Al-Rahba

Throughout Islamic history, al-Rahba was considered, in the words of the 14th-century traveler Ibn Batuta, "the end of Iraq and the beginning of al-Sham [Syria]". The fortress is located about southwest of the Euphrates River, southwest of the modern Syrian city of Mayadin, and southeast of Dayr az-Zawr, capital of the Dayr az-Zawr Governorate, of which al-Rahba is part. According to the 13th-century geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, the site's name, al-raḥba, translates from Arabic as the "flat part of a wadi, where the water collects"; al-Rahba's original location was on the western bank of the Euphrates. The current fortress is situated on an artificial mound detached from the plateau of the Syrian Desert to its west. Its elevation is above sea level. ==History==

Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk Founding According to historian Thierry Bianquis, "Hardly anything definite is known about the history of the town [al-Rahba] before the Muslim era." and that it was first founded by the Abbasid general Malik ibn Tawk during the reign of Caliph al-Ma'mun (813–833 CE). From al-Rahba, travelers, caravans and armies could proceed northwestward along the Euphrates route to Aleppo or traverse the desert route to Damascus. The latter was expelled following al-Rahba's capture in 883 by the Abbasid lord of al-Anbar, Muhammad ibn Abi'l-Saj. In 903, the Qarmatian leader al-Husayn ibn Zikrawayh was imprisoned in al-Rahba before being transferred to Caliph al-Mustakfi's custody in Raqqa. At the time, al-Rahba was the center of the Euphrates province and headquarters of its governor, Ibn Sima. Al-Husayn was executed, prompting his partisans from the Banu Ullays tribe to submit to Ibn Sima in al-Rahba in early 904. However, shortly after, they turned against Ibn Sima, whose forces routed them in an ambush in al-Rahba's environs in August. In March 928, the Qarmatians under Abu Tahir al-Jannabi conquered al-Rahba and massacred scores of its inhabitants during their invasion of Iraq. At the time, the town was described by the Persian geographer al-Istakhri, as being larger than the ancient Circesium on the opposite side of the Euphrates. Nasir al-Dawla's sons contested control of al-Rahba in the aftermath of their father's deposition in 969. Abu Taghlib had al-Rahba's walls rebuilt. The Hamdanids lost control of al-Rahba in 978, after which it was captured by the Buyid emir 'Adud al-Dawla (). Preceding this conflict, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim appointed a member of the Al Khafajah tribe, Abu Ali ibn Thimal, as lord of al-Rahba. Abu Ali was killed in 1008/09 during a battle with his Uqaylid rivals led by Isa ibn Khalat. Al-Rahba was the first major territory Salih held and was the touchstone of the emirate he would establish in Aleppo and much of northern Syria. His son Thimal later succeeded him as emir of Aleppo, and al-Rahba became his principal power base from which many of his viziers originated. He was later compelled by the Fatimids to hand over al-Rahba to their ally Arslan al-Basasiri, a Turkish general who revolted against his Seljuk masters and the Abbasid Caliphate. The ceding of al-Rahba to al-Basasiri was the first step in Thimal's loss of the Mirdasid emirate. Later, in August 1061, Atiyya successfully defended al-Rahba from Numayrid advances. The Mirdasids lost al-Rahba in 1067 to the Uqaylid emir, Sharaf ad-Dawla, a vassal of the Abbasid-affiliated Seljuks. Beforehand, Atiyya and part of his army had been in Homs, allowing Sharaf ad-Dawla the opportunity to rout al-Rahba's Banu Kilab defenders. Seljuk period At some point the Seljuks or their Arab allies lost al-Rahba, but in 1093 the Seljuk ruler of Damascus, Tutush captured it along with several other Upper Mesopotamian towns. Following his death, possession of al-Rahba reverted to the Uqaylids, but in 1096, Karbuqa of al-Hillah captured and looted the town. Qaymaz died in December 1102 and al-Rahba passed to one of his Turkish mamluks named Hasan, Ibn al-Athir recorded that al-Rahba's inhabitants suffered greatly during the siege and that some townsmen informed Jawali of a weak point in the fortress's defense in return for promises of safety. However, he fell ill and died there shortly after. His lordship in Mosul was taken by Imad ad-Din Zengi, while al-Rahba was left under the control of al-Bursuqi's mamluk, al-Jawali, who ruled it as a subordinate of Zengi. Al-Rahba al-Jadida Ayyubid period '', Baghdad, 1237. Al-Rahba was destroyed in an earthquake in 1157. However, Shirkuh's nephew and the founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate, Saladin, conquered Nur ad-Din's domains by 1182 and granted Homs and al-Rahba to Shirkuh's son, Nasir ad-Din Muhammad, as a hereditary emirate. Al-Rahba was the easternmost fortress of Shirkuh II's Homs-based emirate, and was one of the four principal centers of the emirate, the other three being Homs itself, Salamiyah and Palmyra. It was the Mamluks' most important fortress along the Euphrates, supplanting Raqqa, which had been the traditional Muslim center in the Euphrates valley since the 10th century. A large population of refugees from areas ruled by the Mongols settled in al-Rahba as did many people from the adjacent, unfortified town of Mashhad al-Rahba (former site of Rahbat Malik ibn Tawk, modern-day Mayadin). It was also the terminal stop of the Mamluk barid (postal route) and an administrative center. Throughout the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, al-Rahba was situated near the tribal territory of the Al Fadl. About four hundred Al Fadl tribesmen joined the small army of Caliph al-Mustansir, the Egypt-based Abbasid caliph dispatched by Baybars to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols, when he reached al-Rahba. The latter was al-Mustansir's first stop after he rode out from Damascus, but his campaign ultimately failed and he was killed in a Mongol ambush in al-Anbar. The Mongols' failure to capture al-Rahba after a month-long siege commanded by the Ilkhanid ruler Öljaitü in 1312/13 marked the Ilkhanate's final attempt to invade Mamluk Syria. Isa's son Muhanna rebelled against Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad () in 1320, and was pursued by the Mamluk army as far al-Rahba. From then on, al-Rahba was mostly used as a shelter for shepherds from nearby villages and their flocks. In 1797, French traveler Guillaume-Antoine Olivier passed by al-Rahba, mentioning that it was a fortress and a ruined site. ==Excavations==

