The Urban Economy in Southern Inland Greater Syria from the Seventh Century to the End of the Umayyads

Abstract

Abstract This article deals with the evolution of the economy of southern Greater Syria’s inland cities between the beginning of the 7th c. and the end of the Umayyads. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the economy of this region leaned towards a form of ‘localism’ in the 6th to 7th c., and later experienced growth at the beginning of the Islamic period. It will show that this growth occurred within the context of the new geo-political reality. That is, the political unification of the Near East under the reign of the Umayyads from the 7th to early 8th c., and the strategic position of this region: on the pilgrim route towards Mecca and on the route to Iraq passing through the Jordan Steppe. It will be argued that in the Early Islamic period, the reinforcement and opening up of local and long-distance exchange, aided by the amelioration of road networks, encouraged the growth of nucleated workshops in the cities of southern inland Greater Syria, as well as an evolution in the material culture, as shown by archaeological discoveries and Arabic sources.