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The Ziyadid dynasty occupied and ruled southern Tihama coastal plains between 822 CE and 1037 CE from the city of Zabid in the Red Sea coastal desert. In 893 CE, Al-Hadi ila al-Haqq (al-Hadi) founds the Zaydi imamate based on the Zaydi Shii teachings, which popularized throughout at least part of North Yemen until the 1962 Revolution.
[1]
In 1007 CE, Yu’frid prince ‘Abdullah ibn Qahtan ruled Sanaa and “made a successful foray against the stronghold of Sunnism.”
[2]
No population estimates could be found in the consulted literature; however, the polity territory is estimated to be around 100,000 square kilometers.
[3]
Moreover, the Ziyadid dynasty had a loose political organization under the control of a sultan at Aden, who held less authority over the highlands. The settlement hierarchy is three-tiered, while administrative levels are four-tiered. The Abbasid court sent governors to Sanaa with lower hierarchy levels governed by rulers of petty states and tribal chiefs.
[4]
[1]: (Burrows 2010, xxiv) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[3]: (Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[4]: (Stookey 1978, 50-54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
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| YeWarLd |
| Succeeding: Yemen - Era of Warlords (ye_warlords) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Abbasid Caliphate I (iq_abbasid_cal_1) [None] |
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| Year Range | Yemen Ziyad Dynasty (ye_ziyad_dyn) was in: |
|---|---|
| (869 CE 1037 CE) | Yemeni Coastal Plain |
"Effective Abbasid rule in Yemen ended when Muhammad bin ’Ubaidallah bin Ziyad, appointed in 822 by Ma’mum to govern the Tihama, threw off all pretense of obedience of Baghdad beyond causing the Friday prayers to be said in the caliph’s name, and founded the Banu Ziyad state, laying out and building the city of Zabid as its capital." [1]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
"Effective Abbasid rule in Yemen ended when Muhammad bin ’Ubaidallah bin Ziyad,appointed in 822 by Ma’mum to govern the Tihama, threw off all pretense of obedience of Baghdad beyond causing the Friday prayers to be said in the caliph’s name, and founded the Banu Ziyad state, laying out and building the city of Zabid as its capital."
[1]
Language
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
"In 1007 a Yu’firid prince of the Ismaili persuasion, ’Abdullah ibn Qahtan, suceeded to the rule of Sanaa, and even made a successful foray against that stronghold of Sunnism, the Ziyad state in the Tihama, now in its decline."
[1]
A Zaidi chronicler reported that "From [1014-1056] ruin prevailed in Sanaa and elsewhere in the country of Yemen by reason of the prevalence of disputes, rivalries, and disunity within this single nation. Darkness fell over Yemen, its desolation became universal, and public order disappeared. Sanaa and its suburbs became as if they had burned down. Every year, even every month, some new sultan seized power; the inhabitants became so extenuated that they dispersed in all directions. The city fell into ruin. Construction declined to the point where there were only a thousand houses, whereas in the time of al-Rashid there had been one hundred thousand. However, Sanaa recovered somewhat in the time of the Sulayhids, who gathered the lords of Yemen around themselves."
[1]
"The mid-to-late-800s is a period of struggle between the Banu Ziyad of the Tihama and the Yufirids of the highlands, as well as intense Ismaili (Fatimid) missionary efforts in Yemen."
[2]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Burrows 2010, xxiv) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham.
"Effective Abbasid rule in Yemen ended when Muhammad bin ’Ubaidallah bin Ziyad, appointed in 822 by Ma’mum to govern the Tihama, threw off all pretense of obedience of Baghdad beyond causing the Friday prayers to be said in the caliph’s name, and founded the Banu Ziyad state, laying out and building the city of Zabid as its capital."
[1]
"In A.D. 822, in Yemen, Muhammad ibn Ziyad founds the Banu Ziyad dynasty in the new city of Zabid in the Red Sea coastal desert".
[2]
"In 1037, Ali al-Sulayhid, acting for the Ismaili Fatimid caliphate in Cairo, founds the Sulayhid dynasty, which based itself in Sanaa and then Jibla, lasts for a century, and concludes with the long rule of fabled Queen Arwa."
[2]
"Following the end of the Ziyadid dynasty in the early 11th century, two former slaves of the kingdom founded the Najahid dynasty. Control of the Tihama swayed back and forth between the Najahid rulers and the Sulayhid power of the highlands."
[3]
Ziyadid dynasty ruled southern Tihama 819-1012 CE, then by the Najahids.
[4]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Burrows 2010, xxiv) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham.
[3]: (McLaughlin 2007, 159) Daniel McLaughlin. 2007. Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides Ltd. Chalfont St Peter
[4]: (Starkey 2008, 655) Janet Starkey. Tihama. Ian Richard Netton ed. 2008. Encyclopedia of Islam. Routledge. Abingdon.
"The Abbasid court continued to send governors to Sanaa. By 845 the Abbasid’s authority was effectively disputed by Yu’fir bin ’Abd al-Rahman al-Huwali, a descendant of the pre-Islamic Himyarite kings. He expelled the Abbasid governor, Himyar ibn al-Harith, in 861, and ruled an area from Sanaa south to Janad, while acknowledging Abbasid symbolic sovereighty and paying tribute to the Ziyadi state. Yu’fir’s son Mhuammad, whose influence extended over Hadramaut, was formally invested with the rule of Sanaa by the Abbasid caliph al Mu’tamid about 872."
[1]
"In 1007 a Yu’firid prince of the Ismaili persuasion, ’Abdullah ibn Qahtan, suceeded to the rule of Sanaa, and even made a successful foray against that stronghold of Sunnism, the Ziyad state in the Tihama, now in its decline."
