Notes on illa and the Mazyadids in Medieval Islam

Author(s): George Makdisi

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 74, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1954), pp. 249262
Published by: American Oriental Society
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AND THE MAZYADIDS IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

NOTES ON HTT2TjA
GEORGEZIAKDISI
OF MICHIGAN
UNIVERSITY

we have endeavoredto
1N THIS BRIEF STY,
establish certain historical facts which we hope
will contribute to the revision of some of our
present knowledgeconcerningthe foundation of
Hilla and the beginningsof the Mazyadiddynasty
in MedievalIslam. We proposeto begin by treating the first of these two closely relatedproblems.
In doing so, a review of the results obtainedin
previousstudies will be given togetherwith indications, whereverpossible,as to the sourcesupon
whichthey are based.

Our present knowledgeconcerningthe foundation of Hilla,1 the medieval Mazyadid capital

whichbecamerenownedas an activecenterof commerce and Alite learning, is for the most part
embodiedin an anonymousarticle in the Encyclopedia of Islam.2 It is stated in this article that
Hilla " was foundedin 495 (1101-1102)by Sadaka
b. Mansural-Mazyadland given the name Hillat
Banl Mazyad." It is also stated that the site of
Hilla was chosen by this Arab amlr, and that
" beforethe foundationof Hilla there was a flourishing town here, called al-Djamitain,on the left
bank,while Sadakabuilt his town on the opposite
side."
This anonymousIlotice on Hilla contains the
statementsin which we are primarilyinterested;
namely, (a) the year in which Hilla was founded,
(b) the founder,and (c) the site of the foundation. In the bibliographysubjoinedto the notice
in question, one primary source in particular,
Yaqut,3 constitutes the essential basis for these
statements.
1 Situated some sixty miles south of Bagdad, and just
south of the site where the city of Babylon once stood,
Hilla became during the last century a center of interest
to historians of the ancient Near East, many of whom
visited it in connection with Babylonian studies. For
the early explorers and references to Hilla, see R. W.
Rogers, A History of Babylonia and Assyria (New York,
1910) .
2 Sub voce "Hilla."
al-buldzan, ed. F. Wustenfeld, Jacut's Geo8 Mu'vam
graphisches Worterbuch ( Leipzig, 1866-73), 6 vols.

In the Encyclopediaof Islam, there are also two

other articles by E. V. Zettersteenwherein he
mentions Hilla briefly. In the first of these articles, entitled " Mazyadls,''he writesthe following:
"In $adaka's reign the capital al-Djamian was
extended and fortified, and glven the name of
al-Hilla (495 1101-1102)." In the other article,4 he writes that " al-Hilla was founded" in
49S, and that " previouslythe Banu Mazyadhad
lived in tents." The readeris then referredto the
anonymousarticle on Hilla.5
G. Le Strange,in his Landsof the EasternCaliphate,6states that Hilla was knownin the IVth/
Xth century " as al-Jamitan,' the Two Mosques,'
and the town at first stood mostly on the eastern
bank. It was a populous place," he continues,
"and its lands were extremely fertile. Then
Al-Hilla, ' the Settlement,'was built on the opposite right bank, by Sayf-ad-Dawlah,chief of the
Banl Mazyad,in aboutthe year 495 (1102)." Le
Strange devotes a long paragraphto Hilla and
gives as his sourcesfor it, and for " Jamian,"nine
Arab geographers.7 Of these primary sources,
Sub voce " $adaka."
reference to the article on Hilla is made
by M. Gaudefroy-Demombynesin his annotated translation of Ibn Gubair's Rihla, Voyapes d'lbn Jobair
( Paris, 1951), 2e partie, 243, n. 1, with the following
statement: "reconstruite [i.e., Hilla] en 495/1102 par
Saif-ad-Daula b. Mazyad al-Asadl.'' A similar statement is made by F. M. Pareja, Islamologta (Romey
1951), 117: " ricostrui nel 1101/495 la sua capitale
[i.e., Sadaqa's Hilla], alla quale pose il nome di Hilla
e che fu citta celebrata per la sua bellezza e la prosperita del suo commercio."
6 (CambridgeUniversity Press, 1930, reprint of edition
of 190.5vvith emendations), 71.
7 Ibn Serapion, Ya'qubl, Istahrl, Ibn Hauqal, Muqaddasl (= Maqdisl), Yaqut, Ibn Gubair, Ibn Battuta and
Mustaufl. These geographers are cited in the order in
which they appear by their initials in Le Strange, Lands,
72, n. 1. For the periods in shich they wrote, cf. lists
in ibtd., back of p. xvii, and in M. Streck, Die al te
I,andschaft Babylonten nach den arabtschen Geopraphen
( Leiden, 1900), xi-xiii. The geographer Ya'qubl must
have been cited by Le Strange as a basis for the passage
on Qasr Ibn Hubaira, a town dealt with in the preceeding paragraph (pp. 70-71), since this geographer
mentions neither Gami'ain nor Hilla.

249

6 Another

250

MAEDISI:

Notes on Elilla and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

Yaqut is the main basis for the statementswe

In the studies which have been listed above,
have quoted.
there is generalagreementon the followingstateJ. Obermeyer,in Die LandschaftBabylonien,8 ments concerning Hilla's foundation wherever
writes on Hilla as follows: " :EIilleist eine Neu- these statementsare mentioned: (a) that lfilla
grundung der Araber; sie erfolgte um das Jahr was foundedin, or about,13the year 49S, (b) that
495 d. H. = 1102 d. ch. Z. von Saifaddaulah,dem its founderwas Sadaqa14 and (c) that its site was
Haupte des AraberstammesBeni Meziad und Gamitain.15Yaqut makes substantiallythe same
wurde' Hillah (Niederlassung)der Beni Meziad' statements in his geographicaldictionary;16 he
oder kurzwegHillah = Hille genannt." And fur- has been the principal authority for them. One
ther on, he writes: " Vor der Griindungder Stadt fact, however,which doesnot rest on his authority
Hille bestandhier bereitseine Stadt ' Al-Gamiain ' is that Camitainwas a flourishingcity, populous
(der beiden Moscheen) genannt, namlich der
' Neuen Moschee> am rechten Euphratuferund
1852-64), 4 vols. This abridgment of Yaqut's Mx'sam
der ' Alten Moschee' am linken (ostlichen) Ufer." al-bulddn
was made by 'Abd al-Mulmin b. 'Abd al-Haqq
lIere again the main sourceis Yaqut.
(+ 735/1339); see article by R. BlachBre in E. I., s. v.
Yaqut appearsto be also the sourcefor Stanley " Yakut al-Rumi."
Lane-Poole,who gives a brief historicalintroduc- 18 G. Le Strange, Lands, loc. civt.,and J. Obermeyer,
Dy-nasties Landschaft, loc. civt.
tion in his workon The Mohamrnadan
4 $adaqa's full name is Saif ad-Daula Abu 'l-Hasan
stating that "the fourth of the [Mazyadid]dy- adaqa b. Mansur b. Dubais b. 'All b. Mazyad al-Asadl
nasty, Sadaka,built his new capital of -lfilla on an-NaBirl; he is, according to our genealogical tables,
the fourth member of the Mazyadid dynasty. See S.
the site of the town of -Jamian in 1101 (495) ."
Some two decades before the appearanceof Lane-Poole, ]oharnrnadanDynastres, 120, and E. de
de genealogre et de chronolopivepour
UJLanuel
Lane-Poole'spublication,Joseph Warabacekpub- Zanxbaur,
l'hivstoirede l'lslam (Hanovre, 1927), 137.
in which he
lished his work on the Mazyadids,10
16 There is some question about the pronunciation of
writes the following passage concerning Hilla: this proper noun in the dual. The early geographers,
" Als feste Niederlassung[of the Mazyadids]wer- Ibn Burdadbih, Ibn Serapion, Istahrl and Ibn Hauqal
den zuerst ed-Dur und en-Nil erwahnt;nachdem treat it as a variable word, pronouncing it according to
its syntactical position in the sentence; thus the first
jedoch die Macht der Mazjaditenin Folge der two
geographers pronounce it " bamitain " because it
seldschukischenWirrengestiegenwar, verliessder falls in the genitive case, and the latter two pronounce
vierte Herrscherin der Geschlechtsfolgedes Maz- it " Gamitan" because it falls in the nominative case,
jad, Seif ed-daula Sadaka, die Wohnsitzeseiner in the sentence in which it is used. But a later
Muqaddasl, pronounces " bamitain" in the
Vorfahrenund bezog im Muharrem495 ( 26 geographer,
genitive case, though its syntactical position in the
Okt. bis 25 Nov. 1101) das nordllchvon el-Sufa sentence calls for a nominative, thus treating it as an
dem rechten Euphratufer anliegende Stadtchen invariable word. Yaqut goes a step further in fixing
el-Dschamiein, welches seitdem den Namen el- its invariable pronunciation in the genitive case with
it is prolIilla, d. i. die Ansiedelung(der Mazjaditen)fuhrt the following statement: "'al-Gamitain,' thusSome
cennounced in the genitive case of the dual."
und, durchprachtigeZubautenverschonert,unter turies
later, Murtada az-Zabldl treats it again as a
den Stadten Irak's lange Zeit hindurchden Ruf variable word. See Ibn Khordadhbeh,Ritab al-Masdlik
eines bedeutsamenIIandelsplatzesgenoss." Here wa l-maqndlik (Bibliotheca Geographort4qnArabicorq&qn,
again Yaqut is the principalsourceused by lKara- ed. M. J. de Goeje, vol. VI, Leiden, 1889), 230; Ibn
"
bacek,who cites two of this geographer'sworks, Serapion, " Description of Mesopotamia and Baghdad
(1895), 16; Istakhr;, Ritab
JRAS
in
Strange
Le
G.
ed.
Mu'gamal-buldan11and its abridgment,Marasid Masalik al-maqndlik (BGA, ed. de Goeje, vol. I, Leiden,
al-ittilt.l2
..
1927), 86; Ibn Haulyal, K*tab subratal-ard ( BSA, ed.
9

