Al-Ubulla (), called Apologou () by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

east of

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

in present-day

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 ...

. In the medieval period, it served as Iraq's principal commercial port for trade with India.

Location

Al-Ubulla was situated on the right bank of 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 ...

–

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern 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 Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

estuary at the opening into the

. It was located to the east of old

and lay on the northern side of the eponymous canal, the Nahr al-Ubulla, which connected Basra southeastwards to the Tigris river,

Abadan Abadan (; ) is a city in the Central District (Abadan County), Central District of Abadan County, Khuzestan province, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. The city is in the southwest of the coun ...

(in modern Iran) and ultimately to the Persian Gulf. The 'Ashar neighborhood of modern Basra currently occupies the site of al-Ubulla.

History

Al-Ubulla is identified with the ancient city of Apologou mentioned in the Greek manuscript ''

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and Roman commerce, trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports lik ...

''. The city dates at least to the

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

era (3rd–7th centuries CE), and possibly before. According to the 10th-century chronicler

Eutychius of Alexandria Eutychius of Alexandria (Arabic: ''Sa'id ibn Batriq'' or ''Bitriq''; 10 September 877 – 12 May 940) was the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria. He is known for being one of the first Christian Egyptian writers to use the Arabic language. His writi ...

, it was founded by the Sasanian emperor

Ardashir I Ardashir I (), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire, the last empire of ancient Iran. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new empire. After defeating the last Par ...

(). Toward the end of the Sasanian period, it typically formed part of the territories of the Empire's

al-Hira Al-Hira ( Middle Persian: ''Hērt'' ) was an ancient Lakhmid Arabic city in Mesopotamia located south of what is now Kufa in south-central Iraq. The Sasanian government established the Lakhmid state (Al-Hirah) on the edge of the Arabian Desert ...

-based

Lakhmid The Lakhmid kingdom ( ), also referred to as al-Manādhirah () or as Banū Lakhm (), was an Arab kingdom that was founded and ruled by the Lakhmid dynasty from to 602. Spanning Eastern Arabia and Sawad, Southern Mesopotamia, it existed as a d ...

vassals. During the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

in the 630s, al-Ubulla was conquered by the Arab forces of

Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini () (–638) was a well-known companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was the seventh person to convert to Islam and participated in the ''Hijra (Islam), hijra'' to Ethiopia, Abyssinia, but returned to stay with Muh ...

after the defeat of its 500-man Sasanian garrison. In fact the stubborn port city had to be conquered in two separate occasions by ʿUtba b. Ghazwān.Heba al-Zuraiqi & Irsan Ramini, “The Muslim Conquest of the City of al-Ubulla” in the Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2020), 173-184. In a letter attributed to Utba, he describes the city as the "port of al-Bahrayn (eastern Arabia),

Uman Uman (, , ) is a city in Cherkasy Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the east of the historical region of Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River. Uman serves as the administrative c ...

, al-Hind (India) and al-Sin (China)". Following the foundation of the Arab garrison town of Basra further inland, al-Ubulla declined in strategic importance but remained a major trade port until the

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

. As indicated by the medieval Arabic geographers, al-Ubulla continued to be a large town, more populous than Basra, throughout the

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 ...

era (750–1258).

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 ...

praised the city and

Ibn Hawqal Muḥammad Abū’l-Qāsim Ibn Ḥawqal (), also known as Abū al-Qāsim b. ʻAlī Ibn Ḥawqal al-Naṣībī, born in Nisibis, Al-Jazira (caliphal province), Upper Mesopotamia; was a 10th-century Arab Muslim writer, geographer, and chronic ...

describes the border lands of the Nahr al-Ubulla as a single extensive garden. Al-Ubulla supplied Basra with fresh water and was noted for its linens and shipbuilding. In 942, the governor of Uman captured the city on his way to Basra during his conflict with its strongman Abu'l-Husayn al-Baridi and his brother

Abu Abdallah al-Baridi Abu Abdallah al-Hasan al-Baridi (; ) was the most prominent of the Baridi family, Iraqi tax officials who used the enormous wealth gained from tax farming to vie for control of the rump Abbasid Caliphate in the 930s and 940s. In this contest Abu ...

. According to the historian J. H. Kramers, the events of its occupation demonstrate its weakness as "a bulwark for that city asra. The 13th-century Mongol invasions brought about a decline of several places in this part of Iraq, including al-Ubulla. The 14th-century traveler

Ibn Batuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebis, Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his ...

described it as a mere village and around this time it disappeared from the historical record.

References

Bibliography

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Location

History

References

Bibliography

Further reading