Chapter L (4)

[235] Von Kremer describes the moat surrounding the walls as still from ten to fifteen feet in breadth. It is filled with water from the Barada.

[236] Madzûr.

[237] The ordinary account is that Khâlid, hearing the merriment of the feast, stormed the city on his side, unknown to the rest of the army, and that the garrison, when overcome, hastened to conclude a capitulation with Abu Obeida on the other side. But this is incredible. When the victorious column, in possession of the eastern quarter, were pushing their way through the city, it would have been altogether too late. It is of course possible that Khâlid, knowing that the treaty was impending, sought thus to anticipate the consequences of capitulation, by which the city was lost as a prey, and its inhabitants as prisoners of war. On the other hand, some traditions ascribe the acceptance of the surrender and the treaty to Khâlid himself. But the account I have given is the most probable and consistent.

Later authorities tell of treachery on the part of a bishop, who, from the walls, held converse with Khâlid, and having obtained for himself terms, pointed out the place for an escalade, &c.; also that Khâlid was supplied with scaling ladders by a monastery in the Ghûta. Such tales rest generally on weak and unreliable authority; but as regards the last, the monks, we are told, obtained a permanent reduction of the land-tax for the service now rendered. (See Belâdzori, p. 121.)

[238] From every jarîb, or local acre.

[239] It has been supposed that the column of Khâlid had reached the Cathedral and taken possession of one half, before he was recalled, and hence this arrangement. But it is not so; the surrender of one half was stipulated irrespective of his attack, and (in conformity with the treaty in other matters) as a fair concession to the conquering army. Corresponding arrangements were made for the division of the churches in other cities of Syria, which capitulated without an assault; but it was only in Damascus that the difficulty as to disposing of the Cathedral occurred.

[240] The following is the inscription as copied by Von Kremer, who gives a minute description of this most interesting structure. It is the Septuagint version of Psalm cxiv. 13, with the addition only of the words, _O Christ_:--

Η. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ. ΣΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ. ΠΑΝΤΩΝ. ΤΩΝ ΑΙΟΝΩΝ. ΚΑΙ. Η. ΔΕΣΠΟΤΙΑ.
ΣΟΥ. ΕΝ. ΠΑΣΗ. ΓΕΝΕΑΙ
ΚΑΙ ΓΕΝΕΑΙ.

Belâdzori tells us that Muâvia and Abd al Malik both desired to take the portion occupied by the Christians as a church into the Mosque, and offered them any sum they chose to ask in compensation; but they stood by the terms of the capitulation, and refused. It was reserved for Welîd I., son of Abd al Malik, to seize the building. When he summoned masons to demolish the partition-wall, they demurred, saying that whoever touched a church became an idiot. Whereupon Welîd took the pickaxe into his own hand, and commenced the work of demolition. (Belâdzori, p. 125.)

I have given all the particulars I could find in the early and reliable traditions regarding the siege and capitulation. The tales and romances of later days are altogether without foundation.

[241] 1 Samuel xxxi. 7, _et seq._ _Beth-Shan_ became by contraction _Beisân_. The classical name was Scythopolis, once a noble city, the seat of a bishop and convents, and the birthplace of Cyril and Basilides. Here Alexander Jannæus had his interview with Cleopatra; and Pompey took it as well as Pella, on his way from Damascus to Judæa. Pella has a special interest for us, as the spot where the Christians took refuge when Titus attacked Judæa. Both cities were at the time of our history populous and flourishing. (See Robinson’s _Palestine_, pp. 325 _et seq._)

[242] ‘The whole plain was now so full of fountains and rivulets as to be in some places almost a marsh.’ (_Ibid._ pp. 325, 327.)

[243] The Roman army was so shut in, that their blockade is called ‘the _first siege_ in Syria’; the second being that of Damascus. The numbers of the enemy are, no doubt, as elsewhere, exaggerated.

[244] Some accounts place the battle of Fihl at the close of A.H. XIII., and therefore prior to the siege of Damascus, in which city they say that the broken army of the Romans took refuge. But the chronology in Tabari is clearly as I have given it. The sequence of events is governed by the battle of Câdesîya, which took place in October or November, A.H. XIV., after the Irâc contingent had been dismissed from Syria.

[245] It is of Dhirâr that so many marvellous tales are told in the romances of Wâckidy and others.

[246] Bithynia.

[247] North of Tripoli.

[248] He was the son of Shahryâr and grandson of Kesra. His mother was of the house of Baduria.

[249] Such as Aly, Talha, Zobeir, and Abd al Rahmân.

[250] A play upon the name _Sàd_, or ‘lion.’ His ordinary patronymic was ibn Abu Wackkâs. (For his early history, see _Life of Mahomet_, pp. 63, 68.)

When Mahomet got excited in battle, he used a form of adjuration to Sád, which he is said never to have addressed to any other;--‘_By the life of my father and mother_, shoot, O Sád.’ Sád died A.D. 655, worth 250,000 dirhems.

[251] Tradition puts into Omar’s mouth a set speech; but it has evidently been framed for the occasion. We are also told that in the levies which defiled before Omar were the (future) murderer of Othmân, and also the assassin of Aly; and that Omar was observed to shrink back as they passed--a touch of the proleptic and marvellous, now rare in the matter-of-fact narratives of this period.

[252] Repentant rebel chiefs could thus lead their own tribes, though they could not take a general command, or the command of a column comprising ‘Companions’ in its ranks. Each of these leaders had an allowance of 2,000 dirhems. Amr ibn Mádekerib, who was a great gourmand, said to Omar: ‘A thousand for this side (slapping one side of his stomach), and a thousand for that (slapping the other); but what for this?’ (slapping the middle). Omar laughed, and gave him 500 more, at the same time exclaiming (in admiration of his stalwart frame), ‘Praised be the Lord who hath created such a one as Amr!’

