The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a

Twelver Shia Twelver Shīʿīsm ( ar, ٱثْنَا عَشَرِيَّة; '), also known as Imāmīyyah ( ar, إِمَامِيَّة), is the largest branch of Shīʿa Islam, comprising about 85 percent of all Shīʿa Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers t ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and

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 ...

(890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and

Eastern Arabia Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Unite ...

History

The Hamdanid dynasty was founded by Hamdan ibn Hamdun. By 892–893, he was in possession of

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location ...

, after fighting the

Kharijites The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the ...

of the Jazira. In 895, Caliph al-Mutadid invaded and Hamdan fled Mardin. Hamdan's son, Husayn, who was at Ardumusht, joined the caliph's forces. Hamdan later surrendered to the caliph and was imprisoned. In December 908, Husayn conspired to establish Ibn al-Mu'tazz as Caliph. Having failed, Husayn fled until he asked for mediation through his brother Ibrahim. Upon his return, he was made governor of

Diyar Rabi'a Diyar Rabi'a ( ar, دِيَارُ رَبِيعَةَ, Diyār Rabīʿa, abode of Rabi'a) is the medieval Arabic name of the easternmost and largest of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Bakr and Diyar ...

. In 916, Husayn, due to a disagreement with vizier Ali b. Isa, revolted, was captured, imprisoned, and executed in 918. Hamdan's other son, Abdallah, was made governor of Mosul in 905–906. He conducted campaigns against the Kurds in that region and in 913–914, was dismissed from his post and subsequently revolted. Abdallah submitted himself to Mu'nis, and with his pardon was made governor of Mosul in 914–915. During his brother Husayn's revolt, both he and his brother Ibrahim were temporarily imprisoned. By 919, Abdallah was commanding an army against Yusuf b. Abi l'Sadj, governor of Adharbaydjan and Armenia. The rule of Hassan Nasir al-Dawla (929–968), governor of Mosul and

Diyar Bakr Diyar Bakr ( ar, دِيَارُ بَكرٍ, Diyār Bakr, abode of Bakr) is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira ( Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to th ...

, was sufficiently tyrannical to cause him to be deposed by his own family. His lineage still ruled in Mosul, a heavy defeat by the

Buyids The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coup ...

in 979 notwithstanding, until 990. After this, their area of control in northern Iraq was divided between the

Uqaylids The Uqaylid dynasty () was a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096. History Rise ...

and the Marwanids. Ali

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī ( ar, علي بن أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان بن الحارث التغلبي, 22 June 916 – 9 February 967), more commonly known ...

'Sword of the State' ruled (945–967) northern Syria from Aleppo, and became the most important opponent of the Christian

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

's re-expansion. His court was a centre of culture, thanks to its nurturing of Arabic literature, but it lost this status after the Byzantine conquest of Aleppo. To stop the Byzantine advance, Aleppo was put under the suzerainty of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, but in 1003 the Fatimids deposed the Hamdanids.

Hamdanid rulers

Hamdanids in Al-Jazira # Hamdan ibn Hamdun # al-Husayn ibn Hamdan (895–916) #

Abdallah ibn Hamdan Abu'l-Hayja Abdallah ibn Hamdan ( ar, أبو الهيجاء عبد الله بن حمدان; d. 929) was an early member of the Hamdanid dynasty, who served the Abbasid Caliphate as a military commander and governor of Mosul (in 905/6–913/4, 914/ ...

(906–929) # Nasir al-Dawla (929–967) #

Abu Taghlib Fadl Allah Abu Taghlib al-Ghadanfar Uddat al-Dawla ( ar, فضل الله أبو تغلب الغضنفر عدة الدولة, Faḍl Allāh ʿAbu Taghlib al-Ghaḍanfar ʿUddat al-Dawla), usually known simply by his as Abu Taghlib, was the third H ...

(967–978) # Directly administered as part of the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Co ...

-controlled

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttal ...

, 979–981 # Abu Tahir Ibrahim ibn Nasir al-Dawla (989–990) # Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla (989–990) # Deposed by the

Uqaylid The Uqaylid dynasty () was a Shia Arab dynasty with several lines that ruled in various parts of Al-Jazira, northern Syria and Iraq in the late tenth and eleventh centuries. The main line, centered in Mosul, ruled from 990 to 1096. History Rise ...

chieftain

Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab Abu'l-Dhawwād Muḥammad ibn al-Musayyab was the first Emir of Mosul from the Uqaylid dynasty, from –991/2. Life Muhammad and the Uqaylid dynasty belonged to the Banu Uqayl, a northern Arab tribe who were originally clients of the Hamdanid em ...

Hamdanids in Aleppo #

(945–967) # Sa'd al-Dawla (967–991) #

Sa'id al-Dawla Abu'l-Fada'il Sa'id al-Dawla () was the third Hamdanid ruler of the Emirate of Aleppo. He succeeded his father Sa'd al-Dawla in 991, but throughout his reign real power rested in the hands of Sa'd al-Dawla's former chamberlain, Lu'lu', to whose da ...

(991–1002) # Deposed by the ''ghulam'' Lu'lu' al-Kabir

References

Sources

* * *

History

Hamdanid rulers

See also

References

Sources

Further reading