Zawīla during the Middle Ages / زويلة في العصر الإسلامي

Mostafa El-Burki (Department of Archaeology, University of Benghazi, Libya)

Initially, the geographical location of the city of Zawīla and its historical significance are introduced, followed by a discussion of the origin of its name and the various names it was known by in ancient times before being called Zawīla. 

The writings of travelers, historians, and geographers about the city are reviewed, along with the reasons for its establishment and prosperity, as well as its political and economic conditions. 

The Islamic conquest of Zawīla is then addressed, as well as the rise of the Kingdom of Banī l-Ḫaṭṭāb and the transformation of Zawīla from an ordinary city into the capital of a thriving kingdom.

The second part focuses on the architectural aspects of the city, showcasing its most significant landmarks, such as mosques, shrines, walls, fortifications, the castle, and residential houses. It also highlights the main risks facing Zawīla’s heritage and explores ways to preserve it.

Introduction

Zawīla/Zawīla/Zuwayla lies South East from Sebha, distant of circa 160 km. The old road used to take half more. The city did not always bear the same name. It was Cillaba after the Roman conquest in 20 BCE (apudPliny the Elder 1st c. CE, The History of Nature, V/5); then Zalā (?) by the Afāriqa for its trade of camels; later, Zū Ayl, maybe hinting at a God of Life; lastly, Zuwayla, possibly refering to an ancestor from Huwwāra. It was known as Zuwaylat Banī l-Ḫaṭṭāb when this local dynasty ruled the area, and also called Zuwaylat al-Sūdān in order to avoid confusion with the town founded by the Fatimids. So far for the toponym.

History

A prosperous caravan city

3^rd/9^th century. Al-Yaʿqūbī (d. 284/897), Kitāb al-Buldān, gives us the following details: the Ibāḍī inhabitants trade African slaves, but also leather and products of a palm grove economy. There also live people from Ḫurāsān, al-Baṣra and al-Kūfa. It is connected to Kuwār and the people of Lamṭa.

5^th/11^th century. Al-Bakrī (d. 487/1094), al-Masālik wa-l-mamālik, sees it as a strategic gate to the desert and a roads nexus. It has a Great Mosque (ǧāmiʿ), a public bath (ḥammām) but no walls (ġayr musawwara). Therefore he insists on the defensive capacities of a site exposed to attacks.

Interestingly, we read that the Abbasid poet Diʿbil b. ʿAlī l-Ḫuzāʿī (d. 220/835) was buried there, as a narrative tells, a version reproduced by Yāqūt in his Buldān. He is notably renowned for his long qaṣīda (121 verses). Could it be a conflation or a confusion with al-Ḫuzāʿī al-qāʾid (see infra)?

One explanation for its importance can be retrieved from the regress of the Garamantes infrastructures and the downfall of their capital Germa/Jarma. The restoration of a link — both south-north and west-east — was a regional necessity. The Islamic conquest transformed Zawīla into a lock to secure the fatḥ of Fezzan.

Zawīla and the Fatḥ

After the capture of Cyrenaica (Barqa), ʿUqba b. Nāfiʿ was sent to the south by ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ and seized the city in 22/643 He imposed a tribute of 300 slaves. Some narratives involve a local rebellion and a new campaign led by the same ʿUqba in 49/669 in order to retake control of the area.

Tripolitania and the Nafusa Mountains witnessed the arrival of Ibāḍism, a ḫāriǧī movement that established itself firmly there in the first half of the 2^nd/8^th century, and penetrated Fezzan. The Abbasid al-Manṣūr dispatched troops commanded by Muḥammad b. al-Ašʿaṯ al-Ḫuzāʿī (d. 149/766) to combat this competitor. After the defeat of Tāwaġrā in 148/765, the Ibāḍis retreated southwards, in Fezzan. This subsequent inflow of Berber refugees contributed to the blossoming of Zawīla.

The Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb (306-568/918-1173)

The dynasty of Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb started around the beginning of the 4^th/10^th century. In 306/918 or 9, ʿAbd Allāh b. Zanfal b. al-Ḫaṭṭāb took Zawīla as his capital. The rule remained in the hands of his family until 568/1172 or 3, when Qarāqūš defeated them definitively. According to the historian al-Ṭāhir al-Zāwī, they had been governors named by the Zirids who later became independent.

Concomitantly, the Kanem-Burno Empire was rising northwards and the Sayfawa founded Tarāġan/Traghan close to Zawīla, as their outpost in Fezzan, some 1,400 km far from their capital Nijmi. This new tributary relation lasted until the 10^th/16^th century, when the Awlād Muḥammad al-Fāsī took the reins of Fezzan with a new commercial pole, Murzuk.

The architectural heritage

We will review the old Great mosque, the Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb’s mausolea, other mosques, the citadel, and the walls.

The old Great mosque = the White mosque

It looks similar to Sirte’s or Ajdabiya’s old great Mosques. Called ǧāmiʿ al-fatḥ, it is supposed to have been erected in the first century of Hegira. The other hypothesis considers that the decision took place under the Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb.

The Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb’s mausolea

These seven monuments might be the oldest of the genre conserved in Libya. They were built one after the other on a north-south line. Each one consists in a square room, 7 m high, with a semi-spheric dome on the top. On two levels, windows bring light through from opposite sides. The internal and external ornamentations have disappeared and only some inscriptions could be saved by an archaeological mission, after the buildings had been looted, then destroyed (see infra) in 2013.

Other mosques

Two other oratories must be mentionned: the mosque of ʿĪsā and the mosque of Sīdī Manṣūr.

Besides, the small mosque of Sīdī Sulaymān b. Ayyūb, located west of the citadel, still raises questions. We ignore when it was built. Specialists think it was before the dynasty of the Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb. Its modest size and some architectonic features sustain this assumption. It takes its name from the shrine of Sīdī Sulaymān and one would incline to see here a whole complex constructed around it and comprising a praying room with two miḥrābs, a courtyard (ṣaḥn), accommodation (for students), a kitchen (probably a simāṭ), etc. This Sulaymān al-Mazātī was among the supporters of Abū Yazīd ṣāḥib al-ḥimār and he took shelter in Zawīla after the debacle endured in 336/947.

The citadel

Stretching over 5,000 m2, on two storeys, using mud and palm stems, this citadel was built by the Banū l-Ḫaṭṭāb to host their court. It was heavily modified in the course of centuries, notably during the Ottoman era. The entrance is west-oriented. A rampart walk connects the towers and the fortifications. A 15-meter high watch tower monitors the incoming roads.

Part of the rooms are devoted to the reception of guests, with all required facilities. Some deprived of any kind of windows could have been cells for prisonners.

The defensive walls

The walls of Zawīla are the most impressive example among the Libyan oases. They are made of big blocks of dried mud, 90 x 90 x 200 cm. Assembled, they can reach a height of 10 m. Usually, we encouter two thick linings, separated by a 2-meter wide corridor, with ladders to climb on top of the 36 towers that are included in the whole structure. Most of these elements have disappeared today.

See also: David J. Mattingly et alii, “The origins and development of Zuwīla, Libyan Sahara: an archaeological and historical overview of an ancient oasis town and caravan centre”, Azania, Archaelogical Research in Africa, 50/1 (2015), pp. 27-75.

[http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0067270X.2014.980126]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0067270X.2014.980126#d1e181

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