Aramaeans in Iraq after the Muslim Conquest 9781463216061

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Aramaeans in Iraq after the Muslim Conquest

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Analecta Gorgiana

109 Series Editor George Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and short monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utilized by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

Aramaeans in Iraq after Muslim Conquest

Michael G. Morony

1 gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1 ISBN 978-1-59333-600-4

This edition is an extract from the Gorgias Press edition of Iraq after the Muslim Conquest, Chapter 4, pp. 169-180, 2006.

Printed in the United States of America

ARAMAEANS IN LATE SASANIAN IRAQ People speaking various dialects of Aramaic were by far the most numerous linguistic group in Iraq in both periods. At least three dialects were used in Iraq. The people in northern Iraq spoke and wrote the Syriac dialect based on the spoken language of Edessa. The Aramaic dialect used in the Babylonian Talmud was spoken in central Iraq. In the southeast, the Aramaic population spoke a dialect derived from Chaldaean, which had already become the language of the Mandaic texts by the seventh century. The differences among these dialects do not seem to have been great enough to prevent or to inhibit communication and the geographical boundaries between them were not very clear. All three dialects have been found on magical incantation bowls at Nippur (Niffar) belonging to this period. The Mandaic of these bowl texts was identical to the language of the later Mandaic scripture and was already being written in its distinctive alphabet. The Talmudic dialect was written in Hebrew characters but was being influenced by spoken Mandaic. The Syriac dialect was written in an unjoined Estrangelo script which resembles early Edessene inscriptions and gives the impression of an intrusive linguistic element, reminding one of the farmers whom Khusraw Anushirvan carried off from Callinicus in 642. It is worth noting that this was the dialect and script that served as a literary vehicle for Manichaeans, and that the Syriac dialect was also being influenced by Mandaic speech. The mixed linguistic situation in late Sasanian Nippur is also indicated by the fact that some of the same people are named as the beneficiaries of magical charms written in different dialects but probably by the same family of sorcerers.3 Arabic tradition only distinguished two forms of Aramaic: the Nabati dialect of lower Iraq and Syriac. According to Mas'udi, the difference between them was only a matter of a few words. 4 The general term in Arabic for Aramaeans was Anbat (sg. Nabat), which identified them as a sedentary, agricultural population. Although it is clear that 3 J. Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur (Philadephia, 1913), pp. 15, 26, 27, 29, 3 0 - 3 5 , 39. 4 Mas'udi, Muriij, I, 253.

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the Anbät were the Aramaic speaking peasants and townsmen of Iraq 5 and were thereby usually distinguished from Persians, the primary meaning of this term appears to convey a sendentary way of life rather than a language group. By a natural extension, it also had agricultural connotations. 6 Aramaeans were called Anbät because they appear to have constituted most of the settled, agricultural population in both the Sasanian and early Islamic periods. The Aramaic-speaking population was concentrated in the agricultural areas of Iraq, along the rivers and canals in the Sawad and along the upper Tigris and its tributaries. Aramaeans were also an important element in many of the larger towns and cities, where they mingled with Persians and Arabs. Towns such as Kutha and Sura in the heart of the Sawad were known as Aramaean centers. 7 The general population of Mada'in seems to have been Aramaic-speaking in the Sasanian period, 8 and Aramaeans lived in cities such as Takrit and Nasibin. Aramaeans tended to be mixed with sedentary Arabs along the Euphrates. Their population thinned out along the foothills of the Zagros mountains in the uplands east of the Tigris, with the balance shifting in favor of Persians and Kurds at the approximate geographical limits of Iraq. The Aramaean presence east of the Tigris had been reinforced in the Sasanian period by the settlement of nine thousand deportees from Beth Zabhde at Dastagird and of ninety families from Maysan at a village near Kirkuk by Shäpür II.9 Such transfers tended to increase the ethnic mixture in Sasanian Iraq, as did the settlement of imported labor on the land. In the late Sasanian period, Persian peasants from the plateau, Arabs, and Syrian and Greek captives were resettled in different parts of Iraq as agricultural labor. In such parts of Iraq, the dialect and even the language might change from one village to the next. The nature of the ethnicreligious mixture in the region between Kaskar and Khuzistan is in5 Mas'üdl, ( T a n b i h , p. 36) says that the Arabs called the Suryäniyyün Nabat. Ibn a n - N a d i m describes the NabatI dialect spoken by villagers as an incorrectly pronounced form of Syriac; see The Fihrist ofal-Nadim: A Tenth-Century Survey of Muslim Culture, ed. and tr. Bayard D o d g e ( N e w York, 1 9 7 0 ) , I, 2 2 . 6 N a b a t I w a s used for Egyptian peasants in a papyrus of 7 1 0 ; see Grohmann, Papyri, p. 1 2 9 . 7

