The Treaty of Safar put a formal end to the extended collapse of the
Hamdanid Dynasty
The Hamdanid dynasty ( ar, الحمدانيون, al-Ḥamdāniyyūn) was a Twelver Shia Arab dynasty of Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib Christian tribe of Mesopotamia and Eastern A ...
. It was signed in December 969/January 970 between the
Byzantine
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 Constantino ...
''
stratopedarches
''Stratopedarchēs'' ( el, στρατοπεδάρχης, , master of the camp), sometimes Anglicized as Stratopedarch, was a Greek term used with regard to high-ranking military commanders from the 1st century BC on, becoming a proper office in ...
''
Petros and the former minister of the Hamdanids and rebel,
Qarquya. Following the death of the Hamdanid emir
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 ...
in 967, rebellion quickly enveloped the Hamdanids and the dynasty disintegrated into chaos and disorder. The Byzantines saw this as an opportunity to finally take control of
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
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. Petros soon approached Aleppo, probably without orders from
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, and took the city in January 970.
Terms
The treaty was signed sometime in the month of Safar 359 AH according to the
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar ( ar, ٱلتَّقْوِيم ٱلْهِجْرِيّ, translit=al-taqwīm al-hijrī), also known in English as the Muslim calendar and Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or ...
(corresponding to 14 December 969–11 January 970 CE) between Petros and Qarquya. It established the emirate of Aleppo as a Byzantine
tributary state
A tributary state is a term for a pre-modern state in a particular type of subordinate relationship to a more powerful state which involved the sending of a regular token of submission, or tribute, to the superior power (the suzerain). This to ...
. As part of the terms of the treaty, a defensive alliance was established between Byzantium and Aleppo; religious converts would not be persecuted on either side; armies from other Muslim states would not be allowed to pass through Aleppo; taxes would be sent to Constantinople; and the emperor would nominate future emirs. The treaty proved to have a lasting influence for a relatively long period of time.
According to its terms, much of northern Syria came under Byzantine rule. The new border began north of
Tripoli
Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to:
Cities and other geographic units Greece
*Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece
*Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece
* Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in t ...
and
Arqa
Arqa ( ar, عرقا; akk, 𒅕𒋡𒋫, translit=Irqata) is a Lebanese village near Miniara in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli, near the coast.
The town was a notable city-state during the Iron Age. The city of '' ...
(in modern
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
), then moved east up to the
Orontes River
The Orontes (; from Ancient Greek , ) or Asi ( ar, العاصي, , ; tr, Asi) is a river with a length of in Western Asia that begins in Lebanon, flowing northwards through Syria before entering the Mediterranean Sea near Samandağ in Turkey.
...
. From there it followed its course north, but apparently somewhat to the west of the actual river, as towns like
Shayzar and
Rafaniya
Raphanea or Raphaneae ( grc, Ῥαφάνεια; ar, الرفنية, al-Rafaniyya; colloquial: ''Rafniye'') was a city of the late Roman province of Syria Secunda. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Apamea.
History
Josephus mentions Raphanea ...
were apparently not under Byzantine control. Along the border, the Arabs retained control of
Hama,
Jusiyah,
Salamiyah
A full view of Shmemis (spring 1995)
Salamieh ( ar, سلمية ') is a city and district in western Syria, in the Hama Governorate. It is located southeast of Hama, northeast of Homs. The city is nicknamed the "mother of Cairo" because it was t ...
,
Afamiya and
Kafartab. Then it passed to the highlands east of the
Afrin River
The Afrin River ( ar, نهر عفرين ''Nahr ʻIfrīn''; ( ku, Çemê Efrînê; northern Syrian vernacular: ''Nahər ʻAfrīn''; tr, Afrin Çayı) is a tributary of the Orontes River in Turkey and Syria. It rises in the Kartal Mountains in ...
, leaving its fertile valley to the Byzantines; the Arabs retained control of the
Jabal al-Sumaq
Harim Mountains ( ar, جبال حارم, Jabal Ḥārim ) are highlands in the north of Idlib Governorate in northwestern Syria. The mountains are located in the Harim and Jisr Shughur districts of Idlib Governorate.
