Sulayman ibn Hisham
Encyclopedia
Sulayman ibn Hisham was an Arab general, the son of the Umayyad
Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
(r. 723–743). He is known for his participation in the expeditions against the Byzantine Empire
as well as his prominent role in the civil wars that occurred during the last years of the Umayyad Caliphate. Defeated by Marwan II
(r. 744–750), he fled to India, where he died.
-held Anatolia
in 732, and again in 735, 736 (this time into Armenia) and in 737, but on neither campaign does he seem to have accomplished anything of note. In 738 however, he sacked a Byzantine fortress called Sideroun ("Iron Fort") taking many prisoners, including its commander, Eustathios. In 740, he was placed in overall charge of the exceptionally large campaign prepared for that year, which according to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor
totalled 90,000 men. Two task forces were sent first, one of 10,000 lightly armed men under al-Ghamr ibn Yazid which was to raid the western coast of Anatolia, and 20,000 under Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Su'aib who followed after towards Akroinon. The main force of some 60,000 (the number is certainly much inflated), under Sulayman, raided Cappadocia
with Tyana
as their target. Sulayman failed to take the city, and returned home after plundering the countryside. The second task force however suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Akroinon
, losing some two thirds of its men, as well as its commanders.
In the next year, Sulayman again led the summer campaign, and was again unsuccessful: while his forces besieged a Byzantine fortress, a disease struck their camp. Exacerbated by lack of supplies, this disease caused much loss of life both among men and beasts, while the army also suffered many casualties from the Byzantines' attacks. So bad was the situation that the 10th-century Arab Christian historian Agapius
reports that many of Sulayman's soldiers even defected to the Byzantines and converted to Christianity. These failures were compounded by a Byzantine counter-attack shortly after which targeted Malatya
. The city was saved, although Hisham himself had to take the field with whatever forces he could assemble; nevertheless, this attack, the first after many years of Byzantine passivity, signalled the shifting balance of power in the region. In the same year, Sulayman received and carried out his father's orders to execute all Byzantine prisoners, after a false report reached the Caliph that the Byzantines had executed their own Muslim prisoners. In 742 however, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war between the usurper Artabasdos
and Constantine V
(r. 741–775), Sulayman led another raid which reached as far as Paphlagonia
undisturbed and took many prisoners.
took power. Walid, jealous of Sulayman's popularity, had him flogged and imprisoned, an act which aroused considerable opposition and cost Walid much of the initial good will that he had enjoyed at his accession. In spring 744, a coup in Damascus deposed Walid, who was absent from the capital and was killed soon after, and replaced him with Yazid III
. The Arabs of the region around Homs
, still loyal to Walid, rose up and marched on Damascus with the intention of installing as caliph a descendant of the Sufyanid branch of the Umayyad clan, Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, but they were defeated by a released Sulayman. The turmoil did not subside however: when Yazid died in September 744, the powerful and ambitious governor of northern Mesopotamia (Jazira
), Marwan ibn Muhammad
, rose up against his successor Ibrahim ibn al-Walid
, supported mostly by the Qaysis of the Jazira and northern Syria. Initially, Marwan did not claim the caliphate for himself, but proclaimed his intention to restore the throne to the two imprisoned sons of Walid II. Marwan's advance was met south of Baalbek by Sulayman with the Dhakwāniyya. This was his personal army, 5,000 or more strong, maintained from his own funds and estates but recruited mostly from the mawālī
(non-Arab Muslims). In the ensuing battle, Marwan was victorious. Sulayman retreated to Damascus, where he ordered the execution of Walid II's sons, and then fled, together with Ibrahim, to Palmyra
. Soon however they came before Marwan and surrendered themselves.