Q a z w l n l , Athar

al-biläd,

II, 3 0 1 ; Yäqüt, Buldan,

Arabic

III, 184; IV, 3 1 8 .

8

W h e n Khälid w a s at Hira, he had a m a n from Hira called Murra write a letter t o the Persian notables at Mada'in, while Salübä had a man named Hazqil write a letter in NabatI to the general population of M a d a ' i n (Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2052—53). 9 H o f f m a n n , Persischer Märtyrer, M a s i h , " AB 4 4 ( 1 9 2 6 ) , 2 8 0 - 8 1 .

p. 4 9 ; P. Peeters, "La passion arabe de S. 'Abd Al-

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dicated by the proximity of towns and villages such as Atesh Gah (N.P., "place of fire"), presumably settled by Magian Persians five fardsikh (N.P.) east of Badhibin; Tib, which was inhabited by Aramaeans, eighteen farasikh east of Badhibin; and Qaryat A'rab, a village of settled Arab bedouin, twenty-two or twenty-three farasikh west of Badhibin. 10 However, such settlers were subject to strong Aramaicizing influences and tended to adopt Aramaic speech once they had been settled for any length of time. On the other hand, Aramaeans who rose to positions of authority tended to become Persianized, especially if service extended over several generations. The best example in late Sasanian Iraq is the family of Yazdln, of Syrian origin, which became assimilated with the Persian aristocracy. Yazdln himself served as finance minister for the Quarter of the West under Khusraw Parviz, possessed wide lands near Kirkuk and in Margha, and, like the landed Christian Persian aristocrats who were his contemporaries, extended his patronage to the Nestorians and built churches and monasteries. 11 His son, Shamta, in retribution for his father's dismissal, is said to have been responsible for the actual killing of Khusraw Parviz in prison, 12 and for persuading Shiroe (Qubadh II) to kill the royal princes. 13 Shamta was eventually punished by Shahrbaraz, who crucified him at the door of the church of Beth Narqos in Margha. 1 4 The family of Yazdln survived the conquest, however, and maintained both its aristocratic status and its connection with the Nestorian Church. In 646/7 his descendents were in charge of the burial of the catholicos Isho'yahbh II.15 It is more natural to find Aramaean notables at the local level, away from the centers of power, and although most of the dahaqtn appear to have been of Persian origin, Aramaeans may be found among them. The most interesting is the family of Saluba ibn Nistuna, the lord (Ar. sahib) of Quss Natif and of most of the land between the two branches 10 Ibn Rustah, A'laq, pp. 1 8 7 - 8 8 ; Yaqut, Buldan, II, 566. One farsakh is ca. 6 kilometers. 11 Thomas of Margha, Governors, II, 81; Christensen, Sassattides, p. 451; Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 23; II, 21; Noldeke, "Guidi," p. 22; idem, Perser und Araber, p. 384; Stratos, Byzantium, pp. 214, 376. The possessions in Margha were at Beth Narqos and Yazdinabadh. 12 Thomas of Margha, Governors, II, 81: Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 28—29; II, 24—25; Noldeke, "Guidi," pp. 2 9 - 3 0 ; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 551. 13 Noldeke, Perser und Araber, p. 382; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 552; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 1 0 6 0 - 6 1 . 14 Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 29; II, 25; Noldeke, "Guidi," p. 31. 15 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 625.

