Al-Ubulla

30°18′36″N 47°30′0″EAl-Ubulla (Arabic: الأبلة), called Apologou (Greek: 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served as Iraq's principal commercial port for trade with India.

Location

The city, shown as "al-Ubullah" northeast of al-Basrah, on a map of 9th-century Iraq (lower Mesopotamia)

Al-Ubulla was situated on the right bank of the Euphrates–Tigris estuary at the opening into the Persian Gulf.^[1][2] It was located to the east of old Basra and lay on the northern side of the eponymous canal, the Nahr al-Ubulla, which connected Basra southeastwards to the Tigris river, Abadan (in modern Iran) and ultimately to the Persian Gulf.^[3][4] The 'Ashar neighborhood of modern Basra currently occupies the site of al-Ubulla.^[5][6]

History

Al-Ubulla is identified with the ancient city of Apologou mentioned in the Greek manuscript Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.^[5] The city dates at least to the Sasanian era (3rd–7th centuries CE), and possibly before.^[1] According to the 10th-century chronicler Eutychius of Alexandria, it was founded by the Sasanian emperor Ardashir I (r. 212–224).^[5] Toward the end of the Sasanian period, it typically formed part of the territories of the Empire's al-Hira-based Lakhmid vassals.^[1]

During the early Muslim conquests in the 630s, al-Ubulla was conquered by the Arab forces of Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini after the defeat of its 500-man Sasanian garrison. In fact the stubborn port city had to be conquered in two separate occasions by ʿUtba b. Ghazwān.^[7][8] In a letter attributed to Utba, he describes the city as the "port of al-Bahrayn (eastern Arabia), Uman, al-Hind (India) and al-Sin (China)".^[5] Following the foundation of the Arab garrison town of Basra further inland, al-Ubulla declined in strategic importance but remained a major trade port until the Mongol invasion.^[5]

As indicated by the medieval Arabic geographers, al-Ubulla continued to be a large town, more populous than Basra, throughout the Abbasid era (750–1258).^[5] Yaqut al-Hamawi praised the city and Ibn Hawqal describes the border lands of the Nahr al-Ubulla as a single extensive garden.^[5] Al-Ubulla supplied Basra with fresh water and was noted for its linens and shipbuilding.^[5] In 942, the governor of Uman captured the city on his way to Basra during his conflict with its strongman Abu'l-Husayn al-Baridi and his brother Abu Abdallah al-Baridi. According to the historian J. H. Kramers, the events of its occupation demonstrate its weakness as "a bulwark for that city [Basra]".^[5]

The 13th-century Mongol invasions brought about a decline of several places in this part of Iraq, including al-Ubulla.^[5] The 14th-century traveler Ibn Batuta described it as a mere village and around this time it disappeared from the historical record.^[5]