Qarghuyah or Qarquya was an important

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

administrator in the

Hamdanid Dynasty The Hamdanid dynasty () was a Shia Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled modern day Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib tribe of Mesopotamia and Arabia. History Origin The Hamdanids hailed ...

under

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...

, who would go on to control

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

himself and even sign the Treaty of Safar with the Byzantine Empire as the ruling

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

of Aleppo. On January 7, 965, Qarghuyah was appointed governor of Aleppo by Sayf al-Dawla, who had by that point retreated to Martyropolis, moving against an advancing

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 ...

army led by

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

. On October 29, 965, a rebel force led by the former secretary of Tarsus, Rashiq al-Nasimi, approached Aleppo while Sayf al-dawla was away from the city. After three months, he managed to capture a lower part of the town, but was killed in an attack on the citadel on January 8, 966. Sayf al-Dawla died on 8 February of 967 in Aleppo. He was succeeded by his son, Sa'd al-Dawla, who reached Aleppo on June/July 967. Around April 968, the same month the rebellion of Abu Firas failed, Qarghuyah convinced Sa'd al-Dawla to leave Aleppo. Following this, Qarghuyah seized power for himself but was immediately besieged by an unknown rival. Qarghuyah appealed to the nearby Byzantine general, Petros, for aid, who was then besieging

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

with Michael Bourtzes. Following the capture of Antioch on October 28, 969, Petros and Bourtzes made their way to Aleppo, defeating Qarghuyah's rival quickly. They then in turn besieged Aleppo from 14 December to 11 January, successfully defeating Qarghuyah and his defenders. Following the siege, Petros and Bourtzes forced Qarghuyah and his deputy, Bakjur, to sign the Treaty of Safar, which stipulated that Aleppo,

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

, and the whole "province" would pay tribute to Byzantium, while Qarghuyah would be guaranteed rule over Aleppo, and Bakjur would be designated as his successor. In 975, Bakjur deposed and imprisoned Qarghuyah and seized control of the emirate himself. Two years later, Sa'd al-Dawla returned to Aleppo after defeating Bakjur, whom he exiled to Homs, and restored Qarghuyah to his previous post as deputy. He died around April in 990 in Aleppo.

References

Sources

* * * * {{cite book, last=Kaldellis, first=Anthony, title=Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade, year=2017, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0190253226 990 deaths People from the Hamdanid emirate of Aleppo 10th-century Arab people Arab people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Year of birth unknown Sayf al-Dawla