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of the Euphrates in the Sawad of Hira, who dealt directly with the Muslims for his lands at the time of the conquest. 16 It might be suggested that from a cultural point of view, there was very little to distinguish local Aramaean notables such as Salùbâ from their Persian counterparts among the dahàqïn. This is confirmed by conditions at Nippur, where the evidence from the proper names on the incantation bowls suggests a mixture of Persian and Aramaean influences. Nippur had been resettled in the Parthian period. Its inhabitants during the Sasanian period originally may have been Persians who had been Aramaicized by intermarriage with the natives of the Sawad. It is possible to identify in the bowl texts some people who were probably village notables; at least they seem to be better off than other patrons of the sorcerers and found it necessary to protect themselves from the evil eye. Màràdà and his wife Hinduïthâ bath Dôdài, whose Mandaic bowl seeks protection for their mansion, barn, cattle, and household vessels seem very Aramaean. By the same token Xârô bar Mehanôsh, who seeks magical protection for his mansion, barn, and cattle—asses, bulls, goats, and swine—on a Mandaic bowl seems more Persian or Persianized. Another Mandaic text identifies a certain Shrula bar Duktanuba as a man with property, cattle, slaves, and handmaids. 17 The mixture of names of Persian or Aramaean origin in the same family may be seen in the case of Farrukusrao bar Duktanosh, his wife Kewashizag bath Papa, their daughter Apridoë, and their grandsons Masdanaspas and Rashnenduk. 18 It may also be seen in the family of Hormiz bar Mahlapta and his wife Ahata bath Dade, and 16 Abu Yùsuf, Kharàj, p. 225; Balàdhurï, Futuh, pp. 2 4 4 - 4 5 ; Jabarï, Ta'rïkh, I, 2017, 2019, 2049-51, 2052; Yâqut, Buldân, I, 4 8 3 - 8 4 . 17 Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp. 2 4 4 - 4 5 , 252, 254; E. Yamauchi, Mandaic incantation Texts (New Haven, 1967), pp. 257, 263, 2 7 7 , 2 7 9 . Xârô may be compared to Xaroë in F. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch (Marburg, 1895), p. 171. Montgomery explains Mehanôsh as an abbreviated combination of Mithra and the Magian angel Anôsh. For the use of Anôsh in Persian names, see Justi (pp. 17-18), but here the name might also be that of one of the Mandaean angels (Anosh). The Mandaean significance of this name seems to be indicated by the popularity of names formed with Anosh in the Mandaic bowl texts (Yamauchi, Incantation Texts, pp. 163, 177, 179, 267). 18 Yamauchi, Incantation Texts, pp. 227, 229. Farrukusrao is an abbreviation of Farrukh-Khusraw and probably corresponds to actual speech. Duktanosh may be compared to Duxtnôsh—"maiden (given by) Anôsh" (Justi, Namenbuch, pp. 227, 229). Masdanaspas probably means steed of Mazda or of the Mazdaean religion. For Rashnan used as a proper name derived from the Magian demigod Rashnu, see Justi, Namenbuch, p. 259. Kewashizag and Apridoë appear to be Aramaic names, the latter with a Persian diminutive ending. For the possible Manichaean meaning of Kewashizag, see de Menasce, "Autour d'une texte syriaque inédit sur la religion des Mages," BSOAS 9 (1939), 593.

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in the case of Qayyoma bar Mershabor.19 A further indication of the kind of mixture existing at Nippur is provided by a Syriac bowl text that contains Judaic references but was written for a certain MihrHormizd bar Mamay and his wife Bahroe bath Bath Sahde, whose mother's name is Christian and means "daughter of the martyrs." 20 A similar mixture is evident in the case of a certain Timotheos bar Mamay.21 Such conditions lie behind Mas'udi's picture of the assimilation of the Anbat with the Persians in the Sasanian period and the complaint he records by a "modern" poet that even villagers claimed descent from Kisra, son of Qubadh.22 The bowl texts also indicate there was a religious dimension to assimilation between Aramaeans and Persians. Aramaeans were pagans, Mandaeans, Jews, and Christians, so it is well to remember that the religious issues and developments to be discussed under these headings largely concern this population.

