Aghlabids
The Aghlabids were an Arab dynasty of emirs from the Najdi tribe of Banu Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids. In 800, the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid appointed Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab, son of a Khurasanian Arab commander from the Banu Tamim tribe, as hereditary Emir of Ifriqiya as a response to the anarchy that had reigned in that province following the fall of the Muhallabids. At that time there were 100,000 Arabs living in Ifriqiya, although the Berbers still constituted the great majority. Ibrahim was to control an area that encompassed eastern Algeria and Tripolitania. Although independent in all but name, his dynasty never ceased to recognise Abbasid overlordship; the Aghlabids paid an annual tribute to the Abbasid Caliph and their suzerainty was referenced in the khutba at Friday prayers. After the pacification of the country Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab established a residence at a new capital, al-‘Abbāsiyya, founded outside Kairouan to distance himself from the opposition of the Malikite jurists and theologians, who condemned what they saw as the luxurious life of the Aghlabids, disliked the unequal treatment of the Muslim Berbers.
Additionally, border defenses were set up in Monastir. The Aghlabids built up the irrigation of the area and enhanced the public buildings and mosques of al-‘Abbāsiyya, it was recorded. One unique feature of the Aghlabids is that despite the political differences and rivalry between Aghlabids, who served under the Abbasid Caliphate, the Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba, the Muslims in Spain sent a fleet under Asba' ibn Wakil to aid the Aghlabids conquest of Sicily. Ibn Kathir recorded that a joint force of 300 Aghlabid ships were present; the Aghlabid garrison at Mineo managed to get into contact with the Andalusian Umayyads whom agreed to the alliance, provided that Asbagh was recognized as the overall commander, together with fresh troops from Ifriqiya they marched on Mineo. Theodotus retreated to Enna and the siege of Mineo was broken; the combined Ifriqiyan and Andalusian army torched Mineo and laid siege to another town Calloniana. However, a plague broke out in their camp causing the death of many others.
The town fell in autumn, but the Arabs' numbers were depleted subsequently they had to abandon it and retreat west. Theodotus launched a pursuit and inflicted heavy casualties, so that most of the Andalusians departed the island. However, Theodotus too was killed at this time in one of these skirmishes. Under Ziyadat Allah I came the crisis of a revolt of Arab troops in 824, not quelled until 836 with the help of the Berbers; the conquest of Byzantine Sicily from 827 under Asad ibn al-Furat was an attempt to keep the unruly troops under control - it was only achieved and only in 902 was the last Byzantine outpost taken. Plundering raids into mainland Italy, which included the sack of the Roman basilicas in 846, took place until well into the 10th century; the Aghlabids lost control of the Arab forces in Sicily and a new dynasty, the Kalbids, emerged there. The Aghlabid kingdom reached its high point under Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Aghlabi. Ifriqiya was a significant economic power thanks to its fertile agriculture, aided by the expansion of the Roman irrigation system.
It became the focal point of trade between the Islamic world and Byzantium and Italy the lucrative slave trade. Kairuan became the most important centre of learning in the Maghreb, most notably in the fields of theology and law, a gathering place for poets; the Aghlabid emirs sponsored building projects, notably the rebuilding of the Mosque of Uqba and the kingdom developed an architectural style which combined Abbasid and Byzantine architecture. The decline of the dynasty began under Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad. An attack by the Tulunids of Egypt had to be repelled and a revolt of the Berbers put down with much loss of life. In addition, in 893 there began amongst the Kutama Berbers the movement of the Shiite Fatimids to overthrow the Aghlabids. Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah captured the cities of Qairawan and Raqqada and took an oath of allegiance from the people. By 909, the Aghlabid Dynasty was replaced with the Fatimids. Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab ibn Salim Abdallah I ibn Ibrahim Ziyadat Allah I ibn Ibrahim al-Aghlab Abu Iqal ibn Ibrahim Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad I ibn al-Aghlab Abi Affan Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Aghlabi Ziyadat Allah II ibn Abil-Abbas Abu'l-Gharaniq Muhammad II ibn Ahmad Abu Ishaq Ibrahim II ibn Ahmad Abu'l-Abbas Abdallah II ibn Ibrahim Abu Mudhar Ziyadat Allah III ibn Abdallah History of Islam in southern Italy History of medieval Tunisia List of Sunni Muslim dynasties History of Algeria History of Libya Georges Marçais, "Aghlabids," Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd ed. Vol. I, pp. 699–700.
