علي بن عبد الله بن حمدان سيف الدولة

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Hamdan. The caliph gave him the title "Sayf al-Dawla" in the year 330 AH, when he found him and his brother Nasir al-Dawla at Tikrit ¹.

He fought al-Buraydi near al-Mada'in and defeated him, then drove on to Wasit, and al-Buraydi fled to Basra. The commanders in Wasit rose against him, and he fled into the desert intending to reach Baghdad ¹.

al-Mas'udi reports that the caliph al-Muttaqi wrote to him and to his brother Nasir al-Dawla, asking them to come to his aid ².

According to Ibn al-Jawzi, in the year 343 AH he defeated the Domestikos, commander of the Byzantines, and killed many of his companions ³.

According to Ibn al-Athir, in the year 351 AH the Byzantines entered Aleppo before he knew of them. He went out against them, most of his companions were killed, and the Domestikos took his house ⁴.

He died in Safar in the year 356 AH, aged about fifty-some years, of paralysis (falaj), though it is also said of difficulty in urination ⁵.

Ibn al-Imad reports from al-Tha'alibi's "al-Yatima" that at his door gathered more poets than had gathered at the door of any king since the caliphs, and that he himself was a poet. He was succeeded by his son Sa'd al-Dawla ⁵.