Meyyâfârikîn

Meyyâfârikîn is a historical city located in Upper Mesopotamia, in the Diyarbekir region. In the Middle Ages, it became the capital of the Mervânî dynasty, forming the political and cultural center of the dynasty along with Âmid and Cizre in its vicinity.

History and Establishment

The city has a deep-rooted history. The historian İbnu'l-Ezrak, while explaining the reason for writing his work titled Târihu Meyyâfârikîn, summarizes the city's past as follows: he states that he aims to narrate the events extending from the establishment of the city and who first began to found it, from the period it was in the hands of the Romans to its transfer to the hands of the Persians, then its recapture by the Romans, and its remaining under Roman rule until its conquest by Muslims in the year Hicrî 18. In the same work, he states that he will discuss by whom Meyyâfârikîn was administered during which caliph's reign in the time of the Emevî and Abbasî caliphs, and who governed the city until Hicrî 572 after it separated from the caliphs' rule and became independent (Cilt 1, s. 133).

Mervânî Period

The city gained its true importance during the Mervânî State period. Ebû Ali el-Hasan b. Mervân, who can be considered the true founder of the Mervânî State, was killed on 4 Zilkade 387 (November 8, 997) while entering the city of Amid from Bâbu'l-Mâ (Dicle Gate) (Cilt 1, s. 130). During the Mervânî period, in addition to Meyyâfârikîn, Âmid and Cizre were also made prosperous; Nasruddevle had public service works such as gardens, water wheels, canals, a mosque, a clock tower, a caravanserai, a bathhouse, a bimaristan, and bridges built alongside houses for dynasty members, had many towers on the walls of Âmid, another Mervânî city, rebuilt and repaired, and added a small mosque there, and also had repairs made to the walls of Cizre (Cilt 1, s. 131).

The Mervânîs entered into close relations with the Seljuks, who had become the new and decisive political actor in the region, and began to establish all their policies indexed to them (Cilt 1, s. 131). In the war fought between Alparslan and the Byzantine Emperor in Zi'l-Hicce 463 / August 1071, the Mervânî army sided with Alparslan and emerged victorious; however, as a result of Alparslan appointing his own governors to Ahlât and Malazgirt upon his return, these two important cities passed out of Mervânî administration. Although the region's prosperity level reached its peak under Nizâmeddîn's rule, with the collapse of the Mervânîs, the region's fate changed, and the level of peace and prosperity gradually declined (Cilt 1, s. 132).

Scholarship and Sources

Meyyâfârikîn was also an important center of scholarship and historiography. The most valuable source for the city's history is the above-mentioned work by the historian İbnu'l-Ezrak, titled Târihu Meyyâfârikîn; this work is one of the most important sources for both the city and the Mervânîs, and İbnu'l-Ezrak also recorded the collapse of the Mervânî State under the administration of Nâsıruddevle Mansûr, who succeeded Nizâmeddîn, by the Seljuks (Cilt 1, s. 132). Meyyâfârikîn was part of a broad Mervânî cultural basin where, in later periods, travelers met with scholars remaining from the Mervânî era in old Mervânî cities such as Bidlis, Duneyser, Erzen, and Mardin, and gathered information (Cilt 1, s. 136).