Qasr Ibn Hubayra () was a city of medieval

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, north of

Hillah Hillah ( ''al-Ḥillah''), also spelled Hilla, is a city in central Iraq. On the Hilla branch of the Euphrates River, it is south of Baghdad. The population was estimated to be about 455,700 in 2018. It is the capital of Babylon Province and is ...

and

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

History

The name ''Qasr Ibn Hubayrah'' means "the castle or palace of

Ibn Hubayra Ibn Hubayra () may refer to: * Umar ibn Hubayra (fl. 710s–720s), Umayyad general and governor of Iraq * Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra (died 750), Umayyad general and governor of Iraq, son of the above * Awn ad-Din ibn Hubayra Awn al-Din Abu'l-Mu ...

", referring to the city's founder,

Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra Yazid ibn Umar ibn Hubayra al-Fazari (; died 750) was the last Umayyad governor of Iraq. A son of former governor Umar ibn Hubayra, he became one of the most important partisans of Caliph Marwan II in the Third Fitna, but failed to stem the onsla ...

. He had been

governor of Iraq This is a list of governors of the Umayyad province of Iraq. Overview In medieval history, Iraq ( ') was the area comprising the lower parts of Mesopotamia, being roughly equivalent in size and shape to the ancient region of Babylonia. It was ...

in the late 740s, under the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

caliph

Marwan II Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan (; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 744 until his death. His reign was dominated by a Third Fitna, civil war, and he was the l ...

, but died before his palace was completed. It was located midway between

Kufa Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000. Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...

in the south and

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

in the north, close to the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

river and amidst the various channels that were used for carrying goods to the town's markets. The later geographer

Yaqut al-Hamawi Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) () was a Muslim scholar of Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his , an influential work on geography con ...

reports that the first Abbasid caliph,

al-Saffah Abu al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-ʿAbbās (‎; 721/722 – 8 June 754), known by his laqab, ''laqab'' al-Saffah (), was the first caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the longest and most impor ...

, oversaw its completion, then took up residence there. Al-Saffah named it al-Hashimiya after his ancestor, Hashim, but the name never achieved widespread use. The city thus reportedly served as the capital of the nascent

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

, before the construction of

. It is likely, however, that Yaqut confused his account with the report in

al-Baladhuri ʾAḥmad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Jābir al-Balādhurī () was a 9th-century West Asian historian. One of the eminent Middle Eastern historians of his age, he spent most of his life in Baghdad and enjoyed great influence at the court of the caliph al ...

that al-Saffah settled at Madinat Ibn Hubayra, another site, closer to Kufa, where Yazid also had begun construction, but had abandoned it at the orders of Marwan II. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Qasr Ibn Hubayra was the largest town on the road between Baghdad and

. It stood on a canal called the Nahr Abu Raha, or "the canal of the mill", which formed a loop off the side of the Nahr Sura.

Al-Muqaddasi Shams al-Din Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Abi Bakr, commonly known by the '' nisba'' al-Maqdisi or al-Muqaddasī, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of ''The Best Divisions in the Knowledge of the Regions'' and ''Description of Syri ...

noted that the city had a large population, with good markets and a large

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

population. The city's

Friday mosque A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.See: * * * * ...

was in the marketplace. By the early 1100s, however, Qasr Ibn Hubayra had been eclipsed by the rise of

to the south, and at some point fell into ruin. Its precise location is unknown, although

Guy Le Strange Guy Le Strange (24 July 1854 – 24 December 1933) was a British Orientalist noted especially for his work in the field of the historical geography of the pre-modern Middle Eastern and Eastern Islamic lands, and his editing of Persian geographic ...

posited that it was "doubtless one of the numerous ruins which lie a few miles due north of the great mounds of ancient

". McGuire Gibson located Qasr Ibn Hubayra somewhere in the vicinity of the present

Hindiya Barrage The Hindiya Barrage is a barrage on the Euphrates south of the town of Musayyib in Babil Governorate of Iraq. Located north of the Al-Hindiya District, it was designed by British civil engineer William Willcocks in response to the silting up of ...

References

Sources

* * * {{coord missing, Iraq 740s establishments History of Babylon Governorate Iraq under the Abbasid Caliphate Former populated places in Iraq