Hamdanid Dynasty

The Hamdanid dynasty ruled the Arab north from 890 to 1004, the Shia sword of Syria against Byzantium's reconquest. Taghlib Arabs turned Abbasid servants, the Hamdanids took Mosul in the 890s and held the Jazira as the caliphate dissolved; Nasir al-Dawla made Mosul his seat and Baghdad tremble twice. The glory went to the younger branch: Sayf al-Dawla, the Sword of the Dynasty, seized Aleppo in 944 and for twenty three years met the Byzantine reconquest head on, losing and retaking fortresses from Tarsus to the Euphrates against generals like Nikephoros Phokas. Defeat never dimmed his court: Mutanabbi, the Arabs' greatest poet, sang his campaigns, and Farabi philosophized in his shadow. The emirate was a war camp that minted coins and held Friday prayers between campaigns. After Sayf's death in 967 Aleppo shrank under boy emirs and Byzantine tribute; Mosul fell to the Uqaylids, and in 1004 the Fatimids walked into Aleppo, ending the Hamdanids and handing Syria to the long contest of Fatimids, Byzantines and, soon, Crusaders.