Sayf al-Dawla Reference library
Alexander Kazhdan
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
... al-Dawla , Ḥamdānid lord of Aleppo; born June 916 , died Aleppo 25 Jan. 967 . After asserting his power over Aleppo and Damascus and failing in his advance against Egypt, Sayf al-Dawla concentrated his efforts on invasions of Byz. His first raid in 936 proved a failure, and his war against John Kourkouas had varied success: in 938 Sayf al-Dawla advanced into Byz. territory and seized enormous booty, and the next year he attempted to conquer Armenia, but in the 940s Kourkouas began a successful offensive. Kourkouas's replacement by a certain ...
Sayf al-Dawla
Abū Firās
Tzamandos
al- Mutanabbī
John Kourkouas
Romanos II
Leo Phokas
Basil the Nothos
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos
Ḥamdānids
Ḥamdānids Quick reference
A Dictionary of Arabic Literary Terms and Devices
..., one based in Mosul and the other in Aleppo, which traced their lineage back to Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith. The towering figure of the Aleppo branch was the prince Sayf al-Dawla (r. 336–56 / 947–67 ), the subject of many panegyrics by al-Mutanabbī (d. 354 / 965 ). These are called the Sayfiyyāt . Other poets patronized by Sayf al-Dawla include Abū Firās al-Ḥamdānī (d. 357 / 968 ), who was famous for his hunting poems or ṭardiyyāt , and al-Ṣanawbarī (d. 334 / 945 or 946 ), who composed many flower poems or zahriyyāt as well as poems...
Ḥamdānids Reference library
Walter Emil Kaegi
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...under Nāṣir al-Dawla extended power over most of upper Mesopotamia. Nāṣir was succeeded by his son Abū Taghlib , who resisted Byz. attack in 972 but infuriated John Tzimiskes by capturing the domestikos Melias , who died in captivity. In 976 Abū Taghlib supported the rebellion of Bardas Skleros . The Ḥamdānid dynasty at Aleppo began in 944 under Sayf al-Dawla . Many Ḥamdānids left Aleppo because of the Byz. threat. The Ḥamdānids were forced to maneuver between Fāṭimids , Buwayhids, and Byz. Saʿd al-Dawla , the son of Sayf al-Dawla, massacred...
khuṭba Quick reference
A Dictionary of Arabic Literary Terms and Devices
...specifically a sermon delivered at the mosque on Friday or during a religious festival. Ibn Nubāta al-Khaṭīb (d. 374 / 984 or 985 ), the khaṭīb of Aleppo during the reign of the Ḥamdānid ruler Sayf al-Dawla, authored a collection of sermons which circulated widely, with commentaries by ˁAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (d. 629 / 1231 ) and al-Qalyūbī (d. 1069 / 1659 ). Many were composed in rhymed prose or sajˁ . Also worthy of mention is the Nahj al-balāgha , a collection of khuṭba s and sayings attributed to ˁAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40 / 660 ). ...
Abū Firās Reference library
Ahmad M. H. Shboul
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...from an alleged earlier imprisonment. While governor of Manbij, he was killed during his unsuccessful revolt against Sayf al-Dawla's son. As poet-warrior Abū Firās reflected the ideal of Arab chivalry and sincerity; spontaneity and verve characterize his poetry. He is most esteemed for his Byzantine Poems ( Rūmiyyāt ) composed during his captivity, expressing defiance in adversity, yearning for loved ones, and reproach to Sayf al-Dawla for delay in ransoming him. His poems, often with his own illuminating historical notes, provide important information...
Mutanabbī, al- Reference library
Ahmad M. H. Shboul
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...al- , more fully Abū-al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mutanabbī , Arab poet and warrior; born Kūfa 915, died Iraq 965. He joined the entourage of Sayf al-Dawla at Aleppo from 948 to 957 , and accompanied the ḥamdānid ruler on most expeditions, including the almost annual campaigns into Byz. territory between 950 and 957. Thereafter, court intrigue forced him to leave Aleppo, and his unfulfilled ambition to become governor of some province led him to the courts of Egypt and Persia. He was killed by marauders on his way to Baghdad. His odes on Sayf...
Tzamandos Reference library
Clive F. W. Foss
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...appears in the historical sources in 908 when Melias built its fortress in a region that had been a noman's land between Byz. and the Arabs. It became a bishopric (attested only in the 10th C.) and a kleisoura in the theme of Lykandos . After surviving the attacks of Sayf al-Dawla , Tzamandos was colonized by Jacobite Syrians who established their own bishopric (ca. 955 – 1180 ). It willingly joined the revolt of Bardas Skleros in 976 . Tzamandos was given to David , son of Senacherim Arcruni , in 1022 , and to Gagik of Kars in 1065 ; it then...
Kourkouas, John Reference library
Alexander Kazhdan
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...946 . After serving as droungarios tes viglas , he was promoted ca. 921 to the post of domestikos ton scholon and sent to subdue the rebellion in Chaldia ( Adontz , Études 217f). From 926 on Kourkouas fought on the eastern frontier; despite several defeats, mostly by Sayf al-Dawla , he managed to seize Melitene ( 19 May 934 ). His invasion of Mesopotamia in 942/3 led to the siege of Edessa in 944 . This siege had enormous political and religious significance, since Kourkouas received the mandylion in Edessa and sent it to Constantinople....
Anzitene Reference library
Clive F. W. Foss
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...to the more protected hills to the north. The object of frequent Byz. attacks, Anzitene was reconquered by 950 and assigned to the theme of Mesopotamia . Anzitene, whose centers were at Arsamosata and Charpete , is best known from the narrative of the campaign of Sayf al-Dawla in 956 and from the surveys and excavations at Asvan and the Keban region that have revealed many details of local conditions in the Byz. period, which here ended after the battle of Mantzikert in 1071 . J. Howard-Johnston , Byzantine Anzitene, in Armies and Frontiers...
Romanos II Reference library
Alexander Kazhdan
The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
...and soldiers' holdings rather than the poor person who was forced to sell his property for an unfair price ( Kazhdan , Derevnja i gorod 409f). Under Romanos, Nikephoros Phokas led a successful offensive against the Arabs: he reconquered Crete in 960/1 , defeated Sayf al-Dawla , recaptured Germanikeia, and besieged Aleppo. lit . Schlumberger , Phocas 1–308. Lemerle , Agr. Hist. 98–100, 126–28. Alexander...
