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Rifq
Abū'l-Faḍl Rifq al-Khādim (c. 970 — 30 August 1049) was a black African eunuch in the court of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir (r. 1036–1094) and a commander of the Fatimid army. In 1024, during the reign of Caliph al-Zahir, Rifq led policing expeditions in the Egyptian countryside, earning him a reputation of loyalty. In 1049, he was appointed governor of Damascus in place of Nasir al-Dawla al-Hamdani, and headed a 30,000-strong expedition to assert Fatimid control over Aleppo, then held by the Mirdasid emir Thimal ibn Salih. His army consisted of Berbers, Turks, black Africans and, after it entered Syria, local Bedouin tribes. These diverse and often antagonistic factions quarreled frequently, weakening Rifq's army. After initial clashes with Thimal's troops outside Aleppo, many Bedouin defected and Rifq's officers ultimately deserted him for refusing their counsel. Rifq was captured, received a head injury and died in Mirdasid custody. Life Service with the Fatimids Abu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eunuch
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BCE. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, concubines, or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mu'izz Al-Dawla Thimal
Abu Ulwan Thimal ibn Salih ibn Mirdas ( ar, أبو علوان ثمال بن صالح بن مرداس, Abū ʿUlwān Thimāl ibn Ṣāliẖ ibn Mirdās; died 1062), also known by his ''laqab'' (honorific epithet) Mu'izz al-Dawla ( ar, معز الدولة, Muʿizz al-Dawla), was the Mirdasid emir of Aleppo jointly with his elder brother Shibl al-Dawla Nasr in 1029–1030 and then solely in 1042–1057 and 1061–1062. The chosen successor of the Mirdasids' founder, his father Salih ibn Mirdas, Thimal was ousted from Aleppo by his brother Nasr in 1030, but retained the Jaziran (Upper Mesopotamian) half of the emirate from his seat in al-Rahba. When Nasr was slain by the Fatimid army of Anushtakin al-Dizbari in 1038, Thimal took control of Aleppo but quickly departed to avoid a Fatimid assault. He once again reverted to his Jaziran domains, which were reduced by Anushtakin's captures of Manbij and Balis. Nevertheless, he gained the Numayrid city of Raqqa after marrying Nasr's widow, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banu Kilab
The Banu Kilab ( ar, بنو كِلاب, Banū Kilāb) was an Arab tribe in the western Najd (central Arabia) where they controlled the horse-breeding pastures of Dariyya from the mid-6th century until at least the mid-9th century. The tribe was divided into ten branches, the most prominent being the Ja'far, Abu Bakr, Amr, Dibab and Abd Allah. The Ja'far led the Kilab and its parent tribe of Banu Amir, and, at times, the larger Hawazin tribal confederation from the time of the Kilab's entry into the historical record, , until the advent of Islam, , except for two occasions when the larger Abu Bakr was at the helm. Under the Ja'far's leadership the Kilab defeated rival tribes and the Lakhmid kings and eventually became guards of the Lakhmid caravans to the annual fair in the Hejaz (western Arabia). The killing of a Ja'far chief as he escorted one such caravan led to the Fijar War between the Hawazin and the Quraysh of Mecca. The Kilab, or at least its chief, Amir ibn al-Tufayl, wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirdasid Dynasty
The Mirdasid dynasty ( ar, المرداسيون, al-Mirdāsiyyīn), also called the Banu Mirdas, was an Arab dynasty which ruled an Aleppo-based emirate in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) more or less continuously from 1024 until 1080. History Dominance of the Kilab in northern Syria The Mirdasids were a family of the Bedouin (nomadic Arab) tribe of Banu Kilab. The Kilab's ancestral home was in central Arabia and its tribesmen first established themselves in northern Syria and the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) in the years after the 630s–Muslim conquest. A second major wave of Kilabi tribesmen migrated to northern Syria from Arabia in the 9th century. The political vacuum and frequent revolts throughout the region during that period paved the way for the Kilab to strengthen their influence, becoming the predominant tribe in the region north of the Palmyrene steppe and west of the Euphrates River by the early to mid-10th century. A thir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queiq River
The Queiq (Modern Standard Arabic: , ''Quwayq'', ; Syrian Arabic, northern Syrian Arabic: ''ʾWēʾ'', ), with many variant spellings, known in antiquity as the Belus ( grc-gre, Βήλος, ''Bēlos''), Chalos and also known in English as the Aleppo River is a river and valley of the Aleppo Governorate, Syria and Turkey. It is a -long river that flows through the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. It arises from the southern Aintab plateau in southeastern Turkey. The Akpınar River in the Kilis plain is one of the headwaters of the Queiq. The former town of Qinnasrin lay on its banks. It partly flows along the western rim of the Matah Depression. The valley has been occupied for thousands of years and in ancient times the Queiq valley was noted for its flint industries and pottery. The river dried up completely in the late 1960s, due to irrigation projects on the Turkish side of the Syria–Turkey border, border. Recently, water from the Euphrates has been diverted to revive th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hama
