68
255–468/869–1075
Bāb al-Abwāb or Barbaria and its hinterland
|
255/869 |
Hāshim b. Surāqa al-Sulamī, governor for the ‘Abbāsids, proclaimed himself independent |
|
271/884 |
‘Umar b. Hāshim |
|
272/885 |
Muḥammad b. Hāshim |
|
303/916 |
‘Abd al-Malik b. Hāshim |
|
327/939 |
Aḥmad b. ‘Abd al-Malik, first reign |
|
(327/939 |
Haytham b. Muhammad of Sharwān, first reign) |
|
339/941 |
Aḥmad b. ‘Abd al-Malik, second reign |
|
(330/941 |
Haytham b. Muḥammad, second reign) |
|
(330/942 |
Aḥmad b. Yazīd of Sharwān) |
|
(342/953 |
*Khashram Aḥmad b. Munabbih, of Lakz) |
|
342/954 |
Aḥmad b. ‘Abd al-Malik, third reign |
|
366/976 |
Maymūn b. Aḥmad |
|
387/997 |
Muḥammad b. Aḥmad |
|
393/1003 |
Manṣūr b. Maymūn, first reign |
|
(410/1019 |
Yazīd b. Aḥmad of Sharwān, first reign) |
|
412/1021 |
Manṣūr b. Maymūn, second reign |
|
(414/1023 |
Yazīd b. Aḥmad of Sharwān, second reign) |
|
415/1024 |
Manṣūr b. Maymūn, third reign |
|
425/1034 |
‘Abd al-Malik b. Manṣūr, first reign |
|
(425/1034 |
‘Ali b. Yazīd of sharwān) |
|
426/1035 |
‘Abd al-Malik b. Manṣūr, second reign |
|
434/1043 |
Manṣūr b.‘Abd al-Malik, first reign |
|
446/1054 |
Lashkarī b. ‘Abd al-Malik |
|
447/1055 |
Manṣūr b. ‘Abd al-Malik, second reign |
|
457/1065 |
‘Abd al-Malik b. Lashkarī, first reign, as vassal of Farīburz b. Sallār of Sharwān |
|
(461/1068 |
Farīburz b. Sallār, of Sharwān) |
|
463/1070 |
‘Abd al-Malik b. Lashkarī |
|
468/1075 |
Maymūn b. Manṣūr |
|
468/1075 |
Occupation of Bāb al-Abwāb by the Seljuq commander Sāwtigin |
Bāb al-Abwāb or Darband commanded the very narrow coastal route between the western shore of the Caspian and the mountains of Dāghistān, and thus enjoyed a very important strategic position. Hence it was a well-fortified bastion of Islam, a thaghr, against such steppe peoples to the north as the Turkish Khazars. It was furthermore a busy port, and this Caspian Sea trade plus the traffic in slaves from the South Russian steppes combined to make it highly prosperous.
The origins of the line of Hāshimids (who may have been clients of the Banū Sulaym rather than pure-born Arabs) go back to Umayyad times, when they seem first to have been appointed governors in Darband. With the internal chaos of the ‘Abbāsid caliphate in the mid-ninth century, Hāshim b. Surāqa was able to make himself independent in Darband, and his descendants exercised power, with frequent interruptions, for over two centuries. The fortunes of Darband were indeed closely intertwined with those of neighbouring Sharwān, whose Shāhs (perhaps with the cachet of superior social status: see above, no. 67) intervened in Darband on numerous occasions. A basic cause, however, of the instability of Hāshimid rule was the strength within Darband of a strong and influential body of notables, forming an urban aristocracy, who frequently and often successfully challenged the amīrs’ authority. The line was finally brought to an end, it seems, when the Seljuq sultan Alp Arslan awarded the Transcaucasian lands to his slave commander Sāwtigin, after which the Hāshimids apparently disappeared.
However, in the twelfth century, we have some sketchy knowledge of another line of Maliks of Darband (who may possibly have claimed descent from the previous dynasty), mainly from their coins. This line seems to have come to an end in the opening years of the thirteenth century when Darband came under the rule of the Sharwān Shāhs.
Sachau, 13–14 no. 21; Zambaur, 185.
EI1 ‘Derbend’ (W. Barthold); EI2 ‘Bāb al-Abwāb’ (D. M. Dunlop); ‘al-Kabk’ (C. E. Bosworth)
V. Minorsky, A History of Sharwān and Darband.
D. K. Kouymjian, A Numismatic History of Southeastern Caucasia and Adharbayjān, 66–8, 243–87, with a genealogical table at p. 287 (on the twelfth-century Maliks).
W. Madelung, in The Cambridge History of Iran, IV, 243–9.