The Hamdanid dynasty () was a

Shia Muslim Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

Arab dynasty that ruled modern day Northern Mesopotamia and

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 ...

(890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib tribe of Mesopotamia 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 ...

History

Origin

The Hamdanids hailed from Arab Taghlib tribe, and are descendants of Adi ibn Usama al-Taghlibi. They're sometimes called Adawis or Taghlibis in historical sources.

Hamdanid emirate of Jazirah and Aleppo

The Hamdanid dynasty was founded by Hamdan ibn Hamdun. By 892–893, he was in possession of

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

, after fighting the Kharijites of the

Jazira Jazira, al-Jazira, Jazeera, al-Jazeera, etc. are all transcriptions of Arabic language, Arabic meaning "the island" or "the peninsula". The term may refer to: Business *Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait Locations * Al-Jazir ...

. In 895, Caliph al-Mutadid invaded and Hamdan fled Mardin. Hamdan's son, Husayn, who was at Ardumusht, joined the caliph's forces. Hamdan later surrendered to the caliph and was imprisoned. In December 908, Husayn conspired to establish Ibn al-Mu'tazz as Caliph. Having failed, Husayn fled until he asked for mediation through his brother Ibrahim. Upon his return, he was made governor of Diyar Rabi'a. In 916, Husayn, due to a disagreement with vizier Ali b. Isa, revolted, was captured, imprisoned, and executed in 918. Hamdan's other son, Abdallah, was made governor of Mosul in 905–906. He conducted campaigns against the Kurds in that region and in 913–914, was dismissed from his post and subsequently revolted. Abdallah submitted himself to Mu'nis, and with his pardon was made governor of Mosul in 914–915. During his brother Husayn's revolt, both he and his brother Ibrahim were temporarily imprisoned. By 919, Abdallah was commanding an army against Yusuf b. Abi l'Sadj, governor of Adharbaydjan and Armenia. During their rule the Hamdanids intermarried with Kurdish dignitaries. The rule of Hassan Nasir al-Dawla (929–968), governor of Mosul and Diyar Bakr, was sufficiently tyrannical to cause him to be deposed by his own family. His lineage still ruled in

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 ...

, a heavy defeat by the Buyids in 979 notwithstanding, until 990. After this, their area of control in northern Iraq was divided between the Uqaylids and the Marwanids. Ali Sayf al-Dawla 'Sword of the Dynasty' ruled (945–967) northern Syria from Aleppo, and became the most important opponent of the Christian

Byzantine Empire 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 History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

's re-expansion. His court was a centre of culture, thanks to its nurturing of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

, but it lost this status after the Byzantine sacking of

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 ...

. To stop the Byzantine advance, Aleppo was put under the suzerainty of the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, but in 1003 the Fatimids deposed the Hamdanids.

Hamdanid rulers

Hamdanids in Al-Jazira # Hamdan ibn Hamdun # al-Husayn ibn Hamdan (895–916) # Abdallah ibn Hamdan (906–929) # Nasir al-Dawla (929–967) # Abu Taghlib (967–978) # Directly administered as part of the Buyid-controlled

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 ...

, 979–981 #

Abu Tahir Ibrahim ibn Nasir al-Dawla Abu Tahir Ibrahim ibn Nasir al-Dawla was a Hamdanid prince, who along with his brother Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla, al-Husayn was the last Hamdanid ruler of Mosul in 989–990. After his defeat at the hand of the Marwanid Kurds, he wa ...

(989–990) # Abu Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Nasir al-Dawla (989–990) # Deposed by the Uqaylid chieftain Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab Hamdanids in Aleppo # Sayf al-Dawla (945–967) # Sa'd al-Dawla (967–991) # Sa'id al-Dawla (991–1002) # Deposed by the ''ghulam'' Lu'lu' al-Kabir

References

Sources

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