ARAMAEANS IN EARLY ISLAMIC IRAQ Since Aramaeans were the majority of the agricultural population, it was they who paid the land tax and kept up the irrigation system. Consequently, they were the people most directly affected by the rise in tax rates under the Muslims in the Sawad and by changes in the irrigation system in both periods. Otherwise, the immediate effects of the Islamic conquest on the Aramaean population of Iraq amounted to a surface disruption during the fighting, followed by a settlement that reproduced the general situation under the Sasanians. The first Muslim raids, those of Khalid and Muthanna ibn Haritha, took captives from among the settled population, particularly in Maysan, and carried them off to Madina.23 However, Saluba or his son Busbuhra preserved the people of Baniqya and Barusma from attack in return for the payment of one thousand dirhams, a taylasan, (N.P., stole) and an agreement to aid the Muslims 19 Yamauchi, Incantation Texts, pp. 187, 231, 233. Dade should be compared with the Persian Dadhoe or Dadoes (Justi, Namenbuch, pp. 75—76, 81—82). Mershabor is an abbreviation of Mithra-Shapur and should be compared with Mihrshabhor (Justi, Namenbuch, p. 206). Mahlapta, Ahata, and Qayyoma are Aramaic. 20 Montgomery, Incantation Texts, pp. 231—35. For Mihr-Hormizd and Mamay, see Justi, Namenbuch, p. 189. Bahroe is probably a diminutive form of Bahram. Several women on these bowls have male names. 21 Yamauchi, Incantation Texts, pp. 223, 225. 22 Mas'udT, Tanbih, p. 38. 23 Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, VII, 92, 114.

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instead of the Persians. 24 In general, the peasants in the Sawad were left alone if they did not revolt and were eventually treated as

dhimmts.2S

Busbuhra and the people of Baniqya did actually assist the Muslim Arabs in the construction of the floating bridge across the Euphrates from Marwaha on the west bank to Quss Natif on the east bank. This enabled the Muslim army under Abu 'Ubayd to cross the river prior to the Battle of the Bridge. 26 At least in Baniqya and the surrounding districts, the Aramaeans seem to have been willing to aid the Muslims if only to the extent indicated by a native of the Sawad who told Muthanna the names of the places where the Persian general Mihran camped and where he crossed the Euphrates before the Battle of Buwayb. 2 7 As successful raids turned into permanent occupation, the Aramaean peasantry of Iraq were included in the same general terms offered to the landed aristocrats. In addition to the release of at least some of the captives, 28 those who had fled were allowed to return and received the same protection as those who had stayed and remained faithful to their original pact with the Muslims. However, in exchange for acquiring Muslim protection, those who returned were subjected to heavier taxation. 2 9 Unfortunately, Busbuhra had compromised himself by joining the Persian counterattack after the Persian victory at the Battle of the Bridge, and following the Persian defeat at Qadisiyya, he unsuccessfully attempted to defend Burs in the first of a series of rear-guard actions along the road to Mada'in. After a skirmish with part of the Muslim advance guard under Zuhra, Busbuhra and his men were put to flight, and Busbuhra died of his wounds at Babil. 3 0 Nevertheless, Busbuhra's two Arabized sons, Khalid and Jamil, were among those native aristocrats allotted stipends of two thousand dirhams

from the Muslim dtwan by 'Umar I. 31

Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2 0 1 7 ; Yaqut, Buldan, I, 484. Khadduri, Islamic Law of Nations, p. 80; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2026, 2031. 26 Baladhuri, Futiih, p. 251; Tabari, Ta'rikh, i, 2 1 7 7 ; Yaqut, Buldan, IV, 9 7 - 9 8 . 27 Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2 1 8 4 - 8 5 . 28 Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, VII, 92. 29 Dennett, Conversion, p. 28; Tabari, Ta'rikh, 1 , 2 0 3 1 , 2 3 7 1 , 2 4 2 7 , 2 4 6 7 - 6 9 ; Yahya ibn Adam, Kharaj, pp. 2 6 - 2 7 , 46, 52. 30 Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2420. In a parallel account (ibid., I, 2061), the Banu Saluba, identified as the people of Hira, Kalwadha, and the villages of the Euphrates, were the only ones to conclude peace before battle. Then they acted treacherously but were afterwards called to protection (dhimma). 31 In this context Busbuhra is called the dihqan of the Fallujas. Baladhuri, Futiih, pp. 4 5 7 - 5 8 ; Ya'qubi, Ta'rikh, II, 176. 24 25

