Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani
'Alī ibn Yaḥyā al-Armanī (Arabic: علي بن يحيى الأرمني) was a famed Muslim military commander of the mid-9th century, involved in the border warfare with the Byzantine Empire. He served as governor of Tarsus from ca. 852 until 862, leading several expeditions against the Byzantines. In 862 he was appointed governor of his native Armenia, but was killed in autumn 863 fighting against the Byzantines.
Life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Arab-Byzantine_frontier_zone.svg/250px-Arab-Byzantine_frontier_zone.svg.png)
As his nisba indicates, Ali was of Armenian descent.[1] In 840, he was sent to Egypt as its governor, replacing Malik ibn Kaydur.[2] Later he was named commander (wali or amir) of the Abbasid Caliphate's borderlands in Cilicia (the al-thughur ash-Sha'miya), confronting the Byzantine Empire, with Tarsus as his base. He is the first amir of Tarsus known to have exercised broadly autonomous authority there, taking advantage of the decline in the power of the Abbasid Caliphate's central government.[3] Ali held the post at least from 238 A.H. (852/3 CE) until October/November 862.[4] As amir of the borderlands, Ali undertook several summer raiding expeditions (ṣawāʿif) over the Taurus Mountains into Byzantine-held Anatolia: summer raids led by Ali are recorded for the years 852/3, 853/4, 859/60 and 860/1, while he was also present at the prisoner exchange of 856.[5][6]
In October/November 862 he was appointed governor of Armenia and Adharbayjan,[7] and in October/November of the next year, he was killed in battle with the Byzantines along with 400 of his men.[8] Coming on the heels of the death of the emir of Malatya, Umar al-Aqta, at the Battle of Lalakaon in September, the news of Ali's death provoked riots among the populace in Baghdad, Samarra and other cities, who were angry at the government's impotence.[9]
Ali's son Muhammad later also served as amir of Tarsus, from 871/2 to 872/3 or 873/4.[4] According to the 10th-century account of al-Mas'udi (The Meadows of Gold, VIII.74–75) his reputation was such that he was among the "illustrious Muslims" whose portraits were displayed in Byzantine churches in recognition of their valour.
References
- ^ Canard, Cahen & Deny (1960), p. 638: "There were Armenians, too, in the Muslim territories, serving the Caliphs, but converted to Islam, like the celebrated amir Ali al-Armani who died in 863, not long after he had been named governor of Armenia and Adharbaydjan."
- ^ Gordon (2001), p. 207 (Note #25)
- ^ Hild & Hellenkemper (1990), pp. 48–50
- ^ a b Stern (1960), p. 219
- ^ Stern (1960), p. 219 (note 12)
- ^ Hild & Hellenkemper (1990), p. 50
- ^ Saliba (1985), p. 7
- ^ Saliba (1985), pp. 9–10
- ^ Saliba (1985), pp. 10–11
Sources
- Canard, Marius; Cahen, Claude & Deny, J. (1960). "Armīniya". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 636–650. OCLC 495469456.
- Gordon, Matthew S. (2001). The Breaking of a Thousand Swords: A History of the Turkish Military of Samarra (A.H. 200–275/815–889 C.E.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-4795-2.
- Hild, Friedrich; Hellenkemper, Hansgerd (1990). Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 5: Kilikien und Isaurien (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-1811-4.
- Saliba, George, ed. (1985). The History of al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXXV: The Crisis of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate: The Caliphates of al-Mustaʿīn and al-Muʿtazz, A.D. 862–869/A.H. 248–255. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-87395-883-7.
- Stern, S. M. (1960). "The Coins of Thamal and of Other Governors of Tarsus". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 80 (3): 217–225. doi:10.2307/596170. JSTOR 596170.
Preceded by | Governor of Egypt 841–843 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | Governor of Egypt 849–850 | Succeeded by |
Unknown Title last held by Nasr ibn Hamza al-Khuza'i | Governor of Tarsus by 852/3 – October/November 862 | Unknown Title next held by Muhammad ibn Harun al-Taghlibi |
- v
- t
- e
- Salih ibn Ali ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas (Second Term)
- Abu Awn Abd al-Malik ibn Yazid (Second Term)
- Musa ibn Ka'b al-Tamimi
- Muhammad ibn al-Ash'ath al-Khuza'i
- Humayd ibn Qahtaba
- Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi
- Abdallah ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Tujibi
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hudayj al-Tujibi
- Musa ibn Ali ibn Rabah al-Lakhmi
- Isa ibn Luqman al-Jumahi
- Wadih al-Maskin
- Mansur ibn Yazid ibn Mansur
- Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Harashi
- Salim ibn Sawada al-Tamimi
- Ibrahim ibn Salih ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas
- Musa ibn Mus'ab al-Khath'ami
- Ali ibn Sulayman al-Abbasi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi
- Maslama ibn Yahya al-Bajali
- Muhammad ibn Zuhayr al-Azdi
- Dawud ibn Yazid ibn Hatim al-Muhallabi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi (Second Term)
- Ibrahim ibn Salih ibn Abdallah ibn al-Abbas
- Abdallah ibn al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi
- Ishaq ibn Sulayman
- Harthama ibn A'yan
- Abd al-Malik ibn Salih
- Abdallah ibn al-Musayyab ibn Zuhayr al-Dabbi (Second Term)
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi al-Abbasi
- Musa ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Abbasi (Third Term)
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Mahdi al-Abbasi (Second Term)
- Isma'il ibn Salih ibn Ali al-Abbasi
- Isma'il ibn Isa al-Abbasi
- Al-Layth ibn al-Fadl
- Ahmad ibn Ismail ibn Ali ibn Abdallah al-Abbasi
- Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Abbasi
- Al-Husayn ibn Jamil
- Malik ibn Dalham al-Kalbi
- Abbad ibn Muhammad ibn Hayyan
- Al-Muttalib ibn Abdallah al-Khuza'i
- Al-Abbas ibn Musa ibn Isa al-Abbasi
- Al-Muttalib ibn Abdallah al-Khuza'i (Second Term)
- Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam
- Sulayman ibn Ghalib ibn Jibril al-Bajali
- Al-Sari ibn al-Hakam (Second Term)
- Abu Nasr ibn al-Sari
- Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Mazyad
- Ubaydallah ibn al-Sari
- Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani
- Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi
- Umayr ibn al-Walid
- Isa ibn Yazid al-Juludi (Second Term)
- Abdawayh ibn Jabalah
- Isa ibn Mansur al-Rafi'i
- Al-Ma'mun (Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate)
- Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani
- Isa ibn Mansur al-Rafi'i
- Harthamah ibn al-Nadr al-Jabali
- Hatim ibn Harthamah ibn al-Nadr
- Ali ibn Yahya al-Armani (Second Term)
- Ishaq ibn Yahya ibn Mu'adh
- Khut Abd al-Wahid ibn Yahya
- Anbasah ibn Ishaq al-Dabbi
Al-Musta'in