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[German version] Leader of a religious revolutionary movement in Sassanid Iran under King Cavades [1] (AD 488-496, 498/9-531). The fundamental characteristic is a strong social egalitarianism. A basic difficulty in researching Mazdakism is that almost all information originates from sources that are hostile to it. The only contemporary report is found in the Syriac chronicle of Joshua Stylites. Byzantine (Procop. BP 1,5-11; 2,9; Agathias, Historiae 4,27-30; Ioh. Mal. 465, 633 and 653 Migne) and Arabic sources from a late…

[German version] [1] see Mariaba see Mariaba Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [German version] [2] City in Arabia Felix According to Ptol. 6,7,37 (Μάρα μητρόπολις; Mára mētrópolis), city in the interior of Arabia Felix, mostly identified with the Sabaean capital Mārib ( Mariaba). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography City i H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philos.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 417 (map).

[German version] (Μαρανῖται; Maranîtai). According to Agatharchides (De Mari Erythraeo 88 GGM 1,177), Arab tribe that settled in the coastal strip of the Red Sea. Sources tell of their conflict with the Garindaneîs (Γαρινδανεῖς), who took advantage of an absence of the M. to seize for themselves, in an underhand manner, their possessions and estates. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)

[German version] ( Qatabān). Pre-Islamic people in south-western Arabia, known predominantly through inscriptions. They appear in the ancient sources as Kattabaneîs (Κατταβανεῖς, ἡ Κατταβανία, Str. 16,4,4), Kottabanoí (Κοτταβανοί, Ptol. Geog. 6,7,24) and Catapani (Plin. HN 6,153). According to Eratosthenes in Str. loc cit., the settlement area of the Q. extended across the entire hinterland from Saba to the straits; the inscriptions, on the other hand, record a limitation to the Wādī Baiḥān: a contradiction which probably results from v…

[German version] ‘The law of the (rather: for the) Himyarites’ (Latin Homeritae, an Arab tribe ruling Yemen between the 3rd and 6th cent. AD), a collection falsely attributed to bishop Gregentius of Ẓafar. However, it is not a genuine southern Arabian law code but a Byzantine literary work of the 6th cent. AD reflecting the administration and urban life of the empire under consideration of certain peculiarities of Himyar [1. 567-620]. Together with the ‘Martyrium of Arethas’ [2], the Vita of Gregentius [3] and the ‘Dispute with the Jew Herban’ ( Sancti Gregentii disputatio cum Herbano…

[German version] (also Septem Fratres). Term for a chain of seven mountains on the African coast near the Straits of Gibraltar (Ptol. 4,1,5: Ἑπτάδελφοι ὄρος/ Heptádelphoi óros; Mela 1,5; Plin. HN 5,18; It. Ant. 9,3), and later probably for the settlement there, the modern Spanish Ceuta (by way of Arabic  Sabṭa). Archaeological remains bear witness to S. as a significant ancient centre for producing salted fish [1]. From the late Roman period there is a basilica [2]. After a failed attempt at conquest by the Visigoth king Theudis in 534, the emp…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Μούζα ἐμπόριον/ Moúza empórion, Ptol. 6,7,7; 8,22,6; peripl. maris Erythraei 6,10,12f; 16; Plin. HN 6,104). Port city of Mapharitis (Maāfir) on the southern Arabian coast of the Red Sea north of al-Muḫā, at the site of modern Maušiǧ. The modern inland settlement of Mauzaa  bears the old name. M. is mentioned by Pliny alongside Ocelis and Cane as one of the harbours at which incense traders called. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography L. Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1989, 147-148  H. von…

[German version] According to Ptol. (6,7,38; 8,22,13, Μενάμβις βασίλειον; Menámbis basíleion) the capital of Arabia Felix, on Ptolemy's map to the north west of the Κλῖμαξ ὄρος ( Klîmax óros) and a day's journey from Magulaba. It may have been a royal frontier fort of the Hadramauts ( Ḥaḍramaut) against the Ḥimyār (Homeritae) and Sabaeans ( Saba). There may be a connexion between the name and that of Banū Munabbih, who according to Arabic sources (Hamdāni, Ǧazı̄ra 167 Müller) settled there in the Islamic period. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H.v. Wissmann, M. Höfner, Be…

[German version] (Μαλῖχαι; Malîchai). According to Ptol. 6,7,23, a people of Arabia felix, in the hinterland of the Red Sea. The M. probably correspond to the Banū Malik in ʿAṣīr in modern Saudi Arabia (cf. Baramalacum, Plin. HN 6,157). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg)

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,37 (Μαγουλάβα/ Magoulába, also Μαγούλαυα/ Magoúlaba), town in Arabia Felix between Silaeum and Menambis. Probably the identical to modern al-Maḥǧar al-Alā. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 417 (map) Id., M. Höfner, Beiträge zur historischen Geographie des vorislamischen Arabien (AAWM, Geistesund sozialwiss. Klasse), 1952, no. 4, 37.

