—such as swimming and the like—and he would have drums beaten before him, set men to wrestle, and have the kūsāt (kettle-drums) ⦗1⦘ struck around the walls ⦗2⦘ of whatever place he happened to be in. This was the height of frivolity and a sign of his shallow mind, as well as of anyone who approved of it.

Later Muʿizz al-Dawlah needed funds for the soldiers’ stipends, so he assigned them tracts of land in lieu of pay. The result was that those districts were ruined and left untilled, except for the estates held by powerful notables.

That same year a severe famine struck Baghdad. People ended up eating carrion, dogs, and cats; some even kidnapped children, roasted them, and consumed them. Death became so common that no one buried anyone else; corpses were left on the roads and many were devoured by dogs. Houses and properties were sold for a loaf of bread. People emigrated to Basra; some died on the way, and those who arrived perished shortly thereafter.

In this year al-Qāʾim bi-Amr Allah, Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd Allah al-Mahdī ⦗3⦘, died, and authority passed to his son al-Manṣūr Ismāʿīl, who, as noted last year ⦗4⦘, was resolute, stern, and courageous. His death occurred in Shawwāl of this very year, according to the soundest report.

The same year also witnessed the death of Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj al-Ikhshīd, ruler of Egypt and the Syrian provinces. He died in Damascus at a little over sixty years of age. His young son Unūjūr ⦗5⦘ was proclaimed ruler, while Kāfūr al-Ikhshīdī was appointed atabeg ⦗6⦘. Kāfūr managed the realms, seized complete control of affairs, and then set out for Egypt.

Sayf al-Dawlah ibn Ḥamdān thereupon marched against Damascus, took it from al-Ikhshīd’s followers, and rejoiced greatly. While in the city he met the Turkish philosopher Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī ⦗7⦘. One day Sayf al-Dawlah rode out with al-Sharīf al-ʿAqīqī ⦗8⦘ in one of the suburbs of Damascus. He gazed upon the Ghūṭah, was delighted, and said, “All of this ought to belong to the sultan’s fisc,” hinting that he intended to seize it from its owners. Al-ʿAqīqī passed this remark on to the people of Damascus, who then wrote to Kāfūr