Page:Baladhuri-Hitti1916.djvu/220

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204
THE ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIC STATE

them. The Moslems, following the order of ʿUbâdah, erected in al-Ladhikiyah a cathedral mosque that was later enlarged.

Al-Lâdhiḳîyah destroyed and rebuilt. In the year 100, when ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz was caliph, the Greeks made a descent by sea on the coast of al-Lâdhiḳîyah. They destroyed the city and took its inhabitants prisoners. ʿUmar ordered that it be rebuilt and fortified and asked the [Greek] "tyrant"[1] to accept ransom for the Moslem prisoners. But this was not carried out till after his death in the year 101. The city was completed and garrisoned by the order of Yazîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik.

According to a tradition communicated by one from al-Lâdhiḳîyah, ʿUmar ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz fortified the city and finished its work before he died. All what Yazîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-Malik did was to repair the city and increase its garrison.

Baldah taken by assault. Abu-Ḥafṣ ad-Dimashḳi from Saʿîd ibn-ʿAbd-al-ʿAzîz and Saʿîd ibn-Sulaimân al-Ḥimṣi: ʿUbâdah with the Moslems appeared at the coast and took by assault a city called Baldah lying two parasangs from Jabalah. The city was later destroyed and its inhabitants evacuated it. Jabalah, which was a fortification for the Greeks and was deserted by them when the Moslems conquered Ḥimṣ, was established by Muʿâwiyah ibn-abi-Sufyân and guarded by a garrison.

The fort of Jabalah. Sufyân ibn-Muḥammad al-Bahrâni from certain sheikhs:—Muʿâwiyah erected for Jabalah[2] a fort outside the older Greek fort which was now inhabited by monks and others devoted to religious exercises.

  1. Ar. ṭâghıyah, an appellation of the Byzantine emperor used by the Arabian writers.
  2. Gabala, Gibellus Major, or Zibel; Le Strange, pp. 459–460.