ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the Byzantine frontier districts. It examines some of the chief aspects of the Muslim frontier regions in north Syria and Mesopotamia, and the course of their development during the first one hundred years of Abbasid rule. A great deal has been written about the general effects of Arab raiding on the Byzantine military organisation and the Byzantine economy from the 650s to the beginning of the ninth century. The chapter also looks at some more specific features of the period c. 700–950 A.D: which areas were most radically affected by the Muslim raiding; and how these were affected — in terms of economic and social life and the effects of a constant military presence among the population. It aims to give the reader a general idea of the military conditions prevailing in the Byzantine border territories during the later seventh and eighth centuries.
