The Historical Topography of Samarra

425 Pages·2007·63.31 MB·English

THE BRITISH SCHOOLOF ARCHAEOLOGY T
H
IN IRAQ
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Alastair Northedge is Professor of Islamic Art
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The British School of Archaeology in Iraq The Historical Topography of and Archaeology at Université de Paris 1
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(BSAI) is a learned society founded in 1932 in S (Panthéon-Sorbonne). He has worked in Syria,
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memory of Gertrude Bell, the distinguished
O Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and
archaeologist and administrator, who established R Turkmenistan, and conducted projects at
the first National museum in Iraq. It is one of a I
C S a m a r r a Amman in Jordan, and Ana in Iraq, in addition
number of overseas Schools and Institutes A to Samarra. He is author of Studies on Roman
sponsored by the British Academy. The School is L SAMARRA STUDIES I and Islamic Amman, and joint author of
dedicated to the study of the civilisations of Iraq T Excavations at Ana.
and its neighbours, and worked almost continu- O
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ously in Iraq from its foundation until 1990.
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The BSAI fosters closer academic links
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between Iraq and the UK in archaeology, ancient
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languages and related fields. It funds archaeolog- A
ical and other research projects on relevant P
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topics. It encourages support for such studies in
Y
the UK by means of lectures, conferences and
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publicity. It publishes annually a major academic
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journal, IRAQ, and it also publishes scholarly

S
monographs.
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The School has recently launched a major
M
appeal to provide scholarships allowing students
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from Iraq to study Near Eastern archaeology and
R
related subjects in the UK, fellowships allowing
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scholars to travel to and from Iraq, and enabling
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the purchase of books, materials and equipment
,
for museums and universities in Iraq. It will also S
assist in the publication of previous School A
M
projects in Iraq.
Eventually the School hopes to be able to set A
up a new Iraqi/British Institute in Baghdad as a R
R
joint centre of scholarship, and to resume its
A
programme of fieldwork in Iraq (e-mail:
S
[email protected]).
T
U
All correspondence, and enquiries concerning D
membership, the work of the School and partici- I
E
pation in its activities should be addressed to the S

Secretary, British School of Archaeology in Iraq, I
c/o The British Academy, 10 Carlton House
Terrace, London SW1Y5AH, UK; e-mail:
[email protected]
The Historical Topography of Samarra sets out to explain the second capital of the Abbasid caliphs at
Samarra, on the Tigris above Baghdad, in the period 836 to 892 AD, by an analysis of the archaeological
site and the medieval Arabic texts which describe it. The volume defines for the first time the nature of
city construction by the Abbasid caliphs, one of the world powers of the time, and the foundation of
modern Iraq. It is the first of a series of Samarra Studies; in the second, the Archaeological Atlas of
Samarra, the archaeological remains will be catalogued, and in the third, Pottery from Samarra, the N
ceramic finds from the archaeological survey will be published. O
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H COVER ILLUSTRATION: Minaret of the Abu
E Dulaf Mosque (Photo: Paul Fox)
D
G BACK COVER ILLUSTRATION: Air photo of
E Alastair Northedge the remains of the Abbasid city centre at Samarra
British School of Archaeology in Iraq in 1953, with the modern city at the top
Foundation Max van Berchem
The Historical Topography of Samarra
Alastair Northedge
SAMARRA STUDIES I
British School of Archaeology in Iraq
Fondation Max van Berchem

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Fig. 1. Map of the Near East, showing the site of Samarra.

