Khaydhar ibn Kawus al-Afshin
Khaydhar ibn Kawus | |
---|---|
General |
Ḥaydar ibn Kāwūs (
Name and family background
At the time of the first
Afshin is generally considered an Iranian,[1][6][7][8][9][10] and although two classical sources (and some modern authors) have called him a Turk.[10][11] He came from an Iranian cultural region[1][10] and was not usually considered Turkish.[10] The confusion comes from the fact that the term “Turk” was used loosely by Arab writers of the time to denote the new troops of the caliph despite the inclusion among them of some elements of Iranian origin, including Ferghana and Oshrusana.[10][12][13]
His background has been stated to be
Early years
According to Yaqubi, during the reign of the third Abbasid caliph
According to most of the sources, al-Ma'mun's heir,
Afshin and Babak
In 835, Caliph
After a fierce resistance by Babak's army, Afshin eventually defeated it and captured
Amorium campaign
In 838, al-Mu'tasim decided to launch a major punitive expedition against Byzantium, aiming to capture the two major Byzantine cities of central
In mid-June 838, Afshin crossed the
The caliph's vanguard under Ashinas reached Ancyra, which had been abandoned by its inhabitants, on 26 July. Afshin arrived there a few days later, and united with the main Abbasid army, which now turned south towards Amorium. Afshin commanded the rear guard, while Ashinas was once again in front, and the caliph in the middle. Looting the countryside as they advanced, they arrived before Amorium seven days after their departure from Ancyra, and began their siege of the city on 1 August.[25][26]
The city's fortifications were strong, with a wide moat and a thick wall protected by 44 towers, according to the contemporary geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, and the caliph assigned each of his generals to a stretch of the walls. Both besiegers and besieged had many siege engines, and for three days both sides exchanged missile fire while Arab sappers tried to undermine the walls. According to Arab accounts, an Arab prisoner who had converted to Christianity defected back to the caliph, and informed him about a place in the wall which had been badly damaged by heavy rainfall and only hastily and superficially repaired due to the city commander's negligence. As a result, the Arabs concentrated their efforts on this section. The defenders tried to protect the wall by hanging wooden beams to absorb the shock, but they splintered, and after two days a breach was made. The Arabs now launched repeated attacks on the breach, with Afshin, Ashinas, and Itakh taking turns in leading their men in attack, but the defenders held firm.[27][28][29] In the event, the city fell by treachery in mid-August, when the Byzantine officer commanding the breach tried to open up separate negotiations with al-Mu'tasim, and the Abbasids used the lull in order to launch a surprise attack.[30][31][32]
Downfall
Despite his successes, Afshin's star began to decline, apparently as a result of his jealousy towards
Mazyar participated in the interrogation of the former general, asserting that Afshin had conspired with him. Others present raised additional questions concerning the sincerity of Afshin's conversion to Islam from Zoroastrianism. He said There is no God but God! to Al Wathiq.[33][34] Afshin had answers to all the allegations. He claimed that Zoroastrian artefacts and books in his possession were family heirlooms from before he had become Muslim. He explained that when he punished a pair of Muslim fanatics destroying idols in Ushrusanah he was exercising reasonable leadership aimed at maintaining the harmony of his religiously diverse territory. He told his detractors that the formulaic address his people used in writing to him in Persian as "lord of lords", was simply a tradition and did not invalidate his personal belief in one God.[35][36][37]
All such replies were unsuccessful. Al-Mu'tasim had a special prison built for Afshin. It was known as "The Pearl" and was in the shape of a minaret. There he spent the final nine months of his life and there he died in May–June 841.
The Tigris river was used as a dumping ground for his cremated remains.[38][39] A single location was used for the crucifixion of Afshin, Maziyar, and Babak's corpses.[14]
After his death Ustrushana was Islamified whereas before he preserved temples from ruin.[40]
See also
- Islamic conquest of Persia
- Islamization of Iran
- Babak Khorramdin
- Babak Castle
- Mazyar
References
- ^ a b c d C. Edmund Bosworth(2005), "OSRUŠANA" in Encyclopædia Iranica. Accessed November 2010 [1] "At the time of the Arab incursions into Transoxania, Osrušana had its own line of Iranian princes, the Afšins (Ebn Ḵordāḏbeh, p. 40), of whom the most famous was the general of the caliph Moʿtaṣem (q.v. 833-42), the Afšin Ḵayḏar or Ḥaydar b. Kāvus (d. 841; see AFŠIN)", "The region was little urbanized, and it long preserved its ancient Iranian feudal and patriarchal society. "
- ^ a b c d e f C.E. Bosworth. "Afshin". Encyclopedia Iranica.
During the reign of the caliph Mahdi (158-69/775-85) the Afshin of Oshrusana is mentioned among several Iranian and Turkish rulers of Transoxania and the Central Asian steppes who submitted nominally to him (Yaqubi, II, p. 479)
- ^ Bahramian, Ali; Negahban, Farzin. "Afshīn" Encyclopaedia Islamica. Editors-in-Chief: Wilferd Madelung and, Farhad Daftary. Brill Online, 2014. 15 September 2014
- ^ V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian history, Cambridge University Press, 1957, (footnote on page 111).
- ^ Kramers, J.H. "Usrūshana." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007
- ^ Lewis,Bernard. "The Political Language of Islam", Published by University of Chicago Press, 1991. excerpt from pg 482: "Babak's Iranianizing Rebellion in Azerbaijan gave occasion for sentiments at the capital to harden against men who were sympathetic to the more explicitly Iranian tradition. Victor (837) over Babak was al-Afshin, who was the hereditary Persian ruler of a district beyond the Oxus, but also a masterful general for the caliph."