Mohamed Talbi, Emirat Aghlabide, Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1967. Maurice Vonderheyden, La Berbérie orientale sous la dynastie des Benoû l-Aṛlab, 800-909, Paris: Geuthner, 1927. Versteegh, Kees; the Arabic Language. Columbia University Press
Shirvanshah
Shirvanshah spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title of the rulers of Shirvan, located in modern Azerbaijan, from the mid-9th century to the early 16th century. The title remained in a single family, the Yazidids, an Arab but Persianized dynasty, although the Shirvanshahs are known as the Kasranids or Kaqanids; the Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan. The Shirvanshahs dynasty, existing as independent or a vassal state, from 861 until 1538. There were two periods of an independent and strong Shirvan state: first in the 12th century, under kings Manuchehr and his son, Akhsitan I who built the stronghold of Baku, second in the 15th century under Derbendid dynasty; the title'Shirvanshah' appears to date back to the period before Islam's emergence in the Arabian peninsula. Ibn Khordadbeh mentions the Shirvanshah as one of the local rulers who received their title from the first Sassanid emperor, Ardashir I. Al-Baladhuri mentions that a Shirvanshah, together with the neighbouring Layzanshah, were encountered by the Arabs during their conquest of Persia, submitted to the Arab commander Salman ibn Rab'ia al-Bahili.
From the late 8th century, Shirvan was under the rule of the members of the Arab family of Yazid ibn Mazyad al-Shaybani, named governor of the region by the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. His descendants, the Yazidids, would rule Shirvan as independent princes until the 14th century. By origin, the Yazidids were Arabs of the Shayban tribe and belonged to high ranking generals and governors of the Abbasid army. In the chaos that engulfed the Abbasid Caliphate after the death of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil in 861, the great-grandson of Yazid b. Mazyad Shaybani, Haytham ibn Khalid, declared himself independent and assumed the ancient title of Shirvanshah; the dynasty continuously ruled the area of Shirvan either as an independent state or a vassal state until the Safavid times. One of the important books in the early history of this dynasty is the anonymous Taʾrikh Bab al-Abwab, preserved by the Ottoman historian Münejjim Bashi, the last date of which concerning the dynasty is 468/1075. A translation of this important work into English language was published by the orientalist Vladimir Minorsky in 1958.
We know from this book that the history of the Shirvan Shahs was tied with that of the Arab Hashimid family in Darband and intermarriage between the two Arab families was common with Yazidids ruling for various periods in the latter town. By the time of the anonymous work Hodud al-Alam, the Shirvan Shahs, from their capital of Yazīdiyya, had absorbed neighbouring kingdoms north of the Kur river and thus acquired the additional titles of Layzan Shah and Khursan Shah. We can discern the progressive Persianisation of this Arab family. According to Encyclopedia of Islam: After the Shah Yazid b. Ahmad, Arab names give way to Persian ones like Manūčihr, Ḳubādh, Farīdūn, etc. likely as a reflection of marriage links with local families, with that of the ancient rulers in Shābarān, the former capital, the Yazidids now began to claim a nasab going back to Sassanid kings Bahrām Gūr or to Khusraw Anushirwan. According to Vladimir Minorsky, the most explanation of the Iranicisation of this Arab family could be marriage link with the family of the ancient rulers of Shabaran.
He further states: The attraction of a Sassanian pedigree proved stronger than the recollection of Shaybani lineage. The coat of arms with two lions could be a reminder of the story of Bahrām Gur in Shahnama where Bahrām had to claim the crown from between two lions to be recognized as the king. In the mid-11th century, Seljuk Turks ended Abbasid control by invading Shirvan from Central Asia and asserting political dominance; the Seljuks brought with them Turkish customs. The Seljuqs became the main rulers of a vast empire that included all of Iran and Azerbaijan until the end of the 12th century. During the Seljuq period, the influential vizier of the Seljuq sultans, Nizam ul-Mulk is noted for having helped introduce numerous educational and bureaucratic reforms, his death in 1092 marked the beginning of the decline of the once well-organized Seljuq state that further deteriorated following the death of Sultan Ahmad Sanjar in 1153. At the end of 11th and at the beginning of 12th centuries, the Seljuqid state entered to the period of collapse at the result of interior fought for throne among the representatives of Seljuqid dynasty.
