Abd ar-Rahman 9

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM VII
Dates665 (taq) / 667 (ob.)
PmbZ No.21
Variant NamesAbderachman
ReligionMuslim
EthnicityArab
LocationsHoms (Syria) (deathplace);
Smyrna (Asia);
Pirymos;
Kios (Bithynia);
Pessinous (Galatia) (topographical);
Silos;
Amorion;
Asqedrin (Lake);
Emesa (Phoenicia);
Syria (residence);
Seleucobolus, near Apamea
TitlesCommander of the Arabs (office)
Textual SourcesChronicon Anonymum ad annum 819 pertinens, ed. Aphram Barsaum (CSCO 81, 1920), trans. J.-B. Chabot, CSCO 109, Scriptores Syri 56 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Chronicon Maroniticum, ed. E. W. Brooks, CSCO 4, Scriptores Syri 4 (Louvain, 1904), tr. J.-B. Chabot (Louvain, 1955), pp. 36-55; also tr. A. Palmer, The Seventh Century in West-Syrian Chronicles (chronicle);
Elias Barshinaya, Chronicle (Eliae metropolitae Nisibeni, Opus chronologicum, pars prior, ed. and tr. E. W. Brooks, CSCO 62 and CSCO 63 (1910) (chronicle);
Tabari, al-, Ta'rikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, ed. M.-J. de Goeje et al., 15 vols. (Leiden 1879-1901); Eng tr. The History of al-Tabari, general editor E. Yar-Shater, 39 vols. (New York, 1985-) (history);
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)

Abd ar-Rahman 9 was called ὁ Ἀβδεραχμάν in Theoph. AM 6156; `Abd al-Rahman b. Khalid b. al-Walid in Tabari; and Ibn Khalid in Chron. Maron. Son of Chaledus (Khalid 1): Theoph. AM 6156 (ὁ Ἀβδεραχμάν, ὁ τοῦ Χαλέδου). His father was Khalid b. al-Walid (the "Sword of Allah"): Tabari XVIII, p. 88. He had a son, also called Khalid: Tabari XVIII, p. 89 (Khalid b. `Abd al-Rahman b. Khalid b. al-Walid). He invaded the Roman empire in 665/666, wintering there and laying waste many districts; he was joined by five thousand Slavs (οἱ δὲ Σκλαυινοὶ) who accompanied him back to Syria and were settled in the village of Seleucobolus near Apamea: Theoph. AM 6156. He is recorded twice by Tabari as attacking the Romans. In AH 45 (March 665/March 666) he led the winter raid against Roman territory: Tabari XVIII, p. 87. In AH 46 (March 666/March 667), according to some of Tabari's sources (not named), he again led the winter raid against Roman territory; other sources named the commander as Malik b. `Ubaydallah or Malik b. Hubayrah al-Sakuni: Tabari XVIII, p. 88. `Abd ar-Rahman was the commander-in-chief of Mu'awiya 1's army; he was sent by Mu'awiya into Roman territory and remained there for two years: Chron. 819, p. 12, lines 13-16 = p. 8. In AH 44 (April 664/March 665) = 975 Sel. (663/664) `Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid spent the winter in Roman territory: Elias, Chron., p. 142, lines 15-19 = p. 69. In AH 46 (March 666/March 667) = 977 Sel. (665/666) `Abd al-Rahman ibn Khalid spent the winter in Roman territory: Elias, Chron., p. 143, lines 7-10 = p. 69. In the year 975 Sel. (663/664), the twenty second of Constans and the seventh of Mu'awiya (i.e. 663), Ibn Khalid was the commander of the Arab troops in Emesa in Phoenicia; he led an invasion of Roman territory and first tried without success to capture the island in the middle of lake Asqedrin; he then went to Amorion, whose inhabitants agreed to admit him and an Arab garrison; proceeding next against the fortress of Silos, he failed to capture it after the inhabitants destroyed a large ballista which he had had built; from there Ibn Khalid left and captured several Roman fortresses, at Pesinunt (Pessinos), Kios and Pirymos (?Prymnessos), as well as the city of Smyrna: Chron. Maron., p. 73, line 3 - p. 74, line 13 = pp. 56-57. According to the sources of Tabari, `Abd al-Rahman returned from this campaign to Homs, where he was murdered, poisoned by Ibn Uthal on the instructions of Mu`awiya 1 who allegedly feared him because of his great popularity; this was due partly to the reputation of his father and partly to his own services against the Romans: Tabari XVIII, pp. 88-89.

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