Military pay and the economy of the early Islamic state

Bibliographic Data

ID4558402
AuthorsHugh Kennedy (0000-0001-9962-5200, University of St Andrews, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume75
Issue188
Pages155-169
Publication date2002-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistorical Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0950-3471 • E-ISSN: 1468-2281
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1468-2281.00145
OpenAlexW2013797343
LanguageEN
Citations received9

This article examines the system of military payment in the early Islamic state (c. 650-900 A.D.) and its effect on the economy. It is argued that early Islamic armies were paid in cash salaries, rather than land grants or kind. This meant that a massive amount of coinage was put into circulation and spent by the soldiers in the markets of the developing towns of the Middle East. The system of military payment played an important part in creating the urban, cash based market economy of the early Islamic world which contrasts so sharply with the land and kind based economies of the contemporary Byzantine empire and Latin West

Ancient history · Business · Byzantine architecture · Cash · Economics · Economy · Empire · Geography · Islam · Latin Americans · Payment · Political science · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Byzantine Studies and History · Engineering · History · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Law · Finance

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