This page needs to be proofread.

CHAPTER I

The Conquest of Armenia

Traditions have been communicated to me by Muḥammad ibn-Ismâʿîl of Bardhaʿah and others on the authority of abu-Barâʾ ʿAnbasah ibn-Baḥr al-Armani; by Muḥammad ibn-Bishr al-Ḳâli on the authority of his sheikhs; by Barmak ibn-ʿAbdallâh ad-Dabîli, Muḥammad ibn-al-Mukhaiyis al-Khilâṭi and others on the authority of some well versed in the affairs of Armenia. These traditions I herewith transmit, having pieced them up together into one whole, to wit:—

The four provinces. Shimshâṭ, Ḳâlîḳala, Khilâṭ Arjîsh and Bajunais constituted Armenia IV; the district of al-Busfurrajân [Waspurakan], Dabîl [Dwin], Sirâj Ṭair and Baghrawand constituted Armenia III; Jurzân [Georgia] constituted Armenia II; as-Sîsajân and Arrân constituted Armenia I.[1] According to others, Shimshâṭ alone constituted Armenia IV; Ḳâlîḳala, Khilâṭ, Arjîsh and Bâjunais, Armenia III; Sirâj Ṭair, Baghrawand, Dabîl, and al-Busfurrajân, Armenia II; and as-Sisajân, Arrân [Albania], and Taflis, Armenia I.[2] Jurzân and Arrân were held by the Khazar, while the rest of Armenia was held by the Greeks under the governorship of "the Lord of Armaniyâḳus".

Ḳubâdh ibn-Fairûz builds many cities. Al-Khazar used from time to time to make raids and reach as far as ad-Dînawar. Because of it, Ḳubâdh ibn-Fairûz al-Malik[3]

  1. The Encyclopaedia of Islâm, vol. i, p. 444.
  2. Khurdâdhbih, pp. 122–123.
  3. i. e., the king. He belonged to the Sassanian Dynasty.
305