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4 A HISTORY OF SHARVAN AND DARBAND
groups of words, But Miinejjim-basM was an expert epitomiser and;
we can feel confident that he neither altered his text nor, omitted anything
essential. One wonders whether the original chronicle was arranged -
in chronological order, so that under each year the events in al-Bab,
Sharvan and Arran were recorded jointly. It may have been the editor's
work to present the events in separate chapters devoted to separate areas.
This assumption is favoured "by some repetitions in the accounts of the
three regions, but against it may be quoted such facts as the discrepancy
in §8 (Sharvan) and §33 (Bab al-abwab) concerning the date of the'
disastrous campaign against Shandan,
In any case, the material which Munejjim-bashi borrowed from the
anonymous history is abundant and nils in the total gaps in our knowledge
of the history of Daghestan and the lands along the Kur and the Araxes,
As soon as Munejjim-basm* loses the guidance of his important source
his narrative on the later sharvanshahs becomes visibly loose and uncertain.
The fresh material is not only accurate in the chronology of political
events of which heretofore we had no conception, but it completes our
knowledge of Caucasian ethnology and contains some very useful hints
at the internal structure of the local principalities.
§2. OTHER ARABIC SOURCES
While insisting on the importance of the Ta'rikh al-Bab, we must not
forget the other Arab contributions to the knowledge of the Caucasian
lands. Most of them have been amply made use of in the commentary
on the new text. We shall enumerate the principal among them,
1, BALADHURI'S Futtih al-luldan (the author died in 279/892), in
its chapter on the conquest of Armenia (pp. 193-212), contains much
carefully sifted material some of which is based on the Sasanian tradition.
Very unfortunately Baladhuri quotes no exact chronological dates.
The enumeration of Arab generals and governors goes down to the
expeditions of Bugha-the-Elder under Mutawakkil.
2, YA'QUBI'S Ta'rikh (the author died in 284/897), II, 215-9, 228,
262-7, 279, 287, 324-5, etc., is another outstanding and accurate source
on the events in Armenia and Transcaucasia. It contains details not
found in Baladhuri and is essentially valuable for the origin of the Hashimid
family in al-Bab. Most of the relevant passages have been translated
by Marquart in his Ostewropaische und Ostasiatische Streifzuge, 1903,
pp, 448-63, with a detailed commentary.1
1A Russian translation (without commentary) of the Caucasian chapters in
Baladhuri and Ya'qubi was published by the late Prof; P. K. Juze (a Palestinian
Arab by birth, 1871-1942), Baku 1927.