146
AI-Ma’mOnandAI-MuCta.sim,
198-227/813-42
Origins
Thesetwo
caliphs
andbrothersundertookto
acquire
slaves
in
a
systematic
and
large-scale
mannerunrelatedto
anything
that
preceded
them. While
al-MuCta.sim’s
name is farmore com-
monly
associatedwiththerecruitmentand
employment
ofslaves
for
militarypurposes,
thesourcesdonotclearlydistinguish
be-
tweenhisandal-Ma’mfn’seffortsto
acquire
slaves.Theexact
roleseachofthem
playedin
theintroductionof
militaryslavery
willbemore
fully
discussed
later;
whichofthemdidwhatisless
important
thanthefactthat
together
they
began
systematically
to
acquire
Turkishandotherslaves
foruse
in
the
army.
The
contrast
betweenthese
andearlier
effbrts
to
produce
slavescan-
notbetoo
sharply
drawn;forthefirsttimeinIslamicate
history,
a
government
madeconcentratedeffortsand
spentlarge
sums
to
purchase
slaves.
The
majority
ofslavescamefromCentralAsia,
though
some
alsocamefrom
Egypt(5,42,
44: thesenumbersrefertothe
sourcescitedin
Appendix 5).Samarqand,
arenownedslave-
trading
center
(al-Muqaddasi, p.
278),servedas
al-MuCtas.im’s
mainsourceofTurkishslaves
(4,
25,26,44).
Through
that
city
cameslavesidentifiedas
coming
fromFarghana(5,25, 26,
41,
43,44),
Khurasan
(5,41),
Shash
(41),Soghdia(26,41),
Trans-
oxiana
(41,44),
andUsrushana
(5,41,44),
aswellasTurksof
the
Tughuz
Ghuzzconfederation
(36).
A
variety
of
agentsacquired
theslavesforthecaliphs.
A1-
Ma’mfi
requested
al-MuCtas.im
to
procure
Turks
(2)
andal-
Mutasim
turnedtoothers:hesent
buyers
to
Samarqand
(4,25),
including
hisownmawlas(5),andhemade
requests
tothegov-
ernorofKhurasan,
Abdallh
b..Thir
(gov.213-30/828-45),
whointurnsenthis
request
ontothe
governor
inTransoxiana,
Nfi.h
b.Asad
(gov.202-27/818-42)(8,9).Nfi.h
b.Asadalsosent
slaves
directly
toal-Ma’mfan
(36-39);
and
judgingby
the
praise
heaped
onhiseffortsbyal-Ma’mfan,
Yah.
y
b.
Aktham,
a
qa.d
and
highofficial,contributedsignificantly
tothe
acquisition
of
slaves
(33).
Notallslaveshadtobe
sought
inthe
hinterlands;
al-Muetas.im
bought
someofhismost
important
CentralAsians
inthe
Baghdad
market(4).