Marwan's accession to the Caliphate remained contested both in Syria and in southern Mesopotamia (Iraq). After crushing the Syrian revolt in 745, Marwan formed an army of Syrian troops to send into Iraq, but they rebelled on their way and accepted Sulayman as their leader. The rebel army took Qinnasrin
, but were soon after defeated by Marwan. Although much of his army survived and withdrew to Homs under the command of his brother Sa'id (where they were soon besieged by Marwan's forces), Sulayman fled from Homs to Palmyra and then to Kufa
. There he entered the service of al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani
, the leader of the Mesopotamian Kharijites
who, taking advantage of Marwan's preoccupation with the prolonged siege of Homs, had claimed the caliphate. After taking Homs in early 746 however, Marwan marched against Dahhak and defeated and killed him in battle at Kafartuta. The rebels then withdrew across the Tigris
upon Sulayman's advice, escaping destruction for the time being. In 747 however, Marwan and his lieutenant Yazid ibn Hubayra were able to defeat the Kharijite remnants and consolidate their control of Iraq, while the surviving prominent rebels fled east; Sulayman himself fled to India
along with Mansur ibn Jumhur, where he later died.
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik 10th Umayyad caliph who ruled from 723 until his death in 743. When he was born in 691 his mother named him after her father....
(r. 723–743). He is known for his participation in the expeditions against the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
as well as his prominent role in the civil wars that occurred during the last years of the Umayyad Caliphate. Defeated by Marwan II
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan or Marwan II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 744 until 750 when he was killed. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus.In A.H. 114 Caliph Hisham appointed Marwan governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In A.H...
(r. 744–750), he fled to India, where he died.
Wars against Byzantium
Sulayman is first attested as leading the northern summer expedition ("of the right") against ByzantineByzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
-held Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
in 732, and again in 735, 736 (this time into Armenia) and in 737, but on neither campaign does he seem to have accomplished anything of note. In 738 however, he sacked a Byzantine fortress called Sideroun ("Iron Fort") taking many prisoners, including its commander, Eustathios. In 740, he was placed in overall charge of the exceptionally large campaign prepared for that year, which according to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor
Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church .-Biography:Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac,...
totalled 90,000 men. Two task forces were sent first, one of 10,000 lightly armed men under al-Ghamr ibn Yazid which was to raid the western coast of Anatolia, and 20,000 under Abdallah al-Battal and al-Malik ibn Su'aib who followed after towards Akroinon. The main force of some 60,000 (the number is certainly much inflated), under Sulayman, raided Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
with Tyana
Tyana
Tyana or Tyanna was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern south-central Turkey. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom in the 1st millennium BC.-History:...
as their target. Sulayman failed to take the city, and returned home after plundering the countryside. The second task force however suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Akroinon
Battle of Akroinon
The Battle of Akroinon was fought at Akroinon or Akroinos in Phrygia, on the western edge of the Anatolian plateau, in 740 between an Umayyad Arab army and the Byzantine forces. The Arabs had been conducting regular raids into Anatolia for the past century, and the 740 expedition was the largest...
, losing some two thirds of its men, as well as its commanders.
In the next year, Sulayman again led the summer campaign, and was again unsuccessful: while his forces besieged a Byzantine fortress, a disease struck their camp. Exacerbated by lack of supplies, this disease caused much loss of life both among men and beasts, while the army also suffered many casualties from the Byzantines' attacks. So bad was the situation that the 10th-century Arab Christian historian Agapius
Agapius the historian
Agapius son of Constantine was a 10th century Arabic Christian writer, best known for his lengthy Kitab al-'Unwan . He was the Melkite bishop of Manbij .He was contemporary with the annalist Eutychius , also a Melchite...
reports that many of Sulayman's soldiers even defected to the Byzantines and converted to Christianity. These failures were compounded by a Byzantine counter-attack shortly after which targeted Malatya
Malatya
Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...
. The city was saved, although Hisham himself had to take the field with whatever forces he could assemble; nevertheless, this attack, the first after many years of Byzantine passivity, signalled the shifting balance of power in the region. In the same year, Sulayman received and carried out his father's orders to execute all Byzantine prisoners, after a false report reached the Caliph that the Byzantines had executed their own Muslim prisoners. In 742 however, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war between the usurper Artabasdos
Artabasdos
Artavasdos, Latinized as Artabasdos or Artabasdus , was Byzantine Emperor of Armenian descent from June 741 or 742 until November 743...
and Constantine V
Constantine V
Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:...
(r. 741–775), Sulayman led another raid which reached as far as Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...
undisturbed and took many prisoners.
