Al-'Awasim

''Al-ʿAwāṣim'' ( ar, العواصم, "the defences, fortifications"; sing. ''al-ʿāṣimah'', , "protectress") was the Arabic term used to refer to the Muslim side of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates in Cilicia, northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. It was established in the early 8th century, once the first wave of the Muslim conquests ebbed, and lasted until the mid-10th century, when it was overrun by the Byzantine advance. It comprised the forward marches, comprising a chain of fortified strongholds, known as ''al-thughūr'' (; sing. ''al-thagr'', , "cleft, opening"), and the rear or inner regions of the frontier zone, which was known as ''al-ʿawāṣim'' 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 ʿawāṣim'' and ''thughūr'' in northern Syria and the northern Euphrates region came under their control.Honigmann (1987), p. 739

Arab–Byzantine frontier zone

Creation of the frontier zone

Already from late 630s, after the rapid Muslim conquest of Syria, a wide zone, unclaimed by either Byzantines or Arabs and virtually deserted (known in Arabic as ''al-Ḍawāḥī'' (, "of 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 () and the Caliph ʿUmar () pursued a strategy of destruction within this zone, trying to transform it into an effective barrier between their realms.Streck (1987), p. 515 Nevertheless, the ultimate aim of the caliphs remained the outright conquest of Byzantium, as they had done with its provinces in Syria, Egypt and North Africa, and it was only the failure of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople in 717–718 that forced a revision of this strategic objective: although raids into Anatolia continued, the goal of conquest was abandoned, and the border between the two powers began to acquire more permanent features. For the next two centuries, border fortresses might change hands between Byzantines and Arabs, but the basic outline of the Arab–Byzantine border remained essentially unaltered.Whittow (1996), p. 212 Thus the term ''al-thughūr'', which initially meant "fissures, clefts" (cf. their Greek name ''ta Stomia'', , "the mouths/openings") and designated the actual borderlands, came to mean "boundaries", employed in phrases like ''Thughūr al-Islām'' (, "Boundary of Islam") or ''Thughūr al-Rūmīya'' (, "Boundary of the Rūm").Honigmann (1987), p. 738

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 (). The Muslims began to move into the area, reoccupying and repairing the abandoned towns and forts. The process began under the Umayyads, but intensified under the first Abbasids, especially during the rule of Harun al-Rashid (). Thus a line of forts was gradually established, stretching from Tarsus (Ar. Ṭarsūs) on the Mediterranean coast to Malatya (Ar. Malaṭiyā, Gr. Melitene) and Kamacha (Ar. Ḥiṣn Kamkh) on the upper course of the Euphrates.El-Cheikh (2004), p. 83Wheatley (2000), pp. 260–261 These were located at strategic choke points, located at the intersections of major roads or at the mouths of important passes.Kazhdan (1991), p. 238

Administrative organization and settlements

The entire frontier zone was initially part of the ''jund'' (one of the military administrative divisions into which Muslim Syria was divided) of Homs. After 680 it formed part of the new ''jund'' of Qinnasrin (Gr. Chalkis), until Harun al-Rashid established a separate ''jund al-ʿAwāṣim'' () in 786, covering the entire region from the Byzantine border in the north and west to the Euphrates in the east and a line running south of Antioch (Ar. Anṭākiya), Aleppo (Ar. Ḥalab, Gr. Berroia) and Manbij (Gr. Hierapolis). Manbij and later Antioch were the new province's capitals. The ''al-ʿAwāṣim'' proper served as the second defensive line behind the ''Thughūr'', stretching across northern Syria and comprising the towns of Baghras, Bayās, Dulūk (Gr. Doliche or Telouch), Alexandretta (Ar. Iskandarīya), Cyrrhus (Ar. Qūrus), Ra'bān and Tīzīn. The ''Thughūr'', the actual frontier zone, was divided into the Cilician or Syrian (''al-Thughūr al-Sha'mīya'', ) and the Jaziran or Mesopotamian (''al-Thughūr al-Jazīrīya'', ) sectors, roughly separated by the Amanus mountains. There was no overall governor or administrative centre for the ''Thughūr'', although Tarsus and Malatya emerged as the most important towns in Cilicia and the Mesopotamian sector respectively. The towns of the ''Thughūr'' came variously under the administrative control of the ''jund al-ʿAwāṣim'' or functioned as separate districts; the situation is complicated by the fact that by the 10th century, the terms ''Thughūr'' and ''al-ʿAwāṣim'' were often used interchangeably in the sources. In addition, from the early 10th century, with the Byzantine advance into Armenia, the frontier around Diyār Bakr became a third sector, ''al-Thughūr al-Bakrīya'' ().Honigmann (1935), pp. 42–43

In the Cilician sector, Mopsuestia (Ar. al-Maṣṣīṣa) was the first city to be re-occupied and garrisoned, already under the Umayyads, who settled 300 soldiers there in 703, a number raised under the first Abbasids to some 4,000. Adana followed in 758–760, and Tarsus in 787/8. Tarsus quickly became the largest settlement in the region and the Arabs' most important base of operations against the Byzantines, counting between 4,000 and 5,000 troops in its garrison. Other important fortresses in Cilicia, which however were little more than military outposts, were 'Ayn Zarba (Gr. Anazarbus), al-Hārūniya, founded by Harun al-Rashid, Tall Gubair and al-Kanīsat al-Sawdā. These were complemented by smaller forts dotted across the Cilician plain, holding smaller garrisons of a dozen or so men.Kennedy (2001), pp. 82, 98 In the more mountainous terrain of the Mesopotamian frontier zone, the main strongholds were located in the fertile parts of relatively isolated valleys, controlling the entrances of passes over the mountains: Mar'ash (Gr. Germanikeia), rebuilt already under Muawiyah I () and again under Harun al-Rashid, al-Ḥadath (Gr. Adata), likewise refortified by the first Abbasid caliphs and provided with 4,000 troops, and Malatya, which had been colonized by the Umayyads, destroyed by the Byzantines and rebuilt again and likewise garrisoned with 4,000 men in 757/8. Further fortresses of lesser importance in the Mesopotamian sector were Salaghus, Kaisum, Ḥiṣn Zibaṭra (Gr. Zapetra/Sozopetra), Sumaisaṭ (Gr. Samosata

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