Location and description
The ...
massif with the towns of
Ma'arrat al-Nu'man
Maarat al-Numan ( ar, مَعَرَّةُ النُّعْمَانِ, Maʿarrat an-Nuʿmān), also known as al-Ma'arra, is a city in northwestern Syria, south of Idlib and north of Hama, with a population of about 58,008 before the Civil War (2004 ...
and
Ma'arrat Misrin
Ma'arrat Misrin ( ar, مَعَرَّةُ مِصْرِينَ, Maʿarrat Miṣrīn, also spelled Ma'arrat Masrin or Ma'aret Masreen) is a small city in northwestern Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Ma'arrat Misrin lies an elevatio ...
,
Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin ( ar, قنسرين; syr, ܩܢܫܪܝܢ, ''Qinnašrīn'', lit=Nest of Eagles), also known by numerous other romanizations and originally known as ( la, Chalcis ad Belum; grc-gre, Χαλκὶς, ''Khalkìs''), was a historical town in ...
, the eastern part of
Jabal Halaqa and the bulk of
Jabal Sim'an with
al-Atharib and al-Balat,
Arhab,
Basufan, and
Kimar. The
Jabal al-A'la,
Jabal Barisha, the western part of Jabal Halaqa, and the
Qal'at Sim'an fortress-monastery, formed the Byzantine side of the border. The border then followed the edge of the plain, west of
Jabal Barsaya,
Wadi Abi Sulayman,
Azaz
Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census. , and
Killiz, up to the Pass of Sunyab, located by Ernst Honigmann at the sources of the
Quwayq River. From there the border turned east, passing north of
Nafuda,
Awana
Awana is an international evangelical Christian nonprofit organization in child and youth discipleship. The headquarters is in Streamwood, Illinois, United States.
History
In 1941, the children's program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicag ...
, and
Tall Khalid to the
Sajur River, which it then followed until its junction with the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
.
The Byzantine emperor would recognize Qarquya as the rightful emir, and his lieutenant
Bakjur
Bakjur was a Circassian military slave (''mamluk'' or '' ghulam'') who served the Hamdanids of Aleppo and later the Fatimids of Egypt. He seized control of Aleppo in 975 and governed it until 977, when the rightful Hamdanid ruler, Sa'd al-Dawla, ...
as his heir. Subsequently, however, the emperor would name both the emir and the ''
qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' from the city's inhabitants. In return, however, Aleppo and its territory became tributary to Byzantium to the order of 700,000 silver
dirham
The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass.
Unit of mass
The dirham was a un ...
s annually, or a
head tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
of one
gold dinar
The gold dinar ( ar, ﺩﻳﻨﺎﺭ ذهبي) is an Islamic medieval gold coin first issued in AH 77 (696–697 CE) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The weight of the dinar is 1 mithqal ().
The word ''dinar'' comes from the Lat ...
(equivalent to 16 dirham). Furthermore, an imperial official was installed in the city to collect a 10% tax on all goods imported from Byzantine territory, and the emirs of Aleppo were forced to prohibit armies from other Muslim states to pass through their territory, provide intelligence on any such armies moving against Byzantium, and render military assistance to any Byzantine army operating in Syria. The legal standing of Christians in Aleppine territory was guaranteed, and any slave or robber who fled from Byzantine territory had to be returned, along with any Muslim spy who came to gather intelligence on the Byzantines.
Aftermath
With the direct control of Aleppo now secured, the Byzantines also directly benefited from a new influx of trade in the region. The defense of
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...
was also now greatly enforced. The treaty was generally respected by the Hamdanids and the Byzantines for the next fifty years, despite the attempts of the
Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili 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 east. The Fatimids, a dyn ...
to occupy Aleppo.
References
Sources
*
* {{Tabula Imperii Byzantini , volume = 15
Safar
Ṣafar ( ar, صَفَر) also spelt as Safer in Turkish, is the second month of the lunar Islamic calendar. The Arabic word ''ṣafar'' means "travel, migration", corresponding to the pre-Islamic Arabian time period when muslims flee the oppr ...
970s in the Byzantine Empire
10th-century treaties
Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo
Arab–Byzantine wars
Treaties of the medieval Islamic world