Communication and Berîd Organization in the Umayyad Period
Communication has been an important issue in the past as it is today.
For this reason, it is seen that past societies and states were engaged in
a number of activities to establish healthy communication with each
other. It is seen that the Umayyad State, like its predecessors, endeavoured
to establish healthy and effective communication with all social
structures of its time, including its subjects and the regions under its
control.
In this study, we have tried to analyse the Berīd Organization, which
has an important place in the Umayyad state organization, in its main
outlines, as well as the civil and official communication elements, espionage
and intelligence activities in the Umayyad period, since the
subject is directly related to communication.
The aim of our study is to reveal the structure of the Berīd/ Postal organization,
which is an important institution in the structuring of the
state organization, in the history of the Umayyad State, the functions
it undertook and the benefits it provided to the state in broad terms.
Another aim of our study is to examine the official and social dimensions
of communication in the Umayyad period and to examine how
communication was carried out in this period and how intelligenceoriented
communication activities were carried out both between
states and within the society and dynasty.
In this way, we aim that our study will contribute to the understanding
of the political, military and institutional aspects of Umayyad history.
As a result of our research, it will be clearly seen how the Umayyad
State, which dominated a wide geography, created an effective communication
network and carried out communication and intelligence
activities thanks to the Berīd Organization it established.
Keywords: State; Umayyad; Organisation; Berîd; Spy