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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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Posted at Nov 28/2007 04:12PM:
aviad: al-thugur literally means "the gaps between your teeth," but it refers to frontier/border towns. thagr is the specific word for these and it means "fortress town."

The thaghr were the front line fortress towns, while "al-awsim" refers to the second line of defensive towns. Tarsus is the most famous thaghr.

Harun al Rashid was a caliph who took on the issue of the frontier with Byzantium and organized these towns. There is, however, a argument today that thaghr were more spiritual centers of Islam than warring fortresses for expansion.

The significance of thughur's can be remembered by the Five S's: Sword - conversion through war (not common but did happen) Settlement - creating a functioning area of land in a new place and holding it as turf Scholars - held a prominent role in conversion Sufis - mystical sect within Islam that was especially present in the frontiers Soil (the 6th S) - created a movement from hunter/gatherer to peasant farmers

The thughur of the frontier are significant because they are centers of cultural contact, they show the difference between the center and the periphery, and they show the diversity of the empire.

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Posted at Dec 10/2007 09:04AM:
ian: This is a very comprehensive discussion. One additional point I would make is that they serve as a counterpoint to some of the discussions that we have had about Islamic urbaism in that they are neither modeled on the amsar nor do they fit the categories of existing towns, new towns or royal cities. In this way they demonstrate how urbanism of the frontier seems to opperate in a rather different fashion than those lands that are seemingly more secure at least in the early Islamic period. but by the 11th century this will begin to change an we will see how aspects of the militarization of the landscape such as the citadel or the Muslim castles serve to make a frontier out of even these lands.