Bājaddā was a small town in the
Balikh River
The Balikh River () is a perennial river that originates in the spring of Ain al-Arous near Tell Abyad in the Eastern Mediterranean conifer-sclerophyllous-broadleaf forests ecoregion. It flows due south and joins the Euphrates at the modern cit ...
valley inhabited during the early Islamic period.
It is identified with the present-day Khirbat al-Anbār, located a few kilometers south of the contemporary town of
Hisn Maslama.
Geography
The site measures 800x700 m in size and consists of a low mound with a flat top, which suggests that there was only one main building phase.
It has not been explored by archaeologists; the only monument visible from the surface is a large dome that may cover an underground
cistern
A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster.
Cisterns are disti ...
or well.
History
The name "Bajadda" is
Syriac, probably indicating a local Syriac-speaking population.
The town was the place of origin of the
Banu Taymiyya family of
Hanbali
The Hanbali school or Hanbalism is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence, belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It is named after and based on the teachings of the 9th-century scholar, jurist and tradit ...
scholars.
According to
Ahmad ibn al-Tayyib al-Sarakhsi, who visited the Balikh valley in 884-5, Bajadda had originally formed part of the Umayyad general
Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik
Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik (, in Greek sources , ''Masalmas''; – 24 December 738) was an Umayyad prince and one of the most prominent Arab generals of the early decades of the 8th century, leading several campaigns against the Byzantine Empire ...
's landed estates in the region.
Maslama then granted it to a lieutenant of his,
Usayd al-Sulamī, who built the small town up and fortified it with a wall.
Sarakhsi wrote that there was a spring in Bajadda that provided water for drinking and agriculture; this spring may be under the dome.
Bajadda was probably flourishing in the 880s when Sarakhsi visited.
Some possible 12th/13th-century pottery fragments have also been found at the site, indicating that the town may have still existed then.
See also
*
Hisn Maslama
*
Tall Mahra Tall Maḥrā was a small city of the central Balikh River valley, in what is now northern Syria, inhabited from the Hellenistic period until about the 13th century. It is identified with the 21-hectare tell now called Tall Shaykh Hasan, also roman ...
*
al-Jarud
*
Bajarwan (Syria)
References
{{Reflist
Former populated places in Syria
Syria under the Abbasid Caliphate
Medieval Upper Mesopotamia
Archaeological sites in Raqqa Governorate