ĀZĀḎBEH B. BĀNEGĀN

 

ĀZĀḎBEH B. BĀNEGĀN (MĀHĀN?) B. MEHR-BONDĀD, a dehqān (landowner) of Hamadān, marzbān (governor) in the former Lakhmid capital of Ḥīra in central Iraq during the years preceding the Arab conquest of that province. Ṭabarī’s account of his governorship cites as source Hešām b. Moḥammad Kalbī and this same historian says that he governed Ḥīra for seventeen years after the rule there of the Arab Iyās b. Qabīṣa Ṭāʾī and the Persian co-ruler, Naḵīragān. Since he was killed in 12/633, the beginning of his governorship should probably be placed in A.D. 617 or 618. Āzāḏbeh represents the Sasanian policy of imposing, in effect, direct rule on Ḥīra after the deposition of the last Lakhmid king Noʿmān V b. Monḏer. His tenure of power there spanned the troubled reigns of Ḵosrow II, Šērōya, Ardašīr III, Pūrān, Hormozd V, and Yazdegerd III. The Arabs appeared in Iraq during Abū Bakr’s caliphate (soon after the suppression of the Redda wars) under Ḵāled b. Walīd and Moṯannā b. Ḥāreṯa Šaybānī. In 12/633 Āzāḏbeh was defeated by the Arabs, and his son killed in the fighting; the Arabs then proceeded to besiege Ḥīra, while Āzāḏbeh fled. Nothing is recorded in the Arabic sources of his ultimate fate.

 

Bibliography:

Ṭabarī, I, pp. 1038, 2019.

Balāḏorī, Fotūḥ, pp. 242-43.

Ḥamza, p. 112.

Ebn al-Aṯīr (repr.), II, p. 390 (A.H. 12)

. Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, pp. 347-48.

Justi, Namenbuch, p. 53.

ʿA. Zarrīnkūb in Camb. Hist. Iran IV, pp. 7-8.

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 آزاذبه بانگان

 

(C. E. Bosworth)

Originally Published: December 15, 1987

Last Updated: August 18, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 2, p. 177