SAYF AD-DAWLAH

born 916 died 967, Aleppo, Syria in full Sayf Ad-dawlah Abu Al-hasan Ibn Hamdan ruler of northern Syria who was the founder and the most prominent prince of the Arab Hamdanid dynasty of Aleppo. He was famous for his patronage of scholars and for his military struggles against the Greeks. Sayf ad-Dawlah began his career as lord of the city of Wasit in Iraq and became involved in the struggles of the 'Abbasid caliph (the titular leader of the Islamic community), who ruled from nearby Baghdad. Sayf ad-Dawlah realized that greater potential lay to the west, in Syria, then under the dominion of the Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled Egypt. In 946 he captured Aleppo, and in the following year, after two unsuccessful attempts, he took Damascus. He then marched his army toward Egypt and captured Ramla, but he was unable to make further progress. A peace treaty was negotiated between him and the Ikshidids, and thereafter his most important concern was with the Byzantine Empire. Every year from 950 to the time of his death, he saw some kind of armed conflict with the Byzantines. He won a number of the engagements but could effect no permanent acquisition of territory. His worst defeat came in 962, when a Byzantine army of 200,000 advanced on Aleppo, defeated Sayf ad-Dawlah, and captured the city. The countryside was plundered, but the Byzantine forces retired after one week. Two years later they returned but were defeated. Sayf ad-Dawlah surrounded himself with prominent intellectual figures, notably the great poet al-Mutanabbi and the noted philosopher al-Farabi. Sayf ad-Dawlah himself was a poet; his delicate little poem on the rainbow shows high artistic ability.