Taranda (Taranta)

طرندة

Taranda (Taranta), a fortress lying in Byzantine country three stages from Malatya; the Muslims settled it after Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik raided it in year 83, building dwellings while Malatya lay ruined — Jaziran troops coming up each summer to stay until the snows fell, then marching home; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz removed its people against their will, fearing the enemy for them — they smashed their vinegar and oil jars — settled them in Malatya and demolished Taranda.

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The Fall and Demolition of Malatya, 133

In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi: in year 133 Constantine the tyrant advanced deliberately on Malatya — Kamkh then being Muslim-held under a Sulami — and Kamkh's people sent the appeal to Malatya's, who rode out with two hundred horse and were beaten by the Roman cavalry; the Roman camped on Malatya and besieged those inside — the Jazira then in turmoil, its governor Musa ibn Ka'b at Harran, the messenger they sent him unable to relieve them — and when Constantine heard of it he told them: 'people of Malatya, I came only knowing your state and your sultan's distraction from you — come down on aman, evacuate the city for me to demolish, and I depart from you'; they refused, so he set mangonels on it, and when affliction ground them down and the siege hardened they asked him for sureties, which he gave; they prepared to march, loaded what they could, threw much of the weight into wells and caches, and went out — the Romans formed two files from the city gate to the end of their line with drawn swords held tip to tip like a bridge's arch, then escorted them to safety, whence they dispersed through the Jazira; the Romans demolished Malatya leaving but a tower they had partly wrecked, and demolished the fortress of Qaludhiya.

Taranda (Taranta)

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The Fall and Demolition of Malatya, 133