Walid 2

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM VIII
Dates724 (taq) / 744 (ob.)
Variant NamesOualid;
Oulidos;
Wlyd br Yzyd
ReligionMuslim
EthnicityArab
LocationsDamascus (officeplace);
Damascus (residence);
Damascus;
Cyprus;
Syria
TitlesCaliph (office)
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);
Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle);
Nicephorus (patriarch), Antirrheticus III, PG 100.202-533 (theology);
Nikaia, Second Council of (Seventh Ecumenical Council, a. 787) (Mansi XII-XIII) (conciliar);
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)

Walid 2 was the son of Yezid 2 (the caliph Yezid II); after his father died (in 724) he punished the Jewish leader Tesserakontapechys 1 for deceiving Yezid: Nicephorus, Antirrheticus III, 529D-532A, Mansi XIII 200 (mentioned at the Second Council of Nikaia; called Oulidos). Son of Hisham 1 (actually his nephew; his father was Yezid II), he succeeded Hisham in 743 as caliph: Theoph. AM 6234 (ἐκράτησεν Οὐαλίδ, υἱὸς Ἰσάμ, τῆς Ἀράβων ἀρχῆς). Son of Yezid 2, he succeeded Hisham as caliph: Chron. 1234, §168 (p. 314) (in year 1054 Sel., i.e. 742/743). Walid 2 allegedly gave control of the administration to Abbas (Abas 2), who proceeded to plot his overthrow: Chron. 1234, §168 (p. 314). Walid 2 was caliph from 743 to 744. In 743 Walid 2 received envoys from both Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) and Artabasdos 1 (see Andreas 4 and Gregorios 8); he mutilated and exiled Petros 5 for speaking out against Islam; he transferred the population of Cyprus to Syria: Theoph. AM 6234. Walid 2 was murdered by the Arabs after a reign of one year, on 16 April 744; his successor was Yezid 4; his sons, who had the support of Marwan 2, were assassinated at Damascus by Sulayman 2: Theoph. AM 6235, Theoph. AM 6236, cf. Chron. 1234, §169 (pp. 314-316). After his murder there followed several years of infighting among his relatives, leading to increasing dissatisfaction with the Umayyad dynasty and its eventual overthrow: Theoph. AM 6240, and cf. Chron. 1234, §§170-180.

Walid 2 was the son of Yezid 2; he succeeded Hisham 1 as ruler of the Arabs, but was very unpopular and was overthrown and killed by his brother Yezid 4: Mich. Syr. II 502.

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