يعقوب بن صابر المنجنيقي

Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Sabir al-Manjaniqi, Najm al-Din, of Harranian origin and Baghdadi birth, a well-known poet and maker of the catapult (al-manjaniq) ².

He was born in Baghdad in the year 554 AH, according to what he told Ibn al-Dubaythi. At the beginning of his career he was a soldier set over the catapult-men, and he mastered the manners of the sword and the pen and the making of weapons ^{3 2}.

He composed the book "Umdat al-Salik fi Siyasat al-Mamalik" and did not complete it. It treats the conditions of wars, the conquest of frontiers and the building of fortresses ².

He was a prolific and accomplished poet, and he gathered a book of his poetry which he called "Mughani al-Ma'ani". He praised the caliphs, and had a standing with the caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah ⁴.

He died in Baghdad in the year 626 AH, on the night of the twenty-eighth of Safar. al-Badr al-Safir transmits from Ibn Sa'id that he died in 623 AH, so the date is disputed ⁵.