Cambridge University Press
9780521858687 - Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World - by Adam J. Silverstein
Index
Index
a secretis, (Latin term for ‘bearer of secrets’; see also: rāzbān), 38
Abbasid Revolution, and the Umayyad Barīd, 86–7
ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd ibn Yaḥyā, 85
ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān, 42, 53, 59, 60–1, 82, 117
ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Yazīd, 71
Abraha, 46
Abū al-ʿIyāl, 56
Abū Tammām, 107
Achaemenids, postal system, 9–11
ʿAdiyy ibn Zayd, 19, 48
ʿAḍud al-Dawla, 132, 134–5
Afshīn, 192
agentes in rebus, 32, 36–8, 42, 67, 72
Aḥīqar, 22
Aḥmad ibn Abī Duʾād, 90
ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī, 50
ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā, 112
ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad: see under ‘Zanj’
ʿAlī al-Riḍā, 83
Alp Arslān, 136, 187
ʿAlqama al-Faḥl, 44
Amarna, Tell al-, 168
ʿāmil al-kharāj, 101
Amīn, Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-, 65–6, 88
angaria (or Greek angareion; Iranian term for ‘postal tax’), 10, 24–5, 27, 34
angels, 19, 138
Anṣarī, 167, 172–3, 176–7
Apollonius of Tyana, 143
Arabia (pre-Umayyad):
communications in, 42–51, 55
use of two couriers in, 45–6, 55, 79, 84, 178
imperial postal systems in, 47–9, 84, 145
Arabians, (pre-Umayyad) as spies for pre-Islamic empires, 49
Ardashīr I (Sasanid ruler, r. 224–41), 8, 178
ʿArīb al-Qurṭubī, 106
Aristotle, 139
Aršam letters, 16
ʿAskarī, 54
askudār, 127, 135
aspinj (or Aramaic ušpīzā, Soghdian arspanj; Iranian term for a ‘postal station’), 17
Augustus (Roman Emperor, r. 23 BCE – 14 CE), 30, 39
aural signalling, 26, 63
awwanā (Iranian term for ‘way-station’), 16, 48
Ayman ibn Khuraym, 56
Ayyubids, 169
ʿAzīz, al-, 122
Bābak, 63, 82
Babylonian Talmud, 20, 24, 27, 28
Bahrām IV (Sasanid ruler, r. 388–99), 18
Balādhurī, 46, 69
bandits, 13, 86, 158
barīd, etymology, 8, 28, 29, 46, 47, 48
barīd, as a measure of distance, 16, 93–4
Barīdī family, 129
Barmakids (see also: Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar, Yaḥyā ibn Khālid), 74, 88
Barqūq, 180
barrišdama, (Elamite term for ‘elite guides’), 20
bashīr, 43–4, 55
Batu, 147, 150
Baybars al-Bunduqdārī, 123, 164, 165, 170, 172, 173, 175
Baybars al-Manṣūrī, 172
beacons: see under ‘Optical signalling’
Bosworth, C. E., 126
Bridia, C. de, 149–50, 192
Buddha, 137
Bulliet, R., 33
bundār, 64, 77, 83, 88, 103, 127
Bundārī, 136, 187
Buyids, postal system, 131–6, 188
Byzantium:
Barīd operations in, 62, 82
couriers (see also: agentes in rebus; frumentarii; veredarii), 35–8
Muslims using postal system, 98–9
postal administration, 38–42
postal infrastructure, 32–5, 38
station-masters, 39–40
Caelius Aurelianus, 70
Cairo Geniza, 46, 115, 124–5, 167
camels, replace wheeled vehicles in the Near East, 33–4, 143, 188, 189
