VOL 5.12

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak 235

But if You do abandon them and our qiblah, then it may well

be something which seems best to You.

He related: The birds flew in from the sea successively. Each

bird had three stones, two in its claws and one in its beak. They

hurled down the stones upon the Abyssinian troops, and everyone

who was hit suffered either a severe wound or else that spot

erupted into blisters and pustules. (That was the first time that

smallpox and measles and bitter shrubs appeared [in the land].)

Thus the stones snuffed them out completely, and God sent a

torrential flow of water, which swept them all away and hurled

them into the sea. 578 He related: Abrahah and the survivors who

were with him took to flight. Abrahah's limbs began to drop off

one by one. As for Mahmud, the Najashi's elephant, it lay down

and would not venture 579 into the Sacred Enclosure and was thus

preserved in safety; but regarding the other elephant, it ventured

into the Sacred Enclosure and it suffered a hail of stones. 580 It is

also said that there were thirteen elephants. 'Abd al-Muttalib

went down from Mount Hira’ and two of the Abyssinians came up

to him, kissed his hand and said, "You were more knowledgeable

[than us]."

There related to us Ibn Humayd — Salamah — Ibn Ishaq — Ya'qub

b. 'Utbah b. al-Mughlrah b. al-Akmas, who said that the first time

measles and smallpox were seen in the land of the Arabs was in

that year, as also the first tme for bitter shrubs like rue, colocynth,

and gigantic swallow- wort 581 to be seen.

Ibn Ishaq says: On Abrahah's death, there succeeded to power in

Yemen over the Abyssinians his son Yaksum b. Abrahah. Abrahah's

patronymic 582 was from him. Himyar and the tribes of the

Arabs submitted, and the Abyssinians treated them oppressively,

578. That is, a sayl, the torrent from a sudden rainstorm, typical of the erratic

weather conditions in the mountains in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula.

In Arabic lore, the sweeping away of peoples by such inundations is not infrequent;

cf. the sayl al-'aiim, "bursting of the dam by a torrent," in Qur’an, XXXIV, 15/16.

See Lammens, Le beiceau de l’lslam, 23-25.

579. wa-lam yashja ' 'ala . . . ; for this verb, see Glossarium, p. cccvi.

580. Following the text's fa-hu$iba-, one might also read fa-ha$aba "and it suf-

fered blisters and pustules," as taken by Noldeke in his trans. 209.

581. That is, Asclepias gigantea L.

582. That is, Abu Yaksum. According to Nflldeke, trans. 219 n. 3, there exists a

coin minted by Yaksum.

236

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

taking their women as sexual partners, killing their menfolk, and

employing their sons as interpreters between themselves and the

Arabs. 583 He related: After God hurled back the Abyssinians from

Mecca, and the latter received the punishment described above,

the Arabs treated Quraysh with great honor, saying, "[They are]

the people of God; God fought on their behalf and relieved them of

the burden of their enemies.

He related: On Yaksum b. Abrahah's death, there succeeded to

power in Yemen his brother Masruq b. Abrahah. The burden of

oppression on the people of Yemen became protracted. The

Abyssinian dominion in Yemen extending from the time when

[946] Aryat came to Yemen until the Persians killed Masruq and ex-

pelled the Abyssinians from the land, was seventy-two years. Dur-

ing that period, four kings ruled there successively: Aryat, then

Abrahah, then Yaksum b. Abrahah, and finally, Masruq b.

Abrahah. 584

Sayf b. Dhi Yazan al-Himyarl, whose patronymic was Abu Murrah,

went forth until he reached the court of Qaysar, king of al-

Rum. 585 He complained to Qaysar about what they were suffering

583. According to al-Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-tiwdl, 63, Yaksum was worse and

more malevolent than his father, and his brother Masruq yet more so. Yaksum's

tenure of power is very summarily treated in Ibn Hisham, Siiat al-nabi, ed.

Wustenfeld, 41 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 63, tr. 30; see also idem, Kitdb al-tijan, 303, cf. Krenkow, "The Two Oldest Books on Arabic Folklore," 229.

584. The seventy-two years given here for the Abyssianian domination must be

a considerable exaggeration, since this rule extended in reality only from 5 25 to ca. 5 70, i.e., forty-five years. In Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, AghanP, XVII, 3 1 1 , the respective reigns of the Abyssinian governors are given: Aryat, twenty years,- Abrahah, twenty-three years; Yaksum, nineteen years (thus also in al-Dinawari); Masruq, twelve years,- total, seventy -four years. Of these, that of Aryat is much exaggerated; Abrahah was certainly still alive in 5 52, the date of the well of Murayghan inscription, itself five years after his Dam of Marib inscription. This would leave eighteen years at most for the combined reigns of Yaksum and Masruq. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 220 n. 3.

585. Yazan was one of the great families of South Arabia, accounted one of the

Mathaminah, influential in Hadramawt and known (as Yz'n ) in inscriptions from

the mid-fifth century a.d. onward. It appears that their original center was in the

Wadi 'Amaqln area near al-Hawtah in what became in modem times the hinterland of al-Mukalla.

The family or clan appears in early times in association with

the ancient Sabaean family or clan of Gadan or Dhu Gadan. By the early sixth

century, the Yazan probably dominated all the Hadramawt and the Zufar coast-

lands as well as the island of Socotra, whence their title of Dhu implying lordship.

Members of the family served the last Tubba' Ma'di Karib and then Dhu Nuwas as

military commanders, and it was perhaps the connection with the latter that led to

a tradition, given by al-Dinawari, al-Akhbai al-tfwdl, 63, that Sayf b. Dhi Yazan

was a descendant of Dhu Nuwas. Little is in fact known about Sayf, whose activities as leader of the "patriotic" reaction against the Abyssinians in 570 fall

outside the period for which we have epigraphic evidence,- his role in later Arabic

popular epic literature has no known historical basis. See M. A. Bafaqih, "New

Light on the Yazanite Dynasty," 5-6; EP, s.w. Mathamina (Chr. Robin), Sayf b.

Dhi Yazan ( J. P. Guillaume: entirely on the romancejand Yazan (A. F. L. Beeston).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 237

and asked hm to expel the Abyssinians and take over the rule

there personally. 586 [He asked him to] send what forces he pleased

of the Byzantines, and then the rule over Yemen would be his; but

Qaysar would not satisfy his plea, and he got none of the satisfaction

he sought from Qaysar.

So he set out again until he arrived at al-Nu'man b. al-Mundhir's

court at al-Hirah. Al-Nu'man was Kisra's governor over al-HIrah

and adjacent parts of Iraq in the land of the Arabs. 587 Sayf b. Dhl

Yazan now complained to al-Nu'man about the oppression and

humiliation the people of Yemen were suffering. Al-Nu'man replied,

"I have the obligation of paying a formal visit to Kisra every

year, so stay with me until the time for it comes round, and I will

take you with me." He related: So he remained with al-Nu'man

until the latter set off on his visit to Kisra, accompanied by Sayf b.

Dhi Yazan. When al-Nu'man came into Kisra's presence and had

completed his own business with the king, he mentioned to him

Sayf b. Dhi Yazan and the reason for his coming to him, requesting

an audience for him; Kisra granted this. Kisra was in his throne

chamber ( aywan majlisihi), where his crown was kept. T his

crown was like a huge grain measure ( qanqal ), 588 and set with

rubies, emeralds, pearls, gold, and silver, and was suspended by a

586. The Byzantine emperor at this time was Justin n (r. 565-78). There is no

record in Byzantine sources of this alleged embassy from South Arabia.

587. This is a patent confusion with the last Lakhmid, al-Nu'man in b. al-

Mundhir IV (r. ca. 580-602); the ruler in al-Hirah at this time must have been 'Amr n b. al-Mundhir HI (b. Hind) or his brother and successor Qabus b. al-Mundhir IU. See Rothstein, Lahmiden, 96-105. In Ibn al-Kalbi's version of these events (al- Tabari, 1 , 950, p. 24a, cf. n. 596 below), the conjecture is expressed that it was 'Amr b. Hind.

