Urban Spatial Relationships during the Early Islamic Period: Reassessing Investigations into the Market and Mosque at Sīrāf, Iran

Summary

There has been much debate on what defines an Islamic city (madīna) and what made

cities become "Islamic" after the Islamic conquest. These studies have often marginalized the

Islamic period, associating street encroachment and overall shifts away from the "classical"

model as signs of decline. Scholars have relied on western notions of what defines a city and

have used strict urban typological models, which do not conform to the region or period. In

addition, these studies have neglected to include examples of cities (shahristan) from the

Sasanian empire and other regions of the Islamic world. This paper will use archaeological

evidence to investigate the spatial relationship between the mosque and market at the site Sīrāf in

southwest Iran. This case study furthers our understanding of the cultural forces that went into

this shift from the shahristan to the madīna. By comparing Sīrāf to contemporary sites in Iran

and Syria-Palestine, we see a similar spatial-layout where the congregational mosque is placed at

one of the main entrances to the market, and shops are incorporated into the architecture of the

mosque. Such a design allowed for the religious and economic systems of urban life to flow into

a central zone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20003