ADMINISTRATIVE GEOGRAPHYal-Khayl at-Ta'i.m When 'Ali was at Kufa, he appointed Sa'id ibn
Mas'iid ath-Thaqafi governor of the ustan of Zawabi.1^34
The remainder of Ard Babil was organized as the district of Veh-
Kavat by Qubadh I in the early sixth century along the Babylon branch
of the Euphrates, which was the main branch in the late Sasanian
period, and its branch canals and extensions. This district is attested
on late Sasanian seals as Veh-Kavat,135 and is probably the district of
Kavat which the Armenian Geography describes as recently created
by the Persians between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 136 The division
of this district into Upper, Middle, and Lower Bihqubadh appears to
have occurred in the early Islamic period, but there is considerable
confusion among the Arabic geographers about the way its subdistricts
were grouped. The entire group of sub districts is often merely called
Bihqubadhat, and this designation became equivalent to Ard Babil in
the seventh century. 'An appointed Qurt ibn Ka'b governor of Bih-
qubadhat and Abii Yiisuf refers to 'Ali's tax collectors in these dis-
tricts.^137
Veh-KavatlBihqubadh lay below Veh-Artakhshatr and began where
the Euphrates divided into two branches six farasikh (N.P., ca. 36
km.) below the offtake of the Nahr Kutha. The main branch of the
Euphrates still went past Sura, Babil, and Nippur in the late Sasanian
period. In the early Islamic period, when the main stream of the Eu-
phrates had shifted to the western branch that went by Kufa, the first
stretch of the former main branch was called the Upper Nahr Sura.
With its branch canals it irrigated the subdistricts of Sura, Barbisama,
and Barusma.138 Although Sura was a major town, there do not appear
to be any direct references to its administration in the late Sasanian
133 Baladhuri, Futub, p. 251.
134 Dinawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, p. 163.
135 R. Frye, "Sasanian Clay Sealings in the Collection of Mohsen Foroughi," Iranica
Antiqua 3 (1968),238-39.
136 Hewsen, "Armenian Historical Geography," p. 289; Marquart, Eriinsahr, pp. 142,
162.
137 Abii Yiisuf, Khariij, pp. 172, 182; Dinawari, Akhbiir at-tiwiil, p. 163. There is no
convincing evidence that Bihqubadhat was ever a mint designation in either the late
Sasanian or early Islamic periods. See Gaube, Arabosasanidische Numismatik, p. 89.
138 Gibson, Kish, pp. 25, 53-54; Ibn I;Iawqal, $urat al-ar{i, p. 243; Igakhri, Masiilik,
p. 85; Marquart, Eriinsahr, p. 164; MusH, Middle Euphrates, pp. 274-75; Streck,
Landschaft Babylonien, p. 28; Suhrab, Kitiib 'ajii'ib al-aqiiltm as-sab'a (Leipzig, 1930),
p. 124. See also Le Strange's edition and translation of Suhrab (Ibn Serapion), "De-
scription of Mesopotamia and Baghdad," JRAS (1895), pp. 16,255.