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Arabic tradition estimates that in the caliphate of 'Umar I, between five hundred and five hundred and fifty thousand men were put under seal for the head tax in the Sawad of Kufa. 32 On this basis, the total non-Muslim population (Christians and Jews) has been estimated at about one million, five hundred thousand. 33 Other considerations indicate that this number might serve equally well as an approximation of the Aramaean population of the Sawad of Kufa at the time of the conquest. 34 The numerical relationship between the peasants and the Muslim occupying forces immediately after the conquest is indicated by an account in which 'Umar I is said to have considered partitioning the Sawad among the Muslims there, and it was discovered that each Muslim would receive three peasants as tenants. This plan was abandoned in favor of the assessment of a poll tax, the proceeds of which were divided among the Muslim forces. 35 Apparently the territory of the villages that had made peace with the Muslims at the time of the conquest continued to enjoy a special status afterwards. As qura-ssulh (Ar.), they were supposed to be free from taxation, and Muslim soldiers and merchants were not allowed to enter these villages, nor could their women or children be taken captive. 36 There are a number of ways in which the Aramaeans participated in the life of Islamic Iraq: by acting as spies and guides, serving in the army, giving advice on local administration, continuing to exert their ethnic influence on sedentary Arabs and in place names, and restoring and preserving the irrigation system. First of all, the accounts of the arrangements made by Khalid and Muthanna with the native population included the stipulation that they were to act as spies and guides for the Muslims against the Persians. 37 Not only were these requirements fulfilled during the conquest, but, during the remainder of the 32 Baladhuri, Futiih, p. 271; Ibn Khurradadhbih, Masalik, p. 14; Ibn Rustah, A'laq, p. 105. 33 L. E. Browne, The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia (Cambridge, 1933), p. 9; A. Mez, Die Renaissance des Islams (Heidelberg, 1922), p. 34. Baron's suggestion (Social and Religious History, III, 113) that the number of taxpayers should be multiplied by five to estimate the total population would produce a figure of over two million five hundred thousand. 34 This figure was used for the Aramaean population on the assumption that the Aramaeans were closely identified with the sedentary, agricultural population in the Sawad; they alone seem to have been subjected to having seals put around their necks when they paid their taxes. 3 5 Abu Yusuf, Kharaj, p. 5 7 ; Baladhuri, Futiih, p. 2 6 6 ; Yahya ibn Adam, Kharaj, p. 41. 36 Lakkegaard, Islamic Taxation, p. 83. 3 7 Abu Yusuf, Kharaj, p. 61; Baladhuri, Futiih, p. 242; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2020.

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seventh century, the Aramaeans served Muslim forces in the same capacity. In 663 a Kufan force pursuing rebels in the Sawad relied on a man from Sabat to guide it to Daylamiyya.38 In 685 the 'atnil of al-Mukhtar at Mada'in sent al-Mukhtar a native Aramaean spy who informed him of what had happened in Mawsil between Yazld ibn 'Anas and 'Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad. 39 Ahmar ibn Salit was guided by a NabatI in his attack for al-Mukhtar on a fortified place near Madhar. 40 Not only were the Aramaeans employed as guides and spies, but NabatI was spoken on the battlefield at Siffin, and in 687 a reference is made to an Aramaean soldier in the army sent by al-Harith ibn 'Abdullah against 'Ubaydullah at Anbar. 41 The family of Saluba survived in the Sawad at least until the end of the seventh century, providing a rather explicit channel for the communication of the traditions of government in the rural districts. When al-Hajjaj appointed 'Ubaydullah ibn al-Mukharib to collect taxes in the two Fallujas, it was Jamil ibn Busbuhra who advised him on how to rule.42 The continued identification of the Aramaic speaking population of Iraq with the rural, agricultural population meant that, at least throughout the seventh century and well into the eighth century, those Arabs who settled down among them outside of the cities became "Nabataeanized." This in itself was merely a continuation of the situation throughout the Fertile Crescent in antiquity in places such as Edessa, Petra, and Palmyra, where sedentary Arabs tended to become Aramaicized. 43 The Arabic tradition itself recognized that this had happened in pre-Islamic Iraq. One of the best expressions of the way in which Arabs and Aramaeans had intermingled in Hira is to be found in part of the (surely apocryphal) conversation between Khalid and the legendary 'Abd al-Masih when that city fell to the Muslims. When Khalid asked 'Abd al-Masih whether the people of Hira were Arabs or Nabat, he received the reply that, "we regarded the Arab as a Nabat and the Nabat as an Arab." 4 4 In general following the conquest, those Arabs who settled among the peasants in the countryside Tabari, Ta'rikh, II, 58. Ibid., II, 649. 40 Dinawarl, Akhbar at-tiwal, p. 311. 41 Baladhuri, Ansab, I, 173; Tabari, Ta'rikh, II, 777. 42 Jahiz, Rasd'il, II, 3 2 ; Jahshiyari, Wuzara', p. 36. 43 See M. Rostovtzeff, Caravan Cities (Oxford, 1932). 44 Mas'udI, Muriij, I, 118. This might also be taken to mean that bedouin became sedentary and vice versa. 38

