Thabit ibn Nasr

Thabit ibn Nasr ibn Malik al-Khuza'i (died 813/14) was an Abbasid general and governor of the Cilician frontier zone (al-thughur al-Sha'miya) with the Byzantine Empire in 808–813.

Thabit was a native of Khurasan,^[1] and the grandson of Malik ibn al-Haytham al-Khuza'i, an early Abbasid follower and military leader.^[2] He was appointed as governor of the Syrian thughur (essentially comprising Cilicia, with Tarsus as its capital) in the last year of the reign of Harun al-Rashid (808/9).^[3][4] He organized a prisoner exchange with the Byzantines at Podandos in 808,^[5][6] but also led a series of raiding expeditions (sawa'if) against them.^[3] In one of these however, in August 812, he suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Leo the Armenian, losing 2,000 men.^[6]

From ca. 810, with the outbreak of a civil war between al-Amin and his brother al-Ma'mun, Thabit, like many other provincial governors and magnates, was able to assume virtually independent control of his province.^[3][7] He died or was killed shortly after the final victory of Ma'mun in 813,^[3] according to some accounts poisoned by his cousin Nasr ibn Hamza ibn Malik.^[8]

References

Sources

• Bonner, Michael David (1996). Aristocratic violence and holy war: studies in the jihad and the Arab-Byzantine frontier. American Oriental Society. ISBN 978-0-940490-11-6. 
• Cobb, Paul M. (2001). White banners: contention in ‘Abbāsid Syria, 750–880. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-4880-0. 
• Crone, Patricia (1980). Slaves on horses: the evolution of the Islamic polity. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52940-9. 
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Zielke, Beate; Pratsch, Thomas, eds. (2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). De Gruyter.