588. In al-Khwarazmi's Mafatlh al-'ulum, 67, the qanqal is a large measure of

capacity used in Iraq and equalling three thousand tails, i.e., two "equalised"

kurts, but the latter measure itself varied considerably even within the Sawad of

Iraq. See Bosworth, "Abu 'Abdallah al-Khwarazml on the Technical Terms of the

Secretary's Art," 148-49.

238 Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

golden chain from the top of the dome of that chamber. The crown

was too heavy for his neck to bear, so he concealed himself in

robes until he sat down on that throne; his head was inserted into

the crown, and when he had settled down comfortably on his

throne, the robes were whisked away from him. Everyone who

saw him for the first time fell down on his knees out of awe for

[947] him, hence Sayf b. Dhi Yazan sank down on his knees when he

entered his presence.

Then he addressed Kisra, "O king, ravens have seized control

over our land/' and when Kisra asked him, "Which ravens, those

from Abyssinia or those from Sind?" 589 he replied: "The Abyssinians,

and I have come to you imploring help against them and for

you to expel them from our midst. You can then assume the royal

power in my land, for you are more loved by us than them." Kisra

retorted, "Your land is far away from our own one, and your land is

poor in resources: nothing there but sheep and camels, which are

no use to us. I am not prepared to commit a Persian army to the

land of the Arabs; there is no good reason why I should do this."

However, he ordered Sayf b. Dhi Yazan to be given ten thousand

dirhams of full weight, and gave him a fine robe of honor. Sayf b.

Dhi Yazan took the money, went forth, and began distributing it

wholesale among the people, so that boys, slave boys, and slave

girls seized it avidly. Very soon, this was reported to Kisra, who

was told, "The Arab to whom you gave a sum of money is scattering

the dirhams among the people, and slave boys, boys, and slave

girls are scrambling for them." Kisra said, "There is something

strange about this man, bring him back to me!" When Sayf b. Dhi

Yazan came into his presence, Kisra said, "This is what you do

with a royal gift! You distribute it among the people?" Sayf b. Dhi

Yazan responded, "And what exactly should I do with the king's

gift, when the mountains of the land from which I have come are

composed wholly of gold and silver?" 590 [He said this] in order to

excite the emperor's cupidity, when the latter saw how little Sayf

589. Since the ancient Persians tended to classify all blacks as "Indians," a usage

taken over by Greek and Syriac writers, there arose uncertainty over the geographical extent of "India," which could cover South Arabia and the Horn of Africa. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 222 n. 2.

5 90. Sayf b. Dhi Yazan's boast reflects the ancients' belief that South Arabia was

a land of famed wealth, with its precious metals, perfumes and aromatic sub-

stances, etc.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

239

was concerned about the money. [He continued] "I have only

made my way to the king that he might preserve me from tyranny

and relieve me of humiliation." Kisra said to him, "Remain here

with me while I consider your case/' so he remained at Kisra's

court.

Kisra assembled his Marzbans and the sagacious advisers he was

wont to consult, and said, "What do you think about this man and

the proposition he has made?" One of them said, "O king, you

have in your prisons various men whom you have incarcerated in

preparation for killing them. Why don't you send them back with

Sayf? If they perish, well, that is the fate you ordained for them,

and if they gain control of his land it will be an additional kingdom

to your own." Kisra exclaimed, "That's a good idea. Count for me

how many men there are in my prisons." These men were counted

up, and they found a total of eight hundred men in the prisons.

Kisra then ordered, "Find out the man among them with the best

achievements and lineage, and make him the commander over

them." They found that the best person qualified in these respects

was Wahriz, who was a man of mature years. 591 Kisra accordingly

sent him with Sayf and appointed him commander of his troops.

$91. In the Arabic sources, noble birth from various origins is attributed to

Wahriz, e.g., in Ibn Hisham, Sir at al-nabi, ed. Wustenfeld, 43 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 65, trans. 31, that he was of advanced age and of good, unspecified, family; in al- Dinawari, al-Akhbar al-pwal, 63-64, that he was a centenarian (!) and the son of Kanjar, of noble stock but imprisoned because he had taken to highway robbery; in al-Mas’udi, Muruj , ID, 163 - § 1016, that he was the Ispabadh of Daylam; and in Hamzah al-l$fah£nl, Ta'rikh, 52, that he was from the progeny of Bihifaridun, son of Sasan, son of Bahman, son of Isfandiyar. It would be usual for the commander of an expedition to be of high rank and birth, but unlikely that his troops, if they had been rescued from incarceration and the threat of death, to have been of good stock also, as is asserted by a poet of Ha^ramawt cited by al-Mas'udl, op. cit., HI, 164 - § 1017 (". . . from the clan of Sasan and the clan of Mahrasan") and by Hamzah al-

I$fahanl, loc. cit. Such claims to exalted origins were doubtless fabricated by or for the descendants of the Persians in Yemen, the so-called Abna’, the children of

unions between Persians and Arabs in Yemen. Cf. Noldeke, trans. 223 n. 2. But in

any case, these reports from Ibn Ishaq and Ibn al-Kalbi (for the latter report, see al- Tabari, I, 952-53, pp. 244-45 below) that Yemen was conquered by a force of

gaolbirds and desperadoes must be regarded as romantic accretions to the real story of the Persian expeditionary force to Yemen as mentioned at I, 899, p. 160 above: that Wahriz's force was composed of tough Daylami mountaineers, recruited as mercenaries for the specific task, see n. 405 above.

Wahriz/Wahriz is presumably MP Weh-rez, "having a good abundance," see

Justi, Namenbucb, 340. It seems, however, to have been in origin a title rather than a personal name; Procopius, describing an expedition sent by the emperor Kawad I into Georgia and Lazica, calls its commander a "Persian" named Boes, who had the title Ourazes, which would appear to be * Wahriz. See EP, s.w. Daylam (V, Minorsky), and Wahriz (C. E. Bosworth).

240 Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

He provided them with eight ships, each one carrying a hundred

men plus equipment and supplies for the sea voyage. However,

when they got out into the open sea, two of the ships foundered

with everyone and everything in them. But six ships safely

reached the coast of Yemen in the region of Aden, and these contained

six hundred men, including Wahriz and Sayf b. Dhi Yazan.

When they were safely on dry land in the land of Yemen, Wahriz

said to Sayf, "What resources do you have?" Sayf replied, "As

many Arab soldiers and Arab horses as you wish; I will put my leg

on your leg [over this], so that we either die together or conquer

together." Wahriz said, "You have spoken fairly and eloquently."

Sayf now brought to Wahriz's standard those of his people who

were in his obedience.

Masruq b. Abrahah heard about their arrival. He assembled

round himself the Abyssinian army and marched against them.

The two armies moved close to each other and encamped in close

proximity to each other. Wahriz now sent one of his sons called

Nawzadh 592 with a cavalry detachment and instructed him, "Engage

in skirmishing with the enemy army, so that we may get to

know their mode of fighting." Nawzadh sallied forth and engaged

in some skirmishing with them, but then got himself into a spot

from which extrication was impossible, and the enemy killed

him. This aroused Wahriz to a frenzy of rage and made him more

determined to fight them. When the opposing troops were drawn

up in ranks against each other, Wahriz said, "Point out their king

for me." They replied, "Do you see a man on an elephant, with a

crown on his head and a red ruby on his forehead? " He said, "Yes,"

and they retorted, "That's their king!" He said, "Leave him alone

for the present," and they waited a long time. Then he said,

"What's he riding? " They replied, "He has mounted a horse now."