35

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were Aramaicized, and the policy of al-Hajjaj provides an excellent example of the strength of Aramaicizing tendencies in rural Iraq as late as the early eighth century. When, as part of the reaction to the revolt of Ibn al-Ash'ath, al-Hajjaj exiled the religious spokesman (Ar. fuqaha') and the mawali from the garrison cities of Iraq and forced them to mingle with the rural Aramaic population by marking their hands with the names of the villages to which they were assigned, they are said to have become assimilated with the Aramaeans. 4 5 The nature of such assimilation is indicated by the existence of a form of spoken Arabic in the countryside around Kufa which Jahiz claims was pronounced in a Nabatl manner, in which " s " replaced " z " and hamza replaced 'ayn.46 The Aramaic dialects of Iraq remained living vehicles of expression and linguistic assimilation well into the Islamic period. Syriac continued to be a heavily used literary medium in northern Iraq and the spoken form of local dialects influenced the way place names were rendered in Arabic. Many place names of Aramaic origin, or preserved through Aramaic use, survived in Islamic Iraq. Although these place names continued to be used in Syriac literature in their original forms, they preserved an orthography that often no longer corresponded to the spoken language which had begun to form contractions and drop suffixes by the sixth century. In particular, the th in compound place names formed with beth (house, home of) had been dropped in spoken Syriac, as is indicated by the way the Greek translator of the sixthcentury life of Shirin rendered Beth Garme as Begarmeon. 4 7 The Arabic spelling of such constructions reflects the spoken language. Beth Garme was rendered in the Arabic script as Bajarma, Beth 'Arbhaye as Ba'arbaya, and Beth Zabhde as Bazabda. 4 8 The possibility that the letter jttn in the Arabic alphabet represents a velar pronunciation as " g " in the Yamani dialect spoken in early Islamic Iraq 4 9 would make Mubarrad, Kamil, p. 286. C. Pellat, TheLife andWorks of Jahiz (Berkeley, 1969),pp. 101-2.For an argument against the possibility of such influences, see W. Cowan, "Sound Change in Central Asian Arabic," Der Islam 43 (1967), 134-38. 47 Devos, "Sirin," p. 104. But the same Greek translator rendered Beth Armaye in Greek by Betharmaes (ibid., p. 105). 48 Likewise, Beth Nuhadhra was rendered as Bahudhra, Beth Rushme as Barusma, Beth Neqya as Baniqya, Beth Deqla as Badaqla, Beth Daraye as Badaraya, and Beth Kusaye as Bakusaya. 49 R. Curiel, "Monnaies Arabo-Sasanides, II," Revue numismatique (1966), pp. 6 5 66. 45

