Middle East (909 BCE – 819 CE) Early Iron and Antiquity — Urartu, Achaemenids, Parthians, Sasanian Frontiers

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: the Tigris–Euphrates alluvium and marshes; the Zagros (Luristan, Fars), Alborz, Caucasus (Armenia–Georgia–Azerbaijan); northern Syrian plains and Cilicia; Khuzestan and Fars lowlands; the Arabian/Persian Gulf littoral (al-Ahsa–Qatar–Bahrain–UAE–northern Oman); northeastern Cyprus and the Lebanon coastal elbow (north).

Climate & Environment

• Continental variability; oases survived by canal upkeep; Gulf fisheries stable; Caucasus snows fed headwaters.

Societies & Political Developments

• Urartu (9th–6th c. BCE) fortified Armenian highlands;

• Achaemenid Persia (6th–4th c. BCE) organized satrapies across Iran, Armenia, Syria uplands, Cilicia; Royal Road linked Susa–Sardis through our zone.

• Hellenistic Seleucids, then Parthians (3rd c. BCE–3rd c. CE) and Sasanians (3rd–7th c. CE) ruled Iran–Mesopotamia; oases prospered under qanat/karez and canal regimes.

• Transcaucasus (Armenia, Iberia/Georgia, Albania/Azerbaijan) oscillated between Iranian and Roman/Byzantine influence; northeastern Cyprus joined Hellenistic–Roman networks.

• Arabian Gulf littoral hosted pearling/fishing and entrepôts (al-Ahsa–Qatif–Bahrain).

Economy & Trade

• Irrigated cereals, dates, cotton, wine; transhumant pastoralism; Gulf pearls and dates.

• Long-haul Silk Road and Royal Road flows; qanat irrigation expanded in Iran.

Technology & Material Culture

• Iron plowshares, tools, and weapons; fortifications; qanat engineering; road stations (caravanserais earlier variants).

• Arts: Urartian bronzes; Achaemenid stonework; Sasanian silver; Armenian and Georgian ecclesiastical arts (late).

Belief & Symbolism

• Zoroastrianism, Armenian/Georgian Christianity, local cults; Jewish and early Christian communities in oases/ports; syncretism in frontier cities.

Adaptation & Resilience

• Canal/qanat redundancy, pasture–oasis integration, distributed entrepôts (northeastern Cyprus, Gulf) hedged war and drought.

Transition

By 819 CE, the Middle East was a layered highland–oasis–Gulf system under Sasanian–Byzantine frontiers giving way to Islamic polities.

Near East (909 BCE – 819 CE) Early Iron and Antiquity — Greeks of Ionia, Levantine Tyre, Roman–Byzantine Egypt, Arabia’s Caravans

Geographic and Environmental Context

• Anchors: the Nile Valley and Delta; Sinai–Negev–Arabah; the southern Levant (with Tyre as the sole Levantine node in this subregion); Hejaz–Asir–Tihāma on the Red Sea; Yemen’s western uplands/coast; southwestern Cyprus; western Anatolian littoral (Smyrna–Ephesus–Miletus–Halicarnassus–Xanthos; Troad).

Climate & Environment

• Nile’s late antique variability; Aegean storms seasonal; Arabian aridity persistent but terraces/cisterns mitigated.

Societies & Political Developments

• Western Anatolia Greek city-states (Ionia–Aeolia–Doria, with Troad): Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna, etc.

• Tyre (sole Near-Eastern Levantine node here) dominated Phoenician seafaring.

• Egypt (Ptolemaic → Roman → Byzantine): Nile granary and Christianizing hub.

• Arabian west: caravan kingdoms and Hejaz–Asir oases; western Yemen incense terraces and caravan polities.

• Southwestern Cyprus embedded in Hellenistic–Roman maritime circuits.

Economy & Trade

• Grain–papyrus–linen from the Nile; olive–wine Aegean; incense–myrrh from Yemen; Red Sea lanes linked to Aden–Berenike nodes (outside core but connected).

• Tyre exported craft goods and purple dye.

Technology & Material Culture

• Iron agriculture and tools; triremes and merchant galleys; advanced terracing, cisterns; lighthouse/harbor works.

