Tarikh (al-Tabari) 3715
The dismissal of b. Wahsudhan from Isfahan
ذِكْرُ عِدَّةِ حَوَادِثَ فِي سَنَةُ أَرْبَعٍ وَثَلَاثِمِائَةٍ، فِي الصَّيْفِ، خَافَتِ الْعَامَّةُ بِبَغْدَادَ مِنْ حَيَوَانٍ كَانُوا يُسَمُّونَهُ الزَّبْزَبَ، وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُمْ يَرَوْنَهُ فِي اللَّيْلِ عَلَى سُطُوحِهِمْ، وَإِنَّهُ يَأْكُلُ أَطْفَالَهُمْ، وَرُبَّمَا عَضَّ يَدَ الرَّجُلِ وَثَدْيَ الْمَرْأَةِ فَقَطَعَهُمَا، ( وَهَرَبَ بِهِمَا )، فَكَانَ النَّاسُ يَتَحَارَسُونَ، وَيَتَزَاعَقُونَ، وَيَضْرِبُونَ بِالطُّشُوتِ وَالصَّوَانِي وَغَيْرِهَا لِيُفْزِعُوهُ فَارْتَجَّتْ بَغْدَاذُ لِذَلِكَ. ثُمَّ إِنَّ أَصْحَابَ السُّلْطَانِ صَادُوا لَيْلَةً حَيَوَانًا أَبْلَقَ بِسَوَادٍ، قَصِيرَ الْيَدَيْنِ وَالرِّجْلَيْنِ، فَقَالُوا: هَذَا هُوَ الزَّبْزَبُ، وَصَلَبُوهُ عَلَى الْجِسْرِ، فَسَكَنَ النَّاسُ، وَهَذِهِ دَابَّةٌ تُسَمَّى طَبْرَةَ، وَأَصَابَ اللُّصُوصُ حَاجَتَهُمْ لِاشْتِغَالِ النَّاسِ عَنْهُمْ. وَفِيهَا تُوُفِّيَ النَّاصِرُ الْعَلَوِيُّ، صَاحِبُ طَبَرِسْتَانَ، فِي شَعْبَانَ وَعُمْرُهُ تِسْعٌ وَسَبْعُونَ سَنَةً ، وَبَقِيَتْ طَبَرِسْتَانَ فِي أَيْدِي الْعَلَوِيَّةِ إِلَى أَنْ قُتِلَ الدَّاعِي، وَهُوَ الْحَسَنُ بْنُ الْقَاسِمِ، سَنَةَ سِتَّ عَشْرَةَ وَثَلَاثِمِائَةٍ عَلَى مَا نَذْكُرُهُ. وَفِيهَا خَالَفَ أَبُو زَيْدٍ خَالِدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْمَادَرَائِيُّ عَلَى الْمُقْتَدِرِ بِاللَّهِ بِكَرْمَانَ وَكَانَ يَتَوَلَّى الْخَرَاجَ، وَسَارَ مِنْهَا إِلَى شِيرَازَ يُرِيدُ التَّغَلُّبَ عَلَى فَارِسَ، فَخَرَجَ إِلَيْهِ بَدْرٌ الْحَمَّامِيُّ فَحَارَبَهُ وَقَتَلَهُ، وَحَمَلَ رَأْسَهُ إِلَى بَغْدَاذَ وَطِيفَ بِهِ. وَفِيهَا سَارَ مُؤْنِسٌ الْمُظَفَّرُ إِلَى بِلَادِ الرُّومِ لِغَزَاةِ الصَّائِفَةِ، فَلَمَّا صَارَ بِالْمَوْصِلِ قَلَّدَ سُبُكًا الْمُفْلِحِيَّ بَازَبْدَى وَقَرْدَى، وَقَلَّدَ عُثْمَانَ الْعَنْزِيَّ مَدِينَةَ بُلْدَ، وَبَاعِينَاثَا، وَسِنْجَارَ، وَقَلَّدَ وَصِيفًا الْبُكْتُمْرِيَّ بَاقِيَ بِلَادِ رَبِيعَةَ، وَسَارَ مُؤْنِسٌ إِلَى مَلَطْيَةَ وَغَزَا فِيهَا، وَكَتَبَ إِلَى أَبِي الْقَاسِمِ عَلِيِّ بْنِ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ بِسْطَامٍ أَنْ يَغْزُوَ مِنْ طَرَسُوسَ فِي أَهْلِهَا، فَفَعَلَ. وَفَتَحَ مُؤْنِسٌ حُصُونًا كَثِيرَةً مِنَ الرُّومِ، وَأَثَّرَ آثَارًا جَمِيلَةً، وَعَتَبَ عَلَيْهِ أَهْلُ الثُّغُورِ وَقَالُوا: لَوْ شَارَ لَفَعَلَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ هَذَا، وَعَادَ إِلَى بَغْدَاذَ، فَأَكْرَمَهُ الْخَلِيفَةُ وَخَلَعَ عَلَيْهِ. وَقُلِّدَ ثَابِتُ بْنُ سِنَانٍ الطَّبِيبُ الْمُؤَرِّخُ أَمْرَ الْمَارَسْتَانَاتِ بِبَغْدَادَ فِي هَذِهِ السَّنَةِ وَكَانَتْ خَمْسَةً. وَوَرَدَ الْخَبَرُ فِي هَذِهِ السَّنَةِ مِنْ خُرَاسَانَ أَنَّهُ وُجِدَ بِالْقَنْدَهَارِ فِي أَبْرَاجِ سُورِهَا أَزَجَّ مُتَّصِلٌ بِهَا فِيهِ أَلْفُ رَأْسٍ فِي سَلَاسِلَ، مِنْ هَذِهِ الرُّءُوسِ تِسْعَةٌ وَعِشْرُونَ رَأْسًا، فِي أُذُنِ كُلِّ رَأْسٍ رُقْعَةٌ مَشْدُودَةٌ بِخَيْطِ إِبْرِيسَمِ بِاسْمِ كُلِّ رَجُلٍ مِنْهُمْ، وَكَانَ مِنَ الْأَسْمَاءِ شُرَيْحُ بْنُ حَيَّانَ، وَخَبَّابُ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ، وَالْخَلِيلُ بْنُ مُوسَى، وَطَلْقُ بْنُ مُعَاذٍ، وَحَاتِمُ بْنُ حَسَنَةَ، وَهَانِئُ بْنُ عُرْوَةَ. وَفِي الرِّقَاعِ تَارِيخٌ مِنْ سَنَةِ سَبْعِينَ مِنَ الْهِجْرَةِ، فَوَجَدُوا عَلَى حَالَاتِهِمْ لَمْ تَتَغَيَّرْ شُعُورُهُمْ إِلَّا أَنَّ جُلُودَهُمْ قَدْ جَفَّتْ.