[253] The statements as to the numbers in the different columns vary. After the battle of the Bridge, most of the recruits from Medîna (Omar’s first levy) had fled, and left Mothanna alone with the Bedouin contingents, mainly from the Bekr and Rabia tribes, belonging to the N.E. of Arabia. He was then reinforced, by Omar’s command, with new levies from the northern tribes of the Beni Tay, Codhâa, Bajîla, &c.; and could thus show, at the battle of Boweib, a rank and file of some 8,000 men. Then Sád brought 8,000 more, and fresh contingents kept trooping up from Yemen and the south; so that, with the Syrian levies, which arrived during the battle of Câdesîya, he had in all 30,000 men.

[254] The Beni Rabia and Modhar, _i.e._ clans of northern lineage.

[255] Of the constitution of companies, Tabari says that ‘it was according to the practice of the Prophet, and the system followed at the establishment of the civil (pension) list.’ The first allusion is not clear, for Mahomet made no such disposition of his soldiers. The second points to the enrolment, shortly after made by Omar, of the whole Arab race, according to descent. The organisation of commands was very simple. First, there was the _Ameer_, or commander-in-chief, responsible to the Caliph alone; immediately under the Ameer were the generals commanding the centre, the wings, and brigades, van- and rear-guards; between the generals and the decemvirs there was no intermediate grade.

[256] ‘Companions’ here include all men who had seen and conversed with the Prophet. The number of these now present was an altogether new feature in the army of Irâc, hitherto mainly comprised of Bedouins. Of the Companions, there were over 310 who had joined Mahomet before the ‘Tree of Fealty’ (_Life_, ch. xix.); 300 who had been under his banner at the taking of Mecca; and 700 sons of Companions. We have had no such detail for any previous engagement. It foreshadows the coming classification of Omar’s civil list.

[257] So called _Al Atîck_, as before explained. The _Khandac_ here approaches within a few miles of that channel.

[258] Some of these raiding expeditions are described at considerable length by tradition, which, now becoming prolific, loves to dwell on all the accompaniments of this great battle. An expedition sent for cattle to the marshy jungles of the Lower Euphrates, for a long time searched in vain. At last a boor told them that there were no herds in the vicinity; whereupon an ox bellowed from the thicket, ‘The liar! here we all are.’ They entered the jungle and found a great herd, which was driven off, and lasted the army many days.

[259] On the right, we are told that towards the N.E. the country was flooded as far as Walaja. For the ‘Trench of Sapor,’ dug three centuries before, see _Life of Mahomet_, vol. i. p. clxxi., where also will be found an account of the beautiful palace of Khawarnac. One road led to the palace, another to the desert, and a third from the bridge took a direction south into Arabia.

The chronology is somewhat obscure. Sád is said to have encamped only two months at Câdesîya before the battle; but either he must have been much longer in that vicinity, or have spent some considerable time previously at Odzeib or Shirâf, or else upon the march thither--which last is not unlikely, as they travelled in heavy order, like emigrants with their families. Sád set out from Medîna in spring (it was March when on the way he received tidings of Mothanna’s death), and the great battle was not fought till November; so that three-quarters of a year have to be accounted for. According to some traditions, Rustem prolonged his march from Medâin to Câdesîya through a period of four months, which, however, may be an exaggeration.

[260] The names of fifteen are given as ‘among’ those sent, so there may have been as many as twenty or more. Of the number were the two Moghîras, Asháth, Amr ibn Mádekerib, Nomân ibn Mocarrin, Otârid, Moänna, &c.

[261] There is much embellishment and romance in the scene and in the speeches, which are given in great detail, and must be taken only for what they are worth. They have been spun by tradition, no doubt, around a kernel of fact. There must have been many Persians present, who would tell the tale in after days, as well as the members of the deputation itself. There is fair probability for at least so much of the narrative as I have given. Asim was brother of the warrior Cacâa.

[262] Jalenûs led the advanced column of 40,000; Rustem, the main body of 60,000; there were 20,000 in the rear-guard; and besides, 60,000 camp followers accompanied the army. The right wing was commanded by Hormuz, the left by Mehrân, son of Behrâm. Some traditions put the numbers at 200,000; but it is all guess-work. 15,000 of these (as with the Roman army) are called ‘bound (meaning, apparently, tied together) for death,’ and 60,000 free; the rest seemingly slaves and convicts. Abundance of tales are given of Rustem’s desponding dreams and auguries.

[263] These raids and expeditions are narrated at a length altogether incommensurate with their importance--excepting that everything connected with the impending battle is invested by tradition with unusual significance.

[264] The three envoys were Ribia, Hodzeifa, and Moghîra. The colloquies are much in the same style as those at the court of Medâin--long addresses, and rather tiresome. Rustem is represented at one time as inclining to Islam, and held back only by the taunts of his officers from embracing it; at another, threatening the Arabs with contemptuous denunciations. Much is drawn evidently from the imagination of the traditionists.

[265] ‘If the Lord will,’ added one of his followers. ‘Whether He will or not,’ said Rustem. Affecting to speak contemptuously of the Arabs, he said: ‘It is going, I fear, to be a year of monkeys. The fox barks when the lion is dead;’ meaning that in the time of Chosroes the Arabs would not have dared to invade Persia. Fresh dreams and omens of a portentous kind now multiplied upon him.

[266] There were, besides, the riding elephants of the court and nobles. These must all have been imported from India. The elephant does not appear to have been used by the Assyrians in war. It only appears in their mural representations as a rarity, and under peaceful associations.

The names of the other leaders were Dzul Hâjib (or Bahmân Jadoweih), Mehrân, Hormuzan, and Bendzowân.

[267] The squib did not die out (as we shall see below), but assumed a permanent form, as in this couplet:--

We fought patiently until the Lord vouchsafed us victory,
While Sád was safe within the walls of Câdesîya;
And we returned to our homes, finding many a widow there;
But among the women of Sád there was not any widow found.

