Abas 2 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | M VIII |
| Dates | 722 (taq) / 744 (ob.) |
| PmbZ No. | 5 |
| Variant Names | `bs br wlyd |
| Religion | Muslim |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Locations | Shaiza; Cilicia; Emesa (Syria) (deathplace) |
| Occupation | Sorcerer |
| Titles | Commander of the Arabs (office); Official of the Arabs (office) |
| Textual Sources | Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle); Chronique de Denys de Tell-Mahré, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot (Paris, 1895); tr. A. Palmer, The Seventh Century in West-Syrian Chronicles (Liverpool, 1993), pp. 54-65 (chronicle); Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle); Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle) |
Abas 2 is possibly identical with Abas 1.
Described as a sorcerer responsible for inflicting many misfortunes on Christians, Abas 2 was put to death on the orders of the caliph Marwan II (Marwan 2) at Emesa; said to have shed much Christian blood and to have sacked and carried off prisoners from many places, and also to have been implicated in the murder of the caliph al-Walid II (Walid 2): Theoph. AM 6236.
He is probably to be identified with Abbas, son of Walid 1, after whom, according Chron. 1234, the future Abbasid dynasty was named: Chron. 1234, §168 (p. 314). In 722/723 (1034 Sel.) Abbas son of Walid raided Roman territory and left with many prisoners, capturing Cilicia on his return journey and subduing the fortress of Shaiza (
In 743 he was placed in charge of the government by the new caliph Walid III (Walid 2) (Walid "gave authority over the entire management of his kingdom to `Abbas son of Walid"); he used his position to plot against the caliph and secured his murder and the succession of his own half-brother, Yezid (Yezid 4): Chron. 1234, §168-169 (pp. 314-315) (his own mother being a servant-girl, he was not freeborn and therefore unacceptable as ruler himself).
In the year 1028 Sel. (716/717) or soon afterwards, while the Arab army under Maslama 1 withdrew after the failure to capture Constantinople, a Roman army from Tyana moved against them, but was ambushed and defeated by Arab troops under the command of `Abbas ibn Walid: Pseudo-Dion., Chron., pp. 159, 6-160, 10 = p. 117 = pp. 62-5 (Palmer).
Abas 2 was a son of Walid 1; he revolted against Walid 2 but was unacceptable himself as ruler because he was the son of a concubine: Mich. Syr. II 502.
(Publishable link for this person: )