J. H. Kramers, vol. II, 2nd ed., Leiden, 1939), 245;

Moqaddasl,Kitab ahsan at-taqastqnfs qnatrifatal-aqaltqn
(BGA, ed. de Goeje, vol. lII, 2nd ed., Leiden, 1906), 114;
Yaqut, GW, vol. II, p. 10; Murtad.a az-Zabldl, Tav
al-'arus min gawahir al-Qaqnus (Bulaq, 1307-8), sub
xvii.
qvoce.Ibn tCurdadbihapplies this name to a whole region,
10 Beitrage zur Geschichte der A9azjaditen (Leipzig,
cf. ibid., p. 173 of translation, n. 1. The indefinite nature
1874), 78.
of bamitain's orthography in the Arabic sources is
Referred to hereafter as (;W; supra, n. 3.
l2Marasid al-ittila' 'aki asqna' al-arnkina wa 'I-biqa', reflected in the studies quoted above.
16GW, vol. II, 322-323; cf. Marsaid, vol. I, 315.
ed. T. G. J. Juynboll, Lescicon Geographicuqn( Leiden,

(Frankfort, 1929) 307*

9 (Paris, 1925, photo reprod. of the edition of 1893),
p. 119. Lane-Poole does not give sources; see his Preface,
8

MA1WISI:

Notes on Elilla and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

and fertile; accordingto him, it was merely a

" thicket (agama) to whichwild beastsrepaired."17
The authorityfor Gamiain as a city is based on
earliergeographerscited by Le Strange;18 namely,
Istahrl,ls Ibn Hauqal,20and Muqaddasl.2l It
shouldbe noted here that the worksof these three
geographerswere known to Yaqut, accordingto
his own statementin the prefaceto his geographical dictionary.22But he seems to have been unaware of these referencesto Gamiain. The conflict betweenhis statement on Gamiain and the
earlier geographical sources is not merely apparent in the sensethat as a thicket it could also
havebeenpopulatedin a primitiveway-it is real,
as can readily be seen from the context of the
followingstatementsby Yaqut. Speakingof Hilla,
he says: ". . . the first to build it and settle in
it was Saif ad-Daula . . .n; 23 and speaking of
Camiain, he says: " . . . it is now a large populated city; I have already related the history of
its flourishment,and its dimensions,under the
vocable al-Hilla."24 In other words, Gamiain,
prior to the foundationof Hilla in 49S, was not
populated.
In additionto this conflictwith earliergeographers, Yaqut contradictshimself with regard to
the founder of Hilla. Under this vocable, he
states, as we have already seen,25that Saif adDaula $adaqawas the founder of Hilla. Writing
about anothertown, Huwaiza,in anothersection
of the same work,26he states that this town was
acquiredby Dubaisb. Aflf al-Asadl,and that the
latter should not be mistaken for " Dubais b.
Mazyadwho built Hilla in Gamiain though he
also is a descendantof the Banu Asad." Thus,
Yaqut gives us a new founder for Hilla: the
secondor fifth memberof the Mazyadiddynasty.
It is not clear which one was meant by Yaqut,
l T GW, loc. cit.
l8Lands,72,n.

1.

Masalik al-mamulik, 86-87.

20$urat al-ard, 245.
at-taqastqn, 114.
21 Ahsan
22 GW, vol. I, 7
28 Ibid., vol. II, 322: wa-kana auwalu man 'ammaraha
wanazalah2 Saif ad-Daula . . . ; cf. Maraid, vol. I,
19

315.
24

GW, vol. II, 11: wa-hiya 'I-ana madtnatun kabsratun

dhilatt4n qad dakartu ta'r?ha 'imaratiha wa-kafftyataha

ft 'I-I.filla.
25
26

See note 23aw, vol. II, 371-372; also in Maraid, vol. I, 331.

251

since the name " Dubais b. Mazyad" is used to

designateboth Dubais I (A. H. 408-474) as well
as Dubais II (A. H. a01-529). In any case, it is
quite clear that he contradictshis other statement
to the effect that Sadaqa,fourth memberof the
dynasty (A. H. 479-501), was the founder. We
must therefore conclude that Yaqut cannot be
consideredas a reliable source of informationin
regardto the date of the foundationof Hilla, the
founder, and conditionsin Gamitain,site of the
foundation.
This judgmentof value is not meant to encompass the whole of Yaqut'smonumentalgeographical work; it is meant simply to point out that the
informationit offersconcerningthe problemunder
considerationcannot be acceptedas reliablewithout corroborationfrom other independentsources.
The value of Yaqut's work for geographerand
historian alike is generally acknowledged,especially as this most useful compilationhas preserveda considerablenumberof texts taken from
earlier worksno longer extant.27These borrowed
texts are, generally speaking, accompaniedby a
designationof the source from which they were
derived. So far as Hilla is concerned,however,
Yaqut fails to mentionhis source.
But Yaqut is not alone involvedin conflicting
testimony. Other geographicalsourceswhich we
have come acrosslikewise fail to pass the test of
credibility,in one way or another,with regardto
facts on Hilla. A discussion of these sources
follows.
In an abridgmentof the Istanbul manuscript
of Ibn Hauqal'swork,which containsannotations
made by the epitomizerand relating, as J. H.
to the latter'speriod (534-580/
Kramersaffirms,28
1139-1184),Hilla figuresamongthese annotations
and is referredto as Hillat Ibn Mazyad"a new
city founded by Mansur b. Mazyad al-Asadl in
the 490's west of the Euphrates. . .nn29 The variant reading of "the 470's" 30 would be more in
conformitywith the periodof Mansur'sreign from
474 to 479. This information,thus restated,would
make the third memberof the dynasty, Sadaqa's
father,the founderof Hilla, and wouldmoveback
the date of foundationroughlyby two decades.
27See the judicious statement on Yaqut's wrork by
J. Sauvaget, Introduction a l'histoire de l'orient mt4st41man ( Paris, 1946), 81.
al-ard, part 1, p. v of the Preface.
28 8M4rat
29 I bid., 245.
80Ibid., 245, n. 2.

252

Notes
MAKT)ISI:

on Z[illaand the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

In another work, however, we find the date

backstill farther. A notice is found on the
moved
of the IstanbulManuscript,one of the two
margin
used by M. J. de Goeje to establish
manuscripts
geographicalwork,a transMuqaddasl's
text of
the
lationof which follows:31 (( Suppose someone
ask: ' why did the author[i. e., Muqaddasl]
should
failto mentionsomeof the towns in this province
[i.e., Bagdad] such as Hilla ?' The answerwould
be:' it had not been built in his day; it was only
after him, Mazyadb. Zabtdhavingbuilt it."'
built
DeGoeje,by way of correction,replacesthis name
that of Saif ad-Daula$adaqaon the basis of
with
Karabacek'sstudy, which is in turn based
Joseph
onYaqut.32Allowedto stand without the benefit
ofbeing correctedon the basis of the questionable
of Yaqut, this marginal note cites the
authority
of the Mazyadiddynastyas the founderof
eponym
Hilla,thus moving the date of foundationback
wellinto the IVth/Xth century, more than one
beforethe presentlyestablisheddate. This
century
statementhas one drawbackwhich can be easily
explained.The nameof the eponymof the dynasty
b. Zabtdas in
isMazyadb. Martad,33not WIazyad
This differGoeje.
de
by
quoted
note
marginal
the
of
similarity
encecould be explainedby the close
these
as
names
both
in
theArabicletters involved
arecapable of appearingin Arabic manuscript.
Thewriter of the marginalnote could have easily
misreadthe last part of the name.
writing in the
Anothergeographer,D&ustaufl,34
conflicting rea
gives
centuryafter Yaqut, also
built by the
"was
Hilla,35
that
port. He states
35t Mansur
[ibn]
Sadaqa
Amlr Sayf-ad-Dawlah
ibn DubaysAsadl during the reign of the Caliph
Qaim,in the year 436 (1044)." 36 Since the reign
Ahsan at-taqdswm,114,n. b.
BeitraGe, 78; See n. 10 abovegenealogy given in Tap
3S According to the detailed
Hilla."
"
v.
s.
283,
VII,
vol.
al- arus,
by G. Le Strange, The
S4 Nuzhat al-qxlub, ed. and tr.
Mem(SeographicalPart of the Nuzhat al-Qxlub (Gibb vol.
and
Text,
Persian
XXIII/1,
vol.
Series,
orial
XXIII/2, Engl. Tr., Leyden-London,1915, 1919) .
S5 Ibid., vol. XXIII/2, 47.
text, ibid., vol. XXIII/1,
S5a Omitted in the original
40.
with the follow86 Le Strange corrects this statement
date
ing note (ibid., vol. XXIII/2, 47, n. 1 ): " The
should be 495 (1102) and during the reign of the Caliph
Mustazhir." His basis for this statement is Yaqut
as can be seen in his edition of the Persian text (ibid.,
date
vol. XXIII/1, 40, n. 1 ) where he corrects the
81

