List of Egyptian governors attested in Arabic papyri and exagia

K. Younes & J. Bruning
version 8.5.2012

The information given in the third column is classified as follows: 
1 = references to papyri (the abbreviations follow The Checklist of Arabic documents); and
2 = references to exagia (for bibliographical references, see below). Note that most governors mentioned in exagia are mentioned in their capacity of financial directors.

* = not in al-Kindī’s Kitāb al-wulāt wa-l-quḍāt

Rāshidūn caliphate

Governors

 

Period of office

 

Attestation(s) in papyri and exagia

 

'Amr b. al-'Āṣ (1st)

21-25/641-645

 

'Abdallāh b. Sa'd

25-35/645-655

Muḥammad b. Abī Ḥudhayfa

35-36/656-657

Qays b. Sa'd

37/657

Mālik b. al-Ḥārith al-Ashtar

37/657

Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr

37-38/658

Umayyad caliphate

Governors

 

Period of office

 

Attestation(s) in papyri and exagia

 

'Amr b. al-'Āṣ (2nd)

38-43/658-664

'Utba b. Abī Sufyān

43-44/664-665

'Uqba b. 'Amir

45-47/665-667

Maslama b. Mukhallad

47-62/667-682

Sa'īd b. Yazīd

62-64/682-684

'Abd al-Raḥmān b. 'Utba

64-65/684-685

'Abd al-'Azīz b. Marwān

65-86/685-705

1 PERF 582 r; PERF 583 r =[Diem (1984) 1, 2]

'Abdallāh b. 'Abd al-Malik

86-90/705-708

1 P.Cair.Arab. I 12, 13; CPR III 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37

Qurra b. Sharīk

90-96/709-714

1 CPR III 64; P.Cair.Arab. I 14 =[Chrest. Khoury I 3]; P.Cair.Arab. ІІІ 146-163 [146 = Becker (1911) 1, 147 = Becker (1911) 4 & Becker (1906) 7, 148 = Becker (1911) 2, 149= Becker (1911) 3, 150 = Becker (1906)12, 151= Becker (1911) 5 & Becker (1906) 14, 152 = Becker (1911) 10, 153= Becker (1911) 6 & Becker (1906) 13, 154 = Becker (1911) 8, 155 = Becker (1911) 9, 156 = Becker (1911) 11, 160 = Becker (1911) 13, 161 = Becker (1911) 14, 162 =
Becker (1911) 15, 163 = Becker (1911) 16]; P. Heid.Arab. I, 1-22, a-l; Raghib (1981) 1, 2, 3; Becker (1906) 1-14 [8= P. Heid. Arab. I 7, 9 = P.Heid.Arab. I 8, 10 = P. Heid. Arab. I 9]; Dietrich (1958) 1; P. Ross. Georg. IV.27; P. Qurra 1-5

2 Balog (1976), nos 1-13

'Abd al-Malik b. Rifā'a (1st)

96-99/714-717

 

1 CPR III 65

Ayyūb b. Shuraḥbīl

99-101/717-720

 

Bishr b. Ṣafwān

101-102/720-721

Ḥanẓala b. Ṣafwān (1st)

102-105/721-724

Muḥammad b. 'Abd al- Malik

105/724

al-Ḥurr b. Yūsuf

 

105-108/724-727

Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd (1st)

108/727

 2 Balog (1976), nos 124-34
'Abd al-Malik b. Rifā'a (2nd)

109/727

al-Walīd b. Rifā'a

109-117/727-735

'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Khālid

117-118/735-736

Ḥanẓala b. Ṣafwān (2nd)

119-124/737-742

Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd (2nd)

124-127/742-744

1 CPR III 114, 115

2 see above

Ḥassān b. 'Atāhiyya

127/745

Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd (3rd)

127-128/745

al-Ḥawthara b. Suhayl

128-131/745-748

al-Mughīra b. 'Ubaydallāh

131-132/748-749

1 CPR III 119
'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān 132/750 1 131/749: P. Ryl. Arab. I § IV 5
   ???: P. Heid. Arab. Inv. 550 r

2 Balog (1976), nos 256-70

Abbasid caliphate

Governors

 

Period in office

 

Attestation(s) in papyri and exagia

 

Ṣāliḥ b. 'Alī (1st)

133/750-751

 2 Balog (1976), nos 293-301

'Abd al-Malik b. Yazīd [Abū 'Awn] (1st)

133-136/751-753

1 CPR III 120, 121, 123; P.Ryl.Arab. I IV 1, 2, 4, 5 [Raghib (1992) 2, 3, 4, 5]; Diem (1989) 1; Raghib (1997) 5, 6, 7, 8; Raghib (1978) 1=[Chrest. Khoury I 95]; P.Cair.Arab. III 169; P.Heid.Arab. Inv. 550 r (publication in progress)


2 Balog (1976), nos 302-31, 355-7; Eldada (2002), nos 21 and 22

Ṣāliḥ b. 'Alī (2nd)

136-137/753-775

2 see above

'Abd al-Malik b. Yazīd [Abū 'Awn] (2nd)

137-141/754-758

 2 see above

Mūsā b. Ka'b

141/758-759

1 141/758: Hinds & Sakkout (1981)