, timezone = EET , utc_offset = +2 , timezone_DST = EEST , utc_offset_DST = +3 , postal_code_type = , postal_code = , area_code = Country code: 963 City code: 33 , geocode = C2987 , blank_name = Climate , blank_info = BSk , website = , footnotes = , name = Hama ( ar, حَمَاة ', ; syr, ܚܡܬ, ħ(ə)mɑθ, lit=fortress; Biblical Hebrew: ''Ḥamāṯ'') is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 854,000 (2009 census), Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria after Damascus, Aleppo and Homs. The city is renowned for its sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Before the Syrian Civil War, Homs was a major industrial centre, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third-largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflects Syria's general religious diversity, composed of Sunni and Alawite Muslims, and Eastern Christianity, Christians. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a World Heritage Site. Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st century BCE a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banu Fazara
The Banu Fazara or Fazzara or Fezara or Fezzara () were an Arab tribe whose original homeland was Najd. Origins of the tribe According to Arab genealogical tradition, the progenitor of the Banu Fazara was Fazāra ibn Dhubyān ibn Baghīd ibn Rayth ibn Ghaṭafān. Thus the tribe belonged to the Dhubyan branch of the Ghatafan, making the Fazara a north Arabian tribe. Its ancestral pasture grounds were in the Wadi al-Rumma region of the Najd in central Arabia. In the modern day, the Fazara section of the Sudanese Arabs are camel-nomadic Arab tribes who live in the pastures of North Kordofan. They include the Shanabla, Majaneen, Bani-Jarrar, and Bani-Dhubian. Umm Qirfa Umm Qirfa Fatima was a leader of the Banu Fazara Arab tribe from Wadi Al-Qura. Ancient genealogies described Umm Qirfa as a member of the Banu Fazara. She married into the Banu Badr. According to Ibn Ishaq and al-Tabari, Umm Qirfa was wealthy. She was described as being an old woman with high social status and wif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banu Kalb
The Banu Kalb ( ar, بنو كلب) was an Arab tribe which mainly dwelt in the desert between northwestern Arabia and central Syria. The Kalb was involved in the tribal politics of the eastern frontiers of the Byzantine Empire, possibly as early as the 4th century. By the 6th century, the Kalb had largely adopted Christianity and came under the authority of the Ghassanids, the chief Arab federates of the Byzantines. During the lifetime of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a number of his close companions were Kalbi tribesmen, most prominently Zayd ibn Haritha and Dihya al-Kalbi, but the bulk of the tribe remained Christian at the time of Muhammad's death in 632. They began converting in large numbers when the Muslims made significant progress in the conquest of Byzantine Syria, where the Kalb took a neutral stance. As a massive tribe with considerable military experience, the Kalb was sought after as a key ally by the Muslim state. The leading household of the tribe, the Banu Jana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banu Tayy
, location = 2nd century CE–10th century: Jabal Tayy and Syrian Desert 10th century–16th century: Jabal Tayy, Syrian Desert, Jibal al-Sharat, al-Balqa, Palmyrene Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, Northern Hejaz, Najd , parent_tribe = Madh'hij , descended = Julhumah ibn 'Udad ibn Malik ibn 'Udad ibn Zaid , branches = *Al al-Ghawth *Banu Thu'al * Banu Jarrah *Al Fadl *Banu Nabhan *Banu Hani *Shammar *Al Jadilah *Al al-Tha'alib *Banu Lam , religion = Polytheism (pre-630) Monophysite Christianity (pre-638) Islam (post 630) The Tayy ( ar, طيء/ALA-LC: ''Ṭayyi’''), also known as Ṭayyi, Tayyaye, or Taiyaye, are a large and ancient Arab tribe of the Middle East, among whose descendants today are the tribe of Shammar. The ''nisba'' (patronymic) of Tayy is ''aṭ-Ṭāʾī'' (). In the 2nd century CE, they migrated to the northern Arabian mountain ranges of Jabal Aja and Jabal Salma, which then collectively became known as "Jabal Tayy" (later "Jabal Shammar"). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abu'l-Barakat Al-Jarjara'i
Abu'l-Barakat al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Jarjara'i was a Fatimid official. He was the nephew of the long-serving vizier Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i Abu’l-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Jarjarāʾī was a Fatimid official of Iraqi origin, who served as the Fatimid vizier from 1027 until his death on 27 March 1045. As his ''nisba'' shows, he came from the locality of Jarjaraya, south of Baghdad ..., and became vizier himself in 1048. He held the office for 19 months before being dismissed for his tyrannical behaviour in February 1050 and banished to Tyre. References Sources * * 11th-century deaths 11th-century Arabs 11th-century people from the Fatimid Caliphate Year of birth unknown Viziers of the Fatimid Caliphate {{gov-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine IX
Constantine IX Monomachos ( grc-x-medieval, Κωνσταντῖνος Μονομάχος, translit=Kōnstantinos IX Monomachos; 1004 – 11 January 1055), reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring against her previous husband, Emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian. The couple shared the throne with Zoë's sister Theodora Porphyrogenita. Zoë died in 1050, and Constantine continued his collaboration with Theodora until his own death five years later. Constantine waged wars against groups which included the Kievan Rus', the Pechenegs and, in the East, the rising Seljuq Turks. Despite the varying success of these campaigns, the Byzantine Empire largely retained the borders established after the conquests of Basil II, even expanding eastwards when Constantine annexed the wealthy Armenian kingdom of Ani. Constantine accordingly may be considered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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