82

this Caliph encompassesthe year 436, there is

of
conflictinvolvedin this part of the statement.
no
conflict does occur howeverin making $adaqa
A
with the
(reign:A.H. 479-501) contemporaneous
436;36^
A.H.
of
date
early
the
at
Qaim
Caliph
Qa'im'scaliphate (A. H. 422-467) falls
whereas
withinthe reign of Dubais I (A. H. 408-474),
grandfather.
Sadaqa's
Wemay cite as a final source,in this list of conreports,the dictionaryTag al-'aruswhich
flicting
a considerableamountof geographicalincontains
On page 283 of volumeVII, there is
formation.37
along section on Hilla. Here, $adaqais said to
bethe builder of Hilla, but nothing is said about
thedate in which it was built. The rest of the
contains several mistakes, especially
information
withregardto the reigningperiodsof membersof
theMazyadiddynasty.38
So far, we have dealt only with the geographical
sources.Some of these, as we have alreadyseen,
haveservedas sourcesfor our present studies on
Hilla; and we have also seen that Yaqut has
beenthe sourcemost relied on. We proposethereforeto give, in translation,the pertinentpassage
ofYaqut on Hilla. This procedurewill help in
thepointingout of difficultiesinvolvedin the verbalinterpretationof the text, and will serve for
purposesof comparisonwith other texts taken
fromhistoricalsourcesto be introducedthereafter.
The text of the following translationis found
in Yaqut's Mutgarnal-buldan:39
436, given in the text, as follows: " Read A. H.
495, Yaq. II, 323, and Caliph Mustazhir."
to have died in A. H. 501 at
Sda Sadaqa is reported
vol. IX, p. 159), or at
Mt4ntazam,
(see
55
of
the age
248, and Ibn Ratlr,
VIII,
vol.
the age of 59 (see Ramil,
A. E.
Bidaya, vol. XII, 170). In either case, the year
birth.
of
date
his
before
falls
436
in E. I. (Suppl., 1938),
37 Cf. article by J. H. Kramers
s. v. " Djughrafiya."
are more likely the
88 Vol. VII, 283. These mistakes
original manuscript
the
of
than
edition
the
mistakes of
page,
of the author. Thus in line 9 from the foot of the
of
the reign of Mansur is made to last for a period
= 64)
" 64 " years. The reading arba'a wa-sitttna ( four
was more likely arba'a sintna ( = 4 years ) . The
the
dates which follow are also wrong; instead of 499, of
author probably had written the more correct date
479; and thereafter, 474 instead of 494; 405 instead
504,
of 445; 408 instead of 448. The incorrect date of
as the date of Sadaqa's death is likely the author's
to
own mistake. See the genealogical tables referred
14.
in note
89 GW, vol. II, 322-323.
A.H.

" Al-Hilla is written with a kasra [below the ha']

MAST)ISI:

Notes on I.lilla and the Mazyadidsin ]edievalIslam

253

tioned do we have a permanentsettleme:clt.The

MazyadidHilla itself couldhavebegunas a temporary settlement, evolving later into a permanent
one, and, in the meantime,changing in position
from place to place.
A similardifficultyfiguresin the sentencewhich
we have translatedaboveas follows: ;' His forefathers'habitationsconsistedof dwellingsmadeof
ntl." The Arabic text reads: uva-kanatmanGizilts
aba'ih1,'d-duramina 'n-ntl. The difficultyhere is
in translatingthe words dur and ntl; since, like
the wordhilla, they may also be taken as common,
or as proper nouns.44 J. S:arabacekconsidered
them as propernouns; for he writes: "Als feste
Niederlassung[of the Mazyadids]werden zuerst
ed-Durund en-Nll erwahnt. . ." 45 Whatevermay
have beenhis reasonsfor arrivingat this interpretation, we believe that the words in question
should be understoodas common nouns in the
context in which they are found. Thus the word
ddr wouldbe the plural of dar, as we believeit isa
meaning ' habitation, dwelling, house or tent ';
and rztlwould designate,as we believeit does, the
stuS of which these habitationswere made. In
al-Qamusal-muht,46ntl is explainedas designating, among other things, a plant having " a solid
A difficultyof interpretationis encounteredin stem with fine branchesand small leaves disposed
the word "Hilla" itself. As Yaqut explains, it in orderly fashion on both sides.' This would
may be taken as a common noun (of diflTerent mean that Sadaqansancestorslived in tents made
meanings40) and as a propernoun. It may be used of a type of reed-plantcalled ntl. This interpretato designatea temporaryencampment,depending tion is furtherstrengthenedby paralleltexts which
on the length of time a given numberof people will be discussedpresently.
Two other words,the verbs 'GlmrRara
and bGlna,
may settle in a given place. It may be composed
of one or two hundredhabitations.4lIt may desig- may also causesomeambiguity. The questionhere
nate a more permanentsettlement,such as Yaqut is: are these verbs to be understoodas meaning
enumeratesin his Mutgarrl
al-buldan49and in his 'to build, to found,' or 'to reconstruct,fortify'
Alustarik.43Thus not everytime this wordis men- what has already existed. In other words, was
Hilla foundedin A. H. 495 or was it fortifiedafter
Cf. R. Dozy, Suppletmentauz dictionnaires arabes having existed there as Hilla before this date?
(Leyden-Paris, 1927), s.v. "Hilla."
The three quotationswhichare introducedbelow
1 Tag al- arus, loc. cit.; al-Mufad.
dal ad.-Dabbi,
Bufaddaltyat, ed. Charles J. Lyall (Oxford, 1921), vol. are paralleltexts. Treating,as they do, of the same
I, 35, 1. 7.
subJect,that is, the foundationor fortificationof
cit.; Yaqut mentions three diSerent places Hilla in A. X. 49S, they are presentedhere not
here.
only for purposesof solving some difficultiesof
48 Kitab al-Mustarik wad'an wa 'I-muhtalif saq'an,
ed. F. Wustenfeld, Jacuzt's Moschtarik: Leoricon geo- interpretation,but also with a viewto determining,

then tasdxd [above the lam]. In general usage, it means

"a people settling and eomprising a numerous company . . .
" Al-hilla " also designates a thorny tree smaller
than the boxthorn ( 'a1Asag
)
" al-Hilla " is also a proper noun designating a
number of plaees, the best known of shieh is tlle Hilla
of the Mazyadids, a large city situated between IZufa
and Bandid which used to be named " al-Gtlmitain" . . .
T'he first one to build it and settle in it tas Saif adDaula $adaqa b. Mansur b. Dubais b. 'All b. Masyad
al-Asadl. His forefathers' habitations eonsisted of
dwellings made of zl. When his position and ponver
had beeome secured and his possessions inereasedbecause of the SalRuqs Barkyaruq, Muhammad and
Sangar, sons of Maliksah b. Alp Arslan being occupied
by the succession of wars among themselves he moved
to al-samitain, a place west of the Euphrates, to be
at a distanee from possible pursuers. This he did in
the month of Muharram, in the year 495. At that
time, it was a thieket to whieh wild beasts repaired.
I-Iesettled in it with his people and his troops, and built
in it large and magnifieent dwellings. His deseendants
did the same with exquisite taste. It then became a
place of refuge. AIerehants repaired to it, so that it
eventually eame to be the most superb and most beautiful city in 'Iraq during the lifetime of Saif ad-Daula.
After he was killed, it continued in its flourishing
condition, and today, it is the chief city of that district
,,

40

42

aW

loc.

graphischer Homonyme ( Gottingen, 1846), 143; here

Yaqut adds a fourth li[illa to his list. Yaqut was writing
this mrork,based on his Mu'gam al-bulddn, during the
last year of his life (he died in s. H. 626) * see
Mustarik, p. i of the preface, n. 3. During the same
year, he was still writing the Mx'vam; see vol. II, 79,
line 17, of this work.

44 See G}V, vol. II, p. 615 (for Dur), and vol. IV,
861 (for Nil).
45 Beitrage, 78.
46 Flruzabadl, sub voce; see also Tug al-'arus, s. v.,
and Bustrus al-Bustanl, Kitclb Sluhtt al-m.htt (Beirut,
1867-70), s.v.

254

MAKnISI:

