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Yazman Al-Khadim
Yazaman or Yazman, surnamed al-Khadim ("the eunuch") (died 23 October 891) was governor of Tarsus for the Abbasids and chief military leader in the Muslim borderlands with the Byzantine Empire in Cilicia (the ) from 882 to his death in 891. He is celebrated for his raids against the Byzantines. Life Yazaman appears for the first time in September/October 882. At the time he was a servant ('' mawla'') of al-Fath ibn Khaqan, and was attacked and imprisoned by the governor of the Cilician borderlands, Khalaf al-Farghani, who had been appointed by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the autonomous ruler of Egypt and Syria. Yazaman was freed by the local people, who then rose up and rejected Tulunid rule, appointing Yazaman as their leader instead and returning to Abbasid allegiance. Ibn Tulun then marched on Tarsus, but the inhabitants opened the sluice gates and flooded the plain around the city, forcing Ibn Tulun to return to Damascus without achieving anything. In 883, Yazaman faced a large Byz ... [...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] |
Kesta Stypeiotes
Kesta Styppiotes or Stypeiotes ( el, Κεστά Στυππιώτης/Στυπειώτης; died 11 September 883) was briefly the Domestic of the Schools of the Byzantine Empire in ca. 883. His surname points to an origin in the town of Stypion (modern Štip), while his first name is evidence of a Slavic or Bulgar ethnic origin. In 883, he succeeded the disgraced Andrew the Scythian as Domestic of the Schools (commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army). Andrew's disgrace has been variously attributed to the falling out between Emperor Basil I the Macedonian and his heir Leo VI the Wise at the time, with Andrew being accused as a partisan of Leo, or to accusations of timidity against the Arabs of Tarsus and failing to exploit a victory he had won against them. Kesta took to the field against the Arabs himself, but his negligent leadership allowed the Tarsians, under Yazaman al-Khadim, to surprise and overwhelm the Byzantine camp in a night attack. According to al-Tabari (who err ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Mas'udi
Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus '' Murūj al-Dhahab wa-Ma'ādin al-Jawhar'' ( ar, مُرُوج ٱلذَّهَب وَمَعَادِن ٱلْجَوْهَر, link=no), combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary and biography, and is published in English in a multi-volume series as '' The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems''. Birth, travels and literary output Apart from what Al-Mas'udi writes of himself little is known. Born in Baghdad, he was descended from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of Muhammad. He mentions many scholar associates met on his travels thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Al-Armani
'Alī ibn Yaḥyā al-Armanī () was a famed Muslim military commander of the mid-9th century, involved in the border warfare with the Byzantine Empire. He served as governor of Tarsus from ca. 852 until 862, leading several expeditions against the Byzantines. In 862 he was appointed governor of his native Armenia, but was killed in autumn 863 fighting against the Byzantines. Life As his ''nisba'' indicates, Ali was of Armenian descent. In 840, he was sent to Egypt as its governor, replacing Malik ibn Kaydur. Later he was named commander (''wali'' or ''amir'') of the Abbasid Caliphate's borderlands in Cilicia (the '' al-thughur ash-Sha'miya''), confronting the Byzantine Empire, with Tarsus as his base. He is the first ''amir'' of Tarsus known to have exercised broadly autonomous authority there, taking advantage of the decline in the power of the Abbasid Caliphate's central government. Ali held the post at least from 238 A.H. (852/3 CE) until October/November 862.Stern (1960) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Umar Al-Aqta
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn Marwān,. ʿAmr ibn ʿUbaydallāh ibn Marwān, or simply Umar al-Aqta ( ar, عمر الأقطع) surnamed al-Aqtaʾ, "the one-handed" (μονοχεράρης, ''monocherares'', in Greek), and found as Amer or Ambros ( el, ) in Byzantine sources, was the semi-independent Arab emir of Malatya (Melitene) from the 830s until his death in the Battle of Lalakaon on 3 September 863. During this time, he was one of the greatest threats to the Byzantine Empire on its eastern frontier,. and became a prominent figure in later Arabic and Turkish epic literature. Biography ʿUmar belonged to the Banu Sulaym tribe, which was established in the western Jazira at the time of the Muslim conquests and played an important role in the affairs of Malatya and the Jaziran frontier zone ('' thughur'') with the Byzantine Empire as well as the Caucasian frontier with the Khazars. His father, ʿAbdallah or ʿUbaydallah, is little known, except that he was also emir of Malatya, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catapult
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored potential energy to propel its payload. Most convert tension or torsion energy that was more slowly and manually built up within the device before release, via springs, bows, twisted rope, elastic, or any of numerous other materials and mechanisms. In use since ancient times, the catapult has proven to be one of the most persistently effective mechanisms in warfare. In modern times the term can apply to devices ranging from a simple hand-held implement (also called a "slingshot") to a mechanism for launching aircraft from a ship. The earliest catapults date to at least the 7th century BC, with King Uzziah, of Judah, recorded as equipping the walls of Jerusalem with machines that shot "great stones". Catapults are mentioned in Yajurveda un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahmad Ibn Tughan Al-Ujayfi