Utilizing from this circumstance, several governors, who were under the subordination of seljukid state, refused to accept the authority of Sultans. In the beginning of the 12th century Shirvan attracted the attention of its expanding Georgian neighbours who on several occasions raided its territory. Shirvanshahs were in position of power shifting between Seljuqid states. In 1112 David IV of Georgia gave his daughter Tamar in marriage to son of Shirvanshah Afridun I, Manuchihr III. Afridun lost many castles, including Qabala to David IV of Georgia in 1117 and 1120. After the death of Afridun I, murdered in the battle for Derbent, the throne in Shirvan passed to his son, Manuchir III. Manuchir III was under the influence of his wife, Georgian princess Tamar and maintained pro-Georgian orientation. After decisive victory of Battle of Didgori Manuchir rejected to pay tribute to Eldiguzids. Depriving from the tributes in the amount of 40 thousand dinars, the Seljuqid Sultan Mahmud directed to Shirvan at the beginning of 1123, captured Sham
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic is the form of the Arabic language used in Umayyad and Abbasid literary texts from the 7th century AD to the 9th century AD. The orthography of the Qurʾān was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is its direct descendant used today throughout the Arab world in writing and in formal speaking, for example, prepared speeches, some radio broadcasts, non-entertainment content. While the lexis and stylistics of Modern Standard Arabic are different from Classical Arabic, the morphology and syntax have remained unchanged. In the Arab world, little distinction is made between CA and MSA, both are called al-fuṣḥá in Arabic, meaning'the most eloquent'. In the late 6th century AD, a uniform intertribal ‘poetic koiné’ distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd in connection with the Lakhmid court of al-Ḥīra. During the first Islamic century the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke a form of Arabic as their mother tongue.
Their texts, although preserved in far manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. The standardization of Classical Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century; the first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al-Kitāb, is based first of all upon a corpus of poetic texts, in addition to the Qurʾān and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya. "Colloquial" Arabic refers to the many regional dialects derived from Arabic spoken daily across the region and learned as a first language, as second language if people speak other languages native to their particular country. By the 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, as it was the lingua franca across the Middle East, North Africa, Horn of Africa during those times. Various Arabic dialects borrowed words from Classical Arabic, this situation is similar to Romance languages, wherein scores of words were borrowed directly from Classical Latin.
People speak Classical Arabic as a second language if they speak colloquial Arabic dialects as their first language, but as a third language if others speak other languages native to a country as their first language and colloquial Arabic dialects as their second language. But Classical Arabic was spoken with different pronunciations influenced by informal dialects; the differentiation of the pronunciation of informal dialects is the influence from native languages spoken and some presently spoken in the regions, such as Coptic in Egypt, Punic or Phoenician in North Africa, Modern South Arabian and Old South Arabian in Yemen, Aramaic in the Levant. Like Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic had 28 consonant phonemes: Notes: ^1 Sibawayh described the consonant ⟨ط⟩ as voiced, but some modern linguists cast doubt upon this testimony. ^2 Ibn Khaldun described the pronunciation of ⟨ق⟩ as a voiced velar /g/ and that it might have been the old Arabic pronunciation of the letter, he describes that prophet Muhammad may have had the /g/ pronunciation.
^3 Non-emphatic /s/ may have been, shifting forward in the mouth before or with the fronting of the palatals. ^4 As it derives from Proto-Semitic *g, /ɟ/ may have been a palatalized velar: /ɡʲ/. ^5 /l/ is emphatic only in /ʔaɫɫɑːh/, the name of God, except after /i/ or /iː/ when it is unemphatic: bismi l-lāhi /bismillaːhi/. ^6 /ɾˠ/ is pronounced without velarization before /i/:. Notes: might have been an allophone of short /a/ in certain imalah contexts In pre-Classical Arabic, arose out of contraction of certain Old Arabic triphthongs; some Arabs said banē for zēda for zāda. This /eː/ merged with /aː/ in Classical Arabic. A different phenomenon called imāla led to the raising of /a/ and /aː/ adjacent to a sequence iC or Ci, where C was a non-emphatic, non-uvular consonant, e.g. al-kēfirīna < al-kāfirīna might have been an allophone of /a/ and /aː/ after uvular and emphatic consonants The A1 inscription dated to the 3rd or 4th c. AD in the Greek alphabet in a dialect showing affinities to that of the Safaitic inscriptions shows that short final high vowels had been lost in at least some dialects of Old Arabic at that time, obliterating the distinction between nominative and genitive case in the singular, leaving the accusative the only marked case:أوس عوذ بناء كازم الإداميْ أتو من شحاصْ؛ أتو بناءَ الدَّورَ ويرعو بقلَ بكانون ʾAws ʿūḏ Bannāʾ Kāzim ʾal-ʾidāmiyy ʾatawa miś-śiḥāṣ.