Nota on Hilla and the MazyAidsin Medievi Islam

Ibn Atlr's text is derived from that of Ibn

a# far as possible,the relationsof dependencebetween thB 8ourcesfrom which they are quoted. lAauzl,being relatedto it in content as well as in
The firet test is extractedfrom the passage by form. Yaqut'stext is derivedin its principalparts
Yaqiit thich we have alreadytranslatedabove:47 fromthat of Ibn Atlr, being relatedto it primarily
in content.
Wa-kkna
auwalu
man
'ammaraha
[i. e.,
Hilla]
Let us see now what results are producedby
wa-nazalaha
Saif
ad-Daula
Sadaqa
b. Mansur
. . .
wa-kanat
Tnanas.ilu
aba'ihl
'd-dura
mina
'n-nll
. . .
these deviations from the original text of Ibn
intaqala
[i. e.,
Sadaqa]
ila
'l-G.Imitain
.
.
. f
lAauzl,for which Ibn Atlr is primarilyresponsible.
Muharram
sanata
495
wa-kanat
agamatan
ya'w
The problemhere is one of interpretation.When
ilaiha
's-sibatu
fa-nazala
biha
bi-ahlihl
wa-'asakirih
the verbs 'ammaraor bana are used, in which of
wa-bana
biha
'l-masakina
'l-galllata
wa
'd-dura
'l-fihira.
the two meanings discussedabove were they intended by their authors? To begin with, what
The secondtext is taken from the lKamilof Ibn meaningdoes 'ammarahave in the originalsource
Atlr: 48
of Ibn CauzlYDid Sadaqa,accordingto this historian, found, or did he simply fortify an already
Wa-flha
[495]
bana
Saif
ad-Daula
Sadaqa
b. Mazyad
al-Hilla
bi 'l-Gamitain
wa-sakanaha
wa-innama
kana
existing IIilla? The context of Ibn lAauzl'spasyaskunu
huwa
wa-aba'uhu
qablahu
48a fl
'l-buyuti
sage does not, by itself, point with sufficientde'l-'arablya.
(In
this
year
[495],
Saif
ad-Daula
terminationto either of these two specificmeanSadaqa
b.
Mazyad
built
Hilla
in
Gamitain
and
ings. Fortunately,Ibn Gauzlsparesus the necesinhabited
it.
He
and
his
forefathers
before
him,
sity of dealing with this one passage alone, and
used
to
live
only
in modest
dwellings
) .
runningthe risk of readinginto it otherthan what
The third text is taken from the Mql,ntazam
of he had intendedto put there. Thus, in the light of
Ibn Cauzl:49
otherpassagesin the MuntazamconcerningHilla,
we
translatethe verb 'ammaraas meaning ' fortiWa-fl
hadihi
's-sanati
[495]
'ammara
adaqa
b.
fied.' Ibn CauzlmentionsHilla severaltimes long
Mansur
al-Hilla
wa-innama
kana
yaskunu
huwa
wa-abuhu
fl 'l-buyuti
'l-qarlba.
(In
this
year
[495]
before the year A. H. 495; and in a later passage
adaqa
b. Mansur
reconstructed
al-Hilla.
He
and
underthe year Sl6, while giving a brief historical
his
father
used
to live
only
in modest
dwellings).
statement with regard to the Mazyadiddynasty
In this third text by Ibn lAauzl,we have the on the occasionof a reportconcerningDubais II,
original source which is closely followed in the he describesthe activity which had taken place in
secondtext by Ibn Atlr. The principaldeviation Iffillaaboutthe year A. H. 495. In reality,he does
by Ibn Atlr is in the addition of the words bi not mention this year, but describesthe activity
'I-damitainwa-sakanaha.The secondtext by Ibn as having taken place after the death of the great
Atlr is in turn followedin the first text by Yaqut wazlrNizam al-Mulk,whichoccurredin A. H. 485.
who has substantiallyall the additionsand modifi- The substanceof his text is quite clear:50 Sadaqa
cations introducedby Ibn Atlr plus his own in- built a rampartaroundan alreadyexisting Hilla
as a measureof defenseagainstpossibleaggression;
formationon formerconditionsin Gamitain.
and he also planted gardens in it. There is no
47 See
translation,
p. 253
and
note
39.
questionhere of the founding of Hilla. Hilla was
48 Al-Kamil fi 't-ta'r?h ( Cairo,
1348
ff. ),
vol.
VIII,
alreadythere.
214,
sxb anno 495. I consider
the
last
word
of
this
Let us next considerthe text of Ibn Atlr. We
quotation
a copyist's
error
which,
instead
of al-'arabtya,
have alreadydiscussedits derivationfrom that of
should
be al-qar?baas in the
original
text
of Ibn
Gauzi
quoted
after
it.
For
its
meaning,
see
Dozy,
Supple- Ibn Cauzl, based on a relationshipof form and
ment, sub voce.
of content. Ibn Atlr makesuse of the verb bana
48a This
variant
reading
is
taken
from
the
Tornberg
in
speaking of Hilla, instead of Ibn lAauzl's
edition
of Ibn
Atlr's
Kamil which
became
available
to
'ammara. But this modificationhas no decisive
me
just
after
the
galley
proofs
arrived.
The
Cairo
edition
has
this
word
preceded
by
the
conjunction
waw. influenceon the interpretationof the text, since
I might
add
that
the
use
of the
Tornberg
index
did
not
hoth verbsmay be used synonymously.However,
reveal
any
passages
which
I had
not
already
seen
in the
in contrastto Ibn Gauzl'stext, thereis no problem
Cairo
edition.
(Cf.
note
82.)
49

Al-Buntazam

( Haidarabad,

1357

ft
ff. ),

ta'rth al-mfluluk wa 'I-umam

vol.

IX,

132.

6See below note 106, and the text in translation.

MAEDISI:

Cotes on Hilla and the Mazyadidstn MedievalIalam

here in determiningwhich of the two meanings

was intended by the author; for the meaning is
determinedby the wordswhichwere addedto Ibn
lAauzl'stext by Ibn Atlr; i. e., bi 'I-4famitainwasakanaha. The meaningof the text is clear: Hilla
was founded, or built, (we can no longer say
' fortified') in a place called Gamitain.
Thus the result of Ibn Atlr's addition to Ibn
Gauzl'stext was to change the meaning of this
original source in a radical way; a fact which
raises a questionof motive not easily answeredat
present. We alreadyknowthat Ibn Atlr does not
think highly of Ibn Gauzl'swork,thoughhe makes
frequentuse of it.5l Whateverhis real motivemay
have been, his deviationfrom the original source
of Ibn Gauzl,obviousin spite of its additionsand
modifications,was perpetratedby him at the e2rpense of disruptingthe unity of his own reports
on Hilla not to mentionits misleadingof Yaqut,
heretoforeprimary source for orientalistson the
foundationof this city. For Ibn Atlr makes the
statement,under A. H. 49S, concerningthe building of Hilla in Gamitain,in utter disregardof
his own formerreports.
Under s. H. 420, he makes the following report: 52 "In this year, the prince Abu liallRar
journeyedto the city of Wasit.and took possession
of it. The beginning of this afair was that Nur
ad-DaulaDubais b. 'All b. Mazyad,lord of Billa
and Ntl SIilla, thotlgh,had not beenbtlilt at that
time 53 mentionedthe name of Abu Kallgar in
public prayerin his provinces. . ." Accordingto
this passage,it was Dubais I who foundedHilla.
The meaningconveyedhere is that at the time of
this report, A. H. 420, Hilla was already built,
since he calls Nur ad-Daula," lord of Hilla and
Nll,'' and states that Hilla had not been built at
the time that Nur ad-Daula mentioned Abu
Eallgar in publicprayerin his provinces.According to Ibn Atlr, this hutbatook place just before
Abu :Sallgartook possessionof Basra,54an event
61Cf. C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischetn
Suppl. I (Leiden, 1937), p. 915; and Ramil,
vol. VIII, 37, sub anno 435.
62Kamil, vol. VII, 33668The text here reads (ibid.): . . . sahiba 'I-Hilla wa
Litteratur,

'n-NtI wa-lam takuni 'I-Hilla buniyat fi ddlika 'I-waqt.

*

64The text reads (ibid.):

fa-hataba [Dubais I] li-Abi

K4lidr
wa-rasalaSu yutmituSu fi sI-biladi tumma
'ttaf aqa annaSu malaka 'I-Basra 'a74 md dakarnd h.

( [Dubais I] introduced the name of Abu Kallgar in

255

reportedby Ibn Atlr ander sS :. 419.55 lfilla then

was presumablybuilt sometimebetweenthis last
event and 420, by Nur ad-Daula Dubais, grandfather of the same Sadaqawho presumablybuilt
it in A. H. 495.
Again, under A. H. 479, Ibn Atlr reports the
death of Man$urb. Dubais,father of $adaqa,and
has his namefollowedby the title: " lord of Hilla,
Nll and other neighboring(possessions)."56 Further, but still before A. H. 49S, $adaqa'sname is
foundfollowedby the title " lord of lIilla "; 57and
in other passages,he is reportedas being there.58
This evidenceindicatesthat Ibn Atlr was anything but unawareof Hilla's e2ristence
long before
A. H. 495. Had he faithfully followedIbn Gauzl's
te2rtwithoutmakingthe additionof bi 'I-6famitain
. . ., the verb banain the passagesunderA. H. 495
and 420 would not necessarilyhave been taken in
the sense of ' founding.' His own reports would
have retainedthe unity which they now lack, and
wouldnot havebecomeinconsistentwith the original reportof Ibn Cauzl.59
A reading of Yaqut's te2rt,first-quotedabove,
showshow this authorunderstoodIbn Atlr's te2rt.
To begin with, the verbs 'ammaraand bana are
the publie prayer and wrote to him inspiring him with
the hope of seizing the territory. Then it happened
that he [Abu Kallgar] took possession of Basra, as we
have ( previously) reported . . . ) . See the following
note.
66Ibid., xol. VII, 332-33366Ibid., vol. VIII, 141; the text reads as follows:
. . . sahibu 'I-Hilla tea 'n-NtI tea-gairihirna mimma
yugaqerruuma.
67 Ibid., reports under the years A. z.
488, 493 and
494.
68Ibid., A. z. 488, 489 and 492.
69Notiee that Ibn Atlr, like Yaqut, is also involved
in an inconsisteney as to the date of Hilla's foundation,
and therefore as to its founder. It is tempting to
aeeept these two inconsistencies as being related; but
sueh an aeeeptance involves diffleulty. Whereas Ibn
Atlr becomes ineonsistent merely in the addition of
two words to Ibn Gauzl's text, it is not easily eoneeivable
that Yaqut with the knowledge of previous reports
by Ibn Atlr on Hilla's existence, would have ehosen
to ignore them. It is of eourse possible that he eould
have made use of Ibn Atlr's eonflieting reports, at
diSerent times, without connecting them. We might
mention here, in passing, that Yaqut was personally
aequainted with Ibn Atlr; see GW, vol. II, 57, 1. 9
( . . . afddantha 'l-Imam Abu'l-Hasan . . . Ibn al-Attr
al-dazar) and vol. IV, 262, 1. 5 (u7a-qAlalt Ibn al-Attr).
He has also referred to Ibn Gauzl's work; ef. ibid., 851,
1. l 7 and Buntazam, vol. X, 201.
v