[268] Sura viii., entitled _Anfâl_, or ‘The Spoils,’ is called also ‘Sura Jehâd.’ It is a long chapter, of seventy-eight verses. On ordinary occasions only suitable portions were recited. Here, apparently, the entire Sura was read. Two other Suras--_Victory_ (xlviii.) and _She who is tried_ (lx.)--are also used before battle, as containing warlike passages; and the practice is kept up in Moslem campaigns to the present day.

[269] The battle lasted three days, and each day, it will be observed, had a different name. The first, _Armâth_; the second, _Aghwâth_ (alluding, as some think, to the _succour_ brought that day by the Syrian contingent); the third, _Ghimâs_; the final night, _Harîr_ (noise or clangour). The last is the only name which clearly has a meaning, as we shall see. The others may have been taken from names of places. See _C. de Perceval_, vol. iii. p. 484. Gibbon (ch. li.), ignoring the first day, translates the other three as signifying Succour, Concussion, and Barking.

[270] Abu Mihjan confessed to Selma that in his cups he had been singing these verses:--

Bury me when I die by the roots of the vine;
The moisture thereof will distil into my bones;
Bury me not in the open plain, for then I much fear
That no more again shall I taste the flavour of the grape.

But he swore to her that he would not again indulge in drinking, nor in abuse of the Ameer. And Selma, explaining this to Sád, obtained his release, so that he joined his comrades on the last great day of battle.

[271] Cacâa is said to have dressed up a troop of camels with trappings, &c., resembling those of elephants, and so endeavoured to affright the Persian cavalry. But it reads like a story.

[272] Sád felt satisfied and assured, so long as this shouting of genealogies went on among his men, that all was right; and desired that his sleep should not be disturbed during the night unless it ceased. What kind of shouting the Persians’ was is not stated.

[273] So tradition says; but it seems a piece of extravagance that thirty Persians should come forward, one after another, to be thus cut down.

Cacâa is the great hero of Câdesîya whom tradition delights to honour. He was fearful lest Hâshim should not arrive in time. So, to keep up the spirits of the Moslems, he repeated the tactics of the previous day. During the night he led his thousand men back a little way on the Syrian road, and in the morning appeared as before, company after company, as if they had been fresh reinforcements. The last had just come in, when Hâshim himself appeared in sight with his 5,000. But there is a tendency to fiction throughout as respects Cacâa.

[274] The first thing, we are told, that gave him assurance was the sound of the Arabs vaingloriously reciting their genealogies, as they had done the night before. Then, towards morning, Cacâa was heard shouting--

We have slain a whole host, and more,
Singly, and in fours and fives,
(We were like black serpents in the manes of lions)
Until, as they fell, I called out lustily,
_The Lord is my Lord!_ whiles I had to keep my guard all round.

Whereupon Sád knew that the attack was going on favourably.

[275] Another account is that, on the approach of the Moslems, Rustem shot an arrow, which transfixed the foot of Hilâl (the fortunate captor) to his stirrup; whereupon Hilâl rushed forward and despatched him. Gibbon’s version is very different from either.

[276] The Hindia (which answers to the Atick or Bâdacla) is described by Geary as flowing swiftly, sixty yards broad, and in the full season eight or nine feet deep, with banks from ten to twenty feet in height.

[277] This is on the authority of one present:--‘We followed our husbands,’ she relates, ‘and no sooner was the Persian army routed than we (the women) tucked up our garments, seized clubs in our hands, and issued forth to the field of battle, which was strewn with the dead. Every Moslem still alive we raised up, and gave drink to; and every wounded heathen we despatched. And the children followed us, and were helpers with us in this service.’ (_Tabari_, iii. p. 73.)

A characteristic incident is mentioned. Among the slain was the Muedzzin of the army. There was a contention as to who should succeed to this post of honour. It came near to blows and bloodshed, when Sád interposed, and settled the matter by his authority.

[278] The captor received 30,000. Gibbon, resting on the authority of D’Herbelot, tells us:--‘The standard of the monarchy was overthrown and captured on the field--a leathern apron of a blacksmith who, in ancient times, had arisen, the deliverer of Persia; but this badge of heroic poverty was disguised and almost concealed by a profusion of precious gems.’ Our authorities simply describe it as made of panthers’ skins, richly jewelled.

[279] The vast import of the battle is signified by the tradition that the tidings of the victory were carried by the Genii to distant parts, long before it was possible for any human messenger to reach.

[280] Written _Burs_. There is a town Bûrsa on the Euphrates, four leagues below Babylon; but I take it that the ruin (_Tower of Babel_) is meant, which lay in the way.

[281] In these engagements, Sûra, Kûtha, and Sabât, towns situated on or near the Tigris, were either taken, or submitted themselves to the Moslem arms. While encamped at Babylon, Sád made a pilgrimage to the shrine (_Majlis_) of Abraham.

[282] Medâin signifies ‘Cities.’ It is said to have comprised a cluster of seven towns, but it is ordinarily taken to designate the twin cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. The double bend of the Tigris, in the form of the upper part of the letter S (with the convex side to the west), incloses a considerable peninsula on the eastern bank, and on this stands the Tâk i Kesra.

[283] Geary, in the account of his recent journey, says it is fast falling into decay; but ‘the arch unequalled in the world’ is still nearly entire. Built of brick, it has a façade 450 long and 160 deep, and the niches and cornices and mouldings still remain. The vaulted arch is nearly 100 feet high, with a span of 80 feet.

[284] It is also called Nahr Shîr, and is described as beyond (i.e. to the east of) Sabât. In the earlier campaigns, this name of _Nahr Shîr_ frequently occurs, as the point at which the pursuit of the victorious columns was stopped by the Persian outposts.

[285] Sura xiv. v. 44.