He said, "Leave him alone," and again they waited a long time. He

said, "What's he riding now?" They replied, "He has mounted a

mule now." Wahriz said, "A wild ass's filly! He is a weak individual,

and so is his kingdom! Are you listening to me properly? I am

going to shoot at him. If you observe his guards still standing

592. That is, "the newborn." See Justi, Namenbuch, 227.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

241

around and not moving, then stand fast until I give you the command

[to advance], for I shall have missed him. But if you see the

enemy troops crowding round him and sticking close to him, I

shall have hit the man, so launch an attack on them!" Then he

strung his bow (according to what has been asserted, none but

Wahriz himself could bend it because of its strength). He ordered

his eylids to be fastened up , 593 placed an arrow in his bow, braced

the bow as widely as possible until, when it was fully extended, he

released it. The arrow struck the ruby on Masruq's forehead, and

penetrated through his head, coming out at the nape of the neck.

Masruq was thrown backward from his mount, and the Abyssinians

crowded round him closely. The Persians charged at them,

and the Abyssinians were defeated. The Persians made great

slaughter, and groups of the Abyssinians fled in all directions . 594

Wahriz advanced against San'a’ with the intention of entering it,

but when he reached the city gate, he said, "My banner shall never

enter [a town] lowered! Break down the gateway!" The gateway of

$an'a’ was accordingly demolished, and he then entered it with his

banner raised high and borne in front of him.

Once he had secured dominion over Yemen and had expelled

the Abyssinians from it, Wahriz wrote to Kisra, "I have subdued

Yemen for you and have driven out those Abyssinians who occupied

it," and he forwarded to him wealth. Kisra wrote back

ordering him to set up Sayf b. Dhi Yazan as ruler of Yemen and its

territories, and he imposed on Sayf the responsibility for the poll

593. That is, because the muscles of his eyelids were relaxed with old age and

drooped over his eyes. A similar explanation is given for the name of a Persian

commander in the fighting with the Arabs during the caliph 'Umar I's reign, one

Dhu al-Hajib ("the man with the eyelid") Mardinshah; see al-Baladhuri, Futt ilf,

251. This seems to have been something of a topos in early Arabic, since a leader of the Banu 'Amir b. §a'$a’ah at the late sixth-century "Day of Jabalah" (see EP-, s.v. Djabala (F. Buhl-R. H. Headley]) is likewise said to have had his eyelids falling into his eyes. See Naqa'i 4 Jarii wa-al-Parazdaq, n, 657, 1062, and cf. Caskel, Aijam al-aiab. Studien zui ahatabischea Epik, 36.

594. As noted by Ndldeke, trans. 226 n. 2, the story of Wahriz's battle with

Masruq is also given by Ibn Qutaybah, 'Uyun al-akbbar, 1 , 149, from "the books of the Persians." In his account, Wahriz has drawn from his quiver an arrow of good omen with his wife's name inscribed on it, which he interprets as Persian zanan, "women," and then as the exhortation zan &n, "strike that (person)," hence he launches the arrow at Masruq and kills him, as al-Tabari relates. Cf. also Siddiqi, Studien uber die peisischen Fremdwdtter, 81.

242

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

tax and the land tax, which he was to send to Kisra annually as

fixed sums. He also ordered Wahriz to return to him, and Wahriz

did this. Sayf b. Dhi Yazan was thus appointed as ruler over Yemen

as his father Dhu Yazan, one of the kings of Yemen, had been

[before him]. This is what Ibn Humayd transmitted to us —

Salamah — Ibn Ishaq concerning the affairs of Himyar, the Abyssinians

and their rule, and Kisra's dispatch of an expedition to attack

 the Abyssinians in Yemen. 595

As for Hisham b. Muhammad, he relates as follows. After Abrahah,

there reigned Yaksum and then Masruq. He related: It was

this last whom Wahriz killed in the reign of Kisra, son of Qubadh,

and then expelled the Abyssinians from Yemen. He related:

Among what he related is that Abu Murrah al-Fayyad Dhu Yazan

was one of the nobles of Yemen. He had a wife Rayhanah bt. Dhi

fadan, and she presented him with a boy, whom he called Ma'di

Karib. She was beautiful, hence al-Ashram took her away from

Abu Murrah and forced her to marry him. Abu Murrah departed

from Yemen and came to one of the kings of the house of al-

Mundhir — I think it was 'Amr b. Hind 596 — and asked him to

write on his behalf to Kisra, asking him to tell Kisra about his high

worth, his nobility, and his aid and support for Kisra in any affair

in which he could help the emperor. [The ruler in question from

the house of al-Mundhir] replied, "Don't act rashly,- 1 am obliged

to visit Kisra each year, and the time for this is so-and-so." Hence

Abu Murrah remained at his court until he accompanied the ruler

on his visit to Kisra. 'Amr b. Hind went into Kisra's presence; he

mentioned to him Dhu Yazan's nobility and lofty estate, and

sought permission for him to have an audience of the emperor.

Dhu Yazan went in, and 'Amr made space for Dhu Yazan to go

before him. When Kisra observed that, he realized that 'Amr could

have treated Dhu Yazan thus in his presence only out of regard for

his nobility. When Dhu Yazan went up to the emperor, the latter

treated him kindly and questioned him in a friendly way, saying to

595. The story of Sayf b. Dhi Yazan's appeal to Kisra and the Persian conquest of

Yemen by Wahriz and his force is given by Ibn Hisham, Sirat al-nabi, ed. Wiistenfeld, 41-45 = ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 64-70, tr. 30-33; idem, Kitab al-tijan, 306-309, cf. Krenkow, "The Two Oldest Books on Arabic Folklore," 3,29.

596. As noted in n. 5 87 above, Ibn al-Kalbi's conjecture here is probably correct.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 243

him, "What has brought you here?" Dhu Yazan replied, "O king,

the blacks have seized from us power over our own land, and have

committed things so frightful that my respect for the king makes

me shrink from mentioning them. If the king were to offer us help

without our having to ask for it [formally], that would be appropriate

for him because of his excellence, nobility, and preeminence

over the rest of monarchs,- why should this not be so, when we

have made our way toward him, full of expectations regarding

him, hoping that God will smash our enemies, aid us against

them, and procure for us revenge over them? If the king sees fit to

make our speculations come true, fulfill our hopes and send back

with me an army that will eject this enemy from our land so that

he may add it to his own kingdom — for it is one of the most fertile

of lands and most amply endowed with resources, not like the

region of the Arabian peninsula bordering on his empire [at

present] — he may do all this."

Kisra replied. "I know well that your land is as you describe it;

but which blacks are they who have conquered it, the Abyssinians

or the Sindls?" Dhu Yazan said, "The Abyssinians." Anusharwan

said, "I would certainly like to make your speculations come true,

and would like to enable you to go back home with your request

fulfilled; but the way to your land is difficult for the army, and I

would not like rashly to commit my troops. But let me think

about your request. Meanwhile, you can stay here with whatever

you like." He ordered Dhu Yazan to be given suitable lodging and

to be treated hospitably. He remained at Kisra's court until he

died. Abu Murrah had composed an ode in the Himyaritic language

in which he eulogised Kisra. When it was translated for him,

he was delighted with it. 597

597. The South Arabian language had, in fact, been in steep decline long before

this time, and the story of Abu Murrah being able to compose a poem in the

''Himyaritic language" must be apocryphal. Chr. Robin, basing himself on such

indications as a perceptible decline in the quality and correctness of the Sabaean

language in the later inscriptions, believes that it had yielded place, as a spoken

tongue, to early (North) Arabic by the fourth century a.d. Hence after ca. 400 it was only a learned language, increasingly poorly known, although still used epigraphically for a further century and a half. The latest dated inscription so far

discovered, CIH 325, comes from 669 of the Himyarite era, hence a.d. 5 5 9-60,

although some graffiti found in northern Yemen at Umm Layla north of $a'dah, in

North Arabic language and South Arabian script, probably date from the be ginning of Islam. See Robin, "RSsultats epigraphiques et archeologiques de deux brefs sejours en R6publique arabe du Ydmen," 188-93.

In the fourth/tenth century, al-Hasan al-Hamdani was able in his Iklil, Book Vin,

122-23, tr. 72,-73, to give the values of the letters of the South Arabian script

(musnad), but was only able with difficulty to read a few names of the inscriptions.

