'''Shabakhtān''' was the medieval Arabic name of a region east of ar-Ruha and Harran, consisting of the Tektek Dağ hills as well as the area around Viranşehir.<ref name="Morray 1997">{{cite book |last1=Morray |first1=D.W. |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C.E. |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W.P. |editor4-last=Lecomte |editor4-first=G. |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. IX (SAN-SZE) |date=1997 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=90-04-10422-4 |pages=153–4 |url=https://ia600603.us.archive.org/14/items/EncyclopaediaDictionaryIslamMuslimWorldEtcGibbKramerScholars.13/09.EncycIslam.NewEdPrepNumLeadOrient.EdEdComCon.BosDonHeinLec.etc.UndPatIUA.v9.San-Sze.Leid.EJBrill.1997..pdf |access-date=18 March 2022 |chapter=SHABAKTĀN}}</ref><ref name="Sinclair 1990">{{cite book |last1=Sinclair |first1=T. A. |title=Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey, Volume IV |date=1990 |publisher=The Pindar Press |location=London |isbn=0-907132-52-9 |pages=201, 207–8, 213, 219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6CMnEAAAQBAJ |access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref> It is mentioned roughly from the time of the Crusades until the end of the 13th century, when much of the region's population probably left.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> It had several fortified strongholds with dependent fiefs (''‘amal'', plural ''a‘māl'').<ref name="Morray 1997" /> Of these, the most frequently mentioned was Jumlayn, which is the present-day site known as Çimdine Kalesi in the eastern Tektek Dağ.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> Other sites included Tall Mawzan, al-Qurādī, and al-Muwazzar.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> T.A. Sinclair identified Tall Mawzan with present-day Viranşehir.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" /> Al-Quradi may have been the fort at Sumatar; less likely possibilities are Şuayp Şehir and Qal'ah Choban.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" /> Al-Muwazzar (or al-Muwaddar) may also have been at Sumatar.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" /> Further north, Siverek was not part of Shabakhtan.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" />
The Tektek Dağ region was likely a stronghold of the "pseudo-Sabians" (i.e. the moon- and planet-worshipping pagan religion that had its center in Harran) and may have had a sizeable population of them as late as the 13th century.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" /> Tall Mawzan, on the other hand, seems to have been mostly Christian; it was the seat of a Syrian Orthodox bishop and was probably outside the area inhabited by the pseudo-Sabians.<ref name="Sinclair 1990" />
Shabakhtan changed hands often during the 12th and 13th centuries when sources mention it.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> Some or all of it had been part of the short-lived County of Edessa, but by 1144 at the latest it had come under Imad ad-Din Zangi.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> After he died, Shabakhtan was taken over by the Artuqids of Amid and then their relatives the Artuqids of Mardin.<ref name="Morray 1997" /> It was then ruled by several different Ayyubid princes, then by the Khwarazmshahs and the Mongols, and finally by the Artuqids again at the end of the 13th century.<ref name="Morray 1997" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/shabakhtan-SIM_6716?s.num=5 Shabakhtan's entry in the Brill Encyclopaedia of Islam]
Category:Historical regions of Asia Category:Medieval Upper Mesopotamia Category:History of Şanlıurfa Province Category:Geography of Şanlıurfa Province