Belief & Symbolism

• Egyptian polytheism → Christianity (Alexandria); Greek civic cults; Tyrian traditions; Arabian deities; monasticism along Nile/Desert.

Adaptation & Resilience

• Canal maintenance buffered Nile shocks; terraces/cisterns stabilized Arabian farming; Aegean coastal redundancy protected shipping routes.

Transition

By 819 CE, the Near East was a multi-corridor world of Nile granaries, Ionia’s city-coasts, Tyre’s Phoenician legacy, and Arabian incense roads — a foundation for the medieval dynamics ahead (Ayyubids in Syria/Egypt next door, Abbasids beyond, and the Ionian–Anatolian littoral under Byzantine/Nicaean arcs).

The commercial empire of the Turkic Khazars, centered in the southeastern section of modern European Russia, adopts Judaism in about 740 and continues its alliance with Constantinople against the Muslim Arabs.

The rapid expansion of Islam from the Middle East to Spain in the seventh and eighth centuries brings a significant portion of the Jewish people under Muslim rule.

Jews, tolerated by Muslims as People of the Book, with a common ancestor in Abraham, regain religious autonomy and, as long as they pay tribute to the rulers, see to the affairs of their communities.

The Fragmentation of the Arab Caliphate and the Rise of Independent Muslim States

Throughout this period, the Arab Caliphate, predominantly ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, is fractured by a series of civil wars, one of which leads to the split of Islam into three major branches:

• Sunnites,
• Kharijites, and
• Shi'ites.

This internal strife ultimately shatters unified Islamic rule. In 750 CE, the Abbasids overthrow the Umayyads, seizing control of the Caliphate. However, a cadet branch of the Umayyads escapes to Muslim Spain, where they establish the Emirate of Córdoba, marking the beginning of an independent Islamic state in Al-Andalus.

Elsewhere, other independent Muslim states emerge, including:

• Idrisid Morocco, and
• Aghlabid Ifriqiya (modern Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and western Libya).

These developments mark the transition from a unified Arab Empire to a diverse Islamic world, ruled by multiple, competing dynasties.

Another group, the Kharijites, had arisen from events surrounding the assassination of Uthman, the third caliph, and the transfer of authority to the fourth caliph, Ali.

In the war between Ali and Muawiyah, part of Ali's army had objected to arbitration of the dispute.

They had left Ali's camp, causing other Muslims to refer to them as "kharijites" (the ones who leave).

The term Kharijites had also become a designation for Muslims who refused to compromise with those who differed from them.

Their actions had caused the Sunni community to consider them assassins.

Some Kharijites began to moderate their position in the eighth century.

Leaders arose who suppressed the fanatical political element in Kharijite belief and discouraged their followers from taking up arms against other Islamic leaders.

Kharijite leaders emphasized instead the special benefits that Kharijites might receive from living in a small community that holds high standards for personal conduct and spiritual values.

One of these religious leaders, or imams, is Abd Allah ibn Ibad (d. 708), whose followers found communities in parts of Africa and southern Arabia.

Some of Abd Allah's followers, known as Ibadis, became the leaders in Oman.

The prosperity of the gulf in the Islamic period continues to be linked to markets in Mesopotamia.

Accordingly, after 750 the gulf prospers because Baghdad becomes the seat of the caliph and the main center of Islamic civilization.

Islam brings great prosperity to Iraq during this period, thus increasing the demand for foreign goods.

As a result, gulf merchants roam farther and farther afield.

In 711 CE, Muslim Arab and Berber forces launch an invasion of Visigothic Spain from North Africa, swiftly defeating the Visigothic kingdom. Within a few years, they conquer nearly all of the Iberian Peninsula, except for the northernmost regions, where Christian resistance endures.

Their expansion also extends into Septimania in southern Gaul, further consolidating Muslim rule in Western Europeand marking the beginning of Al-Andalus, a new Islamic domain in Iberia.

