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728 BYZANTINES AND ARABS IN THE Oct. Notes and Documents Downloaded from BYZANTINES AND ABABS IN THE TIME OF THE EABLY ABBASIDS. THE Arabic historians Al Baladhuri (circ. 868), Ibn Wadhih, otherwise known as Al Ta'kubi (878), and Al Tabari (915), http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ and the work known as ' Kitab Al 'Uyun,' or ' Book of Springs' (of the latter half of the eleventh century) contain much impor- tant information upon the wars, treaties, and other relations between the Byzantine and Arab empires, which even to Arabic scholars is only accessible by laborious 'search through matter relating to quite different subjects. In Weil's 'Geschichte der Chalifen' many valuable extracts and citations from Arabic authors are given; but none of the writers above mentioned was accessible at National University of Singapore on June 28, 2015 to Weil,1 whose information was drawn from the often corrupt epitome of Al Tabari given by Ibn Al Athir (1224) and from other inferior writers. I have therefore given below translations with a commentary and comparisons with Greek, Syriac, and Armenian writers of all passages in the above Arabic chronicles relating to the frontier wars of Arabs and Byzantines from the accession to power of the Abbasid dynasty in 750 down to the death of the Caliph Al Amin in 818, after which time there was a long cessation of hostilities. In Ibn Wadhih, Al Tabari, and the ' Kitab Al 'Uyun' the events are related in chronological order with dates,2 and I have therefore arranged the extracts under the years of the Higra. In Al Baladhuri, on the other hand, who is in many ways the most valuable of all, they are arranged according to subjects, the fortunes of each province and of each town in the province being narrated separately, sometimes with- out dates; hence it was impossible to give these extracts with the others, and I have therefore placed them separately in Part II. Although all these writers lived some time after the events recorded, their narratives relating to this period are largely de- rived from lost contemporary authors, of whom Al Wakidi, gene- rally recognised as the best Arabic authority on these subjects, was 1 Except parts of Al Tabari in MS. 1 Ibn Wadhih gives short notices of each year's campaigns at the end of each caliphate, but he sometimes also has longer accounts in his ordinary narrative. Downloaded from http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Boajufnry bet**™ cAe Empire: CO Bounelarla qf Themes ard Arab Goremarakip*_ 8 Boundarie* <f tmaller Arab at National University of Singapore on June 28, 2015 Miliuur DUtrtdM Roads I to to to CD 780 BYZANTINES AND ARABS IN THE Oct. born in 747 and died in 828,3 and is therefore for the greater part of the period a contemporary source. Ibn Wadhih and Al Tabari, who in the Ommiad period follow in the main the same traditions,4 are in the period before us for the most part entirely divergent; and it may therefore be assumed that with few exceptions they drew from different sources. Whenever, therefore, their testimony agrees, it is all the more valuable. It does not, however, follow that, because they give the names of different men as leading a raid in one year, one of the two is wrong. In the first place Downloaded from several raids were often made at the same time in different places, and in the second place, where some exploit, such as the capture of a fort, was performed, one author might ascribe this to the man who actually achieved it, who was perhaps only the leader of a detach- ment, and another to the commander-in-chief. Further, Kudama http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ informs us that it was the practice to make three raids each year, a winter-raid at the end of February and beginning of March, a spring-raid from 10 May to 10 June, and a summer-raid from 10 July to 8 Sept." Now a spring-raid is never mentioned by our authors and a winter-raid only once,6 and we may therefore assume that they as a rule classed them all under the ordinary term ' summer-raid,' in which the idea of any particular season was 7 almost lost. Of course, where the raids are given all together in at National University of Singapore on June 28, 2015 a summary, as is done by Ibn Wadhih, it is easy to enter one under a wrong year,8 but we must not hastily suppose this to be the case wherever he differs from other authors. In the case of nearly all important campaigns, however, we are not left to the guidance of the Arabic writers, but are able far better than in the earlier period to control them from external sources. For most of the period with which this article deals we have two contemporary authori- ties, the Pseudo-Dionysios,9 who wrote in 775, and Theophanes, who wrote in 818. Michael the Syrian10 (1196), who at least down to 746 follows in the main the same source as Theophanes, supplies in this period independent testimony, which is probably • The latest citation that I can find from him relates to the year 810. 