Adiyaman

Adiyaman is a small town in south-east Anatolia, the chief town of the kada of the same name in the sanjak of Malatya. It was formerly called Hisn Mansur, and it is a site of very old settlement.

The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), signed F. Taeschner, says the town was formerly called Hisn Mansur (modern Husnumansur), and that Cuinet also gave the name Korkun. The population figures given in the past vary widely. The name Hisn Mansur derives from the Umayyad amir Mansur b. Dhi'awana, who was killed in 141 (758) on the orders of the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. Later Harun al-Rashid had the place fortified and gave it a garrison. It became the heir of the ancient town of the neighbourhood, Perre, whose site is still marked by aqueducts and rock graves. The town is rarely mentioned afterwards; in the 6th/12th century it belonged to the Artukids. ¹