standing water that they constantly worked with in whichmicrobes thrived.

- for nomads, they often consolidate for a common purpose or disperse to use land.

- when nomads succeed in organizing themselves they start thinking that they want to

conquest areas instead of just raid them.

- nomads would take all the money in savings and put them into circulation

- The difference between an agriculturalist and a peasant is that a peasant is subjugated,must give his food to others.


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2-4-09

Sumer, Sumeria, Akkad, Sargon, Hammurabi, Pizzazu

Sumer (Sumeria): The first agricultural civilization known on the planet

- language is like no other

- Gods look like they are from outer space- a bunch of cities that had temples at the middle of them.

- once they made political and economic advances, they could pursue technology,

written language, philosophy, etc.- they invented writing

- they invented written imaginative literature (literary classics)

- Epic of Gilgamesh

- Formalized record keeping

- Mathematicsdecimal system- yoke and harnessed plow animals

- formalized taxation- fixed currency

- monetized slavery

- designers, scribes now have a fulltime specialty

- people who wielded instruments of violence eventually took over sumeria

Pizuzu (ON EXAM)

- a wind god who started out as a demon- he flies around and gets into an incredible amount of trouble

- he causes mischief all over the place.the wind brings him in and he is hard to see.

- you better give money to the priest

- he has inner torment like spider-man- he is supposed to be a mischief making god, but he has an instinct to protect women in

childbirth from other demons that would do them wrong.

- if you were a pregnant woman, you would want to propitiate pizuzu

- Some elites were quite narcissistic and wanted images made of themselves that were

very favorable.- we begin to see people producing rare and expensive goods

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Akkad

Sargon

Hammurabi

Late Antiquity

Mecca/Quraysh


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Sasanian Empire

Ctesiphon

East Roman Empire

Palmyra

Petra

Pancher- a well-tamed hunting ground.

Universal Cosmopolitan Agrarian Empire- Universal refers to its claims. People were either subjects or rebels.

- culture became important in politics

- everyone agrees they should stick with the empire- Agrarian means that agriculture is the basis for these economies

Sargon and The Akkadians

- an example of how herding people had the solidarity had the power to take over a state

- He united southern and western Akkadia

*The main thing about these empires was that once you have conquered you want totell the world you are the new ruler. You also want to tell the world that you are

divine, have divine blessing, etc.- had to create a court

- these became increasingly ritualized

- emperor had an executioner next to him that would not only represent power, but alsojustice.

- the king ensures that agricultural productivity remains at its maximum

The circle?- circle of justice

- Kings really wanted to build- built large temples for the Gods

- also created a city that was not tied to a single people

- once emperors are done conquering they want to build.

Ziggurat: sign of power for an emperor.

Empires were just as much cultural as they were political- had to convince elites that they belonged to the same cultureu

East Roman and Sasanian Empires- Both Empires practiced a salvation religion

Zoroastrianism


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2-12-09

DISCUSSION

Hadith

- A story or account of the prophet, his life or his acts

- Islamic jurisprudence- A lot of Islamic traditions go back to Hadith to fill in the blanks

- two parts: Isnad and matn

- Isnad: chain of transmission- matn (narrativeactual account)

Quraysh

- Trading tribe- truce and annual fair

- votive industry

- Muhammad was born into this tribe

Sheik

- had to gain your position by concensus- wise, good judgment, and an ability to solve problems

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Coming theme: How did Islam stake out its place in religious debates of Late

Antiquity?

Medina- Something approaching a state

- Koran turns to much more mundane matters (that typically come up when you arerunning a community)

- a tendency to see the religious community as the most important community you can

belong

*In Meccathe message was clearabsolute monotheism

*The pure message of Islam is that there is no God but Allahand that Muhammad is hisprophet.

