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Tarsus

طرسوس

Tarsus, greatest city of the Syrian marches; it lay in ruins after its people's evacuation in the conquest until al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba described it to al-Mahdi in year 162, who bequeathed its building, and when word reached al-Rashid in year 171 that the Byzantines had conspired to fortify it, Harthama ibn A'yan forestalled them, rebuilding it under Faraj ibn Sulaym's hand; the Khurasani and Syrian levies settled it in year 172 across four thousand surveyed lots of twenty cubits each; it became the launching-point of the summer raids, the Jihad gate and the greatest of the Muslims' border strongholds.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq
Review
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Overview

Tarsus is one of the Syrian frontier cities, which al-Baladhuri describes as the greatest of them. It remained in ruins after its people departed in the days of the conquest, until al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba described it to al-Mahdi in the year 162 AH, and he ordered its construction. In the year 171 AH it reached al-Rashid that the Romans had conspired to fortify it, but Harthama ibn A'yan forestalled them and rebuilt it through Faraj ibn Sulaym. The troops of Khurasan and al-Sham settled in it in the year 172 AH. Its plots were surveyed, four thousand plots, each twenty cubits long and as wide. It became a launching point for the summer raids and a gateway for jihad. 1

The event of the rebuilding of Tarsus is connected with it: The rebuilding of Tarsus.

Connections

Explore the connections

Place of death of
Marun al-Naqqash
Site of
The Building of Tarsus· The Defeat of the Byzantines at Tarsus

People and things also explored

The Thughur (Frontier Marches)· al-Hasan ibn Qahtaba al-Ta'i· Muhammad al-Mahdi· Faraj ibn Sulaym· هرثمة بن أعين· Harun al-Rashid· The Building of Tarsus· The Defeat of the Byzantines at Tarsus

Sources

  1. Futuh al-Buldan — al-Baladhuri (Mu'assasat al-Ma'arif edition)
  • al-Farghani, Elementa astronomica (Golius, Amsterdam 1669)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Tarsus”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/place/tarsus/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Wing

Place

Cities, sites and routes on a map that moves through time. Related

The Thughur (Frontier Marches)

The Thughur — in al-Baladhuri: the Muslims' Syrian marches in Umar's and Uthman's days were Antioch and the cities al-Rashid later called the 'Awasim, the Muslims raiding beyond them as they now raid beyond Tarsus; between Alexandretta and Tarsus lay Byzantine forts and watchposts that their people sometimes abandoned in flight or filled with fighters, Heraclius reportedly removing their people with him on leaving Antioch so the Muslims could not settle the land between; the Umayyads raided the Byzantines with the people of Syria and the Jazira summer and winter, posting coastal watchmen and keeping raiding ships, then Abu Ja'far al-Mansur went through the coastal fortresses and cities, restoring, fortifying and building what needed building and doing likewise for the march cities, al-Mahdi completed what remained and reinforced them, Harun carried fortification and raiding to a pitch unmatched before him and disbursed funds through the marches, and al-Mutawakkil in year 247 ordered ships stationed on every coast manned with fighters; among its famous strongholds are Masisa, Tarsus, Mar'ash, al-Hadath, Sis and Qanqara.