Iraq after the Muslim Conquest - Michael G. Morony

PERS rAN S

of residence at most of the Sassanian sites; on the other hand, the

early Islamic occupation along the same watercourses, and with

roughly comparable population density, suggests that the interval

of disuse could not have been very long.^60

The "social upheaval sufficient to break off the tradition of resi-
dence" is identified by Adams with the campaign of the Byzantine
Emperor Heraklios in the Tigris valley in 627 and 628.^61 Not only
agriculture but urban life declined in this part of Iraq during the seventh
century as the result of pestilence, earthquakes, and famine. The village
of Nahr Zawar near 'Ukbara was deserted in the reign of Shiroe
(Qubadh 11, 628-29), and a presbyter in the village church named
David settled in the village of Beth Daqle in Beth Garme.^62 The second
pre-Islamic development was extensive flooding in the districts below
Kaskar in 628, which must have affected the fortunes of the house of
Narsi as well as those of the peasants.
Immediately following these developments, the Islamic conquest was
responsible for changes in the distribution of Persians in Iraq wrought
by the combined effects of death, captivity, defection, and migration.
One of the most important consequences of the conquest was the
physical disappearance, either through death on the battlefield or by
flight, of large numbers of Persian soldiers, aristocrats, and the royal
family itself. Unfortunately, the figures preserved in the Arabic ac-
counts of the conquest are thoroughly inflated and legendary and serve
only to emphasize the extent of the dislocation. According to Arabic
tradition, the first sweep made by Khalid ibn al-Walid coming up
along the border of lower Iraq from the Yamama, took the lives of
seventy thousand people at Ullays, most of whom were from Am-
ghishiya. Afterwards, Amghishiya itself was razed and its remaining
population scattered in the countryside.^63 After the fall of Hira, the
leader of a troop of Persian cavalry, Farrukbandadh, was killed at
Baniqya and his forces fled.^64 At 'Ayn Tamr, the main Persian force
under Mihran, son of Bahram Chiibin, fled after their Arab auxiliaries

60 Ibid., pp. 81-82.
61 Ibid., p. 81; Agapius of Manbij, Kitiib al-'Unwiin, p. 464; Scher, "Histoire nes-
torienne," U(2), 541-42; Tabarl, Ta'rtkh, I, 1003-5.
62 Hoffmann, Persischer Miirtyrer, pp. 77-78.
63 Tabarl, Ta'rtkh, I, 2036-37. Somewhat schematically, Abii Yiisuf (Kharii;, pp.
219-20) says that Khiilid massacred the Persian garrisons at 'Udhayb and Najaf, took
their women and children captive, and made peace with the people of Qadisiyya for
the payment of tribute.
64 Abii Yiisuf, Khariij, p. 225; Baladhurl, Futub, p. 244.