[286] Among the single combats, a singular one is mentioned, in which Zohra challenged Shahryâr, a mighty champion. They closed, and each slew the other. But the story, though told with some detail, is uncertain; for, according to other accounts, Zohra was killed many years after by a fanatic (Khârijite) in the time of Hajjâj.

The Arabs had twenty catapults--an instrument of war not unknown in Arabia; see the siege of Tâyif (_Life of Mahomet_, p. 433). In Mesopotamia, now at Sád’s command, there were ample materials for their construction. The ramparts must have been of great thickness; for, composed of sun-dried bricks, their outline can be still distinctly traced on either bank. Of buildings, however, there are, besides the _Tâk i Kesra_, no other remains of any kind whatever, the materials having all been carried off to build the city of Baghdad, 16 miles above it. But coins and coffins abound.

In the siege we are told that the people, reduced to the utmost distress, were driven to feed on cats and dogs. But, with the whole river front open to them by boat, and the other half of the city with plentiful supplies safe on the opposite bank, it is difficult to understand how this could have been.

[287] As many as 100,000 are said to have been thus captured and released.

[288] A touch of the marvellous affects the story of the capture of Medâin at several points. Sád’s reply was communicated orally by Abu Mocarrin--‘who spake to the king in words given to him at the moment by the Lord, but which he himself understood not, neither did those about him.’ The fact was--as they were afterwards told by the single Persian left in the western suburb--that Abu Mocarrin had delivered (without knowing it) in the Persian tongue this mysterious answer: ‘The Moslems will never make peace with thee, till they have eaten the honey of Afrîdûn, along with the citrons of Kûtha.’ ‘Alas!’ exclaimed the king, ‘what was this but an angelic message spoken through the lips of the messenger? Even the angels have turned against us!’ And so, followed by his people, he fled across the river.

[289] Salmân, ‘the Persian,’ was a convert of some standing. It was he who suggested to Mahomet the device of digging a trench to defend Medîna against the siege which the Coreish laid to it, A.H. 5. (_Life of Mahomet_, chap. xvii.) A Christian, native of Ispahan (according to others, of Ram Hormuz), he had been taken captive in some Bedouin raid, and sold as a slave at Medîna, where he obtained his freedom on professing Islam. We do not hear much more of him after this. He died at Medâin.

[290] This was done that the horses might the more readily follow one another.

[291] The gallant feat was repeated by Timoor, when he took Baghdad, A.D. 1392; his army, swimming across the river, ‘thereby impressed the inhabitants with an opinion that they were invincible.’ (Chesney, vol. i. p. 32.) The Tigris is more rapid, and has higher and steeper banks, than the Euphrates. It is 200 yards wide, and flows at over four miles an hour. The depth is considerable, and no fords are spoken of by travellers. According to Rich, it is low in winter, begins to rise in March from the melting of the snow on the hills, and reaches its height in May. In flood, he says, the current is over seven miles an hour. At the period of the passage, the stream must have been on the rise. Tradition says it was in full flood.

Moslem annalists may be excused for surrounding the heroic passage with many marvellous associations. For example, not only was there no loss of life, but not even of the most trifling article. A drinking jug was carried away by the current, but even that was recovered. The water reached the horses’ manes, but they trod as it were on firm ground, &c. And it is added truly: ‘In the whole history of Islam, there was no passage more wonderful than this crossing of the Tigris and the capture of the royal city.’

[292] Sura xliv. 25.

[293] The treasure alone was put at Three millions of dirhems. The property divided, including the Fifth, was estimated at Nine hundred millions.

[294] It was used, mingled with wax, for the candles of the wealthy. Gibbon has a note, _in loco_, on the more precious sorts.

[295] Say five or six thousand pounds each.

[296] Five swords were captured, notable not only for intrinsic value but historical interest. One had been the sword of the Kaiser of Rome; another had been taken from the Khacân of the Turks; and a third had been that of Dâhir, ‘King of Hind.’ The sword of Bahram was given to Cacâa; and Sád kept the Kaiser’s for himself.

[297] As far as Khanickîn.

[298] The ruins of Rei are still visible within a few miles of Teheran.

[299] We shall hear more of Ziâd and of his parentage. His reputed father was Abu Sofîan, who is said to have met his mother, a slave kept by another person, at Tayif. He was eventually acknowledged by Muâvia (son of Abu Sofîan) as his brother, much to the scandal of the public. He was destined to play a prominent part in the history which follows.

[300] The Bedouin part of the garrison was formed of the Beni Iyâdh, Tâghlib, Namr, &c. Tekrît was stormed by Timoor, after an obstinate defence, A.D. 1392. It is now ‘a miserable village’ of 600 houses. But the ruins around are extensive, and a castellated building overhangs the river at a height of 200 feet, with a fosse behind and a staircase leading down to the river, where the massacre no doubt took place.

[301] Kirckesia or Circesium.

[302] The pest of gigantic and noisome mosquitoes, issuing from the swamps and groves in overpowering swarms, is complained of by all travellers in this quarter. See, e.g., Loftus’s _Travels_, p. 280.

[303] We are constantly reminded, in the tradition of this period, of Omar’s nervous apprehension lest his armies should be tempted beyond the reach of succour in case of any disaster befalling them.

[304] Reeds, wattle, and mud. (_Belâdzori._)

[305] The square was set out thus. A powerful archer, from the centre, shot arrows on all four sides; where the arrows reached was the limit, and the square was measured out accordingly. The main streets were 40 cubits wide, the cross ones 20, and the lanes 7.

[306] In Kûfa the southern tribes, with the Beni Morâd at their head, greatly outnumbered the northern, which latter belonged to the Beni Nizâr. The two nationalities inhabited separate divisions of the city, and prayed each in its own Mosque. Bussorah, on the contrary, was almost entirely peopled from the north; and the five chief clans--Azd, Temîm, Bekr, Abd al Cays, and the Natives of Medîna (Ansâr)--occupied each a separate quarter of its own.