North Africa (676–819 CE)

Islamic Expansion, Berber Revolts, and the Rise of Indigenous Muslim Dynasties

Final Arab Conquests and Collapse of Byzantine Authority (676–698 CE)

Between 676 and 698 CE, North Africa experiences the decisive culmination of Arab-Islamic conquest, ending centuries of Byzantine rule. The Umayyad Caliphate intensifies its westward military campaigns from the established Arab stronghold of Kairouan (Al Qayrawan), founded in 670 CE. Led by commanders such as Uqba ibn Nafi and his successors, Arab armies steadily overcome fragmented Byzantine coastal defenses. The city of Carthage, a significant symbol of Byzantine authority, falls definitively in 698 CE, marking the effective end of Byzantine rule in North Africa.

Berber resistance remains fierce, notably among tribes such as the Aurès, Austoriani, and Leutae. Berber groups in the Arzugitana region and the aggressive Laguatan tribes mount significant resistance, complicating Arab consolidation.

Early Islamic Rule and Berber Resistance (699–740 CE)

Following Carthage’s fall, the Umayyad Caliphate establishes Ifriqiya as the administrative core of Islamic North Africa, governed from Kairouan. Berber groups initially support or accept Islam, but oppressive taxation, discriminatory treatment, and slavery lead to widespread Berber alienation. This culminates in the significant Great Berber Revolt of 739–743 CE, led by various Berber confederations under the egalitarian Kharijite banner. Fired by puritanical Kharijite preachers in Tangiers in 740, the revolt quickly spreads throughout the Maghreb and even crosses into al-Andalus (Spain). The Umayyads manage to retain control of the core of Ifriqiya and al-Andalus, but fail to recover the rest of the Maghreb, which fragments into small Berber statelets ruled by tribal chieftains and Kharijite imams, marking the first successful secession from the Arab caliphate and initiating Morocco's lasting independence from eastern caliphal control.

Establishment of Indigenous Islamic Dynasties (741–788 CE)

Following the Berber Revolt, independent indigenous dynasties emerge, notably the Rustamid Dynasty (761–909 CE) at Tahert, founded by Abd ar Rahman ibn Rustam, and the Idrisid Dynasty (788 CE onward) in Morocco, founded by Idris I. The Rustamid imamate, governed by Ibadi Kharijite principles, earns a reputation for piety, justice, and scholarship, though it lacks a standing army, leaving it vulnerable to later threats.

Additionally, the Kharijite sect establishes various theocratic tribal kingdoms, including economically significant trade centers at Sijilmasa and Tilimsan, flourishing due to strategic positions on major trade routes.

Economic, Cultural, and Tribal Transformations (789–819 CE)

Between 789 and 819 CE, North Africa undergoes profound economic and cultural transformations. Tuareg tribesdominate trans-Saharan trade, connecting sub-Saharan Africa to Mediterranean markets, fostering economic prosperity and urban growth. The influential Aghlabid Dynasty (800–909 CE), established by Ibrahim ibn al Aghlab under the Abbasid Caliphate, significantly rebuilds regional prosperity by restoring Roman-era irrigation systems and agricultural productivity, enhancing urban vitality in cities like Kairouan, Tunis, and Tripoli. The Aghlabids actively engage in Mediterranean politics, contesting Byzantine influence and conquering Sicily.

The Saharan region, historically more habitable and culturally vibrant, sees significant demographic shifts due to climatic changes and overuse of resources. Proto-Berber peoples such as the Bafour gradually migrate southward, displaced by successive waves of northern Berber tribes arriving first around the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, intensified by the introduction of the camel. Subsequent migrations in the 7th and 8th centuries further reshape the region, driven by the Arab conquest of the Maghreb.

Orthodox Christianity persists in isolated communities, dwindling under Islamic influence. Jewish communities remain influential, engaging in commerce, governance, and crafts within major urban centers. Indigenous Berber groups maintain significant autonomy and influence, often converting to Islam while resisting centralized Arab authority.

Conclusion: North Africa in Transition (819 CE)

By the end of 819 CE, North Africa has transitioned decisively from Byzantine rule to Islamic governance, shaped by profound indigenous resistance, Berber autonomy, and cultural synthesis. Independent Berber dynasties like the Rustamids and Idrisids solidify their power, while the Aghlabids foster regional prosperity. North Africa emerges as a dynamic, culturally diverse Islamic region, significantly transformed by economic vitality, tribal autonomy, and deep religious integration.