ADMINISTRATIVE GEOGRAPHYlate Sasanian period lies in the fact that this region was occupied by
the lower end of a massive irrigation system developed in this period,
with water drawn from the Babylon branch of the Euphrates. Zan-
daward, which lay somewhere between Kaskar and Hurmuzjird in
Veh-Kavat and was a place of some importance at the time of the
conquest,196 was probably the administrativecenter for this region.
There are a number of impressive, fortified Sasanian sites here, such
as Tell adh-Dhiba'i, Tell Hammam, Jidr, and Ruqba Meda'in, which
are possible locations for Zandaward and indicate the existence of
other administrative and military centers there.^197
Thus, the expanded, late Sasanian province of Kaskar combined
two, essentially new, hydrographic systems: the great trunk canal drawn
from the Euphrates in its western part and the lower course of the
rerouted Tigris in its eastern part. Intersecting branch canals fanned
out over this region from both systems. This region appears to have
been developed in the interest of the Sasanian royal family as a crown
province. At the time of the conquest, Kaskar had been granted as a
qati'a (Ar.) to a nephew of Khusraw Parviz called Narsi. Although
the great Tigris flood in 628, which inundated the tassuj of Tharthur
below Kaskar, must have reduced the income from this province, Narsi
was active in the defense of Kaskar and Zandaward during the con-
quest. 198
The integrity of the province of Kaskar survived the Islamic con-
quest. After the battle of Kaskar in 634, Abii 'Ubayd and al-Muthanna
ibn I:Iaritha made a settlement in Kaskar at the rate of four dirhams
per person.^199 Once the victories at Qadisiyya, Mada'in, and Jalula'
secured central Iraq for the Muslims, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqa~ appointed
an-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin to collect taxes (khariij) in Kaskar, where
he remained until 642.200 'Ali appointed Qudama ibn 'Ajlan governor
196 Baladhuri, Futu/J, p. 242; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2166, 2170; Yaqiit, Buldan, 11, 951-- Both Ibn Khurradadhbih (Masiilik, p. 7) and Yaqiit (Buidan, Ill, 227) include
Zandaward among the subdistricts of Shadh·Sabur.
197 R. Adams and H. J. Nissen, The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban
Societies (Chicago and London, 1972), pp. 62,222,227; Finster and Schmidt, Ruinen,
pp. 151-63. Warka was defended unsuccessfully by the Persian generals an-Niishajan
and Fayuman at the'time of the conquest (Yaqiit, Buldiin, IV, 923).
198 Mas'iidi, Tanbih, pp. 40, 54; Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2165-66, 2168-69.
199 Tabari, Ta'rikh, I, 2170.
200 Ibid., I, 2596. See also Dinawari, Akhbiir at-#wiil, p. 143. Other accounts say an-
Nu'man was appointed by the caliph 'Umar (Abii Yiisiif, Khariij, p. 50; Baladhuri,
FutU/J, p. 303; Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqiit, VI, 11), and Ibn Sa'd calls him an-Nu'man ibn
'Amr ibn Muqarrin. This is the same period in which an-Nu'man is supposed to have
been collecting taxes in the region irrigated by the Tigris.