Translation
✧ Mention of several events In the year 304 AH, in the summer, the common people of Baghdad feared an animal they called al-zabzab. They claimed they saw it at night on their rooftops, and that it ate their children. Sometimes it bit a man's hand or a woman's breast and severed them, and fled with them. So people kept watch, shouted, and struck basins, trays, and other things to frighten it, and Baghdad was thrown into turmoil because of that. Then one night the sultan's men caught a piebald animal with black markings, short of forelegs and hindlegs. They said: 'This is al-zabzab,' and they crucified it on the bridge, and the people calmed down. This is a creature called ṭabra. The thieves got what they wanted because the people were distracted from them. In this year al-Nāṣir al-ʿAlawī, ruler of Ṭabaristān, died in Shaʿbān at the age of seventy-nine. Ṭabaristān remained in the hands of the ʿAlawīs until al-Dāʿī, who was al-Ḥasan b. al-Qāsim, was killed in the year 316 AH, as we shall mention. In this year Abū Zayd Khālid b. Muḥammad al-Mādarāʾī rebelled against al-Muqtadir billāh in Kirmān, where he was in charge of the land tax. He marched from there to Shīrāz, intending to seize Fārs. Badr al-Ḥammāmī went out against him, fought him, killed him, and carried his head to Baghdad, where it was paraded. In this year Muʾnis al-Muẓaffar marched to the land of the Byzantines for the summer campaign. When he reached al-Mawṣil, he appointed Subuk al-Mufliḥī over Bāzabdā and Qardā, appointed ʿUthmān al-ʿAnzī over the city of Buld, Bāʿīnāthā, and Sinjār, and appointed Waṣīf al-Buktumrī over the rest of the land of Rabīʿa. Muʾnis marched to Malaṭya and campaigned there, and wrote to Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī b. Aḥmad b. Bisṭām, ordering him to campaign from Ṭarsūs with its people, and he did so. Muʾnis conquered many fortresses from the Byzantines and left fine traces of his deeds. The people of the frontier districts reproached him, saying: 'Had he persisted, he would have done more than this.' He returned to Baghdad, and the caliph honored him and bestowed robes of honor upon him. Thābit b. Sinān, the physician and historian, was appointed over the affairs of the hospitals in Baghdad in this year; there were five of them. News arrived in this year from Khurasan that in al-Qandahār, in the towers of its wall, there was found a vaulted chamber attached to the wall containing a thousand heads in chains. Among these heads were twenty-nine heads, and in the ear of each head was a piece of parchment tied with a silk thread bearing the name of each man. Among the names were Shurayḥ b. Ḥayyān, Khabbāb b. al-Zubayr, al-Khalīl b. Mūsā, Ṭalq b. Muʿādh, Ḥātim b. Ḥasana, and Hāniʾ b. ʿUrwa. On the parchments there was a date from the year 70 AH. They found them in their original condition: their hair had not changed, but their skins had dried out.
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