camels, replace other postal mounts (see also: ‘jammāzāt’), 112–13, 188
Carpini, John Pian de, 149, 150–1
Chaghadai, 147
Chʾang Chʾun, 145, 146
China:
Great Wall, 76
‘Ministry of Posts’, 109
Muslims using postal system, 98
perishables transported by post, 81see also: ‘Yi’
Chinggis Khān, 141–2, 144–6, 148
Chronicon Paschale, 35, 38
Clavijo, Ruy González de, 162–3
coinage, of postal chiefs, 73
Confucius, 138
conquests:
early Islamic, 3–4, 49–51, 145, 148, 189–90
Mongol, 3–4, 50, 141, 145, 148–9, 153, 189–90
Ottoman, 3, 164
Constitution of Medina, 45
courier-guides (see also: parwānag, furāniq), 17, 20, 36, 162, 173, 183
Crusades, 137, 179, 187
Ctesias, 13
Cursus Clabularis, 31, 33, 35, 41, 54
Cursus Publicus, 29–42, 47, 67, 84, 109, 191
Cursus Velox, 31, 54, 56
Cyrus (Achaemenid ruler, r. 559–529 BCE), 9, 21
Daniel, Book of, 28
Darius (Achaemenid ruler, r. 521–485 BCE), 8
darughachī, 156, 159
dawādār, 172
deaths of dignitaries, reported by the Barīd, 78–9
Delhi Sultanate, 162, 163–4, 166
dīdabān (Persian term for ‘watchman’), 23, 63, 88, 139
Diocletian (Roman Emperor, r. 284–305), 32, 36, 155
Diodorus Siculus, 13, 25, 26, 27
disguise, rulers travelling in, 23
distances between postal stations, 34–5, 94
divine surveillance, 138
Dīwān al-Barīd, 40, 73, 74, 77, 89, 102–3, 125, 127, 172
administration of, 99–109
Buyid, 135, 188
creation of, 90–1
funding of, 109–10
infrastructure, 92–9
uniqueness of, 109–11
Dīwān al-Kharāj, and the Barīd, 100–1
Dīwān al-Tartīb, 123
Dīwastī, 75
Eblaite Tablets, 117
Elad, A., 60
‘elements’, etymology of, 188
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Epic of, 117, 186
envoys (see also: ‘īlchī’), 41, 117–18, 120, 141, 149, 154, 160, 162, 192
escorts, see under: ‘courier-guides’
Esther, Book of, 10–11, 12, 18, 38, 69
eunuchs, 67, 74, 109, 112, 121
evectiones (Latin term for ‘postal warrants’), 31, 40, 59
‘eyes and ears’, 21–3, 85, 86, 140, 177
Ezra, 13–15
Faḍl and Marʿūsh, 133, 160, 191
Faḍl ibn Aḥmad al-Isfarāʾinī, 128
Fārābī, 138, 139, 140
Farazdaq, 44, 66
Fatimids, 115, 121–5, 168, 178, 188
Fatimids, and merchant postal networks, 123–5
Fatimids, use of pigeon-couriers, 122–3, 178, 189
fayj, 11, 48, 77, 120, 124, 133, 139, 160
flatulence, of postmasters, 108
frēstag (Middle Persian term for ‘angel’), 19
frumentarii (Latin term for ‘couriers’), 32, 36–8
furāniq (Arabic term for ‘courier-guide’), 20, 47, 64, 70, 72, 77, 86, 97, 102, 173
Gardīzī, 8
Gazagnadou, D., 165
Geikhatu, 159
general population, 25, 39, 76–7, 85, 104, 131, 151, 152, 155, 157, 158, 162, 175, 189
Ghazālī, 139
Ghāzān Khān, 153, 155, 157–61, 189
Ghaznavids, 115, 129–31
Gog and Magog, 90
Goitein, S.D., 123
governors, and the Barīd, 75–6, 85
Güyüg, 150, 151
Hādī, Mūsā al-, 66
Hadrian (Roman Emperor, r. 117–38), 39
Ḥāfiẓ Abrū, 163
Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf, 74–5, 82
Ḥākim, al-, 115, 123
Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, 8, 111
Ḥaram Documents, 183–4
Ḥarīrī, 115
Ḥārith ibn Surayj, 80
Hārūn ibn Yaḥyā, 99
Hārūn al-Rashīd, 12, 53, 73, 88, 113
Hendy, M.F., 35
Herodotus, 10, 12, 15, 98, 191
Hilāl al-Ṣābi’, 104, 107, 114
Hirsch, S.W., 21, 22
Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, 61, 69, 77, 78–9, 82, 85–6, 191
homosexuality, of postmasters, 108
Horace, 145
Hudhayl, dīwān of, 44
Hülegü, 149, 153, 154, 156
Ibn al-Ashʿath, 50, 68
Ibn al-Athīr, 168
Ibn Bassām, 107
Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, 163–4
Ibn ʿEzrā, 11
Ibn al-Furāt, 112
Ibn Ḥawqal, 127–8
Ibn Hishām, 44
Ibn al-Jawzī, 119
Ibn Jīʿān, 179
Ibn Khaldūn, 180
Ibn Khurradādhbih, 64, 89, 91, 93, 94–7, 107, 127, 170, 192
Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, 85
Ibn al-Qadīm, 121
Ibn Qutayba, 46
Ibn Sīnā, 139
Ibn Taghribirdī, 133
Ibn al-Ṭiqṭaqā, 54, 69, 157
Ibn Wahb al-Kātib, 115
Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbdallāh, 70
iggereth (Aramaic term for ‘letter’), 27
Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’, 138
Īl-khānids, 144, 153–7, 183
īlchī, 145, 147, 151, 158, 162
Imruʾ al-Qays, 47, 70
intelligence chiefs, see under: Ṣāḥib al-akhbār
Iran (pre-Islamic):
distances between way-stations, 16, 98
official envoys, 17–18
messengers, 17–20
postal administration, 26–8
postal mounts, 24–5
postal system, 7–28
postmaster, 28
spies, 20–3
Isaiah, 19
Isidore of Charax, 13, 64, 135
Ismāʿīlīs, 136, 187
Iṣṭakhrī, 135
Ītākh, 90, 105
jahābidha, 111
Jahāngir (Mughal Sultan, r. 1605–27), 81
Jāḥiẓ, 48, 77–8, 87, 187
Jahshiyārī, 60, 104
jammāzāt, 66, 112–13, 116, 125, 132, 191
Jarrāḥ ibn ʿAbdallāh, 75, 85
Jawdhar, 121
Jawhar al-Rūmī, 122
Jayhānī, 127
jaysh, etymology of, 86
John of Cori, 161
John Lydus, 39
Joseph, 44, 117
Julius Caesar, 30
Justinian (Byzantine Emperor, r. 527–65), 33, 35, 39, 41
Juwaynī, 145, 157
Kalachuris of Karnataka, 140
Kashghārī, Maḥmūd, 121
Kay Qāʾūs ibn Iskandar, 117, 131
khān, 16
kharīṭat al-mawsim, 106–7
khāṣṣakiyya, 169, 174, 182
Khusrô I (Sasanid ruler, r. 531–79), 22, 28, 41, 49
Khusrô II (Sasanid ruler, r. 590–628), 24, 28, 45
Khwārazm-shāh, 141
Khwārazmī, Abū ʿAbdallāh, 126–7
Kitāb al-Aghānī, 118
Kutadgu Bilig, 120
kutub al-tujjār, 118–20, 124, 193
Lambton, A. K. S., 155
lean horses (khayl muḍammara), as postal mounts, 63, 68–9, 78, 85, 88, 187
Leo (Byzantine Emperor, r. 457–74), 33, 37
Letter of Tansar, 22
Levanoni, A., 182
Logothete of the Drome, 36, 40, 109
Luṭfī Pāshā, 109–10, 164
Magister Officiorum (or: ‘Master of Offices’), 36, 40, 42, 74
magistrianoi (Latin for ‘the Master’s men’), 37, 67
Mahdī, al- (Abbasid caliph, r. 775–85), 53, 61, 62, 73, 192
Mahdī, al- (Fatimid ruler), 121
mail-bags, 7, 26, 63, 66, 68, 70, 73, 74, 83, 94, 97, 103, 104, 106, 135
Mālik ibn Nuwayra, 48
Maʾmūn, 65–6, 81, 83, 88, 122, 187, 191
Mamluk Barīd, 94, 162, 164, 165–85
caliphal pedigree, 170
