RÃÂdhÃÂn (or al-RÃÂdhÃÂn, ) was a region in south central Mesopotamia (Iraq) in the early Middle Ages. It was an administrative district under the ÿAbbÃÂsids and also a diocese of the Church of the East. It is also known to have had a Jewish population and was probably the country of origin of the RÃÂdhÃÂnite merchants. The name, however, does not appear in any Hebrew texts.
The exact location of RÃÂdhÃÂn is not certain, but it was not far from Baghdad. It may have been roughly the same as the area known since the later Middle Ages as the SawÃÂd, a fertile territory southeast of Baghdad on the eastern bank of the Tigris. Other authorities place it north of Baghdad, still east of the Tigris or further south of Baghdad and west of the Tigris in the region of Maishan.
Cities that have been located in RÃÂdhÃÂn include al-MadÃÂþin (ancient Seleucia-Ctesiphon), Dastagird, Baÿqà «bÃÂ, NahrwÃÂn, ÿUkbaràand KilwÃÂdhà(now the eastern part of Baghdad).
The spelling RÃÂdhÃÂn reflects the Arabic. The Syriac form would be Radhan or RadhÃÂn. In one Arabic source it is RÃÂhdÃÂn. In Syriac and Christian Arabic sources, the term is usually singular. In early Islamic sources, however, the plural form RÃÂdhÃÂnÃÂt and the dual form RÃÂdhÃÂnÃÂn are more common. They probably reflect the division of the territory into either a lower, middle and upper part or just a lower and upper part, respectively. Theodor Nöldeke argued that the name was of Assyrian origin and gave its hypothetical Assyrian form as ra-da-a-nu.
In Syriac sources, RÃÂdhÃÂn is identical to the region called Jà «khàin Arabic (Syriac Gà Âkhay or Gawkai). RÃÂdhÃÂn-Gà Âkhay and ṬërhÃÂn are described as the two parts of the hyparchy (province) of Beth Aramaye in the Sasanian Empire. In Arabic usage, Jà «khàcan refer to a land adjoining RÃÂdhÃÂn or else a larger region of which RÃÂdhÃÂn is a part. According to al-Ṭabarë, Upper RÃÂdhÃÂn was in the arḠ(land) of Jà «khÃÂ.
The term RÃÂdhÃÂn had fallen out of use in favour of SawÃÂd by later medieval times. YÃÂqà «t al-Hamawë, writing around 1225, describes Lower RÃÂdhÃÂn (RÃÂdhÃÂn al-asfal) and Upper RÃÂdhÃÂn (RÃÂdhÃÂn al-aÿlÃÂ) as two districts in the SawÃÂd of Baghdad. Two later Arabic writers, al-Bakrë and al-Suyà «á¹Âë, mistakenly describe it as a village, the former locating it in Baghdad and the latter (more correctly) in SawÃÂd.
The Syriac Chronicle of Seert, records that the Sasanian marzbÃÂn (march commander) of Beth Aramaye (south-central Mesopotamia) had his seat in the region of RÃÂdhÃÂn. After the Arab conquest of the Sasanian Empire (633âÂÂ654), the fertility of RÃÂdhÃÂn greatly impressed several Arab authors. The poet al-Akhá¹Âal praised its fertility in a poem he wrote during a stay there and al-Farazdaq praises its date palms. "What is in Medina is in Medina and what is in RÃÂdhÃÂn is in RÃÂdhÃÂn" is a saying attributed to Muḥammad, instructing his followers not to covet the fertility of RÃÂdhÃÂn.
By the ÿAbbÃÂsid period, RÃÂdhÃÂn was an administrative district with a governor. Writing in the 10th century, al-Muqaddasë and al-Iá¹£á¹Âakhrë describe it as belonging to the province of Fars. Its agricultural sector fed Baghdad. According to Ibn KurdÃÂdhbe (d. 912), it was a district (á¹Âassà «j) composed of 19 townships (rasÃÂtëq) containing 302 threshing floors producing 4,800 kurrs (about 1.4 million kilograms) of wheat and paying 120,000 waraq (low-value) dirhams in tax to the central treasury each year.
The complete succession of ÿAbbÃÂsid governors of RÃÂdhÃÂn is not known. The Persian historian al-Ṭabarë records that in 865 its governor was caught embezzling funds. In 897, he records that ÿAlë ibn Muḥammad ibn Abëþl-ShawÃÂrib was appointed qÃÂá¸Âë over Baghdad and the RÃÂdhÃÂns. In 929, Abà « Hëjàwas appointed governor of the RÃÂdhÃÂns and several other places in central Iraq.
Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233) describes RÃÂdhÃÂn as one of the provinces of the Khurasan Road and gives its northern limit as the Batt canal, the northern branch of the ḤawlÃÂyà(or DiyÃÂlÃÂ) canal, connecting the NahrwÃÂn canal to the Tigris. The NahrwÃÂn canal itself was the eastern boundary of RÃÂdhÃÂn. Syriac sources likewise describe RÃÂdhÃÂn as bound by the Tigris and the NahrwÃÂn canal.
Ibn al-Athir records a Khwarizmian incursion into RÃÂdhÃÂn in 1225.
A Nestorian Syriac tradition, recorded by MÃÂrë ibn SulaymÃÂn, says that the RÃÂdhÃÂns (al-rÃÂdhÃÂnayn) were evangelised by the legendary Saint Mari, one of the Seventy Disciples. A variant of this tradition attributes the evangelisation of the RÃÂdhÃÂns to both Mari and his teacher, Addai. According to this variant, some Jews destroyed the well of SÃÂvàthat the apostles had built. Another legend attributes the construction of some 300 churches and monasteries in the RÃÂdhÃÂns to a certain HelqÃÂnÃÂ. Syriac sources name ḤÃÂlà(Arabic ḤawlÃÂyÃÂ) as the capital of RÃÂdhÃÂn. Abba the Great was said to be a native of ḤÃÂlÃÂ.
A diocese for RÃÂdhÃÂn was set up during the Umayyad period. It belonged to the Province of the Patriarch. Its first known incumbent was Nestorius, who died during the reign of the Patriarch Timothy I (780âÂÂ823). Following the death of Patriarch Yohannan II in 892, the bishop of RÃÂdhÃÂn, also named Yohannan, was initially the leading candidate to replace him, but he lost the election to Yohannan, metropolitan of Mosul. The diocese is included in the list of dioceses compiled by Eliya of Damascus in 893.
The diocese of RÃÂdhÃÂn still existed in the early 13th century, but by then Christianity in the region was in steep decline. RÃÂdhÃÂn was one of only three diocese left in the Province of the Patriarch by the end of the century. Just as the name RÃÂdhÃÂn was being replaced in Arabic by SawÃÂd, so it was replaced about this time in Syriac by the name Beth Daron or Beth DÃÂrà «n. The final destruction of the Christian community in RÃÂdhÃÂn and the lapse of the diocese can probably be dated to the campaigns of Timur (d. 1405).