Fadalas 1

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM VII
Dates632 (taq) / 673 (ob.)
PmbZ No.1912
Variant NamesPdl;
Fadalah
ReligionMuslim
EthnicityArab
LocationsCrete;
Hexapolis (Phrygia);
Chalcedon (Bithynia);
Amorion (Galatia);
Kyzikos;
Melitene (Armenia);
Jarabbah
TitlesCommander of the Arabs (office)
Textual SourcesChronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Tabari, al-, Ta'rikh al-rusul wa-l-muluk, ed. M.-J. de Goeje et al., 15 vols. (Leiden 1879-1901); Eng tr. The History of al-Tabari, general editor E. Yar-Shater, 39 vols. (New York, 1985-) (history);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle)

Fadalas 1 is Φαδαλᾶς in Theophanes; "Pdl" (Padal) in Chron. 1234; and Fadalah b. `Ubayd (also `Utbah) al-Ansari in Tabari. Said to have wintered in the district of Hexapolis after it had been laid waste by the Arab commander Bousour 1 in 666/667: Theoph. AM 6158. An Arab general (Φαδαλᾶν, στρατηγὸν Ἀράβων: Theoph. AM 6159), sent in 667 ("in the 26th year of Constans": Chron. 1234) by Mu`awiya 1 to help the rebel Saborios 1; at Hexapolis (Theoph.) or Melitene (Chron. 1234) he learnt that Saborios 1 was dead and that the emperor Constans II (Konstans 1) had sent an army under Nikephoros 1, and therefore he wrote asking Mu`awiya 1 for help; Mu`awiya 1 sent a large force under his son Yezid 1, and Fadalas 1 and Yezid 1 went as far as Chalcedon and took many captives and then captured Amorion where they left a garrison of five thousand men before returning to Syria: Theoph. AM 6159, Chron. 1234, §138 (p. 286). On Hexapolis, see Ramsay, Historical Geography, p. 142 (identifying it with Phrygia Paroreios). In 669/670 (?670/671) he wintered at Kyzikos (this winter was unusually severe): Theoph. AM 6162. In 673/674 (but on the dating see Mango and Scott, Theophanes, p. 495, n. 2 (on AM 6166)) he and Abdelas (`Abdullah 2) wintered in Crete (during the series of naval campaigns against Constantinople): Theoph. AM 6166. He is recorded thrice in Tabari as attacking the Byzantines. In AH 49 (Feb. 669/Jan. 670) he laid siege to Jarabbah during the winter and finally captured it: Tabari XVIII, p. 94. The identity of Jarabbah is uncertain, but the passage is part of a section devoted to anti-Byzantine activities.

In AH 50 (Jan. 670/Jan. 671) he led a sea-raid against the Byzantines: Tabari XVIII, p. 96. In AH 51 (Jan. 671/Jan. 672) he led the winter campaign against Byzantine territory: Tabari XVIII, p. 122. The chronology of Theophanes is not easy to match with that of Tabari, but the second of these raids is perhaps identical with that recorded by Theophanes in 666/667; cf. Bousour 1. Fadalas 1 was appointed by Mu`awiya 1 to deliver judgements at Damascus; Tabari XVIII, p. 216, with n. 574 (he died in 673, having once been a Companion of the Prophet (he was therefore alive in 632), taken part in the conquest of Egypt and then settled in Syria).

In AH 49 (Feb. 669/Jan. 670) = 980 Sel. (668/669) Fudala ibn 'Ubaid spent the winter in Roman territory: Elias, Chron., p. 144, 1-4 = p. 69.

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