creation, 167–70
functions, 175–6
funding, 173–6, 181–2, 184
infrastructure, 173, 174, 175, 181–2
mounted couriers, 169, 188
military character, 170–3, 180
optical signals used in, 176–7
origins, 165–6, 175, 185
pigeons used in, 176, 177, 189
Mankajūr, 80
mansiones (Latin term for ‘resting-stations’), 31, 32, 35, 98
Manṣūr, Abū Jaʿfar al-, 65, 67, 70, 72–3, 87, 117, 187
Maqrīzī, 123, 167, 172, 173, 174, 175, 180, 184
marathon, 133
Marco Polo, 160, 163, 164, 191
marḥala, 93–4
Maʾrib Dam, see under: Abraha
Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam, 59, 60
Marwanids, postal infrastructure, 60–1
masālik wa mamālik genre, 5
Masʿūdī, 28, 59, 87, 108, 132, 187
mawālī, 67, 108
Māwardī, 115–16
Maymūn ibn Ibrāhīm, 108
medicines, transported by the Barīd, 66
Medieval Europe, postal systems in, 123, 190
‘Memphite Theology’, 139
meraglīm (Hebrew term for ‘spies’), 19
merchants, and postal systems, 93, 116–21, 141, 151, 152, 159 (see also: kutub al-tujjār)
Michael Psellus, 33
miḥna, 83–4
miles (Latin: mille passus; Arabic mīl): 16, 93–4
milestones, 16, 33, 60, 61, 84, 138, 161
military operations, Barīd used in, 82–3, 99
Mishna, 25
Miskawayh, 134–5
Mitra, 138
modern postal systems (as distinct from pre-modern ones), 1–2
Möngke, 151–2, 155
Mongols (see also: ‘Conquests, Mongol’; ‘Īl-khānids’):
climate, influence of, 148–9, 150, 153, 154
disintegration of Empire, 152–3
European travellers to, 149–51
imperial administration, creation of, 141–2, 144
postal system, see under: Yām
taxation, 155–6
mounts, of the Abbasid Barīd, 111–13
Muʿāwiya, 30, 42, 46, 53, 54–6, 74
Muhallabī, 121
Muḥammad, 16, 144–5
Muḥammad al-Saffār, 190, 191
Muʿizz al-Dawla, 132, 133
Muqaddasī, 91, 127, 135
Musaylima, 46
mushrif, 38, 114, 125, 126, 129
Musil, A., 45
Mustaʿīn, al-, 103, 105
Muʿtaḍid, al-, 90, 100, 114, 117
Muʿtamid, al-, 92
Mutammim ibn Nuwayra, 48
Muʿtaṣim, al-, 26, 63, 82, 88–9
Muʿtazz, al-, 108, 114
mutationes (Latin term for ‘relay-stations’), 31, 32, 35, 98
Mutawakkil, al-, 90, 105, 106, 111, 114
Muthaqqib al-ʿAbdī, 48
Muzarrid ibn Ḍirār, 48
Nabonidus, 170
Narshakhī, 126
Nāṣir, al-, 115
Nāṣir-i Khusraw, 181
Nāṣir Muḥammad, al-, 172, 179–80, 181, 184
Neḥemiah, 15
neighbouring countries, postal systems of, 97–9
Nerva (Roman Emperor, r. 96–8), 39
newspapers, 1–2
Niẓām al-Mulk, 130–1, 133, 135, 136–7, 191
notarii, 36, 37, 72
Nūr al-Dīn, 168
Odoric, 161
Ögödei, 146–8, 151, 155
Olbricht, P., 143
Öljeitü, 66, 160–1, 192
optical signalling, 25–6, 61, 106, 176–7
ortaq, 155
Ottomans, 2, 109–10, 162, 164, 166, 167, 183
pāʾiza (Persianised Mongol term for ‘courier’s tablet of authority’), 142, 143, 151, 152, 159, 165, 173
paper, 91, 188
papyri, 50–1, 58–9, 68, 70, 71–4, 76, 84, 91, 123
parasang (Arabic: farsakh), 16, 93–4
Parthian Stations: see under ‘Isidore of Charax’
parwānag (Middle Persian term for ‘courier guide’; see also ‘parwwwanqā’ and ‘furāniq’), 20, 36, 70, 86
