Introduction

Since I came across al-Jazari’s book, I have been hoping to find a Muslim traveler from the 12th or 13th century who visited the Artuqids’ court and saw with his own eyes the elephant clock and other wonderful machines built by al-Jazari. This is probably a childish fantasy, although there are still many Arabic manuscripts that have not been translated or even cataloged, and no one knows what is written within them.

As I have written before, we are aware of three books that originated from this tiny principality: Al-Jazari’s book, which is the reason for this Blog. A few years before that, Usama ibn Munqidh((أسامة بن منقذ) wrote his book ” The Book of Contemplation  (كتاب الاعتبار), and there is also a third, lesser-known book by al-Jawbarī (الجوبري) called ” The Book of Charlatans ” (كتاب المختار في كشف الأسرار). Three books that have come down to us from a tiny principality in Anatolia represent only a part of the cultural flowering during the Artuqids period. Can we learn anything about the Artuqidss and the principality from travelers who visited it or were nearby?

During my research, I found very famous travelers, such as Ibn Jubayr, who left Mosul in June 1184 on his way to Damascus via Aleppo. He passed through the southern outskirts of the Artuqids principality. In 1326, Ibn Battuta (ابن بطوطة) visited Mardin (ماردين) and other places. In this post, I will focus on Ibn Jubayr, and later, I may write about Ibn Battuta and other travelers I have identified, such as Nasir Khusraw (ناصر خسرو), who was in Diyar Bakr (ديار بكر) in 1046, when it was still ruled by the Marwanids (مروانيون). Abu al-Hasan al-Harwi (أبو الحسان الهروي), who visited the area in 1215, and Ibn Shaddad (عز الدين بن شدداد ), who wrote extensively about Diyar Bakr. This is a map of this part of Ibn Jubayr’s journey:

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Ibn Jubayr’s travels in the Artuqids principality

Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jubayr (أبو الحسين محمد بن أحمد بن جبير) was born in 1145 in Valencia, died in 1217 in Alexandria, Egypt. He is known for a book documenting his pilgrimage to Mecca that began in 1183 and ended with his return to Granada in 1185. He wrote a vivid account of this journey in his book “The Travels of Ibn Jubayr (رحلة ابن جبير).” In 580 AH or 1184 CE, he arrived at Nasibin, a town in Upper Mesopotamia, now called Nusaybin in modern Turkey. This is an ancient city mentioned as early as the Assyrian period. In the 12th century, it changed hands many times and was briefly conquered by Ilghazi ibn Artuq (إيلغازي بن أرتق), who ruled Mardin from 1107 to 1122. Ibn Jubayr only passed through the southern outskirts of the principality a few years after al-Jazari began his service at the royal court. It is quite possible that al-Jazari’s monumental works had not yet been completed or that ibn Jubayr did not hear about them. One can still be impressed by Nasibin’s poetic description.

” Renowned for its age and its past, outwardly fresh but decrepit within, beautiful to look upon and of medium size, it stands in a verdant plain which stretches before and behind it is as far as the eye can reach. In this plain, Allah has made to run streams of water that irrigate it and flow in all its parts. The city is begirt with gardens, thick with trees bearing ripe fruits, and round it there bends, like a bracelet, a river with its banks beset with the gardens that cover it with their ample shade. God’s mercy upon Abu Nuwas al-Hassan ibn Hani (أبو نواس –The Father of Curls. The court poet of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, considered by many to be one of the greatest Arab poets of all time) said:

“Nasibin was pleased with me one day

And I was pleased with it. Oh, that my lot in this world were Nasibin.”

Ibn Jubayr continues to describe the city and the stream that enters the town, passes through the streets, and reaches the mosque, where it flows into two basins: one in the center of the mosque and the other near the eastern gate, which in turn reaches two fountains. This description is particularly interesting because al-Jazari describes in his book designs for six fountains that change their shape. All of al-Jazari’s fountains have a time-based control system. Today, it is trivial to control a fountain using an electronic control system. Still, in the 12th century, it was a significant engineering challenge, and al-Jazari proposed a variety of elegant solutions. A water source, such as the stream that Ibn Jubayr describes, and a water collection basin and a fountain are the components from which al-Jazari built his elaborate fountains, and the text demonstrates their availability.

The fountain with two tipping buckets, Topkapi manuscript, 1206

In the following paragraph, Ibn Jubayr speaks of the rulers of the Nasibin Mu’in al-Din (معين الدين), the brother of Mu’izz al-Din (معز الدين), the ruler of Mosul. The rulers of Mosul in the 12th century were from the Zangid dynasty (الدولة الزنکية). Like the Artuqids, they are a Turkoman dynasty from the Oghuz tribes (ٱغُز) that ruled parts of the Middle East, including Mesopotamia, with varying degrees of independence from the Seljuk Empire.

