Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
mawālī
, or even between the various
officially recognised religious communities,
Muslims and
£
immī
s. Immediately adja-
cent to the centre, along thoroughfares
radiating from this nucleus and delimit-
ing homogeneous areas, the
sū
s supplied
the third function of these cities, being
the provider of wealth, of the exchange
of goods and services. These
sū
s com-
prised a series of broadly similar booths
established on a segment of the road,
deployed on one or on both sides of the
latter according to the type of commercial
activity and of product. These booths, of
little depth, were fronted on the street by
a bench: they could be overlooked by resi-
dential areas or separated by a rearward
wall from such zones. The latter could
accommodate the family of the trader or
the artisan, but in general there was no
access between them and the shop and
they were occupied by families unrelated
to the user of the premises.
In general, each type of commerce was
concentrated on both sides of one of the
radial routes linking the central square to
each of the gates, a sector to which it gave
its name. Traditionally, close to the Great
Mosque, in the heart of the city, were
located the sellers of manuscripts and
the copyists,
kutubī
; suppliers of perfumes,
aār
, and of fine leather, slippers and furs;
and trades associated with precious met-
als; changers,
arrāf
, goldsmiths, jewellers,
āi
∞
,
¡
awharī
, trades often practised by
Christian or Jewish artisans. Large central
markets sold quality fabrics and items of
clothing. Closer to the gates were those
practising noisier crafts: carpenters, join-
ers and manufacturers of copper or brass
objects, the latter often being Jews or
Christians. Close by the gates of the cita-
del were saddlers and the sellers of weap-
ons, such as swords, sabres, lances, bows
and quivers. In the section of the town
easily accessible to Bedouins, there were
sellers of felt or cloth for tents, ropes, fur-
lined capes, utensils and all other essen-
tials for living in the steppe-lands. Located
outside the city were those businesses
which required abundant space or easy
access to running water, or those which
were dirty and malodorous: fullers, dyers,
tanners, potters, wholesalers of fruit and
vegetables,
sū al- biī
¶
, traders in sheep,
horses, donkeys, mules, and camels.
Besides these linear
sū
s, there existed
agglomerations located in the enclosed
structures of a continuous wall, breached
by an easily-controlled monumental gate,
structures of one or two storeys, surround-
ing a space open to the sky. Often of con-
siderable size these buildings were denoted
by various terms:
aysāriyya
(imperial
establishment for the protection of stages
on major commercial routes),
fundu
(hos-
tel,
fondaco
, place for the lodging of visitors
to the town),
¶
ān
,
wakāla
(meeting-place
for commercial agents),
rab
(facilities for
temporary accommodation concentrated
in a single building),
aw
ª
(enclosed area,
urban or suburban, of rural aspect, a
yard of beaten earth, where cattle or poor
immigrants could be accommodated) and
when situated away from towns, isolated
on commercial routes,
karawānsarāy
(from
the Persian “caravan” and “palace”, cara-
vanserai).
Large in scale, supplied with lodgings,
stables, sometimes with a mosque and a
public bath, and comprising substantial
warehouses,
ma
¶
zan, āil
, the
aysāriyyas
could maintain a high level of bulk trad-
ing, storage and processing by means of
the workshops often located on the site.
Situated either outside or within the city,
close to a gate or linked to it by a well-pro-
portioned street, these massive structures
could be easily reached by heavily-laden
dromedaries. The merchandise, resold
semi- wholesale or retail, was distributed,
outside these enclosed markets, through
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