In the time of Ziâd (A.H. 50), Belâdzori tells us that in Bussorah the register (Dewân or civil list) numbered 80,000 warriors, and their wives and children 120,000, all drawing pensions from the State. Kûfa is rated at 60,000 fighting men on the roll, with families numbering 80,000 souls. The proportion of families to fighting men must surely have been much greater, as the harems of all of them swarmed with children; and the Arab population of each city was probably considerably greater than I have ventured (on the authority of Belâdzori) to note in the text. There also must have been a great multitude other than Arabs--dependants, clients, slaves, &c., Moslem and non-Moslem; so that, as the cities grew, it is not improbable that they numbered, of all classes, over 300,000 each. The population would fluctuate according to the numbers engaged in the field.

[307] At Marj Rum, to the N.W. of Damascus.

[308] Edessa.

[309] The Twelve ‘Leaders’ chosen by Mahomet at the Pledge of Acaba. (_Life of Mahomet_, p. 134.)

[310] The church of Hâma (_Epiphania_) was turned into a mosque. Arrestân (_Arethusa_) on the Orontes, Shaizar (_Larissa_), Maára, and other places of less importance, are mentioned as taken possession of on this march.

[311] Kinnisrîn or _Chalcis_. According to some, the inhabitants were forced to retire to Antioch, from whence they returned on peace being restored. Others say that the city with its churches was, like Damascus, divided. But the received tradition is that the people were treated with moderation, and that only one plot of ground was taken possession of for a mosque.

[312] Antioch, ‘_Queen of the East_, was the third metropolis of the world.... Its wide circuit of many miles was surrounded by walls of astonishing height and thickness, which had been carried across ravines and over mountain summits with such daring magnificence of conception as to give the city the aspect of being defended by its own encircling mountains.’ (Farrar’s _St. Paul_, vol. i. p. 288.) The ravages, not many years before, of the Persian invasion must have still left their mark upon this noble city, and possibly affected its means of defence. Still, we might reasonably have expected something more from tradition than the simple mention of a battle outside the famous citadel of Northern Syria, followed by its capitulation. But the _history_ of the fall of Syria is little more than a calendar of dates and places.

[313] Samsât, or Shamsât, the same as _Samosata_. Besides Marásh (_Germanica_) and Menbij (_Hierapolis_), Tell Azâz, Doluk, and many other places in this direction were overrun by Khâlid upon this occasion.

[314] The meaning is somewhat obscure. The words are, ‘until there be born the Accursed one. And I would not that he should be born; for his deeds shall not be good; and he will devise evil against Rome.’

[315] _Life of Mahomet_, p. 384.

[316] The Jewish law of retaliation--‘eye for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth,’ &c.--is maintained in the Corân. See Sura ii. v. 179, and v. v. 53.

[317] The story is variously told, but the main facts, as given in the text, appear beyond doubt. Tradition gives us first a romantic tale of what happened at ‘the Iron Bridge’ on the Orontes, where Jabala was posted to cover Antioch. There a Mussulman chief was brought in a prisoner to Jabala’s camp. He happened to be descended from the same ancestry, and on his reciting the poem of Hassân on the glories of the Ghassanide dynasty, he was dismissed with rich presents; and, in the end, Jabala himself went over to the Moslem camp.

After he had retired to the Byzantine Court, an envoy arrived at Constantinople, with diplomatic communications from Medîna, and to him Jabala made known his sorrows and pining after the desert. Pressed to return to Arabia, he agreed to do so, if Omar would give him one of his daughters in marriage and designate him his successor. He at the same time sent a rich gift to Hassân, who composed a poem, still extant, in token of his gratitude. The following is a couplet from the same:--

‘Jabala, the son of Jafna, forgot me not, when he reigned in Syria,
Nor yet after he had returned at Constantinople to the Christian
faith.’

We are to believe that Omar accepted the offer! but the officer who carried the answer to Constantinople found that Jabala had died (A.H. XX.). Others hold that Jabala survived to the reign of Muâvia, who tempted him in vain to return to Syria by the promise of a property at Damascus.

The colony of his descendants and followers is said to have survived at Constantinople till the fall of the Cæsars; and a colour of likelihood is given to the statement from the frequent recurrence of the name _Gabala_ among the notables at the court of Heraclius’ successors. (See _Caussin de Perceval_, vol. iii. p. 510.)

[318] It was the same call as a general call to prayer. (See _Life of Mahomet_, p. 205.)

[319] The tradition is given in Ibn al Athîr. There is always a tendency to magnify the simplicity and self-abnegation of the first two Caliphs, and something in the story may be due to this. But the tradition is of a character otherwise not likely to have been invented; and there is nothing in it very improbable, as the two courts had dealings with each other, not always unfriendly.

[320] According to some authorities, this command was conferred on Khâlid by Omar on his visit to Jerusalem.

[321] Palestine (_Filistîn_) was thus confined to the lower and western portion of the Holy Land, south of a line from Jerusalem and Jericho to Cæsarea. The province of the Jordan (_Ordonna_) extended as far north-west as Sûr, Tyre, and Acca. To the north of this, again, was Syria or _Shâm_. (See _Caussin de Perceval_, vol. iii. p. 425.)

[322] Artabûn is called ‘the shallowest and the unluckiest of the Romans.’ Omar said of him: ‘We shall play off Artabûn the Arab (meaning Amru) against Artabûn the Roman, and see what cometh.’ Artabûn thought to throw Amru off his guard, by telling him, at the interview which is said to have taken place between them, that he was going to retire on Egypt. When Omar was told of the ambush and Amru’s escape by taking another road, he said, ‘Verily, Amru is a lucky fellow.’

