The transformation of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire from the middle of the seventh century CE under the impact of Islam has attracted a good deal of scholarly attention in recent years, and as more archaeological material becomes available, has been subject to revision and rethinking in ways that radically affect what we know or understand about the area, about state-building and the economy and society of the early Islamic world, and about issues such as urbanisation, town-country relations, the ways in which a different religious culture impacted on the built environment, and about politics. This volume represents the fruits of a workshop held at Princeton University in May 2007 to discuss the ways in which recent work has affected our understanding of the nature of economic and exchange activity in particular, and the broader implications of these advances for the history of the region.

Introduction Greater Syria in the Seventh Century: Context and Background, John Haldon; Chapter 1 Coinage and the Economy of Syria-Palestine in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries CE, Alan Walmsley; Chapter 2 Christian Communities in Early Islamic Syria and Northern Jazira: the Dynamics of Adaptation, R. Stephen Humphreys; Chapter 3 Administering the Early Islamic Empire: Insights from the Papyri, Arietta Papaconstantinou; Chapter 4 Mu'?w?ya's State, Clive Foss; Chapter 5 First Century Islamic Currency: Mastering the Message from the Money, Gene W. Heck; Chapter 6 'Abd al-Malik's Monetary Reform in Copper and the Failure of Centralization, Lutz Ilisch; Chapter 7 Early Islamic Urbanism and Building Activity in Jerusalem and at Hammath Gader, Jodi Magness; Chapter 8 Late Antique Legacies and Muslim Economic Expansion, Jairus Banaji; Chapter 9 Syrian Elites from Byzantium to Islam: Survival or Extinction?, Hugh Kennedy;

John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, USA