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 13
LISTOF TABLES
LISTOF FIGURES
LISTOF PLATES
INTRODUCTION 15
Terminology used in the study 18
CHAPTER 1: SOURCES AND METHODS 27
The archaeological Survey of Samarra 27
Air photographs and satellite imagery 27
Evaluation of archaeological methods 28
Textual sources 28
Al-Ya(cid:255)qæb(cid:204)(cid:146)saccount of Samarra 29
The History of al-£abar(cid:204) 30
Ibn al-Faq(cid:204)h al-Hamadh“n(cid:204) 30
The Mu(cid:255)jam al-Buld“nofY“qæt 31
Court poetry 31
Principles for the identification of toponyms 32
CHAPTER 2: THE REGIONALENVIRONMENT 35
The geomorphology of the region 35
The steppe land 35
The Tigris and its flood-plain 37
The regime of the Tigris 37
The barrage 37
The ancient beds of the Tigris 39
The climate 42
CHAPTER 3: SAMARRABEFORE THE ABBASID PERIOD 43
Before the Sasanian period 43
The Sasanian period 49
Al-M“˚æza—Area C 49
Shaykh Wal(cid:204)(Karkh Fayræz)—Area D 55
Jubayriyya (al-Ma(cid:240)(cid:204)ra)—Area L 58
Towns to the north of the Nahr al-Ra(cid:238)“(cid:238)(cid:204) 58
The Christian topography of the Samarra region 61
Other Features of the Sasanian Period 62
The construction of the canals 62
The Q“(cid:240)ælal-Kisraw(cid:204)and the Nahraw“n 62
Monumental architecture and the Q“(cid:240)æl al-Kisraw(cid:204) 72
The Is˚“q(cid:204)canal system 80
CHAPTER 4: AL-QA|DISIYYAAND THE CITIES OF THE QA|£U|L 81
General topography of the area south of the Nahr al-Q“(cid:146)im 81
The archaeological evidence 81
Area N —Al-Q“disiyya 81
Area O —The Octagon of (cid:141)u(cid:238)nal-Q“disiyya 81
Area P—Unfinished developments east of the Octagon 90
The textual evidence 93
CHAPTER 5: SURRAMAN RA’A|:THECITYOF AL-MU(cid:255)TASIM 97
The foundation of Surra Man Ra(cid:146)“andits general layout 97
The site 98
The foundation 98
The expansion of the city 99
The central city and its avenues 100
The layout of the avenues 100
The location of toponyms in the avenues 106
The development of the city 120
CHAPTER 6: THE DA|RAL-KHILA|FA 133
Existing research 133
Description of the site 133
The topography of the Palace in the texts 135
The cantonments of the Palace servants 144
The Cantonments of al-Jawsaq (Area X) 144
Area G —al-Waz(cid:204)riyya 146
CHAPTER 7: AL-(cid:141)AYR 151
The Game Reserve, al-Dikka, and the general layout 151
The site of al-(cid:141)ayr 151
Buildings in al-(cid:141)ayr 152
The Racecourses 152
The archaeological evidence 152
An overall view of the evidence 161
The development of al-(cid:141)ayr 162
Appendix: Racecourse 4, the point-to-point track 166
CHAPTER 8: THE MILITARYCANTONMENTS 167
Composition of the army of Samarra 167
The Turks 167
Al-Ushræsaniyya 168
Al-Far“ghina 170
Al-Jund and al-Sh“kiriyya 170
Al-Magh“riba 171
Arabs and Sa(cid:255)“l(cid:204)k 171
The structure of the army 171
The Cantonment Sites 173
The cantonments of al-Karkh (Area F) 173
The cantonments of al-Dær(Area U) 180
The cantonments of al-Jawsaq (Area X) 183
The military cantonments in the Avenues 183
The cantonment of al-Ma(cid:240)(cid:204)ra(Area K) 185
The cantonment of Balkuw“r“(Area R) 191
Discussion 165
CHAPTER 9: THE PALACES OF AL-MUTAWAKKIL 195
The list of the palaces of al-Mutawakkil 195
The major projects 198
Balkuw“r“ 198
Al-I(cid:238)(cid:240)abl“t(al-(cid:255)Aræs) 200
Al-Musharra˚“t(al-Sh“h) 204
Sær(cid:255)(cid:149)s“(al-Burj) 207
The minor projects 207
Al-Bad(cid:204)(cid:255) 207
Al-Ghard 207
Al-Ghar(cid:204)b 207
Al-Ja(cid:255)far(cid:204)al-Mu˚dathoral-Mu˚dath 207
Al-Jawsaq al-Ibr“h(cid:204)m(cid:204) 208
Al-Jawsaq in Mayd“nal-Sakhr or Mayd“nal-Sa˚n 208
Al-Mukht“r 208
Al-Qal“y“and its buildings 208
Al-Tall, upper and lower 208
Al-Wa˚(cid:204)d 208
Bust“nal-(cid:149)t“khiyya 208
Al-Birka 208
CHAPTER 10: AL-JA(cid:255)FAR(cid:149)ANDAL-MUTAWAKKILIYYA 211
The foundation of al-Mutawakkiliyya 211
The site of al-Mutawakkiliyya 211
Al-Nahr al-Ja(cid:255)far(cid:204) 211
The palace of al-Ja(cid:255)far(cid:204) 213
The city of al-Mutawakkiliyya 216
Al-Ja(cid:255)far(cid:204)and al-Mutawakkiliyya in the textual sources 220
CHAPTER 11: AL-HA|R⁄N(cid:149)ANDTHEWESTBANK OF THE TIGRIS 227
Al-H“ræn(cid:204) 227
The agricultural estates and palaces of the west bank 228
Qubbat al-S‡ulaybiyya 231
Al-(cid:255)(cid:127)shiq (al-Ma(cid:255)shæq) 234
Industrial activities on the west bank 238
CHAPTER 12: THE END OF ABBASID SAMARRA: SAMARRAIN THE MEDIEVALAND
MODERN PERIODS 239
The abandonment of the palaces of al-Mutawakkil 239
The abandonment of the city and the cantonments 240
The Middle Islamic and modern settlements 242
The medieval city of Samarra 242
The Shrine of the Imams (Marqad al-Im“mayn) 246
CHAPTER 13: SAMARRA, BAGHDAD AND OTHER ISLAMIC CITIES 247
BIBLIOGRAPHY 261
Abbreviations 261
Ancient Sources 261
Texts of the Premodern Period 261
Modern Works 262
APPENDICES 267
Appendix A: Al-Ya(cid:255)qæb(cid:204)(cid:146)sdescription of Samarra in the Kit“bal-Buld“n 267
Appendix B: The description of Samarra by Ibn al-Faq(cid:204)hal-Hamadh“n(cid:204) 274
Appendix C: Toponyms at Samarra known from texts 276
GLOSSARYOF ARABIC TERMS 446
SOURCE OF FIGURES 453