See Robin, L’Arabie antique de Kaiib’il d. Mahomet, 15, 19-20, 134-35; idem, in

Supplement au dictionnaize de la Bible, s.v. Sheba, n, cols. 1216-17.

\

244 Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

Rayhanah bt. Dhi Jadan gave birth to a son of Abrahah al-

Ashram's, whom he called Masruq. Ma'dI Karib b. Dhi Yazan grew

up with his mother Rayhanah in Abrahah's house. One of Abrahah's

sons satirized him, and said to him, "May God curse you!

And may God curse your father!" Ma'dI Karib had never realized

that al-Ashram was anyone but his own father. He went along to

his mother and said to her, "Who is my father?" She replied, "Al-

Ashram." He retorted, "No, by God, he is not my father; if he were

really my father, so-and-so would not have satirized me." So she

told him that his father was [in reality] Abu Murrah al-Fayyad, and

communicated to him the whole story. All this had a profound

effect on the lad's mind, but he bided his time for a long period.

Then al-Ashram died, followed by the death of his son Yaksum.

Dhu Yazan's son set out, making for the king of the Byzantines'

( al-Rum ) court, avoiding Kisra because he had delayed so long in

helping his father. But he did not get what he wanted from the

king of the Byzantines, and found him taking the side of the

Abyssinians because they shared a common religious allegiance.

Hence he turned away from the Byzantine court and made for the

court of Kisra. He presented himself before Kisra one day, when he

was on horseback, and called out to him, "O king, my future

heritage lies in your hands!" Kisra summoned him when he had

dismounted and asked him, "Who are you, and what is this heritage

of yours?" Dhu Yazan's son replied, "I am the son of the

senior chief ( shaykh ) of the Yemenis, Dhu Yazan, whom you

promised to aid, but then [in the end] he died at your court and in

your entourage. That promise is my rightful due, and a heritage

which you have an obligation to fulfill for me." Kisra relented

toward him and ordered him to be given a sum of money. The lad

went out and began to scatter the dirhams about, and the people

scrambled for them. Kisra sent a message to him, "What has led

you to do what you have done?" The lad replied, "I didn't come to

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

245

you seeking money, but rather, I came to you seeking men and

that you should preserve me from humiliation." Kisra was pleased

with this rejoinder and sent back a message to him, "Stay here

while I look into your case."

Kisra then sought counsel from his ministers concerning sending

an army back with him. The [Chief] Mobadh said to him,

"This lad has a just claim upon us, through his journey here and

the death of his father at the king's court and in his entourage, and

because of the promises made by the king to him previously. Now

in the king's prisons are men of valor and martial strength. Let the

king send these men with Dhu Yazan's son; if they secure a victory,

it will be a triumph for the king; if they all perish, he will

have secured his own peace of mind [from the threat of them] and

will have relieved the citizens of the kingdom of them. That

would not be far from the correct line of action." Kisra said, "This

is a sound piece of advice," and he gave orders for the men of this

description in the prisons to be counted. They extended to eight

hundred men. He appointed as commander over them a commander

from among his cavalrymen [asawiiatihi] called Wahriz,

whom Kisra accounted the equal of a thousand cavalrymen. He

supplied them with weapons and equipment and ordered them to

be transported in eight ships, each one containing a hundred men.

They set forth on the seas, but two ships out of the eight foundered,

 leaving six safe and sound. They landed on the coast of

Hadramawt . 598 Masruq marched out against them with an army

of one hundred thousand men, including Abyssinians,

Himyarites, and Bedouins. [However,] a considerable number of

people joined the son of Dhu Yazan. Wahriz encamped on the sea

coast, placing the sea at his back. When Masruq saw how few were

their numbers, he became eager to engage them. He sent a -

598. It seems likely that the ships, buffeted by storms, would come up on the

Hadramawt coast, and apparently the landing was in the vicinity of al-Shihr. The

HadramI poet cited by al-Mas'udi, Muruj, HI, 164 - § 1017, says that the ships were washed up at M.th.w.b, read by Pellat as Mathwab but read by Noldeke, trans. 230 n. 2, as Manub. A Manub cerainly existed in Hadramawt in Islamic times, and it is mentioned by al-Hamdani, $ifat jazirat al-'Aiab, 172 and n. 2, 215, but described by him as a wadi with villages in the territory of Kindah and in the Shibam/al- Qarah region, i.e., well inland and away from the coast. Al-Bakri's listing of Manub, in his Mu'jam ma ista'jam, I, 316-17, IV, 1273, is vague and unhelpful.

246

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

sage to Wahriz, "What has brought you here? You have only the

[few] men whom I can see, while I have [the large number] whom

you can see. You have recklessly put yourself and your followers

at risk, but if you like, I will allow you to return to your homeland;

I shall not hurl satires at you, nor will there be inflicted upon you

any unpleasant action on my part or on that of my troops. Or if you

wish, I will march out against you immediately. Or yet again, if

you wish, I will allow you a period of respite [ajal) so that you may

consider your position and take counsel with your followers."

Wahriz realized how strong they were and perceived that he could

not match their strength. So he sent to Masruq the message, "All

right, grant a period of respite for us both; give me an engagement

and compact, and receive in return the same promises from me,

that neither side should fight with the other until the period of

truce is up and until we can see our [correct] course of action."

Masruq agreed to that.

Each side remained within its encampment. Then, when ten

days had elapsed of the standstill in hostilities, Wahriz's son set

off on one of his horses and went forward until he drew near to the

enemy's encampment. But his horse carried him onward into the

midst of their encampment, and they killed him, Wahriz being

unaware of all this. When the news of the killing of his son

reached him, he sent a message to Masruq, "There has been, as

you well know, a compact between us, so why did you kill my

son?" Masruq sent a message back, "Your son charged into the

midst of our encampment, and some irresponsible elements of our

army sprang up and killed him. I myself strongly disapprove of his

killing." Wahriz said to the messenger, "Tell him that he was not

my son, but only the son of a whore ( zaniyah ); if he had been my

son, he would have patiently waited and not broken the truce

between us until it had come to an end." 599 Then he ordered the

corpse to be thrown down on to the ground, where his body could

be seen, and he swore an oath that he would not drink wine nor

599. Noldeke, trans. 23211. 1, explained that Wahriz disowns his son and refuses

any responsibility for him because he does not wish to have to accept blood money for him from the Abyssinians; the blood money will be their own blood. Also, the killing of the Persian, though half-justified, will incur divine retribution for the breach of the oath-protected truce.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

247

rub his head with any scented oil until the truce should come to

its end.

When there was just one day left of the truce, Wahriz gave

orders for the ships in which they had sailed to be set on fire, and

likewise with regard to all superfluous clothing they had with

them, leaving his men only with what they had on their backs.

Next, he ordered all their provisions to be brought out and instructed

his men, "Eat up this food!" So they ate up [as much as

they could]. When they had finished, he ordered what remained to

be thrown in the sea. At that point, he stood up in their midst and

made a speech, saying to them, "Regarding the ships of yours

which I caused to be burned, I wanted you to realize that there is

no way for you ever to return home. Concerning your clothing

which I had burned, it was arousing my ire that, should the

Abyssinians gain the victory over you, it should fall into their

hands. As for your food which I caused to be thrown into the sea, I

would not wish any of you to have food for himself to exist on for a

single day [if we should be defeated]. If you are people who will

fight alongside me and endure the heat of battle, let me know this

now; but if you will not do this, I shall fall upon this sword of mine

until it comes out of my back, for I have no mind ever to let the

Abyssinians gain power over me alive. So consider you own position

now, since I, your commander, have chosen this course for

myself." They responded, "Indeed, we will fight alongside you,

until either we are dead to the last man or we are victorious!"

