View source for Ukbara

{{Short description|Medieval city on the Tigris River, Iraq}}
{{distinguish|text=the Palestinian village of [[Akbara]] (spelled identically in Arabic), destroyed in 1948}}
[[Image:Ukbara map.png|right]]
{{More footnotes needed|date=February 2022}}
'''Ukbara''' ({{langx|ar|عكبرا}}) was a medieval city in [[Iraq]]. It was located on the left bank of the [[Tigris]] between [[Samarra]] and [[Baghdad]]. The Tigris has changed course since, and its ruins now lie some distance from the river.

==History==
It was refounded by the [[Sasanian]] shah [[Shapur I]] under the name of '''''Vuzurg-Shapur''''' (3rd century [[Common Era|CE]]) and settled with [[Roman–Persian Wars|Roman captives]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Yarshater |first=Ehsan |title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3 (2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian periods |year=1983 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-24693-4 |url={{Google Books|y7IHmyKcPtYC|plainurl=y}} | page=759}}</ref> According to [[adh-Dhahabi]], the [[Buwayhid]] [[Sultan]] [[Jalal ad-Dawla]] fled there in 1031 to escape a slave revolt.

Famous native sons include:
* the great Islamic grammarian, philologist, and religious scholar Abul-Baqa [[Al-Ukbari]] (ca. 1143-1219), author of some 60 works, many of them recently reprinted;
* [[Ibn Makula]], author of an early dictionary of names, born Sha'ban 5, 421 AH
* Sheikh [[al-Mufid]][http://al-islam.org/amali/2.htm]
* two notable early [[Jewish]]/[[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] "[[heresiarch]]s", leaders of Karaite movements opposed to [[Anan ben David]], [[Ishmael al-Ukbari]][http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=279&letter=I] and [[Meshwi al-Ukbari]][http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=504&letter=M].

It is described in many Arabic geographical works, beginning with the famous 9th-century geography of [[Ibn Khordadhbeh]], which mentions it four times, stating that:
* it was on the postal road from [[Abbasid Samarra|Samarra]] to [[Baghdad]], nine stages from Samarra and six from Baghdad;
* it was on the road from Baghdad to [[Mosul]], 9 [[parasang]]s from Baghdad (5 from the previous stop, [[al-Bardan]], and 3 from the next, [[Bahimsha]]);
* it was on the westward road from Baghdad, 4 stages from al-Bardan (6 from Baghdad) and 7 from the next stop, Samarra.

(The seeming contradiction between points 1 and 3 is found in the text, as provided by http://www.alwaraq.com/ .)

However, the tenth-century [[al-Muqaddasi]] goes into a little more detail, saying that:

: وفي وجه سامرا مدينة عكبرا وهي كبيرة عامرة، كثيرة الفواكه جيدة الاعناب سرية
: ''And in front of Samarra is the town of Ukbara, which is large and populous, with abundant fruit and good grapes.'' (p. 42, al-Waraq online edition)

The twelfth-century geographer [[al-Idrisi]] is briefer, mentioning it twice.

The Jewish traveller [[Benjamin of Tudela]] (twelfth century) also mentions it, calling it "Okbara, the city which [[Jeconiah]] the King built, where there are about 10,000 Jews, and at their head are R. Chanan, R. Jabin and R. Ishmael."

The later [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] (thirteenth century) goes into yet more detail, noting two alternate names, the "Arabized" form ''`Akburah'' and ''Buzurj-Sabur'' بزرج سابور, after the Persian name ''Vuzurg-Shapur'' mentioned above, calling it:

:بليدة من نواحي دُجيل قرب صريفين وأوَانا بينها وبين بغداد عشرة فراسخ، والنسبة إليها عكبري وعكبراوي، منها شيخنا إمام عصره محب الدين أبو البقاء عبد اللهَ بن الحسين النحوي العكبري مات في ربيع الأول سنة 616، وقرىء على سارية بجامع عكبرا:

: ''a little town in the area of [[Dujail|Dujayl]] near [[Sarifin]] and [[Awana, Iraq|Awana]], 10 [[parasang]]s from Baghdad; its natives are called Ukbari or Ukbarawi, and include our Sheikh the [[Imam]] of his time, Muhibb ud-Din Abul-Baqa Abdallah ibn al-Husayn an-Nahwi al-Ukbari, who died in Rabi I, 616 AH.

and quotes two brief epigrams about the town.

