Tarikh (al-Tabari) 4203
Then the year 353 AH began
ذِكْرُ حَصْرِ الرُّومِ الْمَصِّيصَةَ وَوُصُولِ الْغُزَاةِ مِنْ خُرَاسَانَ فِي هَذِهِ السَّنَةِ حَصَرَ الرُّومُ مَعَ الدُّمُسْتُقِ الْمَصِّيصَةَ، وَقَاتَلُوا أَهْلَهَا، وَنَقَبُوا سُورَهَا، وَاشْتَدَّ قِتَالُ أَهْلِهَا عَلَى النَّقْبِ حَتَّى دَفَعَهُمْ عَنْهُ بَعْدَ قِتَالٍ عَظِيمٍ، وَأَحْرَقَ الرُّومُ رُسْتَاقَهَا وَرُسْتَاقَ أَذَنَةَ وَطَرَسُوسَ لِمُسَاعَدَتِهِمْ أَهْلَهَا، فَقُتِلَ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ أَلْفَ رَجُلٍ، وَأَقَامَ الرُّومُ فِي بِلَادِ الْإِسْلَامِ خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ يَوْمًا لَمْ يَقْصِدْهُمْ مَنْ يُقَاتِلُهُمْ، فَعَادُوا لِغَلَاءِ الْأَسْعَارِ وَقِلَّةِ الْأَقْوَاتِ. ثُمَّ إِنَّ إِنْسَانًا وَصَلَ إِلَى الشَّامِ مِنْ خُرَاسَانَ يُرِيدُ الْغُزَاةَ وَمَعَهُ نَحْوُ خَمْسَةُ آلَافِ رَجُلٍ، وَكَانَ طَرِيقُهُمْ عَلَى أَرْمِينِيَّةَ وَمَيَّافَارِقِينَ، فَلَمَّا وَصَلُوا إِلَى سَيْفِ الدَّوْلَةِ فِي صَفَرٍ، أَخَذَهُمْ سَيْفُ الدَّوْلَةِ وَسَارَ بِهِمْ نَحْوَ بِلَادِ الرُّومِ لِدَفْعِهِمْ عَنِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ، فَوَجَدُوا الرُّومَ قَدْ عَادُوا، فَتَفَرَّقَ الْغُزَاةُ الْخُرَاسَانِيَّةُ فِي الثُّغُورِ لِشِدَّةِ الْغَلَاءِ، وَعَادَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ إِلَى بَغْدَاذَ وَمِنْهَا إِلَى خُرَاسَانَ. وَلَمَّا أَرَادَ الدُّمُسْتُقُ الْعُودَ إِلَى بِلَادِ الرُّومِ، أَرْسَلَ إِلَى أَهْلِ الْمَصِّيصَةِ وَأَذَنَةَ وَطَرَسُوسَ: إِنِّي مُنْصَرِفٌ عَنْكُمْ لَا لِعَجْزٍ، وَلَكِنْ لِضِيقِ الْعَلُوفَةِ وَشِدَّةِ الْغَلَاءِ، وَأَنَا عَائِدٌ إِلَيْكُمْ، فَمَنِ انْتَقَلَ مِنْكُمْ فَقَدْ نَجَا، وَمَنْ وَجَدْتُهُ بَعْدَ عَوْدِي قَتَلْتُهُ.
Translation
✧ Mention of the Romans' siege of al-Maṣṣīṣah and the arrival of the raiders from Khurāsān. In this year, the Romans with the Domesticus besieged al-Maṣṣīṣah, fought its people, and breached its wall. Its people fought fiercely at the breach until they drove them back after a great battle. The Romans burned its rural district and the rural districts of Adhanah and Ṭarsūs because their people aided them. Fifteen thousand men of the Muslims were killed. The Romans remained in the lands of Islam for fifteen days, with no one coming to fight them, and they returned because of high prices and scarcity of provisions. Then a man from Khurāsān reached Syria seeking the raiders, with about five thousand men. Their route was through Armenia and Mayyāfāriqīn. When they reached Sayf al-Dawlah in Ṣafar, Sayf al-Dawlah took them and marched with them toward the lands of the Romans to drive them away from the Muslims. They found that the Romans had already returned. The Khurāsānian raiders dispersed in the frontier fortresses because of severe high prices, and most of them returned to Baghdādh and from there to Khurāsān. When the Domesticus wanted to return to the lands of the Romans, he sent to the people of al-Maṣṣīṣah, Adhanah, and Ṭarsūs: "I am departing from you, not out of incapacity, but because of the scarcity of fodder and severity of high prices. I shall return to you. Whoever of you moves away has escaped, and whoever I find after my return I shall kill."
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