46

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the Arabic rendering of a place name such as Beth Garme by Bajarma (pronounced Bagarma) very close to spoken Aramaic. Otherwise, Aramaic place names were rendered in Arabic according to the normal rules of conversion between these two languages. Corresponding to the shift from sh in Aramaic to s in Arabic, Kashkar was rendered as Kaskar, Shenna dhe Beth Ramman as Sinn Barimma, and Mayshan as Maysan. According to the shift from p to f, Pellughta, Nippur, and Perath were rendered as Falluja, Niffar, and Furat, respectively. The replacement of th by t in Furat, Hit (Syr. Hith), and Takrit (Syr. Taghrith), however, merely reflected spoken Aramaic. Place names also reflect the continuing involvement of the Aramaic population in the preservation and restoration of irrigation systems in early Islamic Iraq. One indication of this kind of continuity lies in a run-off channel called Bazza dhe Nahrawatha (literally "the plundering of the canals"), 50 which collected excess water from the middle Euphrates system near Niffar and which was certainly in existence in the late Sasanian period.51 Not only was this place name Arabized as Bizz al-Anhar,52 but a knowledge of its purpose survived in Arabic tradition (and presumably in irrigating practice as well). Baladhuri speaks of a canal, old in his time, called Bazzaq near Wasit, and explains that in Aramaic the name means that the canal cuts off water from other canals downstream and takes it to itself, in this case taking excess water from the reed thickets of Sib and from the Euphrates river.53 Another indication of the continuing activity of native Aramaeans in the operation of the irrigation system is the sluice gate called Bathq Hiri located about three miles from Basra but named after an Aramaean from Hira who was a mawla of Ziyad.54 The best example of all, however, is Hassan an-Nabati who reclaimed land by draining the swamps of lower Iraq for al-Hajjaj in the reign of al-Walid I and for Hisham in the early eighth century.55 J. Payne Smith, Syriac Dictionary (Oxford, 1903), p. 40. Gregory of Kaskar built his monastery near Bazza dhe Nahrawatha in about 6 1 2 (Guidi, Chronica Minora I, I, 18; II, 17). 5 1 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 5 1 2 - 1 3 . 5 3 Baladhuri, Futuh, p. 2 9 1 . 5 4 Ibid., pp. 357, 3 5 8 . 5 5 Ibid., p. 2 9 3 , 3 6 7 ; Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi, 'Iqd, IV, 18; Jahshiyarl, Wuzara', p. 29a; Mas'udI, Muriij, I, 1 2 1 ; Qudama, Kharaj, p. 2 4 0 . He was a mawla of the Arab clan of Banu Dabba at Basra. He was employed in the dtwan of Iraq and only converted from Christianity to Islam in the time of Hisham. He owned the estate of Nahr Sulayman, a place called Hawd Hassan in Basra, a watchtower called Manara Hassan and a 50 51

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Finally, due account must be taken of the attitudes of Aramaeans and Arabs towards each other. On their side, the Aramaeans, as representatives of a sedentary, orderly, agricultural population, reacted somewhat unfavorably to what was felt to be an impetuosity or excitability on the part of Arabs. This attitude and the stereotype it involved is well illustrated in the case of an Arab monk from Hira named Mar Eliyya who lived at the Nestorian monastery on Mt. Izla above Nasibin in the late sixth century. The monastic chronicler who described Rabban Eliyya's energetic response to a crisis in the community found it necessary to explain that the possessed the "violent character of the bedouin." 5 6 Such attitudes survived the conquest and were expressed as a feeling of superiority on the part of the Anbat over Arabs because of the achievements of the Babylonians, the antiquity and spread of their civilization, the flourishing of agriculture, and their acceptance of Islam without having a prophet appear amongst them. 57 For their part, Arabs tended to stereotype Aramaeans as arrogant people who identified themselves by their place of origin instead of by a tribal genealogy. Arabs looked down on them as people who had lost their power and independence first to Persian and then to Arab rulers. According to Mas'udi, the Anbat were inferior to Arabs because the latter were granted a prophet and the former were not. 58 However, a better indication of the awareness by seventh-century Arabs of the difference between themselves and the Aramaeans is the description of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas given by 'Amr ibn Ma'dlkarib to the caliph 'Umar: "In his love of dates, he is an Arab; in his collection of taxes, he is a Nabati." 5 9 The survival of a more or less intact Aramaean population in Iraq meant the continuation of pre-Islamic agricultural and irrigation practices and the transmission of these practices to Muslims through such people as Hassan an—Nabati and the grandsons of Saluba. The continuing Aramaean ethnic vitality is demonstrated by the way in which both Persians and Arabs who settled on the land tended to be assimilated to them and to be Aramaicized and by the strength of Aramaic waterwork called Qanat Hassan in the swamps, and a village called Qaryat Hassan at Wasit. 56 Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 446. See also Thomas of Margha, Governors, I, 29; II, 54. 57 Masudx, Muruj, II, 169-70. 58 Ibid., II, 170-71; Tha alibi, Lata'if, p. 185. 59 Baladhuri, Futuh, p. 279.

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PEOPLE

linguistic influences. On the other hand, the tendency for Aramaean notables or those in government service to assimilate to their rulers carried over into the Islamic period, the only difference being that such individuals were Arabized instead of Persianized and that such Arabization was usually accompanied by conversion to Islam.

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