Islamic Medina

- capable of defending themselvesresembled real military force

- also a real chain of command- knew how to put together a battlefield to oppose your will on an enemy

- Those who joined the Muslims brough military diplomatic knowledge (Persian military

general)

- In 630 they made it clear to the Meccans of their military superiority- It was clear to everyone that this was the Muslim takeover of Mecca

- also the status of Mecca as a Pagan shrine was over

- they destroyed all the pagan symbols

- they did not destroy the Kaba- After they took Meccathey made it of much greater importance


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- in general the Muslim policy was to incorporate the Meccans and Quraysh into the

Muslim way of life

After the Prophets death

- Muhajirun Muslims: those who made first pilgrimage with the prophet

- Ansar: converted to Islam and made many sacrifices themselves- After death, wanted to each have own state

Caliph/caliphatesuccessor, the new institution. Caliph (leader) exercised the

Prophets political power without his religious legitimacy

Abu Bakr (632-634)1st

caliph member of Quraysh, agreed on lay bRidda Wars: Abu Bakr spent two years defeating tribes in these wars

Umar (634-644)

Kufa, Basra, Fustat, Qayrawan

Diwan

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Lecture- Abu Bakrone of the prophets closest companions

- adept at military operations and balancing conflict- seemed to be the ideal person to be Caliph

- main task was to force tribal peoples of the area to resubmit to Muslim authority.

- he did not trust tribal peoples

- his caliphate lasted two years, but he succeeded in subduing all the tribes and creatinga state that contained all the Arabian peoples.

-Umara new Caliph appointed- great political skill

- one of the principle skills of anyone trying to rule Arabia (genealogy)

- to know your genealogy gave you great credibility

- recognized, in contrast to Abu Bakr, that defeating tribesman and then leaving themwhere they were was a recipe for disaster

Arab conquests- Happened under Umar

- Mobilization of tribal peoples with a religious mission

- If you give tribal peoples with a latent military power some long term objectives- Arabs found it easy to encorporate Burburs in their conquest across northern Africa and

spain

- took Iran and then chased the previous Byzantine emperor into Asia where they killed

him.- Tried to advance into Anatolia but the Taurus mountains were a large barrier

- a pattern emerges where arabs keep trying to get into Anatolia.

- Constantinople was easily defended

- People they were conquering were not the elite, they were conquering the mid levelpeople, who they did not want to harm because it helped the infrastructure of the areas

- Muslims were much more lenient about allowing religion


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- highest level of the elite was replaced.

- generally didnt want to sack cities, instead kept them intact- to most people the conquests were not seen as a huge event.

- unlike Constantinople, the cessanian empires still had a lot of intellectuals left.

- Umar advanced two important policies that really shaped Islamic civilization and

politics thereafter.1. all of the conquering Arabs should be settled in garrisons. They have to leave the

local villages and palaces alone. In Iraq and Egypt they set up new garrisons. Kufa and

Basra were both set up as garrisons. They could not cut off water to these places. Fustatin Egypt. In North Africa in Qayrawan was another garrison

- prevented the settlement of the Bedouin

- also prevented an Arab aristocracy2. how do you maintain all this revenue? Set up a new policy called the diwan which

was a list of stipends that ensured that revenue flowed to the center before out to the

garrisons.

2-21-09 Lecture

Structure of the Arab Name- First Name is given by parents

- Ibn means son of (sometimes abbreviated as a B)

- Abu means father (sometimes turned into Abi)

Abu Bakr was named the first Caliph.

- lived a modest lifestyle

- milked his own camels- The process by how the simple caliph becomes an empire is what we will be exploring.

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Terms- Yazidb Muawiya: a member of Uthmans clan. Son of one of the prophets earliest

opponents. Didnt want to give up his position. More politically astute than Ali. Ali wasdevoted to religion and the prophet. Spent time learning backroom politics. Recognized

with all the hopes in Ali that he couldnt march on Medina and take over. What he did

instead was move very slowly and try and separate Ali from his followers. He did thiswith a simple demand that made sense to everyone. He asked Ali to punish Uthmansmurders.