Civil wars
In 743, Hisham died, and Sulayman's cousin al-Walid IIAl-Walid II
Walid ibn Yazid or Walid II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 743 until 744. He succeeded his uncle, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik....
took power. Walid, jealous of Sulayman's popularity, had him flogged and imprisoned, an act which aroused considerable opposition and cost Walid much of the initial good will that he had enjoyed at his accession. In spring 744, a coup in Damascus deposed Walid, who was absent from the capital and was killed soon after, and replaced him with Yazid III
Yazid III
Yazid ibn al-Walid ibn 'Abd al-Malik or Yazid III was an Umayyad caliph. He reigned for six months, from April 15 to October 3 or 4, 744; and died in that office....
. The Arabs of the region around Homs
Homs
Homs , previously known as Emesa , is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is above sea level and is located north of Damascus...
, still loyal to Walid, rose up and marched on Damascus with the intention of installing as caliph a descendant of the Sufyanid branch of the Umayyad clan, Abu Muhammad al-Sufyani, but they were defeated by a released Sulayman. The turmoil did not subside however: when Yazid died in September 744, the powerful and ambitious governor of northern Mesopotamia (Jazira
Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq and northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey which is known by the traditional Arabic name of Al-Jazira , variously transliterated into Roman script as Djazirah, Djezirah and Jazirah...
), Marwan ibn Muhammad
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan or Marwan II was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 744 until 750 when he was killed. He was the last Umayyad ruler to rule from Damascus.In A.H. 114 Caliph Hisham appointed Marwan governor of Armenia and Azerbaijan. In A.H...
, rose up against his successor Ibrahim ibn al-Walid
Ibrahim ibn al-Walid
Ibrahim ibn Al-Walid was an Umayyad caliph. He only ruled for a short time in 744 before he abdicated, and went into hiding out of fear of his political opponents. The shortness of this time and his incomplete acceptance led Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari to state that he did not succeed in...
, supported mostly by the Qaysis of the Jazira and northern Syria. Initially, Marwan did not claim the caliphate for himself, but proclaimed his intention to restore the throne to the two imprisoned sons of Walid II. Marwan's advance was met south of Baalbek by Sulayman with the Dhakwāniyya. This was his personal army, 5,000 or more strong, maintained from his own funds and estates but recruited mostly from the mawālī
Mawali
Mawali or mawālá is a term in Classical Arabic used to address non-Arab Muslims.The term gained prominence in the centuries following the early Arab Muslim conquests in the 7th century, as many non-Arabs such as Persians, Egyptians, and Turks converted to Islam...
(non-Arab Muslims). In the ensuing battle, Marwan was victorious. Sulayman retreated to Damascus, where he ordered the execution of Walid II's sons, and then fled, together with Ibrahim, to Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
. Soon however they came before Marwan and surrendered themselves.
Marwan's accession to the Caliphate remained contested both in Syria and in southern Mesopotamia (Iraq). After crushing the Syrian revolt in 745, Marwan formed an army of Syrian troops to send into Iraq, but they rebelled on their way and accepted Sulayman as their leader. The rebel army took Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin
Qinnasrin , was a historical town in northern Syria. It gained fame as an important religious and cultural centre of Syriac Christians before the coming of Islamic conquests....
, but were soon after defeated by Marwan. Although much of his army survived and withdrew to Homs under the command of his brother Sa'id (where they were soon besieged by Marwan's forces), Sulayman fled from Homs to Palmyra and then to Kufa
Kufa
Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....
. There he entered the service of al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani
Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani
Al-Dahhak ibn Qays al-Shaybani was the leader of a widespread but unsuccessful Kharijite rebellion in Iraq against the Umayyad Caliph Marwan II from 745 until his death in battle in 746....
, the leader of the Mesopotamian Kharijites
Kharijites
Kharijites is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the authority of the final Rashidun Caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib, the son-in-law and cousin of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, then later rejected his leadership...
who, taking advantage of Marwan's preoccupation with the prolonged siege of Homs, had claimed the caliphate. After taking Homs in early 746 however, Marwan marched against Dahhak and defeated and killed him in battle at Kafartuta. The rebels then withdrew across the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
upon Sulayman's advice, escaping destruction for the time being. In 747 however, Marwan and his lieutenant Yazid ibn Hubayra were able to defeat the Kharijite remnants and consolidate their control of Iraq, while the surviving prominent rebels fled east; Sulayman himself fled to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
along with Mansur ibn Jumhur, where he later died.