Classical Arabic however, shows a far more archaic system identical with that of Proto-Arabic: The definite article spread areally among the Central Semitic languages and it would seem that Proto-Arabic lacked any overt marking of definiteness. Besides dialects with no definite article, the Safaitic inscriptions exhibit about four different article forms, ordered by frequency: h-, ʾ-, ʾl-, hn-; the Old Arabic
Emirate of Crete
The Emirate of Crete was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961. Although the emirate recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate and maintained close ties with Tulunid Egypt, it was de facto independent. A group of Berbers Andalusians exiles led by Abu Hafs Umar al-Iqritishi conquered Crete sometime c. 824 or in the year 827/828, established an independent Islamic state. The Byzantines launched a campaign that took most of the island back in 842 and 843 under Theoktistos, but the reconquest was not completed and was soon reversed. Attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover the island failed, for the 135 years of its existence, the emirate was one of the major foes of Byzantium. Crete commanded the sea lanes of the Eastern Mediterranean and functioned as a forward base and haven for Muslim corsair fleets that ravaged the Byzantine-controlled shores of the Aegean Sea; the emirate's internal history is less well-known, but all accounts point to considerable prosperity deriving not only from piracy but from extensive trade and agriculture.
The emirate was brought to an end by Nikephoros Phokas, who launched a huge campaign against it in 960–961. Crete had been raided by Muslim forces since the first wave of the Muslim conquests in the mid-7th century, it first experienced a raid in 654 and another in 674/675, parts of the island were temporarily occupied during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I. However, the island at that time was not conquered and despite occasional raids in the 8th century, it remained securely in Byzantine hands. At some point in the second half of the reign of Byzantine Emperor Michael II, a group of Andalusian exiles landed on Crete and began its conquest; these exiles had a long nomadic history. Traditionally they have been described as the survivors of a failed revolt against the emir al-Hakam I of Córdoba in 818. In the aftermath of its suppression, the citizens of the Córdoban suburb of al-Rabad were exiled en masse; some settled in Fez in Morocco, but others, numbering over 10,000, took to piracy joined by other Andalusians, landed in Alexandria and took control of the city until 827, when they were besieged and expelled by the Abbasid general Abdullah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani.
As W. Kubiak points out, the supposed origin from Córdoba is contradicted by other sources, which record the presence of Andalusian corsairs in Alexandria as early as 798/9, their takeover is dated to 814; the exact chronology of the Andalusians' landing in Crete is uncertain. Following the Muslim sources, it is dated to 827 or 828, after the Andalusians' expulsion from Alexandria. Byzantine sources however seem to contradict this, placing their landing soon after the suppression of the large revolt of Thomas the Slav. Further considerations regarding the number and chronology of the Byzantine campaigns launched against the invaders and prosopographical questions of the Byzantine generals that headed them have led other scholars like Vassilios Christides and Christos Makrypoulias to propose an earlier date, c. 824. Under the terms of their agreement with Ibn Tahir, the Andalusians and their families left Alexandria in 40 ships. Historian Warren Treadgold estimates them at some 12,000 people, of whom about 3,000 would be fighting men.
According to Byzantine historians, the Andalusians were familiar with Crete, having raided it in the past. They claim that the Muslim landing was intended as a raid, was transformed into a bid for conquest when Abu Hafs himself set fire to their ships. However, as the Andalusian exiles had brought their families along, this is later invention; the Andalusians' landing-place is unknown. As soon as Emperor Michael II learned of the Arab landing, before the Andalusians had secured their control over the entire island, he reacted and sent successive expeditions to recover the island. Losses suffered during the revolt of Thomas the Slav hampered Byzantium's ability to respond, if the landing occurred in 827/828, the diversion of ships and men to counter the gradual conquest of Sicily by the Tunisian Aghlabids interfered; the first expedition, under Photeinos, strategos of the Anatolic Theme, Damian, Count of the Stable, was defeated in open battle, where Damian was killed. The next expedition was sent a year and comprised 70 ships under the strategos of the Cibyrrhaeots Krateros.
