Postal Systems in the Pre-Modern Islamic World

Adam J. Silverstein

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780521858687
• eBook ISBN: 9780511287053
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

Adam Silverstein's book offers a fascinating account of the official methods of communication employed in the Near East from pre-Islamic times through the Mamluk period. Postal systems were set up by rulers in order to maintain control over vast tracts of land. These systems, invented centuries before steam-engines or cars, enabled the swift circulation of different commodities - from letters, people and horses to exotic fruits and ice. As the correspondence transported often included confidential reports from a ruler's provinces, such postal systems doubled as espionage-networks through which news reached the central authorities quickly enough to allow a timely reaction to events. The book sheds light not only on the role of communications technology in Islamic history, but also on how nomadic culture contributed to empire-building in the Near East. This is a long-awaited contribution to the history of pre-modern communications systems in the Near Eastern world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series-title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Maps
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part I The pre-Islamic background
• Part II Conquest and centralisation – the Arabs
• Part III Conquest and centralisation – the Mongols
• Conclusions
• Appendix: distances and speeds of the Barid
• Bibliography
• Index