Jund Dimashq (Arabic:جند دمشق) was the largest of the sub-provinces (ajnad, sing.jund), into whichSyria was divided under theUmayyad andAbbasid dynasties. It was named after its capital and largest city,Damascus ("Dimashq"), which in the Umayyad period was also the capital of theCaliphate.
Unlike any other province of theCaliphate,Syria was divided by the earlyUmayyads into several (originally four, later five) sub-provinces orajnad (singularjund, "army division"), which in their original inception were the areas from which a particular army division drew its pay, provisions and recruits.[1][2] The province ofDamascus,jund Dimashq, was the largest of theajnad, comprising most of central Syria. Its borders encompassed roughly the formerByzantine provinces ofPhoenice Prima,Phoenice Libanensis, andArabia.[3][4]
Later Arab geographers divide thejund of Damascus into the following districts: theGhuta plain around Damascus, known as the "Garden Land" for its fertility; theHawran andBathaniyya, withAdra'a as capital;Jawlan;Jaydur (mentioned only byYaqut al-Hamawi);Hula;Balqa;al-Sharah, with capital atAdhruh, sometimes recorded as belonging toJund Filastin; and al-Jibal.[5] Other principal towns and cities wereBeirut,Sidon,Tyre (the tax proceeds of which went toJund al-Urdunn),Tripoli andJubail along the coast. The coastal cities and their immediate surroundings formed their own small districts.[6]
In its tribal make-up, thejund of Damascus was chieflyYamani, but with a sizeable minority ofQaysi tribes.[3] The annual tax proceeds of the province totalled 450,000gold dinars according toYa'qubi, 400,000 according toal-Baladhuri, and 420,000 according toal-Jahshiyari;Qudama ibn Ja'far gives the low number of 110,000dinars, but this probably reflects the effects of the civil war of theFourth Fitna.[7] In terms of troops, under the Caliphal-Walid I (r. 705–715), 45,000 men were in the rolls for thejund of Damascus, although presumably not all of them were effectives.[8]
