ʿUkbarā (عكبرا) was a medieval city on the left bank of the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
between
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
and
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. The Tigris has changed course since, and its ruins now lie some distance from the river. Its name may possibly have inspired the "
Uqbar" of Borges' short story ''
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th-century Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentinian journal '' Sur'', May 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, se ...
''.
History
It was refounded by the
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
shah
Shapur I under the name of ''Vuzurg-Shapur'' (3rd century
CE) and settled with
Roman captives.
According to
adh-Dhahabi
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, the
Buwayhid
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. Coupl ...
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
Jalal ad-Dawla fled there in 1031 to escape a slave revolt.
Famous native sons include:
* the great Islamic grammarian, philologist, and religious scholar Abul-Baqa
Al-Ukbari (ca. 1143-1219), author of some 60 works, many of them recently reprinted;
*
Ibn Makula
Abū Naṣr Alī ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Ja'far ibn Allakān ibn Muḥammad ibn Dulaf ibn Abī Dulaf al-Qāsim ibn ‘Īsā al-Ijlī, surnamed Sa’d al-Muluk and known as Ibn Mākūlā ( ar, ابن ماكولا; 1030/31–1082/83) was a highly rega ...
, author of an early dictionary of names, born Sha'ban 5, 421 AH
* Sheikh
al-Mufid
* two notable early
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
/
Karaite "
heresiarchs", leaders of Karaite movements opposed to
Anan ben David
Anan Ben David (c. 715 - c. 795) ( he, ענן בן דוד) is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, did not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law ...
,
Ishmael al-Ukbari
and
Meshwi al-Ukbari
It is described in many Arabic geographical works, beginning with the famous 9th-century geography of
Ibn Khordadhbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
, which mentions it four times, stating that:
* it was on the postal road from
Samarra
Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional army ...
to
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, nine stages from Samarra and six from Baghdad;
* it was on the road from Baghdad to
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
, 9
parasangs from Baghdad (5 from the previous stop,
al-Bardan, and 3 from the next,
Bahimsha);
* it was on the westward road from Baghdad, 4 stages from al-Bardan (6 from Baghdad) and 7 from the next stop, Samarra.
(The seeming contradiction between points 1 and 3 is found in the text, as provided by http://www.alwaraq.com/ .)
However, the tenth-century
al-Muqaddasi
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Maqdisī ( ar, شَمْس ٱلدِّيْن أَبُو عَبْد ٱلله مُحَمَّد ابْن أَحْمَد ابْن أَبِي بَكْر ٱلْمَقْدِسِي), ...
goes into a little more detail, saying that:
: وفي وجه سامرا مدينة عكبرا وهي كبيرة عامرة، كثيرة الفواكه جيدة الاعناب سرية
: ''And in front of Samarra is the town of Ukbara, which is large and populous, with abundant fruit and good grapes.'' (p. 42, al-Waraq online edition)
The twelfth-century geographer
al-Idrisi is briefer, mentioning it twice.
The Jewish traveller
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli''; Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, an ...
(twelfth century) also mentions it, calling it "Okbara, the city which
Jeconiah the King built, where there are about 10,000 Jews, and at their head are R. Chanan, R. Jabin and R. Ishmael."
The later
Yaqut al-Hamawi (thirteenth century) goes into yet more detail, noting two alternate names, the "Arabized" form ''`Akburah'' and ''Buzurj-Sabur'' بزرج سابور, after the Persian name ''Vuzurg-Shapur'' mentioned above, calling it:
:بليدة من نواحي دُجيل قرب صريفين وأوَانا بينها وبين بغداد عشرة فراسخ، والنسبة إليها عكبري وعكبراوي، منها شيخنا إمام عصره محب الدين أبو البقاء عبد اللهَ بن الحسين النحوي العكبري مات في ربيع الأول سنة 616، وقرىء على سارية بجامع عكبرا:
: ''a little town in the area of
Dujayl near
Sarifin and
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 Chicago ...
, 10
parasangs from Baghdad; its natives are called Ukbari or Ukbarawi, and include our Sheikh the
Imam
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...
of his time, Muhibb ud-Din Abul-Baqa Abdallah ibn al-Husayn an-Nahwi al-Ukbari, who died in Rabi I, 616 AH.
and quotes two brief epigrams about the town.
The biographical dictionary of
Ibn Khallikan
Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...
(thirteenth century) calls it:
:وهي بليدة على دجلة فوق بغداد بعشرة فراسخ خرج منها جماعة من العلماء وغيرهم
: ''a little town on the Tigris, 10 parasangs above Baghdad, from which a group of learned men and their like have emerged.''
See also
*
Uqbar
References
Sources
*
adh-Dhahabi
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, ''al-Ibar fi Khabar min al-Ghabar''
al-Waraq edition p. 193.
*
al-Muqaddasi
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Maqdisī ( ar, شَمْس ٱلدِّيْن أَبُو عَبْد ٱلله مُحَمَّد ابْن أَحْمَد ابْن أَبِي بَكْر ٱلْمَقْدِسِي), ...
, ''Ahsan ut-Taqasim fi Ma`rifati l-'Aqalim''
Al-Waraq edition p. 42.
*
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli''; Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, an ...
,
The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela', translated by Macus Nathan Adler, London 1907, p. 35.
*
Ibn Khallikan
Aḥmad bin Muḥammad bin Ibrāhīm bin Abū Bakr ibn Khallikān) ( ar, أحمد بن محمد بن إبراهيم بن أبي بكر ابن خلكان; 1211 – 1282), better known as Ibn Khallikān, was a 13th century Shafi'i Islamic scholar w ...
, ''Wafayat ul-'A`yan''
Al-Waraq edition p. 351.
*
Ibn Khordadhbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
, ''al-Masalik wal-Mamalik''
Al-Waraq edition pp. 14, 21, 56, 61.
* Kohler, Kaufmann and
Samuel Poznanski, ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' article o
Ishmael of Akbara* W. Schott
"Ocbara" and "Ocbari" in ed. Johann Samuel Ersch, Johann Gottfried Gruber, ''Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste'', Leipzig 1818.
* Singer, Isidore and Broydé, Isaac, ''
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
'' article on
Meshwi al-‘Ukbari
* — the ''
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
'' article
Okbara and Okbarites is simply a cross reference to their article "Meshwi al-‘Ukbari".
*
Yaqut al-Hamawi, ''Mu'jam al-Buldan''
Al-Waraq edition p. 1243
* ed. Ehsan Yarshater, ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, NY: Cambridge UP, 1983, pp. 757–760.
External links
A 1944 map showing Ukbaraby
Gertrude Bell
{{coord missing, Iraq
Former populated places in Iraq
Shapur I
Medieval Iraq