Sicily and Crete between Byzantium and the Dar Al-Islam (Late 7th - Mid 10th Century): an archaeological contribution
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Date
04/12/2021Author
Randazzo, Matteo G.
Metadata
Abstract
Focusing on the Byzantine-Islamic transitions of Sicily and Crete, the aim
of this thesis is to contribute to the archaeological debate surrounding
the development of both islands between the late 7th and mid-10th
century. Material sources have been the primary means of investigation,
drawing especially on ceramic evidence, selected small finds, especially
coins and lead seals, and relevant examples of built environment, which
have encompassed a range of domestic, military, and religious contexts.
Original arguments and data-collection have been produced through
both revaluating the findings and conclusions of current secondary
literature, and by drawing on first-hand studies of unpublished material
sources and evidence documented during archive-based studies and
field observations. Changing patterns in material culture and settlement
organisation, and the modes of administrative and economic
interactions between incoming Muslim rulers and pre-existing Byzantine
communities inhabiting both islands have been the main fields of
enquiry. Although taking a regional perspective, this thesis has been
based on key case-study sites, of which Knossos and Heraklion, and
Enna and its hinterland, are the principal ones.
The Byzantine-Islamic transition of Sicily and Crete might appear as a
peripheral topic to the eyes of scholars working in core territories of the
Byzantine and Islamic empires. When considered within their actual
geographical and cultural contexts, however, both islands stand at the
virtual and spatial centre of the military and ideological confrontation
between Byzantium and the Dar al-Islam. Placed at the crossroads
between Constantinople, Cordoba, Mecca, and Baghdad, both islands
acted as sociocultural and economic lynchpins between the western and
eastern halves of the Mediterranean world, but also as maritime
frontier-lands located at the fringe between the worlds of Islam and
Byzantium.