It was victorious, but the overconfident Byzantines were routed in a night attack. Krateros managed to flee to Kos. Makrypoulias suggests that these campaigns must have taken place before the Andalusians completed their construction of Chandax, where they transferred the capital from the inland site of Gortyn. Abu Hafs repulsed the early Byzantine attacks and consolidated control of the entire island, he recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate, but he ruled as a de facto independent prince. The conquest of the island was of major i
Qedarite
The Qedarite Kingdom, or Qedar, was a nomadic, ancient Arab tribal confederation. Described as "the most organized of the Northern Arabian tribes", at the peak of its power in the 6th century BCE it had a kingdom and controlled a vast region in Arabia. Biblical tradition holds that the Qedarites are named for Qedar, the second son of Ishmael, mentioned in the Bible's books of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, where there are frequent references to Qedar as a tribe; the earliest extrabiblical inscriptions discovered by archaeologists that mention the Qedarites are from the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Spanning the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, they list the names of Qedarite kings who revolted and were defeated in battle, as well as those who paid Assyrian monarchs tribute, including Zabibe, queen of the Arabs. There are Aramaic and Old South Arabian inscriptions recalling the Qedarites, who further appear in the writings of Classical Greek, such as Herodotus, Roman historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Diodorus.
It is unclear when the Qedarites ceased to exist as people. Allies with the Nabataeans, it is that they were absorbed into the Nabataean state around the 2nd century CE. In Islam, Isma'il is considered to be the ancestral forefather of the Arab people, in traditional Islamic historiography, Muslim historians have assigned great importance in their accounts to his first two sons, with the genealogy of Muhammad, the Messenger of God in Islam, alternately assigned to one or the other son, depending on the scholar, it has been suggested that the name of the Qedarites is derived from the name for Ishamel's second son Qedar. Though the tribal name is Arabic, it was first transcribed in Assyrian and Aramaic, as the Arabic alphabet had not yet been developed. In the Mareshah onomasticon, the Qedarites are listed as an ethnic group whose name in Aramaic transliteration is QDRYN; the Arabic triliteral root q-d-r means "to measure, estimate". Qidr, a noun derived from the same root, means "cauldron, kettle", gives the verbal derivation, "to cook".
Ernst Axel Knauf, a biblical scholar who undertook a historical study of the Ishmaelites and determined that they were known in Assyrian inscriptions as the Šumu'il, surmises that the name of the Qedarites was derived from the verb qadara, with its meaning of "to ordain, to have power". As this etymology is a deduction based on the prominence of the Qedar among the Šumu'il tribes, it is viewed as inconclusive by other scholars; the Qedarites were an "Arab tribal confederation," or "alliance of nomadic Arab tribes." According to Philip J. King and historian, they lived in the northwest Arabian desert and were "an influential force from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE." Geoffrey Bromiley, historical theologist and translator, transcribes their name as Kedar and states they lived in an area southeast of Damascus and east of the Transjordan.8th century BCE Assyrian inscriptions place the Qedarites as living in the area to the east of the western border of Babylon. Moving further east into areas of the Transjordan and southern Syria in the 7th century BCE, by the 5th century BCE they had spread into the Sinai and as far as the Nile Delta.
Qedarite domination of northwest Arabia involved alliances between the kings of Qedar and the kings of Dedan. Historian Israel Eph'al writes that the "breadth of Qedarite distribution suggests a federation of tribes with various sub-divisions."Oases in the desert region lived in by the Qedarites - such as Dedan and Dumah - played an important role as sites of settlement and watering-places. Dumah, a remote desert city to the west, known as Dumat Al-Jandal and today as al-Jawf, was the most important of these, sitting as it did between the empires of Babylonia and Assyria. Serving as the base for Qedarite religious ceremonies, Dumah's strategic position on the north-south trade route in the area meant that relations with its inhabitants were sought after by both empires, though Dumah and the Qedarites were closer in both geographical and political terms to Babylonia; those coming from the south and wishing to access Mesopotamia were obliged to pass through Dumah, which lay on an alternate route to the northwest, leading to the city of Damascus, from there, on to Assyria and Anatolia.