The fortress has deteriorated considerably as a result of erosion. One of the French surveyors, J. L. Paillet, sketched the plans and elevations of the fortress, Affected areas include the fortress's storage rooms and courtyards, as well as the medieval settlement at its foot. ==Architecture==

Specifications and components The citadel of al-Rahba is described by historian Janusz Bylinski as "a fortress within a fortress". Its core consists of a four-story, pentagon-shaped keep, roughly measuring . Around the artificial mound upon which the fortress sits is a moat with a depth of and a width of . One common theme of the phases was the restoration or strengthening of al-Rahba's western and southeastern sides, which faced the desert plateau and were the most exposed areas of the fortress. In the fourth phase, low-lying casemates were added to the western and southwestern curtains to provide an additional platform for al-Rahba's defenders to use. The walls, particularly on the eastern side, were reinforced in the fifth phase, which Paillet attributes to the efforts of Shirkuh II and his Ayyubid contemporaries to strengthen the fortresses of Syria. The building technique used in this phase likely necessitated significant funds, equipment and technical expertise. Several changes were made including the southeastern tower being rebuilt and the northeastern tower being reinforced by an additional wall and a vaulted story. Moreover, the northern slope of the outer wall was further strengthened with a glacis built from large conglomerate blocks. A building in the center of al-Rahba was erected during this phase, likely replacing an older structure or a courtyard. The last major building phase was the sixth, which saw the restoration of the eastern and western external walls after they were severely damaged by Mongol besiegers. A northeastern salient bastion, much smaller than the eastern and western bastions, was also built. Masonry from the fifth phase was reused for the reconstruction along with new gypsum, limestone and other materials. The seventh and eighth phases both consisted of heightening al-Rahba's western external walls. == See also ==