- realized he could just march on Medina

- attacking Ali directly would confirm that this clan of the Quraysh planned to take overand was corrupt. Would have been very bad to do this. So he looked for a wedge issue

to separate Ali from his followers.

- first issue was to demand that he arrest and execute anything that had anything to do

with Uthman.- their armies metAli and his against Muawiya and his army.


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- Muawiya had them get into ranks like they were ready for battleand put a copy

of the Koran on the end of each spear.TAKFIR: the deeming of another Muslim a non-Muslim. You have to first deem

someone a non-Muslim in order to make warfare against them legal.

-New men: Ziyad ibn Abihi (Ziyad, son of whoever hisfather might have been)

- The Second Fitna (680-692): a sense of utter disorder. A combination of anarchy andlawlessness and the break apart of things. This was the thing that people feared most in

the middle east.

- al-Husayn ibn Ali: after Uthman was murdered, Ali was appointed.- Massacre at Karbala, 10 Muharram 61/680

Big Question:

What prevented the Arab conquests from following the usual path of previous

conquerors: gradual assimilation to the societies they conquered? How did the

Muslims maintain a distinctive identity in a world which they were a small

minority?

- 2 Part Policy1. tell the Arabs that they couldnt settle on the land or move into the big cities.

- they had to be concentrated in garrisons that had predictable and fastcommunications with the caliphate. This policy was resented by a fair number of Arabs.

2. All revenue would have to flow to the center. Now they had to figure out how to

spend it.

- people were sure that they would be left out if the money was distributed. Umarsaid it was his greatest mistake.

-people who converted to Islam got the highest stipends (the prophets family,

followers, etc.)

- Arab conquerors brought a new religion, a new language, etc. What accounts for the

lack of assimilation?

How did the Caliphate maintain a unitary state in the face of all the tendencies that

threatened to pull it apart?

- The Diwans were handed out by tribes who determined how much of a stipend you got- this causes all kinds of problems (unequal stipends, new leadership)

- each caliph had policies to address this fundamental question

How did the Caliphate become an empire?- Started out as a simple institution

- How did the Muslim community develop a distinctively Islamic style in art, decoration,

and architecture?


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Uthman was new caliph.

- didnt have the prestige of abu bakr or uman.

- attracted enough opposition that in 656 a group of Arab soldiers from Egypt arrived in

the Mosque in which Uthman was playing and killed him. These were Muslims in thearmy killing a sitting Caliph in the name of a religious truththe equality of all Muslims.

- was assassinated by Muslimsthis was an utter shock to the Muslim community

Arabs creating a state after the conquestsHow did they organize themselves? How can the caliphate standardize polices and

remain in control? How do we keep these people under control?

- one way was to require all arabs to live in garrisons that were in direct contact with theCaliphate

- Diwan: greatest portion went to prophets supporters and closest followers.- Uthman standardizes and organizesappoints capable people to positions

2-27-09

ShiI, Shiite, pl Shia, Shiites, Kharijites/Takfir

- regular kharijite peoples and communitiesbut generally recede from the background

Yazid b Muawiya- had all kinds of faults despite his lineage

- lived in a palacenot like a rich palace and did not have couriers and people all overthe place.

- his politics were advanced and carried out by himself. Was always on the movetalking to important people.

-New Men: Ziyad ibn Abihi (Ziyad, son of whoever his father might have been)

- al-Husayn ibn Ali- sons turned their back on politics.

- began making use of clerks to make messages and keep records.- Muslims had no problem circulating coins and running the mints

- some thought they should replace the Byzantine emperor with a Muslim leader

- keep the coins as they were, but on one side there should be an Arabic inscription

680-682 determined who the next mu,awiya would be


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3-2-08

Transformation of Caliphate into an Empire- Muawiya changed it into a dynastic office

- after he died, everyone who was unhappy with the concentration of power

- The first four caliphs are called the rightly guided Caliphs- Umayid Caliphate was said to being with Muawiya

- Second fitna: occurred after Muawiyas death.