During the period of Persian imperial rule in the region, the Qedarites exercised control over the desert areas bordering Egypt and Israel and the traffic related to Arabian incense trade upon which Gaza depended. Herodotus writes of their presence in the northern Sinai near the Egyptian border where they may have been engaged by the Achaemenids, the Persian imperial authorities, to keep that border secure as well as their control of the city of Gaza; the first documented mention of Qedar is from a stele of Tiglath-Pileser III, a king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, that lists leaders from the western part of Mesopotamia that pay him tribute. To the Assyrians, the Qedarites were known as Qidri or qi-id-ri with other cuneiform inscriptions using Qadri, Qidarri and Qudari. Zabibe is listed among those paying tribute under the title "queen of the Qidri and the Aribi". Mentioned in Assyrian royal inscriptions is Zabibe's successor Yatie, who sent forces headed by her brother Baasqanu to aid Merodach-Baladan in his bid to hold onto power in Babylon.
Together with an army from Elam, this alliance faced the forces of Sennacherib, on the Assyrian king's first campaign in 703 BCE. The even
Córdoba, Spain
Córdoba spelled Cordova in English, is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was a Roman settlement, taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Umayyad Caliphate in the eighth century, it became the capital of a Muslim emirate, the Caliphate of Córdoba, which encompassed most of the Iberian Peninsula. During this period, it became a centre of education and learning, by the 10th century had grown to be the largest city in Europe, it was recaptured by Christian forces during the so-called Reconquista. Today, Córdoba is still home to many notable pieces of Moorish architecture such as the Mezquita, named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, is in use as a Cathedral; the UNESCO status has since been expanded to encompass the whole historic centre of Córdoba. Much of this architecture, such as the Alcázar and the Roman bridge has been reworked or reconstructed by the city's successive inhabitants. Córdoba has the highest summer temperatures in Spain and Europe, with average high temperatures around 37 °C in July and August.
The first traces of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 42,000 to 35,000 BC. Pre-urban settlements around the mouth of the Guadalquivir river are known to have existed from the 8th century BC; the population learned copper and silver metallurgy. The first historical mention of a settlement dates to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir, when general Hamilcar Barca renamed it Kartuba, from Kart-Juba, meaning "the City of Juba", a Numidian commander who had died in a battle nearby. Córdoba was named as Corduba. In 169 Roman consul M. Claudius Marcellus, grandson of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had governed both Further and Hither Spain, founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. Between 143 and 141 BC. A Roman forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC; the famous Cordoba Treasure, with mixed local and Roman artistic traditions, was buried in the city at this time. It became a colonia with the title Patricia, between 46 and 45 BC.
It was sacked by Caesar in 45 due to its Pompeian allegiance, settled with veterans by Augustus. It had a colonial and provincial forum and many temples, it was the chief center of Roman intellectual life in Hispania Ulterior. Its republican poets were succeeded by Lucan. At the time of Julius Caesar, Córdoba was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Baetica; the great Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, his father, the orator Seneca the Elder, his nephew, the poet Lucan came from Roman Cordoba. In the late Roman period, its bishop Hosius was the dominant figure of the western Church throughout the earlier 4th cent, it occupied an important place in the Provincia Hispaniae of the Byzantine Empire and under the Visigoths, who conquered it in the late 6th century. Córdoba was captured in 711 by the Umayyad army. Unlike other Iberian towns, no capitulation was signed and the position was taken by storm. Córdoba was in turn governed by direct Umayyad rule; the new Umayyad commanders established themselves within the city and in 716 it became a provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus.
Different areas were allocated for services in the Saint Vincent Church shared by Christians and Muslims, until construction of the Córdoba Mosque started on the same spot under Abd-ar-Rahman I. Abd al-Rahman allowed the Christians to rebuild their ruined churches and purchased the Christian half of the church of St Vincent. In May 766 Córdoba was chosen as the capital of the independent Umayyad emirate caliphate, of al-Andalus. By 800 the megacity of Cordoba supported over 200,000 residents, 0.1 per cent of the global population. During the apogee of the caliphate, Córdoba had a population of about 400,000 inhabitants, with estimates ranging from 100,000 to an unlikely 1,000,000. In the 10th and 11th centuries Córdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world, a great cultural, political and economic centre; the Great Mosque of Córdoba dates back to this time. After a change of rulers the situation changed quickly; the vizier al-Mansur–the unofficial ruler of al-Andalus from 976 to 1002—burned most of the books on philosophy to please the Moorish clergy.
