162
Origins
poses.
’’12
TheRomaninfluenceonIslamicatecivilizationisboth
themost obscure andthe most
disputed.
13
In
my
view, the
Roman
Empire
had
negligible
directinfluenceonIslam
but
a
fairindirect
impactthroughByzantium.
TheByzantines,
how-
ever,employed
slavesfor
militarypurposes
farlessoftenthan
theRomanshad. One
major
instancedatesfromthetimeof
Tiberius
(r.
578-82):"Tiberius
began
cautiouslytolay
the
foun-
dationofanew
system,by
addingto
hishousehold
troops
a
corps
offifteenthousandheathenslaves,whomhe
purchased
and
disciplined.
TM
Theauthorofthisaccount,
GeorgeFinlay,
explicitlycompares
those
troops
tothe
Janissaries
andtheem-
peror’s
circumstancestothoseoftheAbbasid
caliphs
whofirst
introduced
militaryslavery,
a5
Inlater
Byzantium,
therewereno
indicationsofslaves
serving
assoldiers,
though
aservileclassof
youthsperformedauxiliary
servicesand
did
occasionallyfight?
Overall,it
appears
thatthe
Byzantines
usedslavesin
warfarefar
lessoftenthantheRomansandinthis
respect
didnotcontribute
muchtotheIslamicateinstitution.
Iran
Iran
may
have
provided
theMuslimswithamodelfor
training
slaves,
though
definiteinformationonthis
topic
isscant? We
shall discuss hereonlythe
Soghdian
andSasanian
cases,
for
although
similar
training may
haveexisted elsewhere, those
casesareevenmoreobscure?
It
appears
thatthe
Soghdiansgathered
childrentotrainas
12.
Rouland,
pp.
24-25.
Emphasis
inthe
original.
13.TheextensiveinfluenceofRomeonIslamisCrone’sspecial
interest
in
"Mawilf,"
pp.
189-215.
14.
GeorgeFinlay,
A
History
of
Greece, 7 vol.,2ded.
(Oxford,
1877),1:301.
15.Ibid.,1:301,
1.
16.K6pstein,p.
113;
Vryonis,"Byzantine
andTurkish,"
pp.
141-42;Cahen,
"BodyPolitic,"p.
147.
17.Ayalon,"PreliminaryRemarks,"p.47,
stressesthe
importance
oftheIra-
nianelement.
- havebeenunableto
verify
thecasualmentionoflargeslave
armiesin
Achaemenidtimes
(e.g.H.
Inalcik,TheOttomanEmpire[London,1973],p.77).
Richard
Frye
believesthattheSasanianrtak(page)"mayhavebeenaslave
and
may
havebeentrainedforwar"(conversationof 30 July1975).