[2]
"For a century and a half no central power of consequence existed in the Yemen inland from the Tihama. Most of the local rulers invoked the Abbasid caliph in the Friday prayers; they repressed overt manifestations of Ismaili sentiment, but offered no persuaive ideological alternative."
[2]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
"The Ziyadi state was firmly entrenched in the Tinhama, and enjoyed loose suzerainty over a sultan at Aden, whose authority extended eastward along the coast. The Banu Ziyad, on the other hand, had no influence in the highlands."
[1]
Tihama = coastal plain.
"For a century and a half no central power of consequence existed in the Yemen inland from the Tihama. Most of the local rulers invoked the Abbasid caliph in the Friday prayers; they repressed overt manifestations of Ismaili sentiment, but offered no persuaive ideological alternative."
[2]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 57) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
in squared kilometers. Based on the following quotes, it seems that this polity was roughly equivalent to the coastal region of modern Yemen. "The Ziyadi state was firmly entrenched in the Tinhama, and enjoyed loose suzerainty over a sultan at Aden, whose authority extended eastward along the coast. The Banu Ziyad, on the other hand, had no influence in the highlands." [1] "Ephemerally, the Banu Ziyad reunited nearly in its entirety the South Arabian state of the Himyarites. They were unable to hold the hinterland, however, against the many separatist movements which arose." [2] The Zaydi Imamate formed one of the borders of this polity: "In 893, Al-Hadi ila al-Haqq (al-Hadi), invited to the North Yemeni town of Saada to mediate local disputes, proceeds to found there the Zaydi imamate that, based on Zaydi Shii teachings, was to hold sway over at least part of North Yemen nearly continuously until the 1962 Revolution." [3]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[3]: (Burrows 2010, xxiv) Robert D Burrows. 2010. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham.
levels.
1. Capital
2.3. Village"Northerners are grouped into broad confederations - Hashid, Bakil, Madhij, Himyar, Quda’a - all united ultimately by a remote common ancestor, Qahtan."
[1]
"Among the people of the southern Yemen highlands, social solidarity beyond the extended family rests mainly on common residence in a town or village ... no firm social basis exists for the formation of powerful coalitions to challenge or sustain a ruler."
[1]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 50) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
levels.
1.
"The Abbasid court continued to send governors to Sanaa."
[1]
2. Court-based administrator?In the ninth century "the livelihood of the people was not particularly dependent upon efficient, centralized government, the attachment was strong to small social units which central control was likely to threaten."
[2]
3.
2. Ruler of a petty state.In the ninth century attempts were made to unify Yemenis under Islamic rule but there was no agreement on any one person having an "exclusive right to rule" and "central authority tended to be fragile and weak. The region was in fact fragmented into several petty states, each enfeebled by domestic disaffection and the hostility of its neighbours."
[3]
"The Ziyadi state was firmly entrenched in the Tinhama, and enjoyed loose suzerainty over a sultan at Aden, whose authority extended eastward along the coast. The Banu Ziyad, on the other hand, had no influence in the highlands. The Abbasid court continued to send governors to Sanaa."
[1]
3. Tribal chiefsTribal chiefs: "The ruler’s authority inevitably impinged upon the freedom of action of the tribal chiefs, whose loyalty was intermittent and often a matter of expediency."
[4]
"In the tenth century as in the twentieth, detailed knowledge of tribal interrelationships, and accommodation to their sensibilities, were necessary elements of effective government in northern Yemen."
[2]
"The Himyarites asserted their autonomy in the central highlands, at times acknowledging a vague Ziyadi suzerainty, and invoking the Abbasid caliph in public prayers. The tribes in the north, between Nejran and Sa’da, refused any outside control or interference in their mutual quarrels until they themselves called in the first Zaidi imam as umpire. In the southern and west-central mountains, the continuing development of Shi’a sentiment provided opportunity for founding the first Fatimid regimes in Yemen. At the beginning of the tenth century, thus, Yemen was divided among four essentially independent entities."
[5]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 54) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 50) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[3]: (Stookey 1978, 50-51) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[4]: (Stookey 1978, 46) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
[5]: (Stookey 1978, 45) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
Andrey Korotayev told us that full-time specialist bureaucrats were present in the Ziyad state.
[1]
In the ninth century "the livelihood of the people was not particularly dependent upon efficient, centralized government, the attachment was strong to small social units which central control was likely to threaten."
[2]
[1]: Andrey Korotayev, pers. comm., February 2018.
[2]: (Stookey 1978, 50) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder.
The Ziyad state, ruled by a Sunni dynasty, was a breakaway state from the Abbasid Empire and so retained the tradition of Arabic literacy. [1]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 45, 57) Stookey, Robert W. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Boulder: Westview Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GIDWD7R3.
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet 1165 CE at Byzantine siege of Zevgminon. [1] Abbasids had the manjaniq, a swing beam engine similar to the Western Trebuchet. [2] but the Manjaniq was man-powered not gravity powered. [3]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Kennedy 2001, 184) Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
[3]: (Nicolle 2003, 14) Nicolle, David. 2003. Medieval Siege Weapons (2): Byzantium, the Islamic World and India AD 476-1526. Osprey Publishing.
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Used for shields. Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Used for shields. Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
"The early Islamic sources treat the coast of mail as a standard piece of military equipment." Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy
Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate [1] which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE. Greek fire was being used: "by the year 850 even crew members of Arab trading vessels in the Indian Ocean would use it to protect their ships against pirates". [2]
[1]: (Gabrieli 1964, 57-65) Francesco Gabrieli. 1964. Greeks and Arabs in the Central Mediterranean Area. Papers 18. Dumbarton Oaks.
[2]: Z Bilkadi. 1984. Bitumen: A History. Saudi Aramco World. November/December. pp 2-9. https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198406/bitumen.-.a.history.htm