- Hazid does not come out looking like a strong personlooks like a stupid son- said to be the Sufyand

- Umayid caliphatedivided into to parts the sufayanid and the mariyanid

- every caliph had a problem with Kufa and Basra submitting- Established a new garrison between Kufa and Basra named Wasit (the middle one)

- dispatched loyal Syrian soldiers to this garrison to keep iraq in line

- this establishment of the new garrison between Kufa and Basra is the first instance of

the Muslim state beginning to treat Muslims as subjects.

- during this time people were trying all sorts of things to determine what religion was.- In Kufa and Basra we begin to see the emergence of a scholarly or learned class

- In addition to the garrison policyabdul Malik also wanted to standardize government- Abdul Malik realized that they needed a real symbol

- ordered a new form of coinage that had only the Arabic script

- sent out the message that the coin is one of the principle ways that rulers get their

faces out there- Original Diwan of Omar was a register of stipends.

- secondary meaning is a bureaucracy. Every important person would have a Diwan in

charge of correspondence and fation- Abdul Malik ordered that all records be kept in clear Arabic across the empire

- Arabic was now becoming a language of administration

Dome of the Rock- first example of Islamic architecture style

- all sorts of mythic elements (layers and layers of meaning)

- said to be the spot from which Muhammad ascended into heaven in his 9th

journey

(Miraj)

- build by craftsmen from all of the empire

- fusion of Sessanian and east roman architectural elements- decorated by Arabic script

How did Muslims adopt a cultural style that we now recognize as Islamic- comes out of the fusion of all the most interesting cultures that had hitherto been in

opposition of each other or havent heard of each other.


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3-4-09

Creation of an Islamic Empirial or cosmopolitan culture

The Root to Empire:

- How did the Caliphate become an empire?

- Under Muawiya things changed- Dynastic succession, establishment of capital

The coin of Abdul Malik asserted

- there is just one God, Muhammad is his prophet, he has no partner- as an icon these coins certainly helped Islam assert itself

Dome of the Rock

- new type of building made with new techniques and styles.Islamic Mosaics

- appeared in an abstract formstarted to see artists playing with images.

Policies of Malik Successors

- were they were for the benefits of Arabs or all of Islam?- have to worry about converts, want to make sure everyone gets to share in the benefits

of the vast region- In Medina, Kufa, and Basra (mainly K and B) there were people who devoted their lives

to intellectual interest.

- Early muslim said the garrisons had no idea what they were doingthis helped to get

the practices down.- Many muslims reluctant to allow new conquered people into their ranks

- emergence of new elite at center. Was comprised of all kinds of different people

- wasnt that caliphate was opening doors to new converts. Mawala: means clients.- said new people can convert to Islam and enter into this new imperial elite

- required every new client to become a convert of a tribal sheik (in other words they

werent accepted as true Muslims

Ghulat: comes from an Arabic word meaning exaggeration

Dahqan:

3-9-09

Terms:

Ulama (sing Alim)

Sahaba

Samarra

Adab

Dar al-Hikma

Abu Nuwwas


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Abbasid:

*Esoteric knowledge: the notion that true Islam was being kept from all believers- a member of the holy family would have the ability to pull out and predict things from

Islam that others cant

- one of their claims was that the prophet had passed on some yellow parchments that

proved their existence and allowed them to interpret the Koran in an esoteric way.

Abbasid political movement:

- thought this would bring some esoteric knowledge- This would inaugurate the end of days.

- when they announced it was the lineage of Abbas it went over very poorly.

