Uskaf

Uskāf Banī Junayd,^[1] also Iskāf,^[2] was an ancient and medieval city of Iraq, located on the Nahrawan Canal at the present site of Sumāka.^[1] In its heyday, during the Sasanian period and early Islamic caliphates, Uskaf was the largest city in the Diyala basin;^[3] however, it declined sharply after the Samarran period and was abandoned by the early 1100s.^[4]

Map showing Uskaf in relation to other contemporary sites in the region

History

Uskaf was inhabited during the Achaemenid and Parthian periods, but on a much smaller scale than in later periods.^[1] Although not mentioned by name in contemporary accounts, Uskaf was a significant urban center during the Sasanian period. It grew to an area not much smaller than Ctesiphon itself.^[5] A massive weir at the site of al-Qantara was constructed just north of Uskaf during the Sasanian period; however, it does not seem to have been in use for that long during this period.^[6]

Uskaf was the largest city in the Diyala basin both in the Sasanian and early Islamic periods.^[3] During this time, the city became known as "Bani Junayd" after a powerful local family known for its hospitality.^[3][2] Writing in the early 1200s, well after the city's decline, Yaqut al-Hamawi noted that many learned men had come from Uskaf, reflecting the city's prosperity in its heyday.^[3]

After the Samarran period, however, Uskaf went into a dramatic decline, with the physical area of the city shrinking to a mere 5% of its greatest size in the Sasanian and early Islamic periods.^[4] During this period, the volume of water flowing through the Nahrawan canal decreased substantially, leading to an increased reliance on the weir at al-Qantara as a source of water for irrigation. The weir artificially raised the canal's water level above its location, but dramatically reduced the water level below it.^[7]

The final construction at Uskaf dates from the late 11th century, and the site appears to have been abandoned shortly thereafter.^[4] By the early 1200s, Yaqut al-Hamawi wrote that the lands around Uskaf had gone completely out of cultivation.^[2]

References

1. Adams (1965), pp. 161-62
2. Le Strange (1905), p. 59
3. Adams (1965), p. 95
4. Adams (1965), p. 96
5. Adams (1965), p. 73
6. Adams (1965), p. 79
7. Adams (1965), pp. 103-104

Sources

• Adams, Robert M. (1965). Land Behind Baghdad: A History of Settlement on the Diyala Plains. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. OCLC 899942882.
• Le Strange, Guy (1905). The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. OCLC 458169031.