On the mom of the day when the tmce ended, Wahriz arranged

his troops for the fight, with the sea at their rear. He went up to

them and exhorted them forcefully to remain steadfast in battle,

and told them that they had two possible ways forward: either to

be victorious over their enemy or to die gloriously. He ordered

them to have their bows bent and strung, and said, "When I give

you the order to shoot, let fly at them swiftly with a five-arrow

volley ( bi-al-banjakan )." 600 The people of Yemen had never seen

600. This seems to be the meaning here, since Persian panj, "five," is clearly an

element of the word, presumably panjagari, "five-fold," in origin. It is presumably

related to the banjakiyyah of al-Jawaliqi, al-Mu'anab, 71: a volley of five arrows,

mentioned in a context which speaks of the Khurisanians. Siddiqi, Studien iibei

die persiscben Fremdwdrter, 8 1 n. 7, less plausibly interprets banjakan as referring to five-pointed or five-barbed arrows ("fdnfzackige [Pfeile]").

248 Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

war arrows before this occasion. Masruq advanced with a host that

appeared limitless, on an elephant, wearing a crown on his head

and with a ruby the size of an egg on his forehead; he could not

conceive the possibility of anything except victory. Wahriz's sight

had become poor through old age, and he said, "Show me their

leader." He was informed, "It's the man on the elephant," but

then very soon afterward Masruq got down from the elephant and

mounted a horse. So they exclaimed, "He's now mounted a

horse." Wahriz said, "Prop open my eyelids"— they had fallen

down over his eyes on account of his age 601 — so they held them up

with a bandage. He then took out an arrow, placed it in the center

(kabid ) 602 of his bow and said, "Point out for me Masruq." They

did that for him, until Wahriz was sure of him, and then he gave

the order "Shoot!" He himself pulled on his bow until, when he

had drawn it to its utmost, he released the arrow. It sped forward

as if it were a tightly stretched rope, and struck Masruq's forehead.

He fell from his mount. A great number of men were killed by that

rain of arrows. When they saw their commander felled to the

ground, their front rank crumbled, and there was nothing for it but

flight.

Wahriz immediately gave orders for the burial of his son's

corpse, and ordered that Masruq's corpse be thrown down in its

place. Booty was found in the defeated army's encampment in

quantities beyond measure and beyond enumeration. Each individual

Persian cavalryman got fifty or sixty Abyssinians,

Himyarites, or Bedouin as captives, and drove them along, unresisting,

before him in bonds. Wahriz said, "Leave the Himyarites

and Bedouin alone, just hunt down the blacks and don't leave a

single one alive." The Abyssinians were massacred on that day

[956] until not a single one of their host remained. A Bedouin managed

to flee on his camel and galloped onward day and night. Then he

happened to turn round and saw an arrow stuck in his provision

bag behind the saddle. He exclaimed, "The devil take it! (literally,

"Woe to your mother!") — has it traversed such a wide distance or

601. See al-Tabari, I, 949, p. 241 above.

602. For the technical term kabid al-qaws [kabid, literally "liver" "center,

heart of a thing"), see J. D. Latham and W. F. Paterson, Saracen Archery, 161, 184: exactly, "the point the arrow passes when shot," i.e., the arrow pass.

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

249

traveled so far!" He thought that the arrow had caught up with

him!

Wahriz advanced until he entered §an'a’ and reduced to submission

the whole land of Yemen. He sent out governors to the provincial

districts ( makhalif ). Abu al-§alt, the father of Umayyah b.

Abi al-$alt al-Thaqafl , 603 says concerning the son of Dhu Yazan,

his adventures, and those of Wahriz and the Persians, the following verses:

Let those who are like the son of Dhu Yazan seek vengeance, a

man who spent several years traveling across the seas on

account of his enemies.

He came to Heraclius, at a time when his enemies were already

falling into discord and perturbation, but he did not secure

from him any part of what he sought.

Then after seven years he tinned toward Kisra; how far away

did you have to travel!

Until at last he brought with him the Free Ones [Band al-Ahiai,

i.e., the Persians ), 604 whom he bore along; by my life, you

spent long in strenuous activity!

603. Ibn Hisham's scholion to Ibn Ishaq's text here, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wusten-

feld, 44 - ed. al-Saqqa et al., 1 , 67-68, tr. 698, states that some authorities ascribe

the poetry to the son Umayyah, who was a contemporary of the Prophet but, on

account of the links between al-Ja'if and Quraysh, was a supporter of Muhammad's opponents; he seems to have been dead by the time of the fath, the conquest of Mecca, in 8/630. See Shaih diwan Umayyah, 65; al-Hadithl, Umayyah b. Abi al-Salt, hayatuhu wa-shi'ruhu, 344 n. 158; Blachfere, Histohe de la litt 6 ratuie aiabe, II, 304-306; Sezgin, GAS, II, 298-300, DC, 277; EP, s.v. Umayya b. Abi 'l-$alt | J. E. Montgomery).

Ibn Hisham's text has for the name Hhaql in v. 2 the more general Qay$ai,

"emperor," and if this is the older and better reading, it would point to the poem's

being either contemporaneous with the events described or at least written not

long afterward, by Abu al-$alt rather than by his son Umayyah. If the reading

Hhaql should be correct, then the poem would date from at least one or two

generations after the events, since Heraclius reigned 610-41, The reading Hhaql

would certainly appear to predate al-Tabari, since it is the one found in the Kitab

al-shi'i wa-al-shu'ara', 281, of Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889), repeated also in al-

Azraqi, Akhbar Makkah, 99.

604. Banu al-ahrar is a frequent designation in early Arabic usage for the Per-

sians encountered by them along the borders of Iraq and during the conquest of Iraq and Persia, e.g., at the engagements of Dhu Qir (see al-Tabari, 1 , 1036, p. 367 below) and al-Qadisiyyah. We find the equivalent eleutheroi used by Josephus for the Parthians as the equivalent of the social-military Persian term underlaying the Arabic expression, i.e., azadhagan (in origin, Avestan azata- "agnate, bom into a clan" "freeman (as opposed to a slave)" and, in a narrower sense, "noble," "free"), i.e., noble ones," the class of great and lesser landowners, i.e., aristocrats and gentry, who supplied the military commanders and the 6lite cavalrymen of the army and upon whom the Persian kings had depended since Achaemenid times. De Blois has suggested that the expression Banu al-ahiai, with its apparently otiose use of the component banu, reflects Aramaic usage and that the Arabs may have adopted it from Aramaic-speaking population of the Sasanid empire in Mesopotamia. See Noldeke, trans. 235 n. 2; De Blois, " 'Freemen' and 'Nobles' in Iranian and Semitic Languages," 5-15; Eli, s.v. Ahrar or Banu ' 1 -Ahrar (C. E. Bosworth); and cf. n. 258 above.

250

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

Who is like Kisra, the supreme king (shahanshah) over the

dependent kings, or like Wahriz on the day of the army,

when he attacked furiously!

What a remarkable band went forth! You will never see among

men their likes again!

Outstanding warriors, noble chiefs, gleaming ones, marzbans,

lions who train their cubs in the thickets,

Who shoot from highly bent bows, as if they were camel

saddles, with long, slim arrows which bring the one who is

hit to a speedy death.

You loosed lions against black dogs, and their scattered

fugitives have spread through the land in full flight.

So drink with full peace of mind, wearing your crown and

reclining high on Ghumdan in a house which you have

made [once more] frequented.

Indulge freely in the use of musk, for they (i.e., your enemies)

are in complete disarray, and on this day let your two

luxurious robes trail freely!

These are noble deeds! Not two wooden bowls of milk mingled

with water, which subsequently turned to urine . 605

605 . This last verse has the ring of a proverbial saying. According to the scholion

of Ibn Hisham, Shat al-nabi, ed. Wustenfeld, 44 ed. al-Saqqa et al., I, 68-69, tr -

698, the poem was correctly transmitted by Ibn Ishaq except for the last verse,

actually by the mukhadram poet and Companion of the Prophet al-Nabighah al-

Ja'dl (died toward the end of the seventh century?), on whom see Blachfere, Historie de la littiiatuie arabe, III, 477-79; Sezgin, GAS, n, 245-47, IX, 274; EP-, s.v al- Nabigha al-Dja'dl (A. Arazi).