[323] _Ramleh_ was not founded till the eighth century. The place was previously named Rama (Arimathea), near which Ramleh was built; but tradition, by anticipation, always calls it Ramleh.

Gaza, according to some, was captured in the first invasion, two years before. The following places are mentioned as now reduced:--Sebastia (on the way from Cæsarea to Nablûs, where is the tomb of John the son of Zacharias); Beit-Jibrîn (or _Beth Gabara_); Yabna; Ramh (Marj Arjûn); Ascalon; Amwâs. In fact, the whole country, with the single exception of Cæsarea, now fell into the hands of the Arabs and became tributary.

The conquest of Palestine, however, like that of Syria, is a mere epitome, with great confusion of dates. This is forcibly illustrated by the perfunctory notice of the important battle of Ajnadein, and the uncertainty surrounding its chronology. Several authorities place it even before Yermûk, giving the date as on a Saturday, in Jumâd I., A.H. XIII. (634 A.D.). As the date given really fell upon a Saturday, Weil adopts this view. But it is opposed to the consistent though very summary narrative of the best authorities, as well as to the natural course of the campaign, which, as we have seen, began on the _east_ side of the Jordan, all the eastern province being reduced before the Arabs ventured to cross over to the well-garrisoned country west of the Jordan.

[324] It was foretold (so the tradition runs) in the Jewish books, that Jerusalem would be captured by a king whose name was formed but of three letters (as in that of Omar [Arabic]), and whose description tallied otherwise so exactly with that of the Caliph that there could be no doubt that he was the personage meant by the prophecy. When this was told to Artabûn, he lost all heart, and departed to Egypt; whereupon the Patriarch sent to make terms with Amru. The tradition is curious, and, however fabulous in appearance, may possibly have had some foundation in fact.

[325] ‘Whither away?’ said Aly to the Caliph; ‘wilt thou go and fight with dogs?’ ‘Nay,’ replied Omar; ‘not so, but I mean to visit the seat of war, before Abbâs is taken, and the flames of sedition burst forth.’ He then started, leaving Aly in charge of Medîna. But the tradition has a strong Abbasside tinge.

[326] The name is not given by the Arabian annalists. We learn it from Theophanes.

[327] The received account is that Omar made this (his first) journey to Syria on _horseback_; the second (on the Roman invasion by sea), riding on a _camel_; the third (at the great plague) on a _mule_; and the last (his progress through Syria) on an _ass_.

[328] The heavenly journey is thus referred to in the Corân: ‘Praise be to Him, who carried His servant by night to the FARTHER TEMPLE (_Masjid al Acksa_), the environs of which we have made blessed.’ Sura xvii. (The ‘Farther Temple,’ in opposition to the Nearer Temple, the Kaaba.) See the tale, _Life of Mahomet_, p. 126. Jerusalem was the Kibla of Mahomet and his followers all the time he worshipped at Mecca. In the second year after his flight to Medîna, the Prophet was suddenly instructed to turn instead to Mecca, to which ever since, the Moslems have turned at prayer. (_Ibid._ p. 198.)

[329] The _Haram_, is the sacred inclosure on the S.E. corner of Mount Zion. It is minutely described by Ali Bey, vol. ii. p. 214, with its two great mosques, _Masjid al Acksa_ (said to be the Basilica of the Virgin) and _Kubbet al Sakhra_ (the Dome of the Stone),--where also will be found plans and sketches of the same. Until the Crimean War, the Haram was guarded, as sacredly as Mecca itself, from the tread of an infidel. But it is now more or less accessible, and an elaborate survey of the two Mosques and their surroundings has recently been made by the Palestine Exploration Society: see their _Proceedings_, January 1880.

The _Kubbet al Sakhra_, or ‘Dome of the Stone,’ has been built polygonal to meet the shape of the ‘Stone,’ or Rock referred to in the text, which gives its name to the Mosque. This rock rises to a height of six or seven feet from a base, according to Ali Bey, 33 feet in diameter (or, according to others, 57 feet long and 43 wide). The architecture is Byzantine, but Greek builders were no doubt engaged for its construction. There is probably little, if anything, of original Christian building in the present Haram.

Ali Bey describes the _Sakhra_ itself as a stony apex cropping out from the rock, which, when Mahomet stood upon it, ‘sensible of the happiness of bearing the holy burden, depressed itself, and becoming soft like wax, received the print of his holy foot upon the upper part.... This print is now covered with large sort of cage of gilt metal wire, worked in such a manner that the print cannot be seen on account of the darkness within, but it may be touched with the hand through a hole made on purpose. The believers, after having touched the print, proceed to sanctify themselves by passing the hand over the face and beard.’ (_Travels of Ali Bey_, vol. ii. p. 220.)

[330] According to Theophanes, Omar, clad in unclean garments of camel hair, demanded of Sophronius to be shown over the Temple of Solomon, and was with difficulty constrained to change them by the protestations of the Patriarch, who wept over the threatened ‘abomination of desolation.’ But the general tenor of Christian tradition (whatever its worth may be) is, as in the text, altogether favourable to Omar’s courtesy and condescension. Sophronius, we are told, showed him the stony pillow of Jacob. It was covered with soil and sweepings. Whereupon Omar, with his own hands, assisted by his people, set to work to clear the spot, and the rock (_Sakhra_) having been laid bare, the foundation of the Great Mosque was built upon it.

The most unlikely part of these traditions is that which supposes that Omar would have ever thought of praying in a church adorned by pictures, crosses, &c., though of course it is possible that he may have made the excuse given in the text out of courtesy and politeness.

