A history of the Balqāʾ region of central Transjordan during the Umayyad period

Drawing on a variety of primary and archaeological sources, this study attempts to recreate the political history and the social and economic character of the Balqa' region during the Umayyad period. The Balqa' was a provincial area of Transjordan, which had long been part of the classical world heavily influenced by the Arab tribes of the Syrian desert. After the Arab conquest the Balqa' took on a new role as the home or some of the ruling Umayyad elite. But a process of economic, demographic and urban decline had already begun in the middle of sixth century. Even the ethnic and religious composition of the Balqa's population remained stable; the region was primarily inhabited by Christian Arabs during both the late Byzantine and the Umayyad periods. In passing from Byzantine to Umayyad control the Balqa' underwent a process of transformation, especially in regards to political matters. But the more important trend was one of continuity, even the transfer of political power from the Byzantine bureaucracy to Arab notables was but the culmination of a trend which had begun with the rise of the Ghassanids in the previous century