Ahmad ibn Tughan al-Ujayfi () was the governor of Tarsus, Antioch, and the Abbasid Caliphate's borderlands in Cilicia () for the semi-autonomous Tulunid dynasty from 891 to 896. Life Ahmad ibn Tughan al-Ujayfi appears for the first time in 891, during the governorship of Yazaman al-Khadim in Tarsus. In the previous year, Yazaman had acknowledged the suzerainty of the Tulunid ruler Khumarawayh against that of the Abbasid central government under the regent al-Muwaffaq. According to al-Tabari, Ahmad arrived at Tarsus on 4 October 891 and took part in the summer expedition (''ṣā’ifa'') against the Byzantine border fortress of Salandu (Selinus/Traianopolis), where Yazaman was mortally wounded, dying on the next day (23 October). According to Ibn al-Athir, "Ibn Ujayf" (Ahmad) succeeded Yazaman as governor of Tarsus and was confirmed by Khumarawayh, although a certain Ibn Abi Isa, who was also a commander in the expedition against Salandu, may have held the post briefly as an inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khumarawayh
Abu 'l-Jaysh Khumārawayh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn ( ar, أبو الجيش خمارويه بن أحمد بن طولون; 864 – 18 January 896) was a son of the founder of the Tulunid dynasty, Ahmad ibn Tulun. His father, the autonomous ruler of Egypt and Syria, designated him as his successor. When Ibn Tulun died in May 884, Khumarawayh succeeded him. After defeating an attempt to depose him, in 886 he managed to gain recognition of his rule over Egypt and Syria as a hereditary governor from the Abbasid Caliphate. In 893 the agreement was renewed with the new Abbasid Caliph, al-Mu'tadid, and sealed with the marriage of his daughter Qatr al-Nada to the Caliph. At the height of his power, Khumarawayh's authority expanded from the Byzantine frontier in Cilicia and the Jazira to Nubia. Domestically, his reign was marked by a prodigal squandering of funds on extravagant displays of wealth, construction of palaces, and the patronage of artists and poets. In combination with the ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhammad Ibn Jarir Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari is known for his historical works and his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis (), but he has also been described as "an impressively prolific polymath".Lindsay Jones (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of religion'', volume 13, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, p. 8943 He wrote works on a diverse range of subjects, including world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine. His most influential and best known works are his Quranic commentary, known in Arabic as , and his historical chronicle called '' History of the Prophets and Kings'' (), often referred to as ("al-Tabari's History"). Al-Tabari followed the Shafi'i madhhab for nearly a decade before he developed his own interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence. His understanding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hellas (theme)
The Theme of Hellas ( el, , ''Thema Hellados'') was a Byzantine military-civilian province (''thema'', theme) located in southern Greece. The theme encompassed parts of Central Greece, Thessaly and, until , the Peloponnese peninsula. It was established in the late 7th century, and survived until the late 11th/12th century, when it was broken up into smaller districts. History 7th–8th centuries The ancient term "Hellas" was already in use in the 6th century to designate southern Greece in an administrative context, being employed in the ''Synekdemos'' as an alternative name for the Roman province of Achaea. During the late 6th and early 7th centuries, the collapse of the Byzantine Empire's Danube frontier allowed large-scale Slavic invasions and settlements to occur all over the Balkan peninsula. From 578, Slavic raids reached Thessaly and southern Greece. Aided by the Byzantine Empire's preoccupation with the long and bloody wars with Sassanid Persia in the east, and with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Euripos
The siege of Euripos (modern Chalcis) occurred in the mid-880s, when an Abbasid fleet, led by the emir of Tarsos, Yazaman al-Khadim, laid siege to the city. The local Byzantine commander, Oiniates, successfully defended the city and destroyed a large part of the besieging force. Background In the 820s, two events, the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Sicily and the establishment of the Emirate of Crete, altered the balance of power between the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs in the Mediterranean. The former soon led to the establishment of Muslim bases on the Italian peninsula, while the loss of Crete was particularly important, as it opened the Aegean Sea to constant Muslim raiding. Apart from the raids of the Cretan Saracens, the Abbasid caliphs also took care to strengthen their forces in the Cilician frontier districts, and Tarsos became a major base for land and seaborne attacks against Byzantine territory. This was especially the case during the tenure of Yazaman al-Khadi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalkis
Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός (copper, bronze), though there is no trace of any mines in the area. In the Late Middle Ages, it was known as Negropont(e), an Italian name that has also been applied to the entire island of Euboea. History Ancient Greece The earliest recorded mention of Chalcis is in the Iliad, where it is mentioned in the same line as its rival Eretria. It is also documented that the ships set for the Trojan War gathered at Aulis, the south bank of the strait near the city. Chamber tombs at Trypa and Vromousa dated to the Mycenaean period were excavated by Papavasiliou in 1910. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, colonists from Chalcis founded thirty townships on the peninsula of Chalcidice and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
