The present volume contains contributions from Classical Studies which aim at a retrospective interpretation of ceremonies to secure power in the regions of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt and the Levant.
The activities in which all wielders of military power in medieval societies, both Islamic and Christian, habitually engaged are so alien to the modern society that there is a tendency to attribute such behaviour to lawless aggression rather than to what were considered to have been respectable actions by elite members of society.
The revised understanding of the social role and position of the ʿayyārs laid forth here will enable us to better recognize and contextualize manifestations of that native Muslim military and political initiative.
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