- ISBN 978-0-7914-0493-5
- ^ P.B. Golden, "Khazar Turkic Ghulams in Caliphal Service", Journial Asiatique, 2004, vol. 292. pg 292:Some of the soldiers were slaves, others, such as al-Afshin, the scion of a ruling Central Asian (Ustrushana/Ushrusana) Iranian family, clearly were not".
- ^ Mottahedeh, Roy, "The Abbassid Caliphate in Iran", Cambridge History of Iran, IV, ed. R.N. Frye, 57-89. 1975 pg 75:" Al Mu'atism chose for this task the Afshin, the Iranian king of Ushrusuna".
- ^ a b c d e D. Pipes. Turks in Early Muslim Service — JTS, 1978, 2, 85—96. excerpt:"Although two classical sources claim him a Turk, he came from Farghana, an Iranian cultural region and was not usually considered Turkish"
- ^ Sourdel, D. "The Abbasid Caliphate." Pages 104-39 in P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis (eds.), The Cambridge History of Islam, I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Quote from Pg 125: "and finally of Mazyar, a local chieftain of Tabaristan, against whom the caliph sent the Turkish general Afshin, the conqueror of Babak"
- ^ M.A. Shaban, “Islamic History”, Cambridge University Press, v.2 1978. Page 63:"These new troops were the so-called “Turks”. It must be said without hesitation that this is the most misleading misnomer which has led some scholars to harp ad nauseam on utterly unfounded interpretation of the following era, during which they unreasonably ascribe all events to Turkish domination. In fact the great majority of these troops were not Turks. It has been frequently pointed out that Arabic sources use the term Turk in a very loose manner. The Hephthalites are referred to as Turks, so are the peoples of Gurgan, Khwarizm and Sistan. Indeed, with the exception of the Soghdians, Arabic sources refer to all peoples not subjects of the Sassanian empire as Turks. In Samarra separate quarters were provided for new recruits from every locality. The group from Farghana were called after their district, and the name continued in usage because it was easy to pronounce. But such groups as the Ishtakhanjiyya, the Isbijabbiya and groups from similar localities who were in small numbers at first, were lumped together under the general term Turks, because of the obvious difficulties the Arabs had in pronouncing such foreign names. The Khazars who also came from small localities which could not even be identified, as they were mostly nomads, were perhaps the only group that deserved to be called Turks on the ground of racial affinity. However, other groups from Transcaucasia were classed together with the Khazars under the general description."
- ^ ʻUthmān Sayyid Aḥmad Ismāʻīl Bīlī, "Prelude to the Generals", Published by Garnet & Ithaca Press, 2001. pg 47:"The name Turk was given to all these troops, despite the inclusion amongst them of some elements of Iranian origin, Ferghana, Ushrusana, and Shash – places were in fact the centers were the slave material was collected together....Judging from the specific names of their origin, Soghd, Farghana, Urshusuna, Shahs, the majority of them might have been of Iranian origin"
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8156-0195-1.
- ^ whose name, by inference from Tabari, III, p. 1066, was something like Kharākana; according to Gardīzī led. Habibi, p. 130
- ^ Encyclopedia Iranica, "Babak Khorrami" by G.H. Yusofi Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 92-3-103467-7.
- S2CID 161234960.
Among the prisoners captured by Bogha al-Kabir in 854, John Catholicos and Tovma Arcruni mention three Albanian princes: Atrnerseh, lord of Khachen, Sahl ibn-Sunbat, lord of Shake, Esay Abu Musa, lord of Ktish in Artsakh.
- ^ Whittow 1996, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Treadgold 1997, pp. 437–440.
- ^ a b c Treadgold 1997, p. 441.
- ^ Haldon 2001, pp. 78, 80.
- ^ a b c d Haldon 2001, p. 80.
- ^ Haldon 2001, pp. 80, 82.
- ^ Bury 1912, pp. 266–267.
- ^ Vasiliev 1935, pp. 152–154, 158–161.
- ^ Bury 1912, pp. 267–268.
- ^ Vasiliev 1935, pp. 161–167.
- ^ Treadgold 1988, p. 302.
- ^ Bury 1912, pp. 268–270.
- ^ Treadgold 1988, pp. 302–303.
- ^ Vasiliev 1935, pp. 167–170.
- ISBN 978-0-19-501571-3.
- ^ William Hardy McNeill; Jean W. Sedlar (1977). Readings in World History. p. 148.
- ^ Tabari v. 33, p. 187f.
- ISBN 978-0-19-501571-3.
- ^ William Hardy McNeill; Jean W. Sedlar (1977). Readings in World History. p. 144.
- ISBN 978-0-19-501571-3.
- ^ William Hardy McNeill; Jean W. Sedlar (1977). Readings in World History. p. 150.
- ISBN 978-0-520-03765-6.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-88706-058-8.
- Bury, John Bagnell (1912). A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I (A.D. 802–867). London: Macmillan and Company.
- Haldon, John (2001). The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-1795-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8047-1462-4.
- ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
- Vasiliev, A. A. (1935). Byzance et les Arabes, Tome I: La Dynastie d'Amorium (820–867) (in French). French ed.: Henri Grégoire, Marius Canard. Brussels: Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales.
- ISBN 978-0-520-20496-6.
- C. E. Bosworth,"Afshin", Encyclopedia Iranica
- John Bagot Glubb, The Empire of the Arabs, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1963
- E. de la Vaissière, Samarcande et Samarra. Elites d'Asie centrale dans l'empire Abbasside, Peeters, 2007 [2] Archived 2019-08-16 at the Wayback Machine