The biographical dictionary of [[Ibn Khallikan]] (thirteenth century) calls it:

:وهي بليدة على دجلة فوق بغداد بعشرة فراسخ خرج منها جماعة من العلماء وغيرهم
: ''a little town on the Tigris, 10 parasangs above Baghdad, from which a group of learned men and their like have emerged.''

==See also==
* [[Uqbar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* [[adh-Dhahabi]], ''al-Ibar fi Khabar min al-Ghabar'', [http://www.alwaraq.com/index5.htm?c=http://www.alwaraq.com/cgi-bin/doccgi.exe/booksearch?book=35&option=1&offset=1&searchtext=DADFC8D1C7&fkey=1&RangeOp=1&WordForm=1&totalpages=1&m=http://www.alwaraq.com/search.htm al-Waraq edition]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p.&nbsp;193.
* [[al-Muqaddasi]], ''Ahsan ut-Taqasim fi Ma`rifati l-'Aqalim'', [http://www.alwaraq.com/index5.htm?c=http://www.alwaraq.com/cgi-bin/doccgi.exe/booksearch?book=0&option=1&offset=3&searchtext=DADFC8D1C7&fkey=1&RangeOp=1&WordForm=1&totalpages=5&m=http://www.alwaraq.com/search.htm Al-Waraq edition]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p.&nbsp;42.
* [[Benjamin of Tudela]], ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081224080505/http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/history/seminar/benjamin/benjamin1.htm The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela]'', translated by Macus Nathan Adler, London 1907, p.&nbsp;35.
* [[Ibn Khallikan]], ''Wafayat ul-'A`yan'', [http://www.alwaraq.com/index5.htm?c=http://www.alwaraq.com/cgi-bin/doccgi.exe/booksearch?book=102&option=1&offset=1&searchtext=DADFC8D1C7&fkey=1&RangeOp=1&WordForm=1&totalpages=2&m=http://www.alwaraq.com/search.htm Al-Waraq edition]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p.&nbsp;351.
* [[Ibn Khordadhbeh]], ''al-Masalik wal-Mamalik'', [http://www.alwaraq.com/index5.htm?c=http://www.alwaraq.com/cgi-bin/doccgi.exe/booksearch?book=54&option=1&offset=1&searchtext=DADFC8D1C7&fkey=1&RangeOp=1&WordForm=1&totalpages=4&m=http://www.alwaraq.com/search.htm Al-Waraq edition]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, pp.&nbsp;14, 21, 56, 61.
* Kohler, Kaufmann and [[Samuel Poznanski]], ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' article on [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=279&letter=I Ishmael of Akbara]
* W. Schott, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050524215045/http://gdz-srv3.sub.uni-goettingen.de/sub/digbib/loader?ht=VIEW&did=D212455 "Ocbara" and "Ocbari"], in ed. Johann Samuel Ersch, Johann Gottfried Gruber, ''Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste'', Leipzig 1818.
* Singer, Isidore and Broydé, Isaac, ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' article on  "[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=504&letter=M Meshwi al-‘Ukbari]"
* &mdash; the ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' article "[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=44&letter=O Okbara and Okbarites]" is simply a cross reference to their article "Meshwi al-‘Ukbari".
* [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]], ''Mu'jam al-Buldan'', [http://www.alwaraq.com/index5.htm?c=http://www.alwaraq.com/cgi-bin/doccgi.exe/booksearch?book=94&option=1&offset=3&searchtext=DADFC8D1C7&fkey=1&RangeOp=1&WordForm=1&totalpages=4&m=http://www.alwaraq.com/search.htm Al-Waraq edition]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p.&nbsp;1243
* ed. Ehsan Yarshater, ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', vol. 3(2): The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, NY: Cambridge UP, 1983, pp.&nbsp;757–760.

==External links==
* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/baghdad_rivers_1944.jpg A 1944 map showing Ukbara]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041116205538/http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/photos/L_039.htm A photo] by [[Gertrude Bell]]

{{coord missing|Iraq}}

[[Category:Former populated places in Iraq]]
[[Category:Shapur I]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Iraq]]