- even though he is highly regarded- never been pro-abbas movement

- these people outraged by the Umayids

- they were from the garrisons

- argued that there was room for caste divisions

Ways for Caliphate to stop movement

- The transformation of a Caliphate into a truly Imperial institution- Establish a new capital

- put in between to rivers at strategic location

- for an ideological statement (this capital is the perfection of the previous capitals)

- designed to be a circular capital (a symbol of perfection and the ring or authority)

3-11-09

Terms:

Cultural fusion in the Abbasid Empire

Wazir (Vezier) Sahaba: entourage. They grow up together and have pious loyalty to

one another. Values shaped by their younger years

Adab: Literature intended to tell people how it is that they should function in a court.Today just means literature. It is enormous. Intended to fill the gap between growing up

in the culture and knowing what manners, authors, and literary obscurity you should

know.

Ulama (sing Alim): the learned

Qadi

Dar al-Hikma

MIDTERM IS MARCH 30th!!!!!

- One sentence telling what it is...and one sentence telling what its

greater significance is.

- Two essay questions to handle on exam


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- Under the Abbasid empire a coalition of elites developed.

- elites felt like they were participants in a common venture

Abbasid Caliphate- Word revolution is commonly used

- too strongMuslims still constituted a small minority

- if they were so successful at putting a member of the Prophets family in the

Caliphatewhat are they doing with descendants from Abbasthere are plenty ofrelatives of Ali around. (Thought Abbasids had yellow scrolls that would bring justice to

the region)- established a new capital. Turned Baghdad into an Imperial city. Umayid Caliphates

were always on horsebackwere never really imperial.

- political specialists handled all the processes

- became important for people to have some connection to the Caliphate

- there is an explosion of literature

The process by which Persian political practice made its way into Iran:

- Persian institutions developed in the garrisons of Iraq. Showed how architecture and

the organization of the governership can help rule an unruly region.

Books written on parchment were very very expensive

The arrival of paper had the effects of the arriving of the printing press in Europe.- it democratized he military life.

Questions:What held the Abbasid Empire together?

How did Abbasid high culture differ from that of its Umayyad predecessor?

How were the learnedthe Ulamatransformed from the pious opposition in the

Umayyad period to cadres of empire?

What were the consequences of the cultural fusion in Baghdad?

- ended up being exported to provinces so that provincial capitals began to adopt the

culture, classics, etc of Baghdad. People raised in the Sahaba can educate their ownpeople and patronize the kinds of things that would make their provincial city into

something a little more cosmopolitan (like Baghdad). The culture became broadened and

deepened.

What were the impacts of the Persian cultural inheritance and the Hellenistic one on

Abbasid culture, scholarship, and science?


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Review

What are the main characteristics of the universal cosmopolitan empire?- Universal refers to its claims. People were either subjects or rebels.

- culture became important in politics

- everyone agrees they should stick with the empire- Agrarian means that agriculture is the basis for these economies

What distinguishes it from earlier forms of political organization or the modern

nation-state?

3-23-09

Terms:

Cultural fusion in the Abbasid Empire

Wazir (Vezier) Sahaba: entourage. They grow up together and have pious loyalty to

one another. Values shaped by their younger years- enable elites to be implicated in the new high culture of the Abbasids

- also served as a mechanism for the culture to be disseminated

Adab: Literature intended to tell people how it is that they should function in a court.

Today just means literature. It is enormous. Intended to fill the gap between growing up

in the culture and knowing what manners, authors, and literary obscurity you should

know.

Ulama (sing Alim): the learned. A distinct social category. Began to dress in the same

way to be immediately identifiable as one of the learned (As opposed to a clerk or

anything else). Developed their own sense of manners and decorum. Became clericswithout an orthodox church.

- did not want to be seen as agents of the caliphate. Would refuse appointments with

judges.

Qadi

Dar al-Hikma

How did the Abbasids Govern?- adopted the methods and techniques of previous empires to ruling Islamic empires.

- adopted court culture from Sasanian

- full participation- acceptance was depended on mastery of minute cultural aspects.

- word games became more complex and important

- Culture can be used instrumentally for political uses.

