´¡±·µþÄ€¸é (Pers. term meaning granary), a town on the left bank of the Euphrates five km north-west of FallÅ«Ç°a and sixty-two km west of Baghdad. Its strategic position at an important ford near the point where the Euphrates enters the alluvial plain and where the first navigable canal went to the Tigris was recognized as early as the Parthian period with the construction of a square fortress there. The town was refounded by ŠÄpÅ«r I (241-72) and called PÄ“rÅz ŠÄpÅ«r to commemorate his victory over Gordian IV in 243 and to protect the Euphrates end of the border with the Romans in Mesopotamia (Herzfeld, Samarra, Hamburg, 1948, p. 12; Maricq, p. 47). Arabic sources generally credit ŠÄpÅ«r II with the foundation of PÄ“rÅz ŠÄpÅ«r as the seat of a marzbanate, with a garrison of 2,000 men and storehouses for barley, fodder, and straw in the third century (BalÄá¸orÄ«, ¹ó´Ç³Ùūḥ, p. 246; DÄ«navarÄ«, p. 51; Ḥamza, p. 45; á¹®aÊ¿ÄlebÄ«, Ḡo°ù²¹°ù, p. 529; ṬabarÄ«, I, p. 859; YÄqÅ«t, I, pp. 367-68).
When PÄ“rÅz ŠÄpÅ«r fell to Julian in 363 it had a garrison of over 2,500 men. The town was surrounded by double brick walls with towers coated with bitumen at the level of the moat drawn from the Euphrates. In the center stood a tall, circular citadel where the Romans found large quantities of weapons and provisions (Ammianus Marcellinus 24.2.7-22; Zosimus 3.17-19).
During the reign of QobÄd (KawÄá¸), in the early 6th century, PÄ“rÅz ŠÄpÅ«r became the administrative capital and district of ŠÄḠQobÄḠbetween the Euphrates and Tigris. This district consisted of the subdistricts of ŠÄḠFÄ«rÅ«z or FÄ«rÅ«z SÄbÅ«r (AnbÄr, HÄ«t, and Ê¿AnÄt), BÄdÅ«rÄya, Masken, and Qaá¹rabbol (QodÄma, KetÄb al-ḵarÄÇ°, BGA, VI, p. 235; Ebn al-FaqÄ«h, p. 199; YÄqÅ«t, III, p. 227; DÄ«navarÄ«, p. 68; Ebn ḴordÄá¸beh, p. 7). This unit survived in early Islamic administration as the Upper Province (ÅŒstÄn al-Ê¿Ä€lÄ«) with AnbÄr as its capital (QodÄma, á¸Âë°ùÄåÇ°, p. 235; YÄqÅ«t, I, p. 241, III, p. 592) and as a mint for post-reform dirhams (J. Walker, A Catalogue of the Arab-Sassanian Coins, London, 1941, pp. cxl-cxli).
During the ascendancy of the BanÅ« Laḵm in the late 6th century, the friends and supporters of NoÊ¿mÄn b. Moná¸er were supplied from the storehouses of AnbÄr (BalÄá¸orÄ«, ¹ó´Ç³Ùūḥ, p. 246; YÄqÅ«t, I, p. 368). Thereafter AnbÄr reverted to direct Persian rule, and at the time of the Muslim conquest the Persians living there are said to have been descendants of those who had been settled by ŠÄpÅ«r I (BalÄá¸orÄ«, ¹ó´Ç³Ùūḥ, p. 177) and included »å±ð³ó±çÄå²Ôs (ṬabarÄ«, I, p. 2203).
When ḴÄled b. WalÄ«d raided Iraq in 12/633 he is said to have been met outside AnbÄr by its commander, ŠÄ«rzÄá¸, with 70,000 completely armored Persian and Arab troops. After some 2,000 of them had been blinded by Muslim arrows, ŠÄ«rzÄḠsurrendered and was allowed to evacuate AnbÄr with the garrison, who had to leave all their possessions behind. ḴÄled then imposed an annual tribute on the town (ṬabarÄ«, I, p. 2060; BaḷʿamÄ«, Chronique III, p. 337). In 14/635 Posfarrūḵ, then ³¾²¹°ù³ú²úÄå²Ô of AnbÄr, is said to have provided MoṯannÄ b. ḤÄreṯa with guides when the latter raided the village of Baghdad (DÄ«navarÄ«, p. 122). The people of AnbÄr are said to have broken their treaty with ḴÄled, and then made new terms with JarÄ«r b. Ê¿AbdallÄh BaÇ°alÄ« for an annual tribute of 400,000 dirhams and 1,000 cloaks (BalÄá¸orÄ«, ¹ó´Ç³Ùūḥ, p. 246; ṬabarÄ«, I, p. 2061; YaḥyÄ b. Ä€dam b. SolaymÄn, KetÄb al-ḵarÄÇ°, tr. A. Ben Shemesh, Leiden, 1958, rep. 1967, p. 46).
AnbÄr remained a prosperous, populous town and administrative and military center in the early Islamic period. HÄ«t and Ê¿AnÄt were detached from the territory of AnbÄr and added to the JazÄ«ra by MoÊ¿ÄwÄ«a or by YazÄ«d I (DÄ«navarÄ«, p. 681; YÄqÅ«t, III, p. 929), and Moṣʿab b. Zobayr sent a governor to the Upper Province in 68/687 (ṬabarÄ«, II, p. 757). Descendants of the ḴorÄsÄnÄ« troops settled there in 134/752 by Abu’l-Ê¿AbbÄs were still living there in the early 9th century (DÄ«navarÄ«, p. 38; ṬabarÄ«, III, p. 678; YaÊ¿qÅ«bÄ«, I, p. 510). Beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries the town declined in population due to Bedouin raids but survived as an administrative, agricultural, and commercial center until as late as the 8th/14th century (Ê¿A. Ê¿AzzÄwÄ«, Taʾrīḵ al-Ê¿ErÄq bayn eḥtelÄlayn, 8 vols., Baghdad, 1937-57, I, pp. 204, 337, 548). Its ruins are still visible and have recently been the object of Iraqi archaeology.
Bibliography:
See also G. Le Strange, Lands, pp. 65-66.
A. Maricq and E. Honigmann, Recherches sur les ResGestaediviSaporis, Brussels, 1953, pp. 116-17.
A. Musil, The Middle Euphrates, New York, 1927, pp. 234, 236, 248, 296, 353-57.
Obermeyer, Landschaft Babylonien, Frankfort on the Main, 1929 pp. 65-66.
Camb.Hist. Iran III, pp. 70, 125, 485, 724, 759.
M. G. Morony, Iraq after the MuslimConquest, Princeton, 1984, see index.
EI2 I, pp. 484-85.
(M. Morony)
Originally Published: December 15, 1985
Last Updated: August 3, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 1, p. 5
M. Morony, “´¡±·µþÄ€¸é,” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/1, p. 5, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/anbar-ancient-and-medieval-town-on-the-left-bank-of-the-euphrates (accessed on 30 December 2012).