Córdoba had a prosperous economy, with manufactured goods including leather, metal work, glazed tiles and textiles, agricultural produce including a range of fruits, vegetables and spices, materials such as cotton and silk. It was famous as a centre of learning, home to over 80 libraries and institutions of learning, with knowledge of medicine, astronomy, botany far exceeding the rest of Europe at the time. In 1002 Al-Mansur was returning to Córdoba from an expedition in the area of Rioja, his death was the beginning of the end of Córdoba. Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar, al-Mansur's older son, succeeded to his father’s authority, but he died in 1008 assassinated. Sanchuelo, Abd al-Malik’s younger brother succeeded him. While Sanchuelo was away fighting Alfonso V of Leon, a revolution made Mohammed II al-Mahdi the Caliph. Sanchuelo sued for pardon but he was killed when he returned to Cardova; the slaves revolted against Mahdi, killed him in 1009, replaced him with Hisham II in 1010. Hisham II was forced out of office.
In 1012 the Berbers "sacked Cardova." In 1016 th
Alid dynasties of northern Iran
Alid dynasties of northern Iran or Alâvids. In the 9th–14th centuries, the northern Iranian regions of Tabaristan and Gilan, sandwiched between the Caspian Sea and the Alborz range, came under the rule of a number of Alid dynasties, espousing the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam; the first and most powerful Zaydi emirate was established in Tabaristan in 864 and lasted until 928. It was restored in 914 by another Alid branch; the second period of the Alid emirate was plagued by internal dissensions and power struggles between the two branches, ended in the second conquest of the region by the Samanids in 928. Subsequently, some of the soldiers and generals of the Alavids joined the Samanids, among them Mardavij, founder of the Ziyarid dynasty, the three sons of Buya, founders of the Buyid dynasty. Local Zaydi rulers survived in Gilan until the 16th century. Hasan ibn Zayd, adopted the regnal name al-Da'i ila'l-Haqq, he was forced to abandon Tabaristan for Daylam in 869 and 874 due to invasions Muhammad ibn Zayd adopted the regnal name al-Da'i ila'l-Haqq.
Rule in Tabaristan proper was usurped by Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Muhammad for a few months as Muhammad was in Gurgan at the time of Hasan's death. Tabaristan was overrun by Rafi ibn Harthama in 891–893, in 900 Muhammad tried to conquer Khurasan, but was defeated and killed by the Samanids; the Samanids captured Tabaristan, the Alavids fled to Daylam in exile. Hasan ibn Ali al-Utrush, adopted the regnal name al-Nasir li'l-Haqq. A Husaynid from Medina, he converted the Gilites and Daylamites to the Zaydi doctrine, recovered Tabaristan. Abu Muhammad Hasan ibn Qasim adopted the regnal name al-Da'i ila'l-haq. A Hasanid, he was named by the latter as his heir, his rule was challenged by al-Utrush's sons and their numerous supporters, who seized power twice in 919 and again in 923. Regained the throne with the help of Makan ibn Kaki, ruled until he was killed in battle with Asfar ibn Shiruya. Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad ibn Hasan, surnamed Nasir. Reigned jointly with his brother in 919, thereafter reconciled himself with Abu Muhammad Hasan al-Da'i until 923, when he reigned until his death.
Abu'l-Qasim Ja'far ibn Hasan, surnamed Nasir. Reigned jointly with his brother in 919 and from 923 until his death. Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad, surnamed Nasir. Son of Ahmad ibn Hasan, he was chosen as emir. Deposed by Makan ibn Kaki, who installed Isma'il ibn Ja'far as a puppet ruler, regained the throne with the aid of Asfar ibn Shiruya. Abu Ja'far Husayn ibn Abu'l-Husayn Ahmad, surnamed Nasir. Brother of Abu Ali Muhammad, he was deposed by Makan ibn Kaki, who brought back Abu Muhammad Hasan al-Da'i. Installed once more as imam by Asfar ibn Shiruya under Samanid suzerainty, but removed to the Samanid court at Bukhara. Tried to recover Tabaristan in 931 with the help of Mardavij, but failed. History of Iran Muslim dynasties of Iran List of Shi'a Muslim dynasties Madelung, W.. "The Minor Dynasties of Northern Iran". In Frye, R. N; the Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 198–249. ISBN 978-0-521-20093-6. Madelung, W..
"ʿALIDS OF ṬABARESTĀN, DAYLAMĀN, AND GĪLĀN". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 8. London u.a.: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Pp. 881–886. ISBN 0710090994
