BARD¨A¿A or BARDA¿A (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pe@ro@za@pa@t; see Marquart, EÚra@nÞahr, pp. 117-18), the chief town until the 4th/10th century of the Islamic province of Arra@n (q.v.), the classical Caucasian Albania, situated two or three farsakòs (i.e., 8­12 miles) south of the Kor river on its affluent the T¨art¯u@r (modern Terter). Its site now lies at the western extremity of the ˆerva@n steppe in Soviet Azerbaijan.

Bardòa¿a was strategically situated on the edge of the lowlands of the lower Kor-Araxes (Aras) valley, adja­cent to the mountains of eastern Transcaucasia; from it there ran routes to Dvin (Dab^l), Tiflis, and Ba@b-al-­Abwa@b (Darband). It was already a frontier strong point under the Sasanians, having been fortified by Qoba@d I against the Huns and other steppe peoples who swept down through the Caucasus (see Bala@dòor^, Fotu@há, pp. 194-95), a role which it inherited in early Islamic times, when it became a bastion of Muslim arms against the Khazar Turks, being repeatedly mentioned in the accounts of Arab-Khazar warfare, e.g., during the great Khazar invasions of 104/722-23 and 112/730; it was perhaps at Bardòa¿a that the marriage was celebrated of the Khazar princess and the Arab governor Yaz^d b. Osayd Solam^, the lady's early death providing the pretext for the further Khazar invasion under Ra@s T®arkòa@n during the decade 140-50/757-67 (see D. M. Dunlop, The History of the Jewish Khazars, Princeton, 1954, pp. 62, 69, 72, 179-81). At a somewhat later date, it further became a frontier point against the Christian Georgians and Abkòa@z (q.v.).

The Arab and Persian geographers of the 4th/10th century describe Bardòa¿a as a town with a citadel, a congregational mosque where the treasury of Arra@n was kept, several gates, and flourishing markets, including the Sunday market of Korak^ (from Greek kuriakos, the Lord's Day); at this time Bardòa¿a, like Arra@n in general, retained a substantial proportion of Christians, and Ebn H®awqal (Sáu@rat al-arzμ, p. 348, tr., II, p. 342) lists certain princes of the Bardòa¿a region in his own time (later 4th/10th century) who were clearly Christian (cf. V. Minorsky, Abu@-Dulaf Mis¿ar ibn Muhalhil's Travels in Iran (circa A.D. 950), Cairo, 1955, pp. 74-75). The fertile rural environs produced much fruit (with a particularly noted variety of figs), nuts, and also the dyestuff madder (ru@na@s), which was exported as far as India. In the Kor and other nearby rivers, the sturgeon (sorma@h^ from Persian Þu@rma@h^, salt fish) and other tasty fish were caught; and there was extensive production of textiles, including silks (see Ebn H®awqal, pp. 337-39, 347, 349, tr. Kramers, II, pp. 330-32, 340, 342; Maqdes^, [Moqaddas^], p. 375; H®odu@d al-¿a@lam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 143-44, secs. 36.21, 36.30; R. B. Serjeant, Islamic Textiles. Material for a History up to the Mongol Conquest, Beirut, 1972, p. 69).

Bardòa¿a fell into Arab hands during ¿Ot¯ma@n's caliph­ate, probably before 32/652, when Salma@n b. Rab^¿a Ba@hel^ accepted the town's surrender after a short siege, tribute being levied on a similar basis as at Baylaqa@n (q.v.; Bala@dòor^, Fotu@há, p. 201). Bardòa¿a's fortifications were strengthened by the governor of Armenia, in the face of Khazar threats, during ¿Abd-al-Malek's caliph­ate, either by H®a@tem b. No¿ma@n Ba@hel^ or the latter's son ¿Abd-al-¿Az^z, or by Moháammad b. Marwa@n b. H®akam (ibid., p. 203). The most notable event in its subsequent history was the descent upon it and occu­pation for several months by the Scandinavian-Slavic Ru@s, who sailed up the Kor from the Caspian and encamped at the village of Moba@rak^ just outside Bardòa¿a. Only after their numbers had been decimated by plague was the Mosaferid ruler of Azerbaijan Marzoba@n b. Moháammad able to drive them out (Ebn Meskawayh, Taja@reb II, pp. 62-67, tr. V, pp. 67-74; D. S. Morgoliouth, “The Russian Seizure of Bardha¿ah in 943 A.D.,” BSO(A)S 1, 1918, pp. 82-95; Dunlop, pp. 239-41). This may have been a factor in the ap­parent comparative decline of Bardòa¿a in the second half of the 4th/10th century, attested by Ebn H®awqal and Maqdes^, although these sources imply that the chief factor was the extortions and oppressions there of the Daylamite Mosaferids and possibly raids by the Yaz^d^ ˆerva@nÞa@hs and the Shaddadids of Ganja, who in 383/993, for instance, took possession of Bardòa¿a and Baylaqa@n. At all events, Bardòa¿a evidently at this time lost ground to Baylaqa@n. It is sporadically mentioned in Saljuq times (e.g., as being attacked in 457/1065 by the Abkòa@z or Alans) and in the Mongol period, when it was still significant enough for coins to be minted there by members of the Il-khanid family and their governors (including as late as 756/1355; see Spuler, Mongolen¹, pp. 129, 131, 133, 135). Thereafter, however, it lapsed into its present status as a village, now called Barda, among the ruins of its former glories.

Bibliography : See also Ya@qu@t, Bolda@n, Beirut, 1374-76/1955-57, I, pp. 379-81. Le Strange, Lands, pp. 177-78, 230. V. Minorsky, Studies in Caucasian History, London, 1953, pp. 17, 65, 117. Idem, A History of Sharva@n and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries, Cambridge, 1958, pp. 11, 18, 58,73,76 and index. EI² I, pp. 1040-41.

(C. E. Bosworth)