4 An article dealing with the campaigns in Asia. Minor in the time of the Ommiads appeared in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, xviii. 182 fl. • Ed. M. J. de Goeje, p. 359. De Goeje believes this geographer'.to have composed his work about 982; bat the facts here given most be derived from some earlier writer, probably Al Garmi, who was a captive in 845 (Al Mas'udi, Tanbih, p. 190). • See p. 741. ' See p. 787, where the' sommer-raid ' began in February. The ' summer-raids ' of A.H. 175 and 179 (see p. 741, note 110) were also clearly in the winter. • Where a new year began daring the campaign, it might be entered under the expiring or the beginning year, and the peculiarity of the Arabic calendar makes suoh confusion particularly likely to occur. • Edited and translated by M. Chabot (Paris, 1895). " Quoted from the Arabic version (Brit. Mas. MS. Or. 4402). The original Syriac is being edited by M. Chabot. The Armenian version (translated into French by Langlois) is very inferior. 1900 TIME OF THE EARLY ABBASIDS 781 drawn for the most part from the chronicle of the true Dionysios (written in 848), whom he once quotes by name as an eye- witness.11 Elijah of Nisibis,1* or rather Al Khuwarizmi (circ. 835), from whom his notices of campaigns in Asia Minor are cited, un- fortunately deserts us in 785, where a long lacuna in the manu- script begins. The Armenian Leontius,18 though his history only comes down to 790, seems to have written in the latter half of the ninth century. To all these authors I have given references in the margin, wherever they relate the same facts as are found in Downloaded from the Arabic writers. It can hardly be said that the writers here cited mention any important invasion not recorded elsewhere; but from them we learn, what we should not otherwise have known, that there was a raid of some kind nearly every year, though the majority of these http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ were no doubt wholly insignificant, while with regard to many of the more important events, such as the expeditions of Constantine against Melitene and Theodosioupolis, the capture of Semalous in 780, the expedition of Al Eashid in 788, and the campaigns and negotiations of the reign of Nikephoros, they supply many interesting details not recorded by other authors. They also frequently record facts which enable us to locate an expedition mentioned only in general terms by Theophanes: thus the capture of Laodikeia at National University of Singapore on June 28, 2015 Katakekaumene in 770 and the advance to Ankyra in 776 are known only from Arabic sources. Further, the Arabs, and in par- ticular Al Baladhuri, relate facts not otherwise known as to the captures and recaptures of Adata and other fortresses, and throw interesting light on the Arab system of colonising and garrisoning the frontier districts. They also frequently correct and supplement the chronology, fixing, for instance, the exact date of the Arab capture of Kamachon in 798: where, however, their chronology differs from that of Theophanes, it is often exceedingly difficult to decide between them, To other points of interest attention is called in the notes on the particular passages concerned. E.W. BEOOKS. I. AKHAIISTIC EXTRACTS. A.H. 188.14 Ibn Wadhih. In his1B days in the year 188, the Emperor of the Bomans (and that was Constantine) advanced nntil he laid siege to Melitene and blockaded it; and he accepted terms of peace from it.16 11 See p. 741, note 116. The name of Dionysios is not in the Arabic but, being in Gregory Abu'l Farag, who follows Michael, most have been in the original. 11 Edited with translation by Bithgen (Abh. fiir die Kundt det Morgenlandet, Bd.8). " Ed. Ezeanths (St Petersburg, 1887). For convenience the references are to Shahnazareon's translation (Paris, 18S6). " 9 Aug. 760 to 29 July 751. " The Caliph Abu'l 'Abbas. " The writer seems purposely to avoid stating what the terms were. On the 1900 TIME OF THE EARLY ABBASIDS 781 drawn for the most part from the chronicle of the true Dionysios (written in 848), whom he once quotes by name as an eye- witness.11 Elijah of Nisibis,1* or rather Al Khuwarizmi (circ. 835), from whom his notices of campaigns in Asia Minor are cited, un- fortunately deserts us in 785, where a long lacuna in the manu- script begins.