The 1180s were politically complicated by Saladin’s pressure on local rulers in Greater Syria and Mesopotamia, including the capture of Aleppo in 1183, the capture of Diyarbakir in 1185, and a failed attempt to capture Mosul. The local princes ruled at his desire and, to a large extent, became his vassals. The Artuqids did not control Nasibin in 1184, which indicates the small size of the principality.

After meeting with a righteous sheikh named Abu al-Yaqzan (أبو اليقضان), Ibn Jubayr continues to Dunaysir (دنيصر). Today, medieval ruins remain 20 km southwest of Mardin on a tributary of the Khabur (خابور ) River. Dunaysar is not considered an important place in Islam and was never fortified. Its prosperity under the Artuqids is reflected in the remains of mosques and madrasahs. Here, too, Ibn Jubayr describes:

“This city lies in a wide plain and is surrounded by gardens of aromatic plants and green vegetables that are irrigated by means of water wheels (ساقية). It inclines to the character of the desert and has no walls. Filled with people, it has crowded markets and a wide range of commodities, being the emporium of the people of Syria, Dyar baker, Amid of the Rumi lands that give allegiance to the Emir Mas’ud. It has wide tillage and many conveniences.”

I don’t know why he mentions Diyarbakır (دير بكر) and Amid (آمد) separately. As far as I understand, Amid is the ancient name of Diyarbakır. It is interesting to note the water wheel (ساقية), the most efficient device for raising water, which was used until the introduction of motorized pumps. This is a mechanical device that utilizes a belt of buckets or jugs, powered by a vertical wheel connected to a horizontal wheel, which is driven by animals (oxen or donkeys). In Al-Jazari’s book, there are five water pumps or in Al-Jazari’s words: ” machines for raising water from pools, and from wells which are not deep, and from a running stream,” and one of them is a strange water wheel powered by a scoop wheel and a set of gear wheels but has a wooden fake cow. More on the fake cow riddle here.

Ibn Jubayr then tells us that the ruler of the city is Qutb al-Din (قتب الدين), who also rules Mardin (ماردين), Dari (داري), and Ras al-Ain (راس العين), and is a relative of the Zengid who ruled Mosul and Nasibin. He is referring to Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II (قطب الدين إيلغازي II), who ruled Mardin between the years 1176-1184 and even left us coins with his image:

Ibn Jubayr’s following paragraph is unusual and highly critical of Muslim rulers, except for Saladin. To understand it, one must know that names in Arabic have meanings: Saladin is Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn “a-Din” (the “L” is not pronounced) is “the religion” and “salah” means righteousness, good, decency, and honesty, so that the name of the Ayyubid general Saladin means “righteousness of the religion.” The meaning of the name “Qutb al-Din” is “the leader of religion,” and so on.

“These countries are subject to various rulers, after the fashion of the kings of the Arab nations in Spain. All these rulers embellish themselves with titles connected with religion(Din), and you will hear only awesome by-names and appellations that, for wise, are without profit. In this, the subject and the kings are the same, and the rich share this habit with the poor. Not one of them is known by a cognomen that fits him or is described by an epithet of which he is worthy. Not on save Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn, Lord of Syria, the Hejaz, and the Yemen, and famous for his virtue and justness”.

The second category of Al-Jazari’s book is devoted to:” On the construction of vessels and figures suitable for a drinking session. This chapter contains ten amusing inventions for drinking parties. For example, the automaton (mechanical doll) that drinks the king’s leaving. This is clear evidence that the Artuqid court in Diyar Bakr lived in peace with alcohol. There are plenty of references to Islam and its customs in the book, and at the same time, feasts full of play and amusement take place without any apology or concealment. Is it this duality that led to Ibn Jubayr’s outburst?

Ibn Jubayr continued south to Ras al-Ayn (رأس العين), still part of the Artuqid principality. I did not find any helpful information about the Artuqids there, but the description is so captivating that I have quoted it verbatim:

“This name (رأس العين=The head of the spring) is a most fitting designation, and in this place are the most excellent properties, may Allah be exalted has given vent to springs in its ground that pour forth fresh water. They divide into branches and flow in channels spread through the green meadows like stripes of silver stretching across a sheet of emerald, beset with trees and gardens that are disposed along their banks till the end of their cultivated valleys. Of these springs, two are the most copious, and one is situated higher than the other. The higher rises from the ground

between hard stones that form something like the hollow of a cave, large and capacious, in which the water rises until it becomes a vast cistern. The water then pours forth like one of the greatest rivers until it comes to the other spring. This second spring is one of the most wonderful of the creations of the great and glorious Allah. It rises from a hard stone at a depth of about four men’s statures below the ground, but the spring has opened out a cistern of that depth. Sometimes, a stout swimmer and a strong diver try to reach the bottom, but the water, so strong is the spring, repels him so that he does not reach half the depth and sometimes even less. This we saw with our own eyes. The water is clearer than pure water and sweeter than the spring of Salsabil [a spring in Paradise mentioned in the Quran] and leaves visible all that is in it. If a dinar is thrown into it on a dark night, it will not be hidden.”