[331] It is of this journey the tale is told that in the midst of one of his discourses Omar was interrupted by an ecclesiastic. The Caliph quoted from the Corân the passage--_Whom the Lord misleadeth, for him there is no guide_ (Sura iv. 90, 142; xvii. 99; and xviii. 6), whereupon the Christian cried out: _Nay! God misleadeth no one._ Omar threatened that he would behead the Christian if he continued his interruption, and so the Christian held his peace. The story is told both in the _Romance of Wâckidy_, and in the _Fatooh al Shâm_; and though wanting in authority, gives truly the _popular impression_ of the doctrine of Predestination as taught in the Corân. (See _The Corân: its Composition and Teaching_, Christian Knowledge Society, p. 56.)

[332] The monks of the ‘Convent of Khâlid,’ near Damascus, received a permanent remission of their land tax as a reward for the treacherous aid rendered by them at the siege of that city. A similar concession was enjoyed by the Samaritans, who hated both Jews and Christians equally, and aided the Arabs as guides and spies; but the fruits of their treachery were resumed by Yezîd.

Omar made an assignment from the tithes to a colony of Christian lepers near Jâbia; but it seems to have been a purely charitable grant.

[333] Sura ix. 30.

[334] In some treaties given by Belâdzori and others, as concluded at the first conquest, some of these disabilities are mentioned; but I doubt their genuineness. Though the law was such, the practice varied greatly. Under intolerant Caliphs, such as the orthodox Abbassides, the poor Christians were always liable to have a fresh order issued to demolish all but their ancient churches, close the Christian schools, &c.

[335] According to Caussin de Perceval, the strongholds along the Tigris, as well as the Euphrates--Tekrît, Hît, &c.--were only now reduced by the Arabs; but, according to the best traditions, these towns fell into the hands of the Moslems, shortly after the battle of Câdesîya.

[336] The story of this inroad and widespread rising is told by tradition with the extremest brevity; but it is very evident that the position of Abu Obeida must, for some little time, have been very critical. Lebeau conjectures that the naval attack was led from Egypt by Constantine, the son of Heraclius; and M. Caussin de Perceval thinks that this is probable (vol. iii. p. 512).

[337] It seems almost certain that Khâlid did so serve, though there are other traditions to the effect that he never served under any other general than Abu Obeida. He may have led an independent expedition.

[338] Now Diâr Bekr.

[339] Byzantine historians tell us that the Roman governor of Edessa (Roha) concluded a treaty with Iyâdh, by which he bound himself to pay 100,000 pieces of gold, as black-mail, with the view of preserving his province from Saracen inroad, but that Heraclius disowned the humiliating condition, and deposed the governor. There is no hint of this in our Arabian authorities.

[340] Four thousand of the Beni Iyâdh were sent back in a body to Mesopotamia from Asia Minor, and resumed their allegiance to the Caliph, though continuing to profess the Christian faith. The remainder dispersed on the borders of the two kingdoms.

[341] That is, their tax was called _úshr_ (‘tenth’), the tithe paid by the believer, instead of _jazia_. It may be doubted whether the intolerant condition, forbidding the education of the children in Christian doctrine, was meant otherwise than as a nominal indication of the supremacy of Islam. It certainly was not enforced (if at all) with any rigour, for we read of this great tribe continuing in the profession of Christianity under the Omeyyad, and even under the Abbasside, dynasties. And in still later times they had their bishops at Ana, on the Euphrates. (See Caussin de Perceval, v. iii. p. 324.)

We now part with that invaluable author, whose history closes with this narrative.

[342] Nothing illustrates the vagueness of the Syrian narrative so forcibly as the uncertainty of the year in which Cæsarea fell. Byzantine historians make the siege last seven years, and place the fall in the year A.H. 19, that is, A.D. 640. Various traditions place it in every year between A.H. 14 and A.H. 20, and represent the siege as having lasted, some three, some four, some seven years.

A Jew is said to have betrayed the town by discovering to the Arabs an undefended aqueduct, through which they effected an entrance. The population was mixed; 70,000, we are told, were Greeks, fed (_murtazac_) from the public stores; 30,000 Samaritans; and 200,000 (?) Jews. It was a sad fate that of the captives. It is mentioned incidentally that two were made over to the daughters of Asâd ibn Zorâra, one of the twelve leaders, in place of two from Ain Tamar, who had died in their service. Multitudes of Greeks--men and women--must have pined miserably in a strange land and in hopeless servitude. And amongst these there must have been many women of gentle birth forced into menial office, or if young and fair to look upon, reserved for a worse fate--liable, when their masters were tired of them, to be sold into other hands. No wonder that Al Kindy, in his Apology, inveighs, with scathing denunciation, against the slavery practised in these Moslem crusades.

[343] _Calansua_, or helmet, worn by the captains of the Syrian army.

[344] Khâlid is no great favourite of Abbasside tradition. He belonged to a branch distant from that of the Prophet, which attached itself to the Omeyyads, of whom, in the struggle with Aly, Abdallah son of Khâlid was a staunch adherent.

The general outline of Khâlid’s case is clear, though there is variety in the details. According to some accounts, Omar returned to him all the property he had confiscated. Others say that, when pressed to do so, he said, ‘Nay, that be far from me. I am but the agent of the Moslems, and am bound to administer their property faithfully. I will never give it back.’

Tabari gives yet another account. Omar wrote to Abu Obeida commanding him to arraign Khâlid; but adding that if he would confess his guilt in the affair of Mâlik ibn Noweira, he would pardon him and restore him to his Government. Khâlid repaired for counsel to his sister Fâtima, then with her husband in Syria. She dissuaded him from confessing; for if he did so, it would only give Omar--who was determined on his ruin--a handle to depose him with disgrace. He bent down, and, kissing her forehead, said: ‘It is the truth, my sister.’ So he returned to Abu Obeida, and refused to make any confession. Thereupon Bilâl, as in the text, stripped off his kerchief, and so on, as in the text. At the conclusion of the trial Abu Obeida, by order of the Caliph, confiscated half of his property, even to his sandals--taking one and leaving the other.