pax mongolica, 149, 151
payg (Middle Persian term for ‘courier’; see also ‘fayj’, ‘paykān’), 19, 160
paykān, 130, 160, 163, 191
Pegolotti, Francesco, 161
perishables, transported via the postal system, 81–2, 134, 164, 181, 187, 191
Persepolis Fortification Tablets (= PF), 12, 15, 18, 20, 27
philosophers, use postal metaphors, 137–40
Phocas (Byzantine Emperor, r. 602–10), 35
pigeons, homing, 113–14, 116, 132, 168, 177, 188
pilgrims, 36, 58
pirradaziš (Elamite term for ‘express courier’), 18
plague, 182
Pliny, 69
Praetorian Prefect, 36, 40
prisoners, transported by the Barīd, 98
private postal systems, 2, 93, 106, 114, 116, 124 (see also: ‘Merchants’)
Procopius, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 41, 117, 191
Ptolemaic Egypt, 103
punishment, for postal delays, 134
Qāʾim, al-, 121
qāḍīs, 72, 106, 158
Qajar Iran, 20, 44, 66, 76
Qalqashandī, 133, 166, 173, 175, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184
Qarāmiṭa, 111, 113, 114, 132
Qubilai Khān, 153, 159
Qudāma ibn Jaʿfar, 93, 94, 99, 102–3, 192
Qurʾān, 48, 138, 140
Qurra ibn Sharīk, 67, 71–2
Rāfiʿ ibn Harthama, 112
Ragheb, Y., 113
rāhdār, 86
Rashī, 10, 11
Rashīd al-Dīn, 148, 151, 155, 157–8, 159, 161
raṣṣīm (Hebrew term for ‘couriers’), 11, 18, 38, 124
rāzbān (Persian term for ‘bearer of secrets’), 38
rebellions, reported by the Barīd, 79–80
rebels (see also: ‘Bandits’):
transported via postal system, 57, 81
disrupt postal system, 61, 65, 80–1, 87, 92–3, 107, 177–8, 186
traced by the Barīd, 75
use pigeon-couriers, 114
ribāṭ, 47, 48, 131
Richards, D. S., 183
risāla mughalghala, 44–5, 47, 55, 84
‘Royal Road’, 12–13
r.s.l. (Arabic root), 7, 138
Rubruck, William of, 145, 149, 150
runners, 24, 68, 78, 88, 133–4, 160, 163, 169, 183, 188, 192
Saʿadiya Gaon, 18
safīr, 122
Ṣāḥib al-akhbār (or al-khabar), 114–15, 127, 128, 130, 136, 138
Ṣāḥib al-Barīd (pl. aṣḥāb al-barīd):
Umayyad, 70, 75, 84
Abbasid, 62, 65, 67, 79–80, 118, 125, 126, 172
according to Siyāsat al-Mulūk, 97, 101, 103–8
according to Qudāma, 102
compared with the Mushrif, 116
Samanid, 125, 127, 128
Ghaznavid, 125, 128, 129, 130
according to Niẓām al-Mulk, 137
used metaphorically, 139
Ṣāḥib Dīwān al-Barīd, 90, 99, 102, 103, 123
Ṣāḥib Dīwān al-Kharāj, 100–1
Ṣāḥib al-ḥaras, 65
Ṣāḥib khabar al-ʿaskar, 82, 114
Ṣāḥib al-Maʿūna, 101
Ṣāḥib al-Shurṭa, 73
Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ, 44, 47
safety along roads, 13–15
Samanids, 125–8
Samaritans, 26, 107, 178
Sauvaget, J., 165, 166, 167, 178
Sebüktigin, 128–9
Secret History of the Mongols, 146, 147, 151
Seljuks, 115, 131, 136–7
Seljuks, lack of a postal system, 136–7, 169
Seven Sleepers, 90
Shahid, I., 49
ShāhNāma, 17–18, 23, 24, 25, 28
Shāh Rukh, 163
Shāpūr II (Sasanid ruler, r. 309–79), 25
Sharaf al-Dawla (Uqaylid amīr), 115
Sharaf al-Dawla (Buyid ruler), 134
shuʿūbiyya, 4, 29
