THE MARKETS OF JERUSALEM AFTER THE ARAB CONQUEST IN LIGHT OF AN EARLY MUSLIM TRADITION

In the paper I discuss an early Arabic tradition that relates to several important aspects related to the history, particularly the geographical history of Jerusalem during the first two centuries after the Arab-Islamic conquest. It is reported in the most important book on the merits of Jerusalem, Hebron and (greater) Syria (Faḍāʾil Bayt al-Maqdis wa-’l-Khalīl wa-’l-Shām) by al-Musharraf b. al-Murajjā (d. after 1052), and I tend to date it to the Umawī period, that is, between the end of the 7^thto the mid of the 8^thcenturies CE. According to this tradition, three streets-cum-markets existed in Jerusalem already in the Byzantine period. Immediately after the conquest of Jerusalem, the big central market was expropriated from the hands of the Christians in the city. It seems highly plausible that the markets that are mentioned in the tradition are identical to the three present-day markets, which were constructed over the Roman-Byzantine central Cardo of Jerusalem dividing it into three streets.