For other sources on Sayf b. Dhi Yazan's appeal for help and Khusraw Anushar-

wan's despatch of Wahriz and his army, see al-Ya'qubl, Ta’rlkh, 1 , 187, 226-27; al- Dlnawari, al-Akhbai al-tiwal, 64; Hamzah al-Isfahani, Ta’iikh, 52-53, 114-15;

Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, AghanP, XVII, 308-13; al-Azraqi, Akhbar Makkah, 98-

99. See also Christensen, Sassanides, 368-69, 373; Frye, "The Political History of

Iran under the Sasanians," 158; Bosworth, "Iran and the Arabs before Islam," 606-

607. Two further verses of the poem are given by al-Azraqi and Nashwan al-

Himyari; see Noldeke, trans. 235 nn. 4-5.

Frye, loc. cit., makes the point that, by the time of the invasion, the pro-

Byzantine attitude of the Monophysite Christians in South Arabia, so decisive at

the time of the Najran persecutions and the first Abyssinian intervention in Ye-

men, changed (i.e., by 570). But in fact, Justin continued his predecessors' policy of tolerance toward religious dissidents during the first five or six years of his reign, and only in 572, i.e., after the Persians had appeared in Yemen, did he start to persecute the Samaritans and Christian Monophysite dissidents under the influ-

ence of the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Constantinople, John Sirimis. See Bury, A

History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, n, 76.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

251

The story returns to the narrative of Ibn Ishaq.

He related: Wahriz went back to Kisra, having appointed Sayf as

king of Yemen. The latter now fell upon the Abyssinians and

began to kill them, ripping open the pregnant womenfolk to tear

out the fetuses, until he had exterminated the Abyssinians, apart

from an insignificant, wretched few whom he took into his service

as slaves. Some of these he employed as runners to go before him

with their spears. Sayf carried on thus only for a short while before

he went forth one day, with the Abyssinians running before him

with their spears, until suddenly he found himself surrounded by

them, and they attacked him with their spears, killing him. One of

the Abyssinians assumed power over them, and carried out a policy

 of killing the Yemenis, creating havoc and wreaking all manner

of evil. When news of this reached Kisra, he dispatched Wahriz

against them with four thousand Persian troops and ordered him

not to leave alive in Yemen a single black, nor the child of an Arab

woman by a black, whether young or old, nor to leave alive a

single man with crisp and curly hair in whose generation the

blacks had been involved. Wahriz advanced until he entered

Yemen, and did all that, killing every Abyssinian he could find.

Then he wrote to Kisra informing him of what he had done. Kisra

appointed him as viceroy over Yemen. He ruled over it, and levied

taxation on it for Kisra until he died. 606

After him, Kisra made his son al-Marzuban, son of Wahriz, viceroy,

who governed the land until he died. Then Kisra appointed al-

606. According to al-Dinawari, al-Akhbfa al-tfw&l, 64, Wahriz governed Yemen

for five years. On his deathbed, he shot an arrow, which fell at the spot where his

tomb was to be; "to this day," says the historian, "the place is called the maqbarat

Wahriz." This same tale is given later by al-Tabari, I, 988, p. 294 below, as part of

Ibn al-Kalbi's narrative.

252, Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

Blnajan (?), son of al-Marzuban , 607 son of Wahriz, until he also

died. Then Kisra 608 appointed after him Khurrakhusrah, son of al-

Blnajan, son of al-Marzuban, son of Wahriz. The latter governed

Yemen, but then Kisra grew angry with him and swore that the

Yemenis should bring Khurrakhusrah to him at his court borne on

their shoulders. This they did. When Khurrakhusrah came before

Kisra, one of the Persian great men went right up to him and laid

across him a sword that belonged to Kisra's father. Kisra therefore

granted him security from being killed, but dismissed him from

his post and sent Badhan 609 to Yemen [as governor] instead.

Badhan remained in that office until the time when God sent His

Messenger Muhammad . 610

[Resumption of the History of Kisra Anusharwan]

It is related that there was a peace accord and a truce between

Kisra Anusharwan and Yakhtiyanus ( Justinian), king Byzantines.

Discord and emnity arose between a man of the Arabs called

Khalid b. Jabalah , 611 whom Yakhtiyanus had appointed over the

607. In Ibn al-Kalbl's version of these events, i.e., in al-Tabari, I, 988, p. 294, and

cf. n. 693 below, al-Marzuban appears as al-M.r.w.zan, a better reading, probably to be vocalized as al-Maruzan. Likewise, al-Binajan appears as Z.y.n, perhaps for

W.y.n, according to the suggestion of Marquart in Addenda et emendanda, p.

dxcii, whereas Noldeke thought it more likely that this consonant ductus con-

tained the names of two persons, W.y.n and W.y.n.jan. But in the version of Ibn

Ishaq at I, 958 n. d, Noldeke adduced the name of a commander mentioned by the

contemporary Byzantine historian Menander Protector, one Binganes.

608. The Kisra in question must be, of course, Khusraw II Abarwez (r. 591-628).

609. Perhaps originally Badham, in which case the etymology would be presum-

ably from baddm, "almond." The name is in fact attested in Middle Persian as

w'd'm. See Justi, Namenbuch, 56, connecting it with NP bad, Avestan vdta-, the

spirit of the wind; Gignoux, Noms propres sassanides, no. 914; EP Suppl., s.v.

Badham, Badhan (C. E. Bosworth).

610. This marks the end of this extended section on the history of Yemen, and

the narrative now resumes from Persian sources as a parallel to that already given

by al-Tabari at I, 898-99, pp. 157-59 above.

6 1 1. That is, the Jafnid/Ghassanid ruler, the greatest of his line, correctly, al-

Harith b. Jabalah or Arethas (r. 529-69). (Noldeke, trans. 238 nn. 2-3, pointed out

that al-Tabari's form Khalid arises from the ambiguities of the Pahlavi script, as

does the kh for st in Yakhtiyanus = Justinian, showing that al-Tabari's ultimate

source here must have been a Persian one.) Al-Harith was a redoubtable foederatus or ally of the Byzantines, stemming as he did from a fervently Christian, albeit Monophysite, Arab family. He fought at the side of the Greeks in two major wars, including at the battle of Callinicum (the Arabic al-Raqqah) in 531, and himself defeated and in 5 54 killed the Lakhmid al-Mundhir HI at the battle of al-Hiyar at Chalcis (the Arabic Qinnasrin) (possibly the yawm Halimah — Hallmah being al- Harith's daughter— of the Arabic ayyam al-Arab literature), a decisive victory not merely as an intra-Arab clash but an event which gave the Ghassanids the preponderance over the Lakhmids for a long time to come. See on al-Harith and the battle of Chalcis, Ndldeke, Die Ghass&nidische Fiizsten, 17-19; Rothstein, Lahmiden, 83-87; Shahid, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, I/i, 63-82, i34ff., 236-66; EP-, s.w. Ghassan and al-Harith b. Djabala (I. Shahid).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 253

Arabs of Syria, and a man from Lakhm called al-Mundhir b. al-

Nu'man, 612 whom Kisra had appointed over the lands extending

from 'Uman, al-Bahrayn and al-Yamamah to al-Ta’if and the rest

of Hijaz and all the Arabs of the intervening lands. Khalid b. Jabalah

 raided al-Mundhir's territory and wrought great slaughter

among his subjects and seized as plunder extensive lands of his.

