In 978, the Jazira was occupied by the Buyids of Shiraz under Bakhtiyar's cousin Adud al-Dawla, and Abu Taghlib fled to the Fatimid-controlled parts of Syria.
14 Facts About Abu Taghlib
1.
2.
Abu Taghlib was born in 940 as the eldest son of the Hamdanid al-Hasan, better known by his of Nasir al-Dawla.
3.
Abu Taghlib's mother was a Kurdish woman, Fatima bint Ahmad, who reportedly exercised considerable influence over Nasir al-Dawla's affairs.
4.
Abu Taghlib led the resistance against the Buyids, who, unable to maintain themselves there, evacuated Mosul and reached a new agreement with the Hamdanids.
5.
Abu Taghlib, surnamed, succeeded his father as emir and head of the Jaziran branch of the Hamdanid family, but almost immediately his authority was contested by his younger half-brother, Abu'l-Muzzafar Hamdan, who had not consented to their father's deposition.
6.
Abu Taghlib thus turned to the new Buyid emir of Iraq, Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar, for assistance: unlike his father, Abu Taghlib had no prior claims on Iraq, and the Buyid ruler likewise was too preoccupied for the moment with securing his rule there to threaten Hamdanid rule over the Jazira.
7.
Nevertheless, Abu Taghlib prevailed, forcing Hamdan to flee to Baghdad.
8.
Abu Taghlib seized nor only the towns held by his brother, but used the conditions of near-anarchy prevailing in Syria at the time and after Sayf al-Dawla's death to expand his territory at the expense of his cousin, Sa'd al-Dawla.
9.
Abu Taghlib evacuated Mosul without a fight, but with his army outflanked the Buyid emir and briefly threatened Baghdad.
10.
In 976, following the death of Tzimiskes, Abu Taghlib agreed to support the bid for the Byzantine throne of the rebel general Bardas Skleros, with whom he concluded a treaty whereby the Hamdanid ruler supplied Skleros with light cavalry in exchange for an unspecified marriage agreement.
11.
Abu Taghlib forestalled an attack by promising to support him against Adud al-Dawla, in exchange for the handing over of Hamdan, who was promptly executed.
12.
Abu Taghlib's renewed offers for a negotiated settlement were rebuffed by Adud al-Dawla, as the Buyid ruler completed his conquest of the Jazira.
13.
Abu Taghlib endeavoured to gain recognition by the Fatimids as governor of Damascus, but the rebel general al-Qassam, who held the city, repulsed him.
14.
Under attack by the Damascenes, and with members of his family starting to desert him, Abu Taghlib moved further south to the region of Lake Tiberias.