they called Samâlu, and it is still known as such. Others say that they surrendered to al-Mahdi who spared their lives and gathered them in that place, ordering that it be called Samâlu. According to ar-Rashîd's orders, those who were left in the fort were sold publicly.
One Abyssinian, who was heard cursing ar-Rashîd and the Moslems, was crucified on one of the towers of the fort.
ʿAin Zarbah and al-Hârûnîyah. Aḥmad ibn-al-Ḥârith al-Wâsiṭi from al-Wâḳidi:—In the year 180, ar-Rashîd ordered that the city of ʿAin Zarbah [Anazarbus] be built and fortified. He summoned to it a regiment from Khurâsân and others, to whom he gave houses as fiefs. In the year 183, he ordered al-Hârûnîyah built. It was accordingly built and manned with a garrison and with volunteers that emigrated to it. The city was named after him. Others say that Hârûn started its erection in the caliphate of al-Mahdi, but completed it in his own caliphate.
Kanîsat as-Saudâʾ. The city of Kanîsat as-Saudâʾ [black church] had been built by the Greeks of black stone since the earliest of days, and had an old fort that was destroyed in the general havoc. Ar-Rashîd ordered that this city be rebuilt and fortified. He also summoned to it troops, allowing them larger stipends. I was told by ʿAzzûn ibn-Saʿd, one of the inhabitants of the frontier region, that the Greeks once invaded it—as al-Ḳâsim ibn-ar-Rashîd was staying in Dâbiḳ—and carried away its cattle and a number of prisoners. They were pursued by the people of al-Maṣṣîṣah and its volunteers, who saved all that had been carried away and killed many of the Greeks, sending the rest of them back in distress and disorder. Then al-Ḳâsim sent some one to fortify the city, make repairs in it and increase its garrison. For this purpose some of az-Zuṭṭ, previously transplanted by al-Muʿtaṣim to ʿAin Zarbah and its environs from al-Baṭâʾiḥ, which lay between Wâsiṭ and al-Baṣrah, and which they had conquered, were available.