Al-Mundhir laid a complaint about this before Kisra, and asked

him to write to the king of the Byzantines requesting the latter to

secure justice for him against Khalid. Kisra therefore wrote to

Yakhtiyanus mentioning the agreement regarding the truce and

peace between the two sides and informing him of what al-

Mundhir, his governor over the Arabs [within the Persian sphere

of influence], had suffered at the hands of Khalid b. Jabalah, whom

Yakhtiyanus had appointed governor over the Arabs within his

dominions. He further asked him to command Khalid to return all

the plunder he had driven off from al-Mundhir's territory and

lands and [to command Khalid] to hand over the blood price for the

Arabs whom he had killed and who were in al-M undhir 's jurisdiction

and to furnish justice to al-Mundhir against Khalid.

Yakhtiyanus was not to treat what Kisra had written lightheartedly

and contemptuously; [if he were to do so, ] then this would

be the cause of the rupturing of the agreement and truce between

them. Kisra sent a stream of letters to Yakhtiyanus u rging him to

furnish justice to al-Mundhir, but Yakhtiyanus paid no heed.

Hence Kisra got ready his forces and led an expedition of some

ninety thousand warriors against Yakhtiyanus's lands. 613 He captured

612. That is, al-"Mundhir m, who played "this leading r 61 e in the extension of

Persian power into eastern and central Arabia and, indeed, as far as Hijaz. See nn.

409, 563 above.

613. This is the renewed, second war of the Persian emperor with Justinian,

spanning 540-45, with the campaign against Antioch already described at 1 , 898, p. 157 and nn. 398-99 above. The events in question form the very detailed narrative of Procopius in the later part of Book I and then Book II of The Persian War, in which the historian highlights the deeds of the general Belisarius, first appointed Magister Militum per Orientem in 529 and whom Procopius himself served as symboulos, i.e., as legal adviser and secretary. See Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, 8, 157-70.

254 Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

by force of arms the towns of Dara, al-Ruha (Edessa), Manbij,

Qinnasrin, Aleppo, Antioch (which was the finest town in Syria),

Famiyah (Apamea), Hims (Homs), and numerous other towns in

the neighborhood of these towns ; 614 he appropriated all the

wealth (or: beasts, al-amwal ) and moveable goods in them; and he

took captive all the inhabitants of Antioch, deported them to the

Sawad, and gave orders for a town to be built for them at the side of

Ctesiphon exactly on the pattern of the original Antioch, as I have

already mentioned previously. He resettled the people of Antioch

there; this is the town called al-Rumiyyah. He erected this district

into an administrative division {km ah), which was to comprise

four subdistricts ( tassujs ): that of Upper Nahrawan, that of Lower

Nahrawan, that of Badaraya, and that of Bakusaya . 615 He allotted

614. Of these towns of Upper Jazirah and northern and central Syria, Noldeke,

trans. 239 n. 2 noted that Aleppo, Antioch, and Apamea (situated on the Orontes,

to the northwest of Hamat: see Yaqut, Buldan, I, 227; Le Strange, Palestine, 384-

85; EP, s.v. Afamiya [H. A. R. Gibb]) were conquered by the force of Persian arms, while Daras/Dara (see for this n. 398 above), Edessa, Manbij (the classical Hierapolis, an important military post commanding crossings of the upper Euphrates:

see Yaqut, op. cit., V, 205-207; Le Strange, op. cit., 107; EP, s.v. Manbidj [N.

Eliss6ff ]), and Qinnasrin (the classical Chalcis to the south of Aleppo: see Yaqut,

op. cit., IV, 403-404; Le Strange, Palestine, 486-87; EP, s.v. Kinnasrin [Eliss6ff ])

purchased their safety from the Persians by handing over substantial indemnities.

Emesa or Him? also suffered badly.

615. Nahrawan was the district containing an extensive canal system to the east

of the Tigris and in the region of the lower Diyala river, with its center at the town

of Nahrawan, which lay to the northeast of where the later Baghdad was to be

situated. The canal system doubtless dates in some form from ancient times, but

Khusraw Anusharwan developed it extensively and caused to be dug a lengthy

feeder channel, al-Qatul al-Kisrawi, "the Imperial cut," from the Tigris near the

later Samarra to the Diyala below Ba'quba. At various places, there were shadhur-

wans or weirs (see for these, n. 94 above) dating from Sasanid times. The kurah

mentioned here was one created with the city of Weh-Antioch-i Khusraw/

Rumiyyah where the people deported from Antioch in Syria were settled ca. 540.

The Auabic sources actually list five tassujs of the Nahrawan kurah, the additional

one being that of Middle Nahrawan. Badaraya and Bakusaya (Aramaic Beth Daraya and Beth Kosaya) formed the region of Bandanijin, stretching from the east of Nahrawan to the fringes of the Zagros range and the border with the province of Media or Jibal. See Yaqut, Buldan, I, 317-18, 327, V, 324-27; Le Strange, Lands, 57-61; Fiey, Assyrie chrdtienne, in, 245-49; Morony, Iraq after the Muslim Con The rulers of Persia before Kisra Anusharwan used to levy land

tax (kharaj) on the administrative divisions (kuwar), a third or

quarter or fifth or sixth [of their produce], according to the water

supply and the degree of cultivation; and poll tax [jizyat al-

jamdjim ) according to a fixed sum. 619 King Qubadh, son of Fayruz

quest, 138-40; EP-, s.w. Badra (S. H. Longrigg) and al-Nahrawan (M. J. Morony).

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak 2,55

living allowances for the people whom he had transported from

Antioch to al-Rumiyyah, and appointed as overseer of their affairs

a man from the Christian community of Ahwaz called Baraz, 616

whom he had earlier made head of the the artisans and craftsemen

working for him. This Kisra did out of tenderness and sympathy

for those captives, and also with the administrative aim of causing

them to feel at home with Baraz, because he was their coreligionist,

and making them regard him with trust. As for the remainder

of the towns of Syria and Egypt, 617 Yakhtiyanus bought Kisra off

from them with a very large sum, which he handed over to the

Persian king, and he undertook to pay ransom money to him each

year in return for Kisra's undertaking not to raid his lands. He

wrote for Kisra a document enshrining these terms, which he and

the Byzantine great men of state sealed officially. They accordingly

paid this sum annually. 618

616. As explained in n. 393 above, this is the New Persian form of MP Waraz,

etc., meaning literally "boar, wild boar," an animal admired for its strength and

tenacity; see on it the references in that note.

617. Again, as in al-Tabari, I, 898, p. 158 above, a confusion with the campaign

early in the seventh century of Khusraw II Abarwez.

618. N&ldeke, trans. 240 n. 4, noted that al-DInawari, al-Akhbdi al-%iwal, 69,

names a certain Sharwln of Dastaba as wakil or overseer of payment of the tribute, but that there is uncertainty in other sources regarding this personage.

619. Since jumjumah means "skull," its plural use in jizyat al-jamdjimah conveys literally the idea of a poll tax. Al-Khwarazmi, Mafatih al-'uliim, 58, equates

mal al-jamajim with mal al-jawali, that money paid in the first place by non-

Muslims expelled from the Arabian peninsula by the caliph 'Umar I but then

applied to all Dhimmls, "Protected peoples," liable to poll tax, whether dmigrds or

not; see Bosworth, "Abu 'Abdallah al-Khwarazmi on the Technical Terms of the

Secretary's Art," 132. It has been known for some time, including from Talmudic

references to it, that the Sas&nids levied a poll tax (the kaiga, kaidga ) as well as a

land tax (f asqa) and a further land tax (manata da malkd, "the king's share";

different from the fasqai), but much remains obscure about this fiscal system. See

Grignaschi, "La riforma tributaria di Hosro I e il feudalesimo sassanide," 1 13-15;

Rubin, "The Reforms of Khusro Anushirwan," 231-32). Whether there was any

continuity between this Sasanid poll tax and the early Islamic jizyah on the Dhimmls, is unclear; it may have been just one among several contributory strands in the emergence of this Islamic tax. See Noldeke, trans. 241 n. i; Lekkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period , 15, 132, 141.