[German version] (Ὄκηλις/ Ókēlis, Ptol. Geog. 6,7,7; Peripl. m. r. 25; Acila, Ocilia, Plin. HN 6,104; Str. 16,4,5). Small monsoon harbour on the Arabian coast (Bāb al-Mandab). In the 3rd and 2nd century BC, O. belonged to Qatabān, then to the Ḥimyār kingdom. It probably corresponds to the modern harbour of Al-Šaiḫ Saīd. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography L. Casson, The Periplus Maris Erythraei, 1989, 157-158  A. Sprenger, Die alte Geographie Arabiens, 1966, 67, 77  H. von Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philol.-histor. Kl. 2…

[German version] (Μακοράβα; Makorába). According to Ptol. 6,7,32, city in north-western Arabia Felix, already at an early time equated with Mecca. Based on the southern Semitic root mkrb (‘temple’, ‘sanctuary’ but also ‘altar’). In pre-Islamic Mecca there was a temple to the moon god Hubal, who was worshipped by the tribes in the neighbourhood. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Phil.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 185, n. 380.

[German version] (Fāṭima). Daughter of  Muhammad and his first wife Ḫadı̄ǧa; wife of the future Caliph Alı̄ b. Abı̄ Ṭālib ( Ali), mother of al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusain; she is the only daughter of the prophet to be universally venerated by Muslims, who ascribe extraordinary powers to her. Especially among the  Shiites and the Ishmaelites she is regarded as a miraculous woman, in whom Christian (equated with the Virgin Mary) and gnostic traits (F. as the incarnation of light) come together. Little is known about the historic F. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. Lammens, Fāṭ…

[German version] ( al-Kūfa). Like Basra, founded in the early period of Islamic conquests (AD 639). Garrison city south of what was later Baghdad, on the right bank of the Euphrates, near the capital city of the Lakhmids, al-Hira. K. soon became the new capital city of Iraq and superseded Sassanid Ctesiphon, that from then on slowly declined. During the Caliphate ( Caliph) of Ali, K. rose for a short time to the status of overall capital city, and remained after Ali's murder (AD 661) a centre of Shiite agitation ( Shiites). However, it lost in importance after the founding of Baghdad. Toral-Nieh…

[German version] [1] W. I Sixth Umayyad caliph (born AD 668, reigned 705-715; Umayyads A.), continued his father Abd-al-Malik's policy of Islamization. He had the church of Saint John standing on the site of the Temple of Hadad/Jupiter in Damascus (C.) converted into a mosque (Umayyad mosque; see Arabic-Islamic cultural sphere I. A.) and had the al-Aqṣā Mosque built in Jerusalem and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina (Yaṯrib). Under his rule the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (in 711) and of Cho…

[German version] According to Ptol. 6,7,25 (Μασονῖται; Masonîtai) a tribe southwest of the K lîmax óros (Κλῖμαξ ὄρος, today Ǧabal Išbīl) in Arabia Felix. Probably connected to maṣanī (‘fortresses’). Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) Bibliography H. v. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Altsüdarabien (SAWW, Philos.-histor. Klasse 246), 1964, 415.

[German version] (Ζααβράμ, also Ζαβάμ/ Zabám, Ζααράμ/ Zaarám, Ζάμβρα/ Zámbra). City on the western coastal strip of the Arabian Peninsula. According to Ptol. 6,7,5 domain (βασίλειον/ basíleion) of the Kinaidokolpites (cf. also Steph. Byz. 293,16, where it is Ζαδράμη/ Zadrámē). Z. was probably the seat of power of a dependent prince (elsewhere in Ptol. μητρόπολις/ mētrópolis) and according to [1. 65] was in Marsā Ibrāhīm (Portuguese: Massabraim), the port of the Al-Līṯ oasis to the south of Jeddah (see [5]); others [2; 3; 4] locate Z. nearer to Mecca in the Wā…

[German version] Abū Ǧaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ǧarīr al-Ṭabarī (AD 839-923). Significant Persian-Arab historian, lawyer and Koranic commentator. His 'Universal History' ( Taʾrīḫ) begins with a creation story; histories follow of Israel, ancient Persia and pre-Islamic Arabia. After an account of the life of Muhammad, T.'s chronicle is constructed annalistically and contains a detailed presentation of the Islamic campaigns of conquest and the periods of the Umayyads and the Abbasids up to AD 915. The significance of T.'s hi…

(Μάκαι; Mákai). [German version] [1] People in eastern Arabia According to Ptol. 6,7,14, a people in eastern Arabia in the hinterland of the bays around modern Rāʾs Musandam on the road from Hormuz. Also mentioned in Str. 13,765f., Plin. HN 6,98.152 and Mela 3,79; according to them, the M. settled opposite the Carmanian foothills. According to Arr. Ind., Μακέτα/ Makéta (Rāʾs Musandam) was an important trading centre for the spice trade ( Spices) on the Persian Gulf. Toral-Niehoff, Isabel (Freiburg) [German version] [2] Nomadic tribe or tribal league ( Macae). A large nomadic tribe o…

[German version] I. General Since the 16th cent. the Latin term missio (‘sending’) has designated the efforts by Christians to spread their religion, by divine command. The term mission, unknown in antiquity, corresponds in essence to the instruction of the risen Christ to his disciples to make all peoples disciples (Mt 28:19). It is this commission that distinguishes Christian mission from similar manifestations of expansion (diffusion) in most other religions and cults. Only Manichaeism (Mani) and Islam (divine ‘summons’, dawa, to spread the religion) are acquainted wit…