[345] For an account of the persecution and martyrdom, avenged by the invasion of the Abyssinian Negus, see _Life of Mahomet_, vol. i. p. clxii. For the treaty of Mahomet, vol. iii. p. 299 (second edition, p. 158).

[346] The expulsion of the Jews is ordinarily assigned to the twentieth year of the Hegira; that of the Christians took place earlier. For the conquest of Kheibar, see _Life of Mahomet_, p. 395; and for the death-bed saying of the Prophet, _ibid._ p. 503. That the Peninsula should be wholly and exclusively Moslem was a sentiment so closely connected with the inspiration of Mahomet, when he declared in the Corân that he was ‘sent a prophet to the Arabs,’ and so forth, that it might well have recurred in the feverish delusions of his last illness. But whether or no, the utterance--whatever its purport--was evidently not taken at the time as an obligatory command. Had it been so, we may be sure that Abu Bekr would have made it his first concern to give effect to it, and no other reason would have been required to justify the act. As it is, various reasons are assigned for the expatriation of the Christians. First, we are told that they took usury greedily; next, that they fell to variance among themselves, and _asked_ to be removed; lastly, that they were growing so strong that Omar became afraid of them. As regards the Jews, we are told that they were guilty of murder, and also that they attacked the Caliph’s son.

The governors of the districts to which they emigrated had it in charge to treat them fairly. The Christians received special consideration, and the tale of raiment (which the heads of the community collected by yearly circuits among their people in Irâc and Syria) was reduced by successive Caliphs as the numbers of the tribe diminished by conversion to Islam or other cause.

Fadak, a dependency of Kheibar, was long a source of discontent to the descendants of Fâtima, who, as we have seen, claimed it for her patrimony; but Abu Bekr reserved it for the poor and the kinsmen of the Prophet (Beni Hâshim). Certain of the Omeyyad Caliphs took possession of it as their private property. It was repeatedly released to the claimants as an act of justice or of piety (notably by Omar II., the pietist of the Dynasty); but it was always soon resumed again.

[347] For example, the grandsons of the Prophet got 5,000 pieces each, like the men of Bedr. As to Abbâs, his uncle, some say he was rated at 5,000 pieces, others 7,000, and some again as high as 12,000 or even 24,000; but these last figures are evidently a pandering of tradition to glorify Abbâs and exalt the Abbasside dynasty under courtly influence. Abbâs was of course respected in the time of Omar as the Prophet’s uncle; but he never took any leading part at the Caliph’s court; and indeed his antecedents, during the life of Mahomet, were not much to his credit. See _Life of Mahomet_, p. 417. Ayesha was allotted 2,000 pieces extra ‘for the love the Prophet bare to her;’ but according to some, she declined to take it. The slave-concubines (Safia and Juweiria) were at first rated at 6,000, but at the solicitation of the other widows they were placed on an equality with them.

[348] For these see _ibid._ pp. 368, 371, chap. xix.

[349] Thus certain of the Dihcâns, or Persian Talookdars, who threw in their lot with the invading army, had a high rank, with the title to 1,000 pieces, conferred upon them.

[350] See _Life of Mahomet_, p. 486.

[351] The dole was fixed, after a trial of what was sufficient as a monthly ration, for the support of sixty poor persons. Two jarîbs of grain, accordingly, was the portion appointed, as a minimum, to which every indigent believer of whatever race was entitled.

[352] The jealous susceptibilities of the rival tribes were continually breaking forth; as for example, in the election of a Muedzzin in place of the one killed at Câdesîya to proclaim the times of prayer to the army, on which a free fight arose that nearly ended in bloodshed.

[353] Belâdzori, p. 458.

[354] Omar gave out that if the revenues sufficiently increased, he intended to advance the stipend of every man in the upper grades to 4,000 dirhems. It is said also that he contemplated the issue of a sumptuary ordinance both for Syria and Irâc, by which 1,000 dirhems were to be considered the allowance for the support of the stipendiary’s family, 1,000 for his personal expenses, 1,000 for house and furnishings, and the remainder for hospitable entertainment; but that he died before he could issue the order. The object of such a rule, and the practicability of giving effect to it, are however doubtful.

[355] See _Life of Mahomet_, p. 555; and _The Corân: its Composition and Teaching_, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

[356] This is the received derivation of the era called the _Year of Ashes_. Others call it so because the land was pulverised, dark and dusty, without a blade of grass or of any green thing.

[357] The secretary of Wâckidy has several pages filled with traditions about Omar’s treatment of the famine, and self-denying solicitude for his people. He refused to ride a horse during the famine because it consumed corn. He chided his son for eating a cucumber, when men around were dying of hunger, and so forth. There may be much of exaggeration; but at the bottom of it all lies a fine trait in Omar’s character.

[358] Ayla, on the Gulf of Acaba, at the head of the Red Sea.

[359] Here again the Kâtib Wâckidy gives a great array of traditions regarding Omar’s prayers and the service for rain. Some of these which notice the part taken by Abbâs (but they are comparatively few in number) have been eagerly seized by the Abbasside annalists to glorify the patriarch, and through him the dynasty descended from him. The tale is cast in the supernatural type of the Prophet’s life. A man finding a sheep which he had slaughtered to be nothing but mere skin and bone without a drop of blood, in his distress invokes Mahomet, who thereupon appears to him in a vision, assures him that he shares the distress of his people, and bids him tell Omar ‘to call to mind that which he had forgotten.’ A general assembly is summoned in the Great Mosque, and after much heart-searching as to what the Prophet meant by these words, they betake themselves to prayer. Omar seizes the hand of Abbâs, and for the sake of the Prophet’s aged kinsman, beseeches the mercy of Heaven. Then Abbâs himself prays, and the people weep floods of tears. The heavens are suddenly overcast, and the rain descends. Thereupon Abbâs is saluted as ‘the Waterer of the two Holy Places,’ i.e. of Mecca and Medîna.