256

MA:E:DISI:Notes

on Hilla and the Alazyadidsin MedievalIslaxn

bothused in the sense of ' founding.' The whole

of the te2rtis that things werehappeningfor
tenor
thefirst time. Thus $adaqawas the first to build
which he then namedEIilla. lle underdamitain
standsGamitainas the name of a vacantsite upon
whichHilla was built for the first time. So far
thereis no inconsistencywith the tenor of Ibn
Atlr'ste2rt. Yaqut understandsit within its own
context.Expandingthen on Camitain,apparently
withoutknowing that Ibn Atlr had reportedit
earlierin his Kamil as a populatedtown, he adds
hisown informationthat it was a merethicket repairedto by wild beasts.60
Ibn Hallikan,6lafter Yaqut, was equallymisled
by Ibn Atlr with regard to Hilla. He reports
thatit was foundedin A. H. 495 by Saif ad-Daula
Sadaqaand that it was named " al-Hilla as-Saiflya" after him. This new namefor Hilla is based
ona passageof Ibn Atlr underA. H. 50l, in which
he reports the death of Saif ad-Daula Sadaqa
statingthat " it is he who built (bana) al-Hilla
as-Saiflyain 'Iraq." This samenameis later used
bythe historianIbn al-'Imad.62
The foregoingevidencewith regardto Ibn Atlr
leadsus to concludethat he too, like Yaqut who
was misled by him, cannot be relied on for the
facts of the foundationof Hilla. If he is to be of
use in this regard, his statementsmust be corroboratedby other independentsources.
In what follows,we proposeto discussthe geographicalposition and history of Gamitainand
Hilla, with a view to determining,in so far as the

allow us to do so, at what appro2rimate

sources
pointof their e2ristencethey could have become
and the same place.
one
Camitainis describedby the early geographer
IbnSerapion63as located on both sides of the
whichwas then calledthe Sura Canal;
Euphrates,
theOld Gami'being on the easternbank and the
NewGami' on the western bank, since Nahr
an-Narsstarts from the Old Gami'and ends in
NifEar.64

In Rudrawarl'scontinuationto the history of

there is an allusionto Gamitainbeing
Miskawaihi,
an allusionwhich
onboth side of the Euphrates,65
of Ibn Atlr
Xamil
the
in
isstrengthenedby a te2rt
was
ad-Daula
Nur
"
translation:
whichreads in
Hafaga
(Banu)
the
and
Euphrates
the
of
east
westof it. Nur ad-Daulasent a letter to Basaslr
askingfor his aid. The latter came forth to him
and,upon his arrival, immediatelycrossed over
theEuphrates,and fought the (Banu) Hafaga
drivingthem awayfrom Gamitain...." 66 In this
text,east of the Euphratesis the Old Gami',and
westof it is the New Gami', of Ibn Serapion's
descriptionof Gamitain.
Rudrawarlalso gives us some definiteinformationconcerningthe history of Gamitain.Accordingto this historian,67the 'Uqailidamlr Muqallad
isstatedas havingreceiveda contractin A. H. 387

In JRAS (1895), 16 (Arabic text), and p. 256

(Engl. tr. Le Strange). This geographer wrote, accordA. H.
ing to Brockelmann ( GAL, vol. I, 227) between
Streck
289 and 334; cf. lists in Le Strange and M.
above).
eould have mistaken (note 7
eo It is a mystery how Yaqut
by Le Strange in JRAS (1895)
64 See map dra
p. 16 and p. 256, and Streck,
ibid.,
Gamitainfor a mere thicket, especially since the earlier
cf.
32;
p.
opposite
( see
geographers Is.tahrl, Ibn Hauqal and Muqaddasl
30.
Landschaft,
eity,
Ritab Tagarib al-umam
note 15) all list it in their lvorks as a flourishing
66 Abu BugatRudrawarl, Dail
(7W,
(
sourees
his
among
lists
he
whom
geographers
the 'Abbasid Caliphate: Original
of
Eclipse
The
(
statevol. I, 7). A possible explanation is that Yaqut's site Chrontclesof the P'ourth Islamic Century, edited, transby H. F. Amedroz and D. S.
ments may be based on a tradition eoneerning the
is lated and elucidated Oxford, 1921), vol. III (Cairo,
I-VII,
of Gamitain still eurrent in his day. Nares, which
Margoliouth, vols.
said to have once occupied the same site as bamitain,
1916), 110, sub anno 375. The text reads: wa-'abara
that
way
the
in
thicket
a
as
Talmud
is deseribed in the
'I-qaumi qea-hum bi-garbtyi 'I-damitain. The transila
the
Yaqut describes Gamitain. See Obermeyer,Landschaft,
lator correctly renders (Eclipse, vol. VI, 114-115) also
308.
west of Jami'ain "; they could
"
as
words
two
last
by
also
Another text about the foundation of Hilla,
as "western part of
from be rendered more specifically
Yaqut, confirms the interpretation of the text trans- Gamitain" or " Western Gamitain," the equivalent of
Butgam al-bluldan. See 71fustarik, 143; cf. French
Ibn Serapion's " New Gami"' west of the Euphrates,
explain, "he crossed over
lation of same text quoted in Geographie d'Aboulfeda,
II, since, as the previous words to them, meaning that he
tr. by Reinaud and Guyard ( Paris, 1883), vol.
to the people " in order to get
the western part of
2e partie, 72.
de crossed over the Euphrates to
61Kitab Wafayat al-atyan, Engl. tr. MacGuckin
Paris- Gamitain.
Slane, Ibn Khallikan's Biopraphical Dictionary (
66 Ramil, vol. VIII, 67, sub anno 446.
634.
I,
vol.
),
London, 1843-71
Rudrawarl, in Eclipse, vol. III, 293 (transl. vol. VI,
67
( Cairo, 1350ftahbarmandahab
62 Sadaratad-dahab
312-313), sub anno 387.
51), vol. IV, 2.
68

MA:E:DISI:

A7oteson Hilla and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

from the Buyid sultan Baha'ad-Daulafor Mausil,

K:ufa,Qasr,68and Gamitain.Gamitainis again reportedby Ibn Atlr, under A. H. 41T, as belonging
to Nur ad-Daula Dubais,69a statement which is
supportedby his contemporaryIbn Gauzl,who reports the holdingsof the son of Muqalladas passing on to Dubais'father, Sanad ad-Daula'All b.
Mazyadin A. H. 397.7 Thus, Gamitain,after having been given in fief to the 'Uqailidsin A. H. 387,
passes on to the Mazyadids ten years later.
Lamitainis again mentionedby Ibn Atlr, under
A. H. 446, as in the possessionof the Mazyadids.
After this date, there seems to be no mention of
the name of Camitain.All indicationspoint to its
having lost its identity to Hilla, and that this occurred long before the alleged date of A. H. 495.
This will be seen moreclearlyafter a discussionof
Hilla's locationand its early history.
Modernmaps show Hilla to occupy the same
site describedby the IVth/Xth centurygeographer
Ibn Serapionas being that of bamitain,on both
sides of the Euphrates.71Medieval sources also
point to its having occupiedthis site.72 Thus the
epitomizerof Ibn Hauqal,73whose annotationsto
this geographerrelate to the periodbetweenA. H.
534 and 580, describesHilla as facing the small
town of Babil and as havingbeen foundedwest of
the Euphrates.74The traveller Ibn bubair who
visited these parts in the latter part of the VIth/
XIIth century,also describesHilla as west of the
Euphrates.75Both of these sourcessay nothing of
Hilla being east of the river as well, perhapsfor
the reasonthat the westernpart of it was the more
prominent. But later, Mustaufl, Persian geographerof the VIIIth/XIVth century,describesboth
parts of it as follows: " The river Euphratesdivides the town; most of its houses are on the
xTesternbank, with but a few on the eastern
side."76 Othersourcesgive its location in a genQasr Ibn Hubaira; see Le Strange, Lands, index.
69 Kamil, vol. VII, 326. The text reads: . . . aldarnitain wa-hiya li-Nur ad-Daula Dubais . . .
70 7Zuntazarn,
vol. VII, 234.
71 This is clearly shown in F. Sarre and E. lIerzfeld,
Archdolopische Reise irn Euphrat- und Tiprispebiet
(Berlin, 1911-20), Map II in pocket of vol. I.
72 Cf. Le Strange, Lands, 71-72 and n. 1.
73 Surat al-ard, p. v of Preface by J. lI. Eramers.
74 Ibid., 245.
76 Rihla, ed. William Wright, 2nd ed. revised M. J.
de Goeje, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr ( Gibb Memorial
Series, vol. V, Leyden-London, 1907), 213.
76 Translation by Le Strange in Nuzhat al-qulub, 47.

