Hamdānī, Al-

al-Hamdānī, in full Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad al-Hamdānī, (born 893Sanaa, Yemen—died c. 945Arab geographer, poet, grammarian, historian, and astronomer whose chief fame derives from his authoritative writings on South Arabian history and geography. From his literary production al-Hamdānī was known as the “tongue of South Arabia.”

Most of al-Hamdānī’s life was spent in Arabia itself. He was widely educated, and he traveled extensively, acquiring a broad knowledge of his country. He became involved in a number of political controversies. When he was imprisoned for one of them, his influence was sufficient to invoke a tribal rebellion in his behalf to secure his release.

His encyclopaedia Al-Iklīl (“The Crown”; Eng. trans. of vol. 8 by N.A. Faris as The Antiquities of South Arabia) and his other writings are a major source of information on Arabia, providing a valuable anthology of South Arabian poetry as well as much genealogical, topographical, and historical information. “Al-Dāmighah” (“The Cleaving”), a qaṣīdah, is perhaps his most famous poem; in it he defends his own southern tribe, the Hamdān. It has been said that al-Hamdānī died in prison in Sanaa in 945, but this is now in question.