al-Dahhak 1

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM VIII
Dates724 (taq) / 746 (ob.)
Variant NamesDachak;
Dahak;
Dhk
ReligionMuslim
EthnicityArab
LocationsSeleukeia (Ctesiphon);
Nisibis;
Nineveh;
Emesa (Syria);
Mosul;
Tabiatha;
Dara;
Kafar Tuta;
Persia;
Mesopotamia;
Mesopotamia (officeplace);
Beth Aramaye
Textual SourcesChronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (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)

Al-Dahhak 1 was styled Δαχὰκ ὁ τῶν Ἀρουριτῶν, Theoph. AM 6236; Dahak, "the head of the Harûrîyans (Hrwry')", Chron. 1234, §174. He led a rebellion against the caliph Marwan II (Marwan 2) together with Thebit 1; they were defeated and crushed with heavy losses near Emesa by Marwan: Theoph. AM 6236. For the date, see below. After Thabit (Thebit 1) rebelled in Syria against Marwan 2, Dahak also rebelled and seized "the entire region of Beth Aramâyê (i.e. Seleucia-Ctesiphon)" and set out to fight Marwan 2: Chron. 1234, §174 (pp. 319-320). He went to Assyria ('twr) and captured Nineveh, killing the commander and seizing the treasury there; then he went to Mosul and killed Bastam, the leader of the Baihasites, and from there advanced to Nisibis where he besieged Abdullah, the son of Marwan 2: Chron. 1234, §174 (p. 321). When Marwan 2 approached he went to meet him and they fought a battle at the village of Tabiatha between Dara and Kafar Tuta (Kprtwt') in which Dahak (al-Dahhak 1) was killed: Chron. 1234, §175 (pp. 321-322), cf. Theoph. AM 6237 (in 746 he came back from Persia with a large army and met Marwan 2 in Mesopotamia; there he was defeated, captured and killed). He was al-Dahhâk ibn Qays of Shayban from Rabî`a and the revolt was crushed by Marwan 2 in 746 in a battle at Mosul (see Shaban, Islamic History I, pp. 160, 162).

Possibly identical with Dahak (Dhk) who became emir of Mesopotamia in the reign of Yezid II (720/724), famous for holding a detailed census of the population and the land: Chron. 1234, §163 (p. 309). See further Encyclopaedia of Islam, II, p. 90, s. n. al-Dahhâk b. Kays al-Shaybânî.

(Publishable link for this person: )