256

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

ordered, toward the end of his reign, a cadastral survey ( mash al-

ard), comprising plains and mountains alike, so that the correct

amount of land tax could be levied on the lands. 620 This was

carried out, except that Qubadh's death supervened before that

survey could be completed. Hence when his son Kisra succeeded

to power, he gave orders for it to be carried through to its end and

for an enumeration to be made of date palms, olive trees, and

heads (i.e., of those liable to the poll tax). He then ordered his

secretaries to calculate the grand total of that, and he issued a

general summons to the people. He commanded the secretary

responsible for the land tax to read out to them the total tax

liabilities from the land and the numbers of date palms, olive

trees, and heads. The secretary read all this out to them, after

which Kisra said to them, "We have judged it advisable to establish

the rates of taxation {wada’fj on the basis of what has been

enumerated of the various jaribs of this cadastral survey 621 — date

palms, olive trees, and heads — and we ordain that the taxation

should be paid in installments spread over the year, in three installments.

In this way, sums of money will be stored in our treasuries

so that, should any emergency arise along one of our vulnerable

frontiers or on any one of our distant boundaries, a breach of

the borders or anything else untoward, and we have a need to deal

with it and to nip it in the bud, involving the expenditure of

money on this, we shall have money stored up here, ready and to

620. Such surveys were frequently used by later, Islamic rulers as the bases for

new tax assessments, involving the assessment of growing crops ( takhmin ) and the sharing out of the harvested crop between the tax collector and the cultivator

[muqasamah), the technique of surveying being called misahah. See El 2 , s.w.

Kanun. ii. Cadaster (Cl. Cahen), Kharadj. I. In the Central and Western Islamic

Lands (Cahen) and Misaha. 1 . In the Central Islamic Lands (C. E. Bosworth).

621. Al-Khwarazmi, Mafatih al-ulum, 66, 67, tr. in Bosworth, "Abu ‘Abdallah

al-Khwarazml on the Technical Terms of the Secretary's Art," 148-49, states that

the jarib was a measurement of surface area equaling thirty-six hundred square

dhiia's or cubits, although of a fluctuating equivalence in Khurasan. The jarib was,

in fact, the basic measurement for area in early Islamic times, still in use today in

Persia, officially equaling one hectare, as well as being a measure of capacity for

grain, etc.; but in origin it was the amount of agricultural land which could be sown with a jarib 1 s measure of grain. See Noldeke, trans. 242 n. 2; EP-, s.v. Misaha. 1.

Holders of Power after Ardashlr b. Babak

2 S7

hand, since we do not wish to have to levy a fresh installment of

taxation for that emergency. So what do you think about the procedure

we have envisaged and agreed upon?"

None of those present offered him any further advice or uttered

a single word. Kisra repeated these words to them three times.

Then a man stood up from out of the expanse of persons present

and said to Kisra, "O king— may God grant you long life! — are you

estabishing a perpetual basis for this land tax on transient foundations:

a vine that may die, land sown with com that may wither, a

water channel that may dry up, and a spring or qanat whose water

supply may be cut off?" Kisra replied, "O troublesome, ill-omened

fellow, what class of people do you come from?" The man said, "I

am one of the secretaries." Kisra gave orders, "Have him beaten

with ink holders ( al-dawa ) until he dies ." 622 Hence the secretaries

in particular beat him with their ink holders, seeking to disassociate

themselves, in Kisra's eyes, from the man's views and utterance,

until they killed him. The people said, "O king, we are in

full agreement with the land tax which you are imposing on us."

Kisra chose some men of sound judgment and wise counsel, and

ordered them to investigate the various types of crops the

cadastral survey had revealed for him, the numbers of date palms

and olive trees, and the numbers of heads of those liable for the

poll tax. On that basis, they were to fix the rates of taxation by the

yardsticks of what they perceived would ensure the well-being of

his subjects and ample means of sustenance for them. They were

to report the results of this to him. Each man of them now spoke,

according to the measure of his perception, regarding those rates

of taxation which were to be fixed. They discussed the matter

among themselves at length, and finally agreed to base the land

tax on the products that maintained alive men and beasts, these

being: wheat, barley, rice, grapes, trefoil and clover (ritdb ), 623 date

622. These would be ink holders of what later became the typical Islamic pattern, with a heavy head to hold the actual ink and with a handle. This secretary

courageous enough to protest against Khusraw's measures is making the point

adumbrated in n. 624 below: that fixed rate taxes will leave the cultivator at die

mercy of crop failures or natural disasters, which will make him unable to find the

money demanded.

623. As Nbldeke, trans. 244 n. 1, notes, al-Mas udi in his Muruj, n, 204-205 - §

627, specifies that Anusharwan's land-tax measures were only for Iraq, the richest

province of the empire. He also explains the stress on the annual fodder plants

trefoil and clover ( ratbah , pi. ritab = Persian aspist ) from the outstanding importance of horses in an army composed essentially of cavalrymen.

258

Holders of Power after Ardashir b. Babak

palms, and olive trees. They fixed the land tax rate for every jarib

of land planted with trefoil and clover, seven dirhams; on every

four Persian date palms, one dirham; on every six date palms of

lesser quality ( daqal ), the same figure,- and every six olive tree

stacks, the same figure. They only levied tax on date palms

planted in enclosures or grouped together, not those growing as

isolated trees. Everything apart from these seven types of crops

from the earth they left tax free, and the people were to have a

satisfactory standard of life from them . 624

624. This land-tax reform was really begun by Kawad I but completed by

Khusraw Anusharwan. Previously, the land tax had been proportional to the harvest, but this basis, though apparently fair, had the disadvantage that the cultivators' harvested crop might rot before the state's assessor could arrive and extract the ruler's share. Hence a fixed unit of the land, the jarib, was now taken as the basis for assessment, and from the ruler's point of view, such a reform was highly advantageous since it gave promise of a fixed and predictable income from taxation. It was, however, less advantageous to the cultivator (despite what could be said, as noted above, about the possibility of the crop rotting or failing before the state's assessor arrived). Whatever the yield from his crops, he was obliged to pay the fixed sum stipulated, might have to sell his harvest at a time of glut and low prices, or borrow money at excessive interest, and could thus be left either starving or burdened with debt. See D. C. Dennett, Conversion and the Poll Tax in Early Islam, 14-15; Lokkegaard, Islamic Taxation in the Classic Period, no, 117, 1x9; Crone, "Kavad's Heresy and Mazdak's Revolt," 33-34.

The topic of Anusharwan's land-tax reforms, involving such questions as the

stimulus for them (did the Mazdakite movement play any r6le here?), the precise

nature of the reforms, and their social effects, has been long recognized as a crucial episode in Sasanid history, one with repercussions that continued into the early Islamic period for the land and fiscal systems in the Persian lands and Iraq.

Al-Tabari's account is basic, and is largely corroborated by the poetic one in

Firdawsl's Shah-namah-, the ultimate source must have been the Khwadaynamag, as also for al-Dinawari, al-Akhbdr al-tiwal, 71-72, in his parallel section

on the land tax in the time of Anusharwan. But the Italian scholar Mario Grignaschi has, in a series of publications, drawn attention to several other little-

known but relevant sources. These include the anonymous Nihayat al-arab fi

akhbar al-Furs wa-al-'Arab, in the past attributed to the philologist al-Asma'i but

in fact by some unknown author of the third/ninth century, still substantially

unpublished (but see below), and rejected by Noldeke, trans. 475-76, as an inferior version of al-DInawari's Long Histories. See Grignaschi, "La Nihayatu l-’arab fi ahbari-l-Furs wa-l-Arab (premiere partie)," 15-67; idem, "La Nihayatu ‘ 1 -arab fi ahbari 1 -Furs wa-l-'Arab et les Siyaru muluki l-'Agam du Ps. Ibn al-Muqaffa'," 83- 102. There is further a Shat Anushirwan, which claims to be the emperor's autobiography and which is preserved within the text of the Buyid historian Mis kawayh's Tajarib al-umam. See Grignaschi, "Quelques specimens de la litt&ature sassanide conservde dans les bibliothfeques d 'Istanbul/' 16-45.