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i8 A HISTORY OF SHARVAN AND DARBAND
territories were clearly distinguished: Arran to the south of the Kur,
Sharvan to the north of this river, and al-Bab, i.e. the town of Darband
and its dependencies, On the lesser and intermediate areas see below
PP- 77, 83-
Partav (of which Arabic Bardha'a, later Barda'a and Bardac is only
a popular etymology, "a pack-saddle of an ass") was occupied in the days
of Othman by capitulation. Although the local princes retained their
lands, Barda'a, the capital of Arran, became the spearhead and the
centre of the Arab administration. Arab geographers praise its site, its
extensive gardens and its abundance of various fruits.
Among the titles which the Sasanian Ardashfr conferred on local rulers
Ibn Khurdadhbih, 17, quotes Shrriyan-shah or Shiran-shah, which is
probably a magnified honorific of the Sharvan-shah. The ruler bearing
this title submitted to Salman b. Rabi'a in the caliphate of Othman,
Baladhuri, 209. The building of the important centre Shamakhiya
(Shamakhi) is attributed by the same author to al-Shamakh b. Shuja'
(see above p. 13).
The earliest Muslim reference to a native of al-Bab is found under the
year 15/636: a certain MJiqan of al-Bab called Shahriyar, whose corpulence
("like a camel") struck the imagination of the Arabs, commanded a
detachment of the Sasanian army and was killed in single combat with
an Arab at Kutha, near al-Mada'in, see Tabari I, 2421-2. When the
Arabs reached al-Bab (in the year 22/643) its governor on behalf of
Yazdajird III was Shahr-Baraz—a relative of his famous namesake who
conquered Jerusalem in 614 and for a few months ascended the throne
of the Chosroes. This governor submitted to Suraqa b. 'Amr.1
After the conquest, al-Bab became the base of Arab operations against
their great north-eastern enemy, the Khazars, who thwarted their plans
of expansion into Eastern Europe.8 Many famous Umayyad generals,
such as Maslama b.