- not much evidence of revolts so this seemed to have worked.- Second element: the patronage of learning

- patronage for hadith scholarship. They recognized that the Koran had very little

information on social and religious things. The hadith gave this guidance, but they were

untrustworthy because people were always making them up.


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- patronage of Hellenistic learning. Drawn from the same group of private scholars as

the hadith scholarship. Helenistic sciences: mathematics, medicine, pharmacology,geology all continued to be cultivated.

- the Abbasids wanted to support these people, they werent much interested in theliterary greats (homer).

- Abbasids sponsored the collection of Greek manuscripts and their subjugation tostudy.

- you could go to translate to translation and the vocabulary was all uniform.

- a whole technical vocabulary was born

3-25-09

Two Forms of Cultural Patronage- Increasingly these two sciences are seen as being in opposition. The sciences of the

Islamics and the sciences of the Helenistics.

- even pure partisans of the Islamic ideas recognized the value of doctrinal aspects

Misc Literature- Arabic poetry became witty.

- Muslims had no interest in Homer or the Greek dramatists.- Early literati in the Abbasid period

- literature from the Pre-Islamic period

- Abbasids patronized these writers for rendering themes and stories from the Pre-

Islamic period into reworkings.

- Knowledge of poetry and prose was a great part of the learned

- Books were expensive and when you had one made you generally expected it to be

original

The Literary Circle- held society together (a classic example of civil society)

- often thought of as the point of life.- lived to read and cultivate literature

- Makalms in Arabic music are very important parts of music

- poetry or prose sometimes accompanied by slave girls with lutes if you are wealthy

3-26-09

DiscussionIslamic:

1. Religion and Theology

2. Culture/Style (Islamicate)


18/19

1. According to Berkey, what are problems you might find with sources when studying

the Abbasids and their revolution?- were all later sources, from later generations. Probably more Abbasid apologists than

actual people there at the time.

2. How did the Abbasids legitimize their rise to the Caliphate and somehow gain thesupport of Alis followers despite their relatively indirect kinship of the Prophet?

- they were very secretive.

- they claimed to be descendants of the prophet

3. How did the Abbasids deal with the Rawandiyya and how did this demonstrate the

compromises to heterodoxies in their rise to power?- were willing to use their support to back their rise to power.

- after they got into power their doctrines were embarrassing and the Abbassids tried to

distance themselves from them.

4. How did the Abbasids deal with the issue of societal divisions between Muslims at thestart of their Caliphate? What consequences did this have for the Arabs?

- They established the court system, moved their capital city to the center, and created theoffice of the Wazir.

- integrated mawali into regular society. No more kinship or tribal affiliation, it was all

based off of religious affiliation. This broadened society.

- Also got markers of high society. This was the new way to distinguish yourself fromnow on, you had to have a good cultural finish.

5. What did the Abbasids do to transition from the idea of the Arab nation in arms toprofessional armies? Were they successful?

- they attempted to have not completely Arab armies. They wanted to have armies loyal

to the Caliph. They more incorporated other conquered people into their armies.

- Werent completely able to do it because they were continuing national conquests.

6. What were the different types of iqtas? How did the institution of the iqta help the

Abbasids rule and administer the provinces?- 2 Kinds: Either a wasteland (no agriculture) or tax farm(productive state land that was

allowed to be taxed). forms of taxation to support nobility or military services.

Chamberlain:

1. What accounted for the success of the Abbasid dawa (mission or callalso about

justice)? What groups, interests, or widespread sentiments did the dawa appeal to?

-basis of the dawa- Abu Muslim went to Khurasan (e. Iran)presented a new age under a just ruler.

- Installed a descendant of the Abbasids who were not directly descended to theprophet. They are collateral (this disappointed the Shia)


19/19

- ThePersians who were notables under the Sasanians were given elite status for

cooperating under the new regime. They were made mawali.Mawali/clients

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