''Jund Dimashq'' () was the largest of the sub-provinces (''ajnad'', sing. '' jund''), into which

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

was divided 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 ...

and

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

dynasties. It was named after its capital and largest city,

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

("Dimashq"), which in the Umayyad period was also the capital of the

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Geography and administrative division

Unlike any other province of the

was divided by the early Umayyads into several (originally four, later five) sub-provinces or ''ajnad'' (singular '' jund'', "army division"), which in their original inception were the areas from which a particular army division drew its pay, provisions and recruits. The province of

, ''jund Dimashq'', was the largest of the ''ajnad'', comprising most of central Syria. Its borders encompassed roughly the former

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

provinces of Phoenice Prima, Phoenice Libanensis, and

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. Later Arab geographers divide the ''jund'' of Damascus into the following districts: the Ghuta plain around Damascus, known as the "Garden Land" for its fertility; the Hawran and Bathaniyya, with Adra'a as capital; Jawlan; Jaydur (mentioned only by

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 ...

);

Hula Hula () is a Hawaiian dance form expressing chant (''oli'') or song (Mele (Hawaiian language), ''mele''). It was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Native Hawaiians who settled there. The hula dramatizes or portrays the words of the oli ...

; Balqa; al-Sharah, with capital at Adhruh, sometimes recorded as belonging to '' Jund Filastin''; and al-Jibal. Other principal towns and cities were

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

, Tyre (the tax proceeds of which went to '' Jund al-Urdunn''), Tripoli and Jubail along the coast. The coastal cities and their immediate surroundings formed their own small districts. In its tribal make-up, the '' jund'' of Damascus was chiefly Yamani, but with a sizeable minority of Qaysi tribes. The annual tax proceeds of the province totalled 450,000 gold dinars according to Ya'qubi, 400,000 according to

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 ...

, and 420,000 according to al-Jahshiyari; Qudama ibn Ja'far gives the low number of 110,000 dinars, but this probably reflects the effects of the civil war of the Fourth Fitna. In terms of troops, under the Caliph al-Walid I (r. 705–715), 45,000 men were in the rolls for the ''jund'' of Damascus, although presumably not all of them were effectives.

Governors

Umayyad period

* Dahhak ibn Qays al-Fihri (661–680; governed under Caliph

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–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 death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

) * Abd al-Rahman ibn Umm al-Hakam al-Thaqafi (undetermined period in 685–705 during the rule of Caliph Abd al-Malik) * Abd al-Aziz ibn al-Walid (undetermined period in 705–715 during the rule of his father Caliph al-Walid I) * Muhammad ibn Suwayd ibn Kulthum al-Fihri (715–720; a kinsman of Dahhak ibn Qays; governed under Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik and continued under Caliph Umar II for an undetermined period) * Dahhak ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Ash'ari (undetermined period in 717–720; governed under Umar II) * Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri (undetermined period in 720–724; governed under Caliph Yazid II) * Walid ibn Talid al-Murri (undetermined period in 720–732; governed under Yazid II and continued in office under Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik until being reassigned by the latter to

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

in 732) * Hakam ibn Walid ibn Yazid ibn Abd al-Malik (743–744; governed under his father Caliph al-Walid II) ** Abd al-Samad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hajjaj (743–744; a grandson of al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, governed as Hakam ibn Walid's lieutenant)

References

Sources

* * * * * {{coord missing, Syria Medieval Damascus Subdivisions of the Abbasid Caliphate Syria under the Umayyad Caliphate Military history of the Umayyad Caliphate States and territories established in the 7th century