Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

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.

18. 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).