257

eral way, as situated in the land of Babil,77in

Falluga,78or in the territory of liufa,79 all of
which designationsencompassthe same area between the two branchesof the Lower Euphrates
ending in the Swamp (Battha). Yaqut, in addition to describingit as a town, refers to it as
having its own rural district (sawad), and as containing other towns within its own territory.80It
is in this sensethat Ibn Cauzlrefersto it as bilad
Ibn Mazyad.8lIn this sense also, it encompassed
morethan just the site of Gamitain.
The importanceof Hilla as a town begins early
in the Vth/XIth century,beforethe sourcescease
to speak of Gamitain.Ibn Atlr, under A. H. 420,
writesof DubaisI, secondmemberof the Mazyadid
dynasty,as " lord of Hilla and Nll.'' 82 Ibn Gauzl,
underA. H. 442, refersto it in connectionwith this
same Mazyadid, as "Hillat Nur ad-Daula."83
Both of these sources,as well as others, continue
to mention Hilla after the name of Gamitainis
dropped,and certainly before its alleged date of
foundation in A. H. 495. Thus Bundarl, under
A. H. 45l, refers to it as " Hillat Dubaisb. 'All b.
Mazyad,"and underA. H. 464 and466 as " al-Hilla
al-MaZyAdlya.nn 84 A contemporary
historian,Abu
'All b. al-Banna',writing in A. H. 460, referredto
it in his diary as " Hillat Ibn Mazyad."85
77Yaqut,
Streck,

GW,

78 Cf.

tenctes

See

alao

Map

79 Cf.

Ibn

sasoadi

447,

and

Seldjoucides

de

des

Bundart,

ed.

M.

l'Iraq

vol.

vol.
of

Th.

(Recueil

Seldjoucides),

Vuntazarn,

VIII,

II
249.

Baghdad,"

in

Le

25.

(de

III,

and

Slane),

383:

vol.

As-$arasoat

al-7Zazyadtya

. . . rnin

.;

qura

I,

634.

aee

alao

'I-IIilla

qura

rnin

ibid.,

vol.

al-7Zazyadya.

third

sub

Hilla;

may

add

ita

index

aa

Ibn
whose

in

vol.

Mazyad,

in

84Zubdat

of
vol.

have

had
not

of
aa

sub
sub

anno

479,

anno

494.

accesa
had

the

being

to

the

the

benefit

article.
146.

Ibn

under
case,

ia

waa

from

18,

198,

not

thia

manuscript

141,

493,

have

period
an-nusra,

alao

dynasty

VIII,

this

7Zazyad

writea

thia

anno

VIII,

17.

Atlr

therefore

writing

Ibn

86 Autograph

.,

1.

Ibn

sub

that
and

IIillat

reigning

ibid
193,

here

83 7Zuntazarn,

38,

membera

488,

edition

p.

336.

cf.

anno

Tornberg

IX,

VII,

fourth

of

175,

vol.
vol.

and

lorda

it

I,

460

al-'usra,

p.

Al-Vustarik

82 Earnil,

of

vol.

anno

"Neighborhood

Elallikan

81 Buntazarn,

sub

with

opp.

'I-IIilla

537:

II

vol.

ibid.,

wa-nuhbat

l'histoire

34-35,

Lands,

80 GW,

68

),

cf.

106,

des

relatifs
1 889

Strange,

IV,

VIII,

an-nu$ra

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( Leide,

322;

6.

vol.

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de

vol.

Landschaf

44

the

460

aame

A. z.

and
in

dauzl

A. H.

408

alao

refera

( ibid.,
Nur
to

to

249);
ad-Daula

474.

50.
the

Zahirlya

Library

in

258

MAKDISI:

Notes on Htlla and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslarn

Referencesto the MazyadidHilla, of still earlier cludedthat Hilla took its permanentsite close to,
date than those mentionedabove,have been made or within, Gamitainsometimeafter this town beby the historians; but it is not always clear came a possessionof the Mazyadidsin s. H. 397.
whetherthey were referringto the town of Hilla, Gamiain then becameknownas Hilla, the process
or to a temporaryencampmentof the Mazyadids. of identificationgraduallytaking place in the first
Rudrawarl,underA. E. 392, writes of the Hilla of half of the Vth/XIth century,and culminatingin
the first memberof the Mazyadiddynasty, Abu the completesilence of the sourceson Gamitainas
'l-Hasan'All b. Mazyad.86At this earlydate, how- an individualtown. When Yaqut comes to speak
ever, this Xilla was but a 'temporary encamp- of it, he identifiesit with Hilla in an articlewhich
ment,' as might be gathered from the following refers the readerto the latter vocable,completely
reportby Rudrawarlfor the same year: ". . . he unawareof its former independentexistenceas a
the ne2atday in the direction flourishingtown.89^
[Haggag] startedof35
of Nll, following the traces of Ibn Mazyad,who
A passage in the Travels of Ibn Batfuta supwith his tents and his family had gone ofEto a ports the theory of Gamitain'smergerwith Hilla.
za)." 87 In writing of the Alite (Twelver) populationof
place called the Goats'Cleft (Shaqqal-M1/
Anotherearly reportis found in the Eamtl, under Hilla,9 Ibn Batt.utastates that they are divided
A. H. 408, where Iba Atlr writes that Dubais I into two factions,one knownas the " S:urds" and
was attackedin Nutmamyaand that his HLillawas the other as " the people of Gamiain."91 Thus a
plundered. The Arabic te2atreads: " wa-kabas?bpart of Hilla's inhabitantswas still being referred
[i. e. Turkishmercenariespaid by his rival brother to in connection with this otherwise forgotten
Muqallad] Dubais b1/ n-N?brnanzya wa-nahab?b
89a GWsvol. II, 10-11, s. s. Gamitain.
Htllatahu."88 In the absence of supporting or
90Tuhfat an-nflu.Zxrff gara'rb al-arnsar wa-'aja'rb alwas
Hilla
whether
uncertain
it
is
tests,
parallel
asfar, ed. and tr. by (:. Defremery and B. R. Sanguinetti,
locatedat Nutmaulyaorelsewhere.TheMazyadids Voyapes d'Ibn Batoflutah(Paris, 1877) vol. TI, 97; cf.
fought battlesin Nutmanlyaat a time when IIilla Ibn Batt?ita, tr. H. A. R. Gibb (New York, 1929), 98.
had definitelybecomea permanentsettlementoc- The name of :tlilla aa Hillat al-4atnitain (see Voyapes
Batoflutah,loc. cit., n. 1 ) ia based on a wrong
cupyingthe site of Gamitain.89The test could be d'Ibn
reading in the edition of Yaqut'a Maraaid al-ittiaa'vol.
understoodthen to convey that Dubais I was I, 331, n. 4; compare thia last note with Yaqut'a original
attackedin Nutmamyaand, following his defeat, work, GW, vol. II, 371, last line. The correct reading
the attackersproceededto Hilla and plundered ia al-gilla bi 'I-4arnitain.
it. Hilla's location being dubious,it is uncertain 91 J. Obermeyer,Landschaft, 307 n. 1 writea that in
day a part of the inhabitants of gilla were
whetherit had as yet becomea permanentsettle- Yaqut'a
atill being referred to by the name of al-damitainun.
ment.
Yaqut makea no mention of thia in hia article on Hilla.
Thus Hilla and Gamitainare both describedas It may be mentioned, in thia regard, that Sam'aM
towns in the possessionof the early Mazyadids. (506 + 562) (lTitab al-Ansab, reproduced in facaimile
introd. by D. S. Margoliouth, (;MS, vol. XX,
The last mentionwe cited of Gamitain(A. X. 446), with
Leyden-London, 1912) haa no nisba to give under
and the two earlier mentions of Hilla (A. H. 420 Gami'ain?a vocable which he doea not liat. On the
and 442), as a permanentsettlement,and earlier other hand, he givea the nisba, of Hilla aa being
(A. H. 392) as a " temporary" one, indicate that " Hillawl ' (aee fol. 182a, 1. 4), while Yaqut givea it
of them menthe periodsof these " two towns" overlapin the aa Hillt (aee GW, vol. II, 11). Neither ttite
acholars,
tiona any men with theae nssba's. Later
early Vth/XIth century. Since the sources also however, went by the latter xisba of Alirlli (aee article
point to one and the same site for Gami'ainand, entitled " Hilll " in hT.I. by Louis Massignon.) Sam'ani
later, for the " permanent" Hilla, it may be con- (ibid.) has the following to say on iIiI:illa:" This is the
Damascus, fol. 164b of Magmu' 17. Publication of the
edited manuscript, which I completed nearly two years
ago, has been postponed for difficulties in regard to the
printing of the Arabic text. Meanwhile, a study with
e2rtractsis being prepared.
86 Ecltpse, vol. III, 423 (transl. in vol. VI, 450).
87Ibxd., 423 (vol VI, 449).
88 Kamt,l, vol. VII, 299
89 (:f. Ibe gallikan (de Slane), vol. I, 634.

qw1sbo[i. e., Eillawl] relating to a town, on the side

of the Euphrates, which is called ' oI-Eilla.' It belongs
e2Qclusivelyto the descendants of Sadaqa b. Mazyad. A
number of (well-known) people come from it. I learned
traditions ( hodtt) there." Sam'ani is speaking of the
Hilla of his day, the first half of the VIth/XIIth
century. Notice his reference to $adaqa in connection
with Hilla, to the exclusion of earlier Mazyadids; it is
indicative of his greater fame in relation to earlier
members of the dynasty.

