Saqaliba ( ar, صقالبة, ṣaqāliba, singular ar, صقلبي, ṣaqlabī) is a term used in medieval Arabic sources to refer to

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

and other peoples of

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

, and Eastern Europe, or in a broad sense to

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

slaves. The term originates from the Middle Greek '' slavos/sklavenos'' (Slav), which in Hispano-Arabic came to designate first Slavic slaves and then, similarly to the semantic development of the term in other West-European languages, foreign slaves in general. The word was often used to refer specifically to Slavic slaves, but it could also refer more broadly to Europeans traded by the Arab traders. There were several major routes for the trading of Slavic slaves into the Arab world: through Central Asia ( Mongols, Tatars, Khazars, etc.) for the East Slavs; through the Balkans for the South Slavs; through

and Western Europe for the West Slavs and to al-Andalus. The Volga trade route and other European routes, according to Ibrahim ibn Jakub (10th century), were serviced by Radanite Jewish merchants. (Compare Crimean–Nogai raids into East Slavic lands.) Theophanes mentions that the Umayyad caliph

Muawiyah I Mu'awiya I ( ar, معاوية بن أبي سفيان, Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān; –April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the deat ...

settled a whole army of 5,000 Slavic

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in the 660s. After the battle of Sebastopolis in 692, Neboulos,

archon ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

of the Slavic corps in the Byzantine army, and 30,000 of his men were settled by the Umayyads in the region of

. In the Arab world, Saqaliba served or were forced to serve in a multitude of ways: as servants, harem concubines, eunuchs, craftsmen, mercenaries, slave soldiers, and as Caliph's guards. In Iberia, Morocco,

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

and Sicily, their military role may be compared with that of mamluks in the Ottoman Empire. In al-Andalus, Slavic eunuchs were so popular and widely distributed that they became synonymous with the term Saqāliba, though not all Saqaliba were eunuchs. Some Saqāliba became rulers of '' taifas'' (principalities) in Iberia after the collapse of the

Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

in 1031. For example,

Mujāhid al-ʿĀmirī Abu ʾl-Jaysh Mujāhid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿĀmirī, surnamed ''al-Muwaffaḳ'' (died AD 1044/5 AH_436.html"_;"title="Anno_Hegirae.html"_;"title="small>Anno_Hegirae">AH_436">Anno_Hegirae.html"_;"title="small>Anno_Hegirae">AH_436,_was_the_Ta ...

organized the Saqaliba in Dénia to rebel, seize control of the city, and establish the

Taifa of Dénia The taifa of Dénia () was an Islamic kingdom in medieval Spain, ruling over part of the Valencian coast and Ibiza. With Dénia as its capital, the taifa included the Balearic Islands and parts of the Spanish mainland. It was founded in 10 ...

(1010–1227), which extended its reach as far as the island of

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

Saqalabid dynasties

Valencia

The following list is derived from . * Muhārak and Muẓaffar: 1010/11–1017/18 *: ''to Tortosa: 1017/18–1020/21'' * ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿĀmir al-Manṣūr, son of Sanchuelo: 1020/21–1060 * ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Niẓām al-Dawla al-Muẓaffar, son of prec.: 1060–1065 *: ''to the Dhuʾl-Nūnids: 1065–1075'' * Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Manṣūr, brother of prec.: 1075–1085 *

ʿUthmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Qāḍī Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic proph ...

, son of prec.: 1085 *: ''to the Dhuʾl-Nūnids''

Dénia

The following list is derived from , who calls them the Banū Mujāhid. Mujāhid was a member of Muḥammad ibn Abi ʿĀmir's household. * Mujāhid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿĀmiri al-Muwaffaq: c.1012–1045 *

ʿAlī ibn Mujāhid Iqbāl al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

: 1045–1076 *: ''to the

Hūdids The Banu Hud ( ar, بنو هود ', the Hudid dynasty) were an Arab dynasty that ruled the ' of Zaragoza from 1039 until 1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami, the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza f ...

Tortosa

Labib al-Fata al-Saqlabi Labib al-Fata al-Saqlabi () (or Labib of Tortosa) was the founder and first ruler of the Taifa of Tortosa from around to . He was a Saqaliba, usually Slavic children that were captured, castrated, sold as slaves in Spain, and educated in the Isl ...

(Valencia 1017–1019): c. 1009–bfr. 1039/40 * Muqatil Sayf al-Milla: bfr. 1039/40–1053/4 * Ya'la: 1053/4–1057/8 *

Nabil Nabīl or Nabeel ( ar, نبيل) is a male given name of Arabic origin, meaning "nobility, noble".Online ...

: 1057/8–1060 ** To Zaragoza: 1060–1081 or 2/3

Almeria

* 1012 Aflah. * 1014 Khayran. Slavic slave from Cordoba Caliph palace, who dedicated his rule to the development of Almería. * 1028 Zuhayr, also a former Slavic slave from Cordoba * 1038 Abu Bakr al-Ramimi * 1038 Abd al-Aziz al-Mansur, al-Mansur's grandson, King of Valencia From 1038 to 1041 Almería belonged to the Taifa of Valencia.

Usage

*Geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (840–880) claimed that the Bulgar ruling title was "King of the Saqāliba" prior to the mid 7th century, meaning that the ruler held "a reservoir of potential slaves". *Traveller Ibn Fadlan (fl. 921–22) called the ruler of Volga Bulgaria the "King of the Saqaliba". *Polymath Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (850–934) described three main centers of the Saqaliba:

Kuyaba Kuyaba ( ar, كويابة ''Kūyāba'') was one of the three centers of the Rus or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from ca. 920) and mentioned in works by some of his followers (Ibn Hawqal, Al-Is ...

Slawiya Slawiya, as-Slawiya ( ar, صلاوية ''Ṣ(a)lāwiya'') was one of the three parts of the Rus' with the center in Holmgard (identified with the land of Ilmen Slavs) described in a lost book by Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (dating from c. 920) and mentioned ...

, and

Artania Arthania ( ar, ارثانية ''’Arṯāniya'', russian: Арcания, uk, Артанія, be, Артанія) was one of the three states of the Rus or Saqaliba (early East Slavs) with the center in Artha described in a lost book by Abu Zayd ...

. *Traveller

Ibrahim ibn Yaqub Ibrahim ibn Yaqub ( ar, إبراهيم بن يعقوب ''Ibrâhîm ibn Ya'qûb al-Ṭarṭûshi'' or ''al-Ṭurṭûshî''; he, אברהם בן יעקב, ''Avraham ben Yaʿakov''; 961–62) was a tenth-century Hispano-Arabic, Sephardi Jewish t ...

( 961–62) placed the ''Saqāliba'', Slavs, west of Bulgaria and east of other Slavs, in a mountainous land, and described them as violent and aggressive. It is believed that these were situated in the

Western Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

Notes

References

Sources

* *{{cite book, last=Mishin, first=Dmitrij, title=The Saqaliba slaves in the Aghlabid state, year=1998, url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/conant/mushin1998.pdf, location=Budapest, publisher= Central European University, access-date=14 May 2015

External links

Barry Hoberman, "Treasures of the North"
Slavs of the medieval Islamic world Slavic history Mercenary units and formations Medieval Serbia History of Poland during the Piast dynasty Arabic words and phrases Slave trade Islam and slavery Arabian slaves and freedmen Expatriate military units and formations Military units and formations of the medieval Islamic world Slavery in Al-Andalus Slaves from the Abbasid Caliphate Slavery