signet ring, for the postal system, 28, 74
Sikandar Lodi, 187
sikka, 47, 64, 93–8
Silk Road, 149
Siyāsat al-Mulūk, 87, 97, 99–102, 103–4, 107, 112, 118, 133, 134, 187, 191
slave-soldiers, 89, 99, 113, 169, 172, 184
Solomon, 61
sources, 4–6, 49, 57–8, 71, 91, 144, 145, 154, 155, 166–7, 189
speed of:
Achaemenid postal system, 13, 191
Barīd, 66, 81–2, 97, 107, 191, 192
Buyid couriers, 133, 134, 135, 191, 192
Cursus Publicus, 31, 191
Ghaznavid couriers, 130
homing pigeons, 168
Mamluk Barīd, 176
merchant postal networks, 119, 193
Mongol runners, 160, 192
Umayyad couriers, 57–8
stathmoi (Greek term for ‘postal stations’), 32
stations, of postal system, see under: ‘stathmoi’; ‘sikka’; awwanā
stirrups, 188
Subkī, 181, 183
Suetonius, 30
Sukkoth (‘Feast of Tabernacles’), 47
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, 61, 76
Sulaymān the Merchant, 98
Sun Tzu, 5
Sykes, Ella, 7
Ṭabarī, 8, 18, 44, 46, 50, 62, 63, 69, 87, 119, 187
Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn, 80, 118, 126, 129
tail-docking, as postal badge, 8, 47, 63, 68–9, 88, 173, 187
Tamīm ibn Baḥr, 97–8
Tanūkhī, 100, 120
Targum, 19
taxi, 2
Taxis family, 2
telegraph, 2
Thaʿālibī, 8, 68
The Art of War: see under ‘Sun Tzu’
Theodore of Sykeon, 35
Theodosius II (Byzantine Emperor, r. 408–50), 37
thiqāt, 18
Tīmūr, 162–3, 184, 185
ūlāq, see under: ‘Ottomans’
Ullmann, M., 47
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, 51
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, 61, 62, 68, 77, 81, 117, 189
ʿUmarī, 53, 54, 88, 122, 131, 165–6, 170, 173, 174–5, 181, 187
unpopularity of postal systems (see also: ‘General population’), 32, 36, 39
ʿUtbī, 107
ʿUthmān ibn al-Ḥuwayrith, 47
Varuna, 138
veredarius (Latin term for ‘postal courier’), 32, 36, 38, 46
veredus (Latin term for ‘post-horse’), 29, 31, 48
Walīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, 53, 54, 59, 61, 71, 73
Walīd ibn Yazīd, 65, 78–9, 87
Wang Yangming, 107
Waṣṣāf, 155, 159
water, communication by, 41, 78
Wāthiq, al-, 64, 89, 90
women, as couriers, 65, 174
Xenophon, 9, 15, 20, 21
Xerxes I (Achaemenid ruler, r. 486–465 BCE), 10
Yaḥyā ibn Jaʿfar al-Barmakī, 73, 88, 103
Yaḥyā ibn Khālid al-Barmakī, 53
Yām, 141–64
administration, 152–3, 159–60
compared with the Chinese Yi, 142–4
costs, 155–6
creation, 144–8
in China, 159, 160
legacy, 161–4
routes, 154–5, 159, 161
Yām, etymology of, 142–3
yamchī, 162
Yaʿqūb ibn Killis, 122
Yaʿqūbī, 107
Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī, 8, 117
Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, 76, 117
Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, 56, 57
Yazīd ibn al-Muhallab, 76
Yi (Chinese postal system), 141, 142–4, 163
Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib, 120
Ẓāhir, al-, 123
Zanj, 92, 110, 111, 132
Ziyād ibn Abīhi, 55, 56, 57, 65, 74–5
Zuṭṭ, 63, 82
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