ADMINISTRATIVE GEOGRAPHYARD BABILWest of the Tigris, the province irrigated by the Euphrates and by
canals drawn from it was called the land (Syr. ethrii, Ar. art}.) of Babil^98
and may have been a subdivision of Asoristan before the provincial
reorganization by Qubadh. Towards the end of the sixth century, this
region came under the control of the Lakhmi Arab clients of the
Sasanians at Hira, with the result that Ard Babil came to be called the
Sawad of Hira.^99 When this province reverted to direct Persian rule
after the fall of the Banii Lakhm at the beginning of the seventh century,
a marzbiin was stationed at Hira, although there is also a reference
to a piidhghOspiin of Babil in 628.100 The districts of this province
were formed during the Sasanian period by detaching subdistricts
belonging to the old Ard Babil and grouping them around three new
districts (kuwar) in its northern part. The earliest kiira formed in this
way was Veh-Artakhshatr (Beh Ardashir), created for the city of the
same name founded by the Sasanian monarch Ardashir I (226-41)
west of the Tigris opposite Ctesiphon.^101 The round, walled city of
Veh-Artakhshatr was the western half of the metropolis of Mada'in.^102
The Sasanian mint marks WH and WYH are now believed to stand
for Veh-Artakhshatr; coins with the WYH mint mark have been found
there dated as late as year 38 (628) of Khusraw 11 (590-628).103 The
Arabs called this city Behrasir.^104 Although it does not appear to have
been as important an administrative center after the conquest, 'All
appointed 'Adi ibn al-l:Iarith governor of Behrasir and its ustiin.^1 0S
The city became a mint for post-reform dirhams.^106
98 Chabot, "Chastete," p. 243; Yaqiit, Buldan, I, 368, 447, 565-66; 11, 453; Ill, 184.
99 Baladhuri, Futii/J, p. 246; Kister, "AI-I:fira, some notes on its relations with Arabia,"
Arabica 15 (1968), 143-69; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 2057; Qazwini, Athiir al-biliid, 11, 314;
Ya'qiibi, Les pays, p. 164.
100 Browne, "Nihayat," p. 254; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," 11(2), 546, 549.
101 Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 819. Ibn Khurradadhbih (Masiilik, p. 7) calls it the ustiin of
Ardashir Babakan.
. 102 G. Gullini, "Problems of an Excavation in Northern Babylonia," Mesopotamia 1
(1966),25.
103 A.D.H. Bivar, "A Sasanian Hoard from Hilla," Numismatic Chronicle (1963), p.
165; R. Gobl, "Der sasanidische Miinzfund von Seleukia (Veh-Ardaser), 1967," Mes-
opotamia 8-9 (1973-74), 165, 232-33, 246-48, 252. The identification of this mint
mark with Bihqubadh was orginally refuted by Paruck; see Siisiinian Coins (Bombay,
1924), pp. 186-87. On this point, see also H. Gaube, Arabosasanidische Numismatik
(Brunswick, 1973), p. 89.
1041:1amza al-I~fahani, Ta'rlkh sinl muluk ai-art! wa-I-anbiyii' (Beirut, 1961), p. 43;
Streck, "Mada'in," in EI(I), Ill, 75; Yaqiit, Buldiin, I, 768.
105 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-pwiil, p. 163.
106 Miles, "Iconography," p. 213.