Map showing Uskaf in relation to other contemporary sites in the region

Uskāf Banī Junayd,[1] also Iskāf,[2] was an ancient and medieval city of Iraq, located on the Nahrawan Canal at the present site of Sumāka.[1] In its heyday, during the Sasanian period and early Islamic caliphates, Uskaf was the largest city in the Diyala basin;[3] however, it declined sharply after the Samarran period and was abandoned by the early 1100s.[4]

History

Uskaf was inhabited during the Achaemenid and Parthian periods, but on a much smaller scale than in later periods.[1] Although not mentioned by name in contemporary accounts, Uskaf was a significant urban center during the Sasanian period. It grew to an area not much smaller than Ctesiphon itself.[5] A massive weir at the site of al-Qantara was constructed just north of Uskaf during the Sasanian period; however, it does not seem to have been in use for that long during this period.[6]

Uskaf was the largest city in the Diyala basin both in the Sasanian and early Islamic periods.[3] During this time, the city became known as "Bani Junayd" after a powerful local family known for its hospitality.[3][2] Writing in the early 1200s, well after the city's decline, Yaqut al-Hamawi noted that many learned men had come from Uskaf, reflecting the city's prosperity in its heyday.[3]

After the Samarran period, however, Uskaf went into a dramatic decline, with the physical area of the city shrinking to a mere 5% of its greatest size in the Sasanian and early Islamic periods.[4] During this period, the volume of water flowing through the Nahrawan canal decreased substantially, leading to an increased reliance on the weir at al-Qantara as a source of water for irrigation. The weir artificially raised the canal's water level above its location, but dramatically reduced the water level below it.[7]

The final construction at Uskaf dates from the late 11th century, and the site appears to have been abandoned shortly thereafter.[4] By the early 1200s, Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote that the lands around Uskaf had gone completely out of cultivation.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Adams (1965), pp. 161-62
  2. 1 2 3 Le Strange (1905), p. 59
  3. 1 2 3 4 Adams (1965), p. 95
  4. 1 2 3 Adams (1965), p. 96
  5. ↑ Adams (1965), p. 73
  6. ↑ Adams (1965), p. 79
  7. ↑ Adams (1965), pp. 103-104

Sources

  • Adams, Robert M. (1965). Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement on the Diyala Plains. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 899942882.
  • Le Strange, Guy (1905). The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 458169031.

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