Amr

1 Amr ‘Uthma¯n (in office 23–35/644–56) tried to increase his control over the province by order- PETRA M. SIJPESTEIJN ing ‘Amr’s demotion from governor to financial director of Egypt, after which ‘Amr withdrew Muslim commander, conqueror, and first from politics to his estates in Palestine (Lecker governor of the Muslim province of Egypt, 1989). Only with the conflict between ‘Alı¯ ‘Amr b. al-‘A¯s was a wealthy Meccan merchant (in office 35–40/656–61) and Mu‘a¯wiya of the Quraysh, who had also frequented the (in office 40–60/661–80) does ‘Amr re-appear, greater Syrian area during his caravan trips. His joining Mu‘a¯wiya’s camp and serving as one consequent familiarity with the region was a of the two arbiters at the battle of Siffı¯n. ˙ great asset in his career as a Muslim general. He After reconquering Egypt (in 38/658), he had also inherited significant wealth in the ruled it as its governor for Mua¯wiya, until form of al-Waht:, an estate where grapes were his death in 43/663. His regained prominence grown near al-Ta¯’if in Arabia. His Islamic is clear from the claim that he was allowed history starts with his conversion to Islam in to keep all the fiscal surplus from the province the year 8/629–30 after which, together with after paying the army their stipends (Kennedy other leading Muslims such as Kha¯lid b. 1998), as well as his inclusion as a target in a al-Walı¯d (d. 21/642) and ‘Uthma¯n b. Talha, he Kha¯rijite attempt in 40/661 to assassinate moved to Medı¯na to join the Prophet’s commu- the Muslim leadership (‘Alı¯, Mu‘a¯wiya and nity. In Muhammad’s service, ‘Amr was sent ‘Amr), which ‘Amr escaped by chance. ‘Amr to subject ‘Uman, which he did, functioning possessed large estates in Egypt, said to be as its governor at the time of Muhammad’s worth at his death, together with his posses- death in 11/632. In the year 12/633, Abu¯ Bakr sions outside Egypt, three hundred thousand (in office 11–13/632–4) dispatched him to con- dinars (al-Ya‘qu¯bı¯, Musha¯kalat). quer Palestine. Although the chronology of this An order survives in ‘Amr’s name to the campaign remains confused in the sources, inhabitants of the village of Kephale to give ‘Amr’s important contribution to the conquest fodder to an Arab commander (?) (SB XX is evident. On the strength of this success, ‘Amr 14443), but it is not clear from which campaign convinced the caliph ‘Umar (in office 13–23/ it comes. In another Greek papyrus. ‘Amr’s 634–44) to invade Egypt. ‘Amr’s troops entered name is associated with the restructuring Egypt in 18/639 and with the reinforcements of administrative units (R. L. Chang and that were sent, soon after the capital Alexandria J. Gascou, unpublished). His name also appears was in Arab hands by 21/642 and the rest of the in a swearing formula on two Coptic papyri country subdued in the following years. It is (I, . . . , swear by God, the Almighty and by the with this event as well as with the subsequent well-being of ‘Amr) (MacCoull 1994). administrative and economic organization of the country that ‘Amr’s fame lies. ‘Amr settled his soldiers in al-Fusta¯t at the site of the Roman REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS fortress Babylon, modern-day Cairo, where his mosque soon had to be enlarged to encom- al-Ya‘qu¯bı¯, Musha¯kalat al-na¯s li-zama¯nihim wa- ma¯ yaghlibu ‘alayhim fı¯ kull ‘amr, trans. pass all the believers. ‘Amr headed the first W. G. Millward, “The adaptation of men to their campaign into North Africa, to Tripolitania time: an historical essay by al-Ya‘qu¯bı¯.” Journal in 22/642, which was followed by later gover- of the American Oriental Society 84: 329–44. nors. It is clear that ‘Amr, although subject Kennedy, H. (1998) “Egypt as a province in the to the caliph and liable to him for the Islamic caliphate, 641–868.” In C. F. Petry, ed., yearly tax-payments, was able to operate rela- The Cambridge history of Egypt, vol. 1, 640–1517: tively independently of Damascus. The caliph 62–85. Cambridge. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 383–384. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah12010 2 Lecker, M. (1989) “The Estates of ‘Amr b. al-‘A¯s: in MacCoull, L. (1994) “BM 1079, CPR IX 44 and the Palestine: Notes on a New Negev Arabic chrysargyron.” Zeitschrift fu¨r Papyrologie und Inscription.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Epigraphik 100: 139–43. and African Studies 52: 24–37.