Ukbara
Encyclopedia
‘Ukbarâ was a medieval city on the left bank of 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:...
between Samarra
Samarra
Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
and Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The Tigris has changed course since, and its ruins now lie some distance from the river. Its name may possibly have inspired the "Uqbar
Uqbar
Uqbar is a fictional place in Jorge Luis Borges's 1940 short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius". Uqbar in the story is doubly fictional: even within the world of the story it turns out to be a fictional place. The story turns on the narrator's discovery of a fictitious entry about Uqbar: that is, a...
" of Borges' short story Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" is a short story by the 20th century Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The story was first published in the Argentine journal Sur, May 1940. The "postscript" dated 1947 is intended to be anachronistic, set seven years in the future...
.
According to the Cambridge History of Iran vol. 3 (2), pp. 757–760, it was refounded by Shapur I
Shapur I
Shapur I or also known as Shapur I the Great was the second Sassanid King of the Second Persian Empire. The dates of his reign are commonly given as 240/42 - 270/72, but it is likely that he also reigned as co-regent prior to his father's death in 242 .-Early years:Shapur was the son of Ardashir I...
under the name of Vuzurg-Shapur (3rd century CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
) and settled with Roman captives http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Post/150913&authorid=90. According to adh-Dhahabi, the Buwayhid
Buwayhid
The Buyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman in Gilan...
Sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
Jalal ad-Dawla fled there in 1031 to escape a slave revolt.
Famous native sons include:
- the great Islamic grammarian, philologist, and religious scholar Abul-Baqa Al-‘Ukbarî (ca. 1143-1219), author of some 60 works, many of them recently reprinted;
- Ibn Makula, author of an early dictionary of names, born Sha'ban 5, 421 AH
- Sheikh al-MufidAl-MufidAbu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man al-'Ukbari al-Baghdadi known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Ibn al-Mu'allim for his expertise in philosophical theology was an eminent Twelver Shi'a theologian.- Biography :...
http://al-islam.org/amali/2.htm - two notable early Jewish/Karaite "heresiarchHeresiarchA heresiarch is a founder or leader of a heretical doctrine or movement, as considered by those who claim to maintain an orthodox religious tradition or doctrine...
s", leaders of Karaite movements opposed to Anan ben DavidAnan ben DavidAnan Ben David is widely considered to be a major founder of the Karaite movement of Judaism. His followers were called Ananites and, like modern Karaites, do not believe the Rabbinic Jewish oral law to be divinely inspired...
, Ishmael al-Ukbarihttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=279&letter=I and Meshwi al-Ukbarihttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=504&letter=M.
It is described in many Arabic geographical works, beginning with the famous 9th-century geography of Ibn Khordâdhbeh, which mentions it four times, stating that:
- it was on the postal road from SamarraSamarraSāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
to BaghdadBaghdadBaghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, nine stages from Samarra and six from Baghdad; - it was on the road from Baghdad to MosulMosulMosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, 9 parasangParasangThe parasang is a historical Iranian unit of itinerant distance comparable to the European league.In antiquity, the term was used throughout much of the Middle East, and the Old Iranian language from which it derives can no longer be determined...
s from Baghdad (5 from the previous stop, al-Bardan, and 3 from the next, Bahimsha); - it was on the westward road from Baghdad, 4 stages from al-Bardan (6 from Baghdad) and 7 from the next stop, Samarra.
(The seeming contradiction between points 1 and 3 is found in the text, as provided by http://www.alwaraq.com/ .)
However, the tenth-century al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
goes into a little more detail, saying that:
- وفي وجه سامرا مدينة عكبرا وهي كبيرة عامرة، كثيرة الفواكه جيدة الاعناب سرية
- And in front of Samarra is the town of Ukbara, which is large and populous, with abundant fruit and good grapes. (p. 42, al-Waraq online edition)
The twelfth-century geographer al-Idrisi is briefer, mentioning it twice.
The Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 12th century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years...
(twelfth century) also mentions it, calling it "Okbara, the city which Jeconiah
Jeconiah
Jeconiah "; ; ), also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin , was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th Century BCE and was taken into captivity. Most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. After many excavations in Iraq, records of Jeconiah's...
the King built, where there are about 10,000 Jews, and at their head are R. Chanan, R. Jabin and R. Ishmael."
The later Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yaqut al-Hamawi
Yāqūt ibn-'Abdullah al-Rūmī al-Hamawī) was an Islamic biographer and geographer renowned for his encyclopedic writings on the Muslim world. "al-Rumi" refers to his Greek descent; "al-Hamawi" means that he is from Hama, Syria, and ibn-Abdullah is a reference to his father's name, Abdullah...
(thirteenth century) goes into yet more detail, noting two alternate names, the "Arabized" form `Akburah and Buzurj-Sabur بزرج سابور, after the Persian name Vuzurg-Shapur mentioned above, calling it:
- بليدة من نواحي دُجيل قرب صريفين وأوَانا بينها وبين بغداد عشرة فراسخ، والنسبة إليها عكبري وعكبراوي، منها شيخنا إمام عصره محب الدين أبو البقاء عبد اللهَ بن الحسين النحوي العكبري مات في ربيع الأول سنة 616، وقرىء على سارية بجامع عكبرا:
- a little town in the area of Dujayl near Sarifin and AwanaAwanaAWANA is an international evangelical nonprofit organization founded in 1950, headquartered in Streamwood, Illinois...
, 10 parasangParasangThe parasang is a historical Iranian unit of itinerant distance comparable to the European league.In antiquity, the term was used throughout much of the Middle East, and the Old Iranian language from which it derives can no longer be determined...
s from Baghdad; its natives are called Ukbari or Ukbarawi, and include our Sheikh the ImamImamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
of his time, Muhibb ud-Din Abul-Baqa Abdallah ibn al-Husayn an-Nahwi al-Ukbari, who died in Rabi I, 616 AH.
and quotes two brief epigrams about the town.
The biographical dictionary of Ibn Khallikan
Ibn Khallikan
Shams al-Dīn Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Khallikān was a 13th Century Shafi'i Islamic scholar of Kurdish origin.-Biography:...
(thirteenth century) calls it:
- وهي بليدة على دجلة فوق بغداد بعشرة فراسخ خرج منها جماعة من العلماء وغيرهم
- a little town on the Tigris, 10 parasangs above Baghdad, from which a group of learned men and their like have emerged.
It should not be confused with the Palestinian
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
village of Akbara (spelled identically in Arabic), destroyed in 1948.
