Items available in 9th century Persia

From a Monday night workshop I did:
"Culture in the Medieval Middle East" 6/27/94 Ann Arbor, MI. (Cynnabar, Middle Kingdom.)

Khorasan is a region starting east of the Caspian sea and containing parts of modern Iran and Afghanistan.

Produced, mined, or made in Khorasan in the 7th and 8th centuries.

  • Wheat
  • Barley
  • Rice
  • Oranges
  • Apricots
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Sugar cane
  • Cotton
  • Pistachios
  • Pomegranates
  • Rhubarb
  • Almonds
  • Sesame
  • Grapes
  • Currants
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Lead
  • Copper
  • Tin
  • Iron
  • Mercury
  • Salt
  • Rubies
  • Diamonds
  • Agate
  • Onyx
  • Emeralds
  • Lapis lazuli
  • Turquoise
  • Crystal
  • Pearls
  • Coral
  • Carnelian
  • Garnets
  • Steel
  • Silk
  • Textiles
  • Carpets
  • Incense
  • Soap
  • Copper and gold ware
  • Paper (after 751)

Imports to Persia in the 10th century

From China
  • Aromatics
  • Silk
  • Porcelain
  • Paper
  • Ink
  • Peacocks
  • Horses
  • Saddles
  • Felts
  • Cinnamon
 From Byzantium
  • Simples
  • Embroidered cloths
  • Brocades
  • Horses
  • Slave girls
  • Red copper
  • Strong locks
  • Water engineers
  • Specialists in plowing and cultivation
  • Marble workers
  • Eunuchs
 From India
  • Tigers
  • Leopards
  • Elephants
  • Leopard skins
  • Rubies
  • White sandalwood
  • Ebony
  • Coconuts

Sources for my lists:

Islamic Technology: an illustrated history, page 235
Ahmad Yusuf al-Hassan and Donald R. Hill
Cambridge University Press 1986
ISBN 0-521-42239-6

The Muslim Discovery of Europe, page 185
Bernard Lewis
W.W. Norton and Co. 1982
ISBN 0-393-30233-4

Avicenna, pages 1, 2
Lenn E Goodman
Routledge NY 1992
ISBN 0-415-07409-6

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Last revised November 8th., 2007. Comments to: E. A. Young