MAS:DISI:

Notes on .Ella and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

town. W}l>n$adaqabuilt his wall around Hilla

towardsthe end of the Vth/XIth century,according to Ibn Gauzl, he was enclosing the former
Gamitainwhich had become enlarged since the
Mazyadid occupation, and which had become
knownas Hilla, the capitalof the Mazyadids,long
beforethe yearA. H. 495.92
II
The second problemwe have proposedto deal
with is that of the beginningof the Mazyadiddynasty in Medieval Islam. The article entitled
of Istam by E.
" Mazyadls" in the E7ncyclopedia
V. Zettersteendeals with this subject and places
the first year of reign for this dynastyin the year
A. H. 403. At this date, 'All, its first member,was
recognizedas amlr by Sultan ad-Daula,the Buyid
sultan. Zettersteenbases this statementon a passage in the Eamil of Ibn Atlr,93under A. H. 403,
which readsas follows:94 fi hadihi's-sanatihala'a
'Alt b. Mazyad
Slbltanad-Daula'ala Abt 'I-lEIasan
al-Asadt wa-huwa auwalu man taqaddama min
ahlt baitih. (In this year, Sultan ad-Daulapresented robes of honor to Abu 'l-Hasan 'All b.
Mazyadad-Asadl. I3:eis the first memberof his
family to have gained recognition.) The hil'a95
being a sign of a sovereign'srecognitionof his
we have also
92 Besides the testimony of Ibn Batpta,
that of Mustaufi (Nuzhot al-qulub, 47) describing the
population of Eilla as Al'ite, of the Twelver sect; also
that of Ibu Atlr (Xamil, vol. VIII, 245, sub anno 501)
stating that they were moderate Al'ites in defense against
an accusation incriminating them as Batinite extremists.
Other sources write of the Jewish population of Hilla,
which is inconsistent with reports of a Eilla whose
total population is described as being Al'ite. Benjamin
of Tudela (VIth/XIIth cent.) reports that Hilla "contains about ten thousand Jews and four synagogues ";
cited in Rogers, Babylonia and Assyria, vol. I, 87;
cf. Obermeyer, Landschaf t, 307. On the basis of Benjamin's report, A. Mez, Renaissance of Islam, tr. S. K.
Bukhsh and D. S. Margoliouth (London, 1937), 37,
refers to Hilla as a Jewish town. It is more likely
that not the town of Hilla, but rather the district of
Eilla (see notes 80 and 81 ), contained this Jewish
population. See also " Barmalah.a " in Yaqut GW,
vol. I, 594, described as a traditional Jewish piace of
.

pllgrlmage.

See the bibliography subjoined to this article by

Zettersbeenin E. I., sub voce " Mazyadls "; cf. the genealogies in S. Lane-Poole, Mohammadan Dynasties, 120;
and E. de Zambaur, Manuel de genealopie, 137, also
cited there.
vo]. VII, 268.
94 Kamil,
95 Cf. article entitled " Ehil'a " in E. I., by C. Huart.
93

259

subject, and of vesting him with tlle insignia of

office,this passagein the lmil servedas evidence
for the beginningof the Mazyadiddynasty.
The original source of this passage, however,
was not Ibn Atlr; he had copied it, almost verbatim,from the Muntazamof Ibn Gauzl. In this
case, as in the previouslymentionedcase of Hilla
(underA. H. 495), he doesnot mentionhis source;
but the relationshipbetweenthe two passagesis
unmistakable.His slight deviationis onlyin filling
out Iba Gauzl'sreportby naming the Sultan who
presentedthe hila and adding a nisba to 'Ali's
name. Ibn Gauzl'stext, under A. H. 403, reads as
follows:96wa-fthahuli a ala Abi>I-Basan Alt b.
Mazyadwa-huwaauwaluman taqaddamamin ahli
baitih. (In this year Abu 'l-Hasan'All b. Mazyad
was presentedwith robesof honor. He is the first
memberof his family to havegained recognition.)
tinlike his other borrowingfrom Ibn Gauzl,
under s. H. 495, Ibn Atlr's deviationin this case
was, in itself, harmless. But as he had failed to
copy a previousreportin the same Muntazans,on
the same Mazyadid,his fault of omission was
likely to result, as it did, in misleadinginformation. Ibn Atlr appearsto have been completely
anawareof this earlierreport,accordingto which
the Mazyadid'Ali had not only receiveda hil a,
but other insignia of officeas well. This earlier
passagein the Muntazam,1lnder>. H. 39T, reads
as follows:97 wa-fi>Ramadanamin hadihi s-sanati
qlbllida Sanad ad-DalblaAbu I-.Hasan Alt b.
Mazyad ma kana li-Qirwastwa-hulia alaihi>waluqqiba Sanad ad-Daula. (In Ramadanof this
year, Sanadad-DaulaAbu 'l-Hasan'All b. Mazyad
was investedwith the administrationof that which
belongedto Qirwas,presentedwith robesof honor
and addressedby the honorifictitle of ' Sanad
ad-Daula' (Support of the Empire).) Thus on
the beginningsof the Mazyadids,as on the previously cited case of Hilla, Ibn Atlr's ZEamil must
be supersededby the moreprimarysources.
A passagein the history of Rudrawarl98 enumeratesthe towns receivedin fieMby the 'Uqailid
amlr Muqallad,father of the above mentioned
Qirwas,in A. H. 387; i. e., Mausil,:K:ufa,Qasrand
Gamitain.It is by no means certain that 'Ali b.
Mazyadreceivedthese same possessions.What he
'6Muntazam, vol. VII, 263.
al-Bidaya wa n-nihaya
97 Ibid., 234; cf. Ibn Katlr,
fi 't-ta'ri>h ( Cairo, 1348 ff.), vol. IX, 337.
98Eclipse, vol. III, 293 (tr. vol. VI, p. 312).

in MedievalIslarn
on Efilla and the l!Lazyadids
260
year s. H. 387.
by 'Ali b. Zlazyadin the
held
office
possessions
the
are
underBaha'
likely to havereceived
ismore
that he must haveheld offlce revolt ocdoubt
environs
No
the
in
Qirwas
son
the
passedon to the
which
for some period before
ad-Daula
of Gamitain,
may have
For instance,Ibn Atlr writes
Hilla.
of
Just how far back his tenure
I, 'All's
curred.
Dubais
to
since
belonging
RudLrawarl,
as
from
41T,99
A. H.
under
we cannotknow
of
death
extended,
the
Subsereporting
b. Mazyad.
and Ibn Cauzl,
successor;
is his first mentionof 'Ali well as in $abl,
this
states that :K:utaand
442,1
H.
as
A.
under
:Rudrawarl,
Qirwas,
passagesin
quent
after they
which
al-Malikwerereturnedto Qirwas,
Nahr
furnish us with any information
conis
not
do
This
Xlazyad.
period.l05
b.
'Ali
earlier
to
the
been given
had
throw some light on
might
A. H. 434, to
does in
with a previousreport,under completed
sistent
is exactly what Ibn Cauzl
however,
This,
had
the
I,
I)ubais
effectthat 'All's son,
the
the events of s. z. 516 concerning
the
of
relating
head
the
cerat
a
At
bridge
a
constructionof
the
memberof the Mazyadiddynasty. to give a
fifth
decides
al-Malikcanal.10l
Nahr
point in his narrativehe
tain
holdings
the
the amlr's
sources,
our
concerning
to
according
However,
historical statement
brief
than the
back
this stateof
farther
still
translation
date
A partial
'Allb. ZIazyad
of
antecedents.
begin
To
397.
H.
which took place in A.
follows:106
ceremony
ment
in Surabetween
Ibn Gauzlreportsa meeting
with,
of this Dubais as
b.
'All
Burmuz and
Let us relate the beginningsorigins of dynasties.
Ustad
b.
al-Guyus
the
'Amld
the latter's
we usually do in treating of member of his family
in A. H. 393, at whichmeeting was conMazyad
Thus we say that the first
was Mazyad. Abu
over unspecifiedpossessions
jurisdiction
to distinguish himself (nabaga)
40,000
of
Mutizz ad-Daula
of
payment
wazlr
against an annual
Muhammadal-Muhallabl,
firmed
entrusted to
b.
'All
(Buwaihi)
that
is
Buya
b.
then
Abii '1-E.usain
it3
The assumption
dinars.102
107 Of Sura and
)
hernaya
time
(
some
him the protection
among
arose
had held these possessionsis fully supdifferences
Mazyad
territory ( sawa-d) . Then
would show his allegiance,
this date; an assumptionwhich
before
of
the Buyids. At times, he
history
the
in
report
defiance. He was also
show
earlier
an
would
portedby
then again he
historianto retaliate against
this
Galib
Abu
by Fahr al-Mulk
sent
Rudrawarl.Under A. H. 38T,13
b.
al-Qarta', and he
of
'All
year
part of
the Banu :Wafagain thethen he died.
relates a resistanceon the
wazlr
so;
doing
ad-Daula;
succeeded in
againsthis Buyid sultan Baha'that Baha'
son Abu 'l-A'azz Dubai3
Mazyad
Ee was succeeded by his
appears
It
cause.
did he take a liking
the
moneybeing
who had an evil eye. Rarely
perish. Thus he
an annual payment
would
exact
it
to
that
but
wanted
ad-Daula
to something
'All
esteemed him
by
and
large
Badran
too
son
his
(once) looked at
Ee used
whichwas doubtlessconsidered himself a subdied.
son
his
declare
to
handsome; as a result,
be
to
proceeds
who
Mazyad,
b.
$adaqa-father of this
and substitutesthe
to despise his grandson
been speaking); and
have
we
jectof $amsam ad-Daula,104
in the
Dubais ( of whom
ad-Daula
Baha'
of
(feeling ), he said :
that
this
for
for
latter'sname
when he was blamed
sends
ad-Daula
reached the regions
Baha'
had
' I dreamt that he [6adaqa]
public prayer ( hutba).
afEair
was hacking out
the
hand,
and
in
ax
an
forces,
and,
of the sky
againsthim two fighting by the Sultan'slieuto the earth;
down
them
the stars and casting he will attain a very high
endsin a compromiseadvised was kept in office
then, he fell. No doubt
large sums of money
tenants,whereby'All b. Mazyad
annual
position; but he will spendwill cause his family
unspecified
an
of
and
payment
the
d;scord
against
in fomenting
died leaving 80,000 dmars.
to perish.' Abu 'l-A'azz h;s son Mansiir who, upon
tribute.
of
evidence
contains
He was succeeded by
by his son
This report by :Rudrawarl
Notes
MA:EDISI:

Karnil, vol. AIII, 326.

lffuntazarn,vol. VIII, 147.
bid., 114.
Xubdat
223. According to Bundarl,
102 Ibid., vol. VII,
third member of
Mansur,
grandson,
'All's
a7w-nusra,72,
this same amount of 40,000
the dynasty, was paying SalBuqid Sultan many years
dlnars annually to the
later in A. H. 474.
vol. VI, 315).
8Eclipse, vol. III, 295 (tr.until this province came
Fars,
of
104 Buyid Sultan
Baha' ad-Daula in A.lI.
under the rule of his brother
388, the following year.
99

100

) succeeded
his death, was ( in turn
$adaqa.
Sultan Maliksah, paying
Sadaqa served under the

and $abl are in

Both histories of Rudrawarl
A. H. 369 to 389
years
the
Eclipse, vol. III, covering
Miskawaihi (PJclipse, vol.
and 389 to 393 respectively.
II) offers no information.
f.
loogff?tazaqn, vol. IX, 235
sub voce, and :11funtazorn,
Suppldtnent,
Dozy,
Cf.
107
were farmed out in
vol. AIII, 223; certain territories
tribute.
return for an annual
106

MAKDISI:

Notes on Xilla and the SIazyadidsin Medievallslam

him tribute and making personal visits to his court

at frequent intervals. After Nizam [al-Mulk] was
assassinated, his position increased in consequence
and power, and he (began to) manifest his opposition. Knowing that his Hilla would not (be strong
enough to) repel aggression against him, he erected
( a stronghold) on a hill in the Swamp ( battha )
and prepared himself to resort to it, should an
enemy come suddenly upon him or endeavor to reach
him; and he decided to open the breaches (in the
dikes) and to use the waters as a means of defense.
He further had Ibn Abl 'l-Elair108 promise him that
he would come to his aid. Then he bought a place
from his beduin subjects, situated at a distance of
a number of days from Kufa, and spent on it 40,000
dlnars a stronghold of difficult accessibility. He
also fortified ('ammara) Hilla, surrounding it with
a wall and a trench, and he planted gardens in it.
People began to seek his protection.109 The caliph
Mustazhir presented him with the house of 'Afif 110
located on Flruz Road; he [Sadaqa] spent on it
some tens of thousands of dlnars. The Caliph also
ordered that he be addressed by the title of " King
of the Arabs "

edition; insteadof " Mazyad,"the text shouldread 261

" Ibn tiazyad" or " 'All b. Mazyad."
Evidencein the reportitself easily leads to this
conclusion. The wazlrateof Fahr al-Mulkdid not
which makes him a contempobegin until 39T,113
rary of 'All b. Mazyad. Ibn Gauzl speaks of
"Mazyad" in almost the same terms as he did
previouslyunder A. H. 403.1l4 The remarksabout
the Buyids recall Ibn Gauzl'sreport on the meeting in Sura1l5 and Rudrawarl'sreport on 'All's
resistanceagainst Baha' ad-Daula.ll6There is no
difficultyinvolvedin placing 'All's amlrateat the
early date which falls betweenA. H. 345 and 352,
wazlrateof Muhallabl;for betweenthis periodand
'All's deathin A. H. 408, thereis a span of 63 years
at the most.ll7 Finally, the relationshipof father
to son exists between'All and Dubais I, Mazyad
being the latter'sgrandfather.
The alternativewould be to assumea lacuna of
a sentence, or perhaps several sentences, in the
Haidarabadtext. This omissionis quite possible;
but aside from the fact that nothing in the flow
of the narrative points to such an omission, it
appearsto be far morereasonableto adoptthe first
alternativewhichis supportedby the weight of the
evidenceat hand.
We may concludeat this point, accordingto the
testimoniesof Ibn Gauzland Rudrawarl,that the
origin of the Mazyadiddynastywas sometimebefore A. H. 387. On the basis of the single testimony of Ibn Gauzl,this period should be placed
somewherebetween345 and 352, the wazlrateof

This excerptwill sufficefor our presentpurpose.

Layingasidethe interestingdream1ll of DubaisI,
the reader is left with a number of facts which
are consistentwith previousreportsby the same
author,and some of which are supportedby other
sources. An irregularityat the beginning of this
excerpt as to the successionof Mazyadidsshould
be pointed out. Mazyad,eponymof the dynasty,
is the father of 'All, first memberof this dynasty,
accordingto our genealogicaltables.ll2 The above
excerpt,ignoring'All, establishesa relationshipof
father to son, instead of grandfatherto grandson,
betweenMazyadand Dubais I, thus leaving 'All Muhallabl.
It may be recalled that the beginning of the
completelyout. Whatwe think has happenedhere
is a slight omissionin the text of the Xaidarabad Mazyadiddynastyhas heretoforebeen set at A. H.
403, on the basis of the single testimony of Ibn
108'Lhisname should read Ibn Abi JI-&abr, see Zam- Atlr, and that Ibn Atlr had, in effect, copied it
baur, ]anuel de geneologie, 138: "Muhadd.ibaddaulaII from Ibn Gauzl. We have thereforebeen relying
. . ." under " Dynastie Abu-l-Djabr."
all along on the testimony of Ibn Gauzl, except
109 The Mazyadids played an interesting role of harboring political refugees who sought asylum away from that we now know his testimonymore completely
Caliph and Sultan alike; a discussion of this role at than we did throughIbn Atlr. Having provedIbn
present would exceed the scope of this article.
110Cf. 712funtazam,vol. IX, 59 (died in A.H. 484), and
Bundarl, Zbdat an-nusra, 74 and 77.
111It is interesting in that it shows what impression
the renown of adaqa had left on the imagination of
the people. That $adaqa was by far the most important
figure of the dynasty is shown in the obituaries of the
historians, and the greater part of this statement which
is devoted to him by Ibn Gauzl, of which we have
presented only a small section.
120; Zam112 Lane-Poole, lJ[ohammadan Dynasties,
baur, lJ[anuel de genealogie, 137.

llS See Zambaur, ibid., 214; see also ]untazarn, vol.

VII, 261, for 'All b. Mazyad's campaign against the
Banu t[afaga at the orders of Fahr al-Mulk.
114 Cf. the text in Muntazam, vol. VII, 263: wa-huwa
auwalu man taqaddama min ahli baitih, with the text
(ibid., vol. IX, 235): wa-dalika anna aqxwalaman nabaga
min baitih.
116 See lJ[untazam, vol. VII, 223, sub anno 393.
6 See note 97117 Dubais I is reported to have reigned at the early
age of 14; see Ibn Elallikan (de Slane), vol. I, 634.

262

MAEDISI:

Notes on EIilla and the Mazyadidsin MedievalIslam

Gauzlto be more reliableon Hilla and the Mazyadidsthan Ibn Atlr who used him as a source,ll8
we may at least feel justified in attributing a
greaterdegreeof reliabilityto the new date than
waspossiblewith Ibn Atlr as its source,though it
beof coursestill basedon the testimonyof a single
witness.
To sum up: two dates are in need of revision;
namelyA. H. 403, the beginning of the Mazyadid
dynasty,and A. H. 49S, date of the so-called" foundation" of Hilla. The reigning period of 'All b.
Mazyad,first memberof the dynasty, has to the
presentbeen consideredto have lasted from 403 to
408, a span of fiveyears. The beginningdate must
nowbe revisedto a date preceding'All's resistance
against Baha'ad-Daulain 387; and more specifically, accordingto Ibn Gauzl,to the wazlrateof
Muhallabl,that is to say, between 345 and 352.
Thus the reigning period of 'All b. Mazyad
spannedapproximatelyone-half a century.
'All's period is one of struggle for recognition.

Thehegemonyof his small empire was consolidatedunder his son Dubais I (A. H. 4()8-474),
whosesuccessionhe insured before his death in
408.ll9

Hilla's history is tied with that of the Mazyadids. Its early history was one of uncertainty.
It was a temporaryencampmentat least until 39T,
dateof the acquisitionof Gamitainby the Mazyadids. Hilla's site became more permanentvery
near, or within, Gamitainsoon after the latter's
acquisition,gaining recognitionin proportionas
the Mazyadidsbecamemore powerful,and finally
absorbingthe identity of Gamitaintowards the
mid-Vth/XIth century. Thus Xilla became a
permanentencampmentunder Dubais I, and enjoyed an unprecedentedrenown under Saif adDaula Sadaqa,himself the most famous member
of the dynasty. The MazyadidHilla becomesreferred to also as the Saifi Xilla, a name which
contributed perhaps to the assignation of its
foundationto Saif ad-DaulaSadaqa. This famous
Arab amlr fortified it and embellishedit with
gardensin s. H. 49S, long after it had becomea
Ibn
from
borrowing
of
methods
Atlr's
Ibn
118 On
town encompassingGamitain.
Qalanisl, see E. A. R. Gibb, "Notes on the Arabic
" in
Materials for the lIistory of the Early Crusades
745ff.
739-754),
pp.
VII,
vol.
(1935,
BSOS

119

See obituary in Muntazam, vol. VII, 289.