2 Balog (1976), no. 382

Muḥammad b. al-Ash'ath

141-143/769-760

1 CPR III 125, 126; P.Cair.Arab. VII 445

2 Balog (1976), nos 384-96; Eldada (2002), nos 23 and 24

Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭaba

143/760-762

 2 Balog (1976), nos 408-14; Eldada (2002), nos 25 and 26

Yazīd b. Ḥātim

144-152/762-769

1 P.Cair.Arab. III 197

2 Balog (1976), nos 415-39; Eldada (2002), no. 27

'Abdallāh b. 'Abd al-Raḥmān

152-155/769-772

Muḥammad b. 'Abd al-Raḥmān

155/772

Mūsā b. 'Ulayy

155-161/772-778

* Muḥammad b. Sulaymān

159-161/778-779

1 PERF. 610 r & v = [Diem (1984) 5]; CPR III 130

2 Balog (1976), nos 545-7

'Isā b. Luqmān

161-162/778-779

 2 Balog (1976), nos 5538 (see also no. 514)

Wāḍiḥ

162/779

1 CPR III 133

2 Eldada (2002), no. 34

Manṣūr b. Yazīd

162/779

Yaḥyā b. Dāwūd [Abū Ṣāliḥ]

162-164/779-780

1 CPR III 134, 135

Sālim b. Sawāda

164/780-781

Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ (1st)

165-167/781-784

1 CPR III 137, 138; P. Terminkauf 2

2 Balog (1976), nos 572-6

Mūsā b. Muṣ'ab

167-168/785

1 Diem (1984) 7

 

2 Balog (1976), no. 578

'Asāma b. 'Amr

168/785

al-Faḍl b. Ṣāliḥ

169/785-786

1 CPR III 139

2 Balog (1976), no. 581

'Alī b. Sulaymān

169-171/786-787

1 CPR III 140

2 Balog (1976), nos 582-6

Mūsā b. 'Isā (1st)

171-172/787-789

 2 Balog (1976), nos 587-90

Maslama b. Yaḥyā

172-173/789

Muḥammad b. Zuhayr

173/789-790

1 CPR III 144

Dāwūd b. Yazīd

174-175/790-791

Mūsā b. 'Isā (2nd)

175-176/791-792

* 'Umar b. Mihrān

176/791

1 PERF 621=[P. World p. 116-119; CPR XXI 2]

2 Balog (1976), no. 608 (?)

Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ (2nd)

176/792

'Abdallāh b. al-Musayyab

176-177/792-793

1 PERF 624 =[P. world p. 132-134]

Isḥāq b. Sulaymān

177-178/793-794

1 PERF 625 =[Diem (1984) 4]

Harthama b. A'yān

178/794

'Abd al-Malik b. Ṣāliḥ

178/794-795

'Ubaydallāh b. al-Mahdī

179/795

1 CPR III 146

2 Eldada (2002), nos 40 and 41

Mūsā b. 'Isā (3rd)

179-180/765-796

1 PERF 631 =[Diem (1984) 6]; PERF 638 =[Chrest. Khoury II 26; CPR XXI 4]

'Ubaydallāh b. al-Mahdī (2nd)

180-181/796-797

* Ḥuwayy b. Ḥuwayy

181-182/797-798

1 P.Ryl.Arab I I 5 [= P.World, 171-2]; Khaled Younes, ‘New governors identified in Arabic papyri,’ In M. Legendre and A. Delattre (eds.), Authority and control in the countryside: Late Antiquity and Early Islam: Continuity and Change in the Mediterranean 6th-10th century I, (forthcoming)

2 Balog (1976), nos 611-2

Ismā'īl b. Ṣāliḥ

181-182/797-798

Ismā'īl b. 'Īsā

182/798

al-Layth b. al-Faḍl

182-187/799-802

1 P.Ryl Arab. I IX 6 [= CPR XXI 5]

2 Balog (1976), nos 620-5

Aḥmad b. Ismā'īl

187-189/803-805

'Ubaydallāh b. Muḥammad (Ibn Zaynab)

189-190/805-806

 2 Balog (1976), nos 631-2

al-Ḥusayn b. Jamīl

190-192/806-808

 2 Balog (1976), nos 635, 639

Mālik b. Dalham

192-193/808

 2 Balog (1976), nos 636-9

al-Ḥassan b. al-Takhtāḥ/kh

193-194/808-809

1 P.Heid.Arab. Inv. 539 r

2 Balog (1976), nos 641-4

Ḥātim b. Harthama

194-195/809-811

Jābir b. al-Ash'ath

195-196/811-812

 2 Balog (1976), no. 646

'Abbād b. Muḥammad

196-198/812-813

1 PERF 670 [= Grohmann, (1934) 18]

al-Muṭṭalib b. 'Abdallāh (1st)

198/813-814

al-'Abbās b. Mūsā

198-199/814

 2 Balog (1976), no. 647
al-Muṭṭalib b. 'Abdallāh (2nd) 199-200/814-816 1 CPR III 148

2 Balog (1976), nos 649-50
al-Sarī b. al-Ḥakam 200-201/816 1 CPR III 149

References (for exagia)

  • P. Balog, Umayyad, 'Abbāsid and Ṭūlūnid glass weights and vessel stamps, New York: American Numismatic Society, 1976

  • K. Eldada, “Glass weights and vessel stamps”, in J.L. Bacharach (ed.), Fustat finds: beads, coins, medical instruments, textiles, and other artifacts from the Awad collection, Cairo/New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2002, pp. 112-66.

Formation of Islam
Last Modified: 08-05-2012