A former cowherd defied the Abbasid caliphs from a mountain fortress
Babak began as a village cowherd who played the lute. A snowstorm changed his life: a rich rebel leader named Javidhan sheltered in his mother's poor house, admired the boy's shrewdness and hired him. Babak went on to lead a revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate from a mountain fortress for more than twenty years.
Born around 795 in Bilalabad, near Ardabil in the north-western Iranian region of Azerbaijan, he was first named al-Hasan and likely took the name Babak, meaning father, when his rebellion began. It echoed Pabag, father of the founder of the Sasanian dynasty. His roots are murky: hostile Muslim chroniclers gave him a disreputable parentage, while one late 9th-century historian traced his father's line to Abu Muslim, the Persian who had led the revolution that brought the Abbasids to power. After his father was killed, the boy herded cattle until twelve, then worked as a groom for Arab warlords, picking up music and poetry.
The backdrop was deep resentment. When the caliph ordered Abu Muslim killed in 755, apparently because he had grown too popular with Iranians, revolts erupted among the Khorramis, followers of a joyous religion considered an offshoot of neo-Mazdakism. Babak joined Javidhan's Khorrami sect, and when his mentor died of wounds around 816, Babak married his widow and took over, claiming to carry Javidhan's spirit. He called for a return to Iran's pre-Islamic glories, and the rebel Maziar of Tabaristan later recalled an oath the two swore to hand power back to the Sasanian royal house.
Caliphal armies kept failing. Babak beat one general around 822 and captured another in 824 or 825. His great victory came on 9 June 829 at Hashtadsar, where the commander Muhammad ibn Humayd died and his army scattered. Much of his strength rested on Babak Castle atop Mount Badd, which Arab historians called inaccessible. His influence reached from near Ardabil toward the Caspian and the Aras river.
In 835 the caliph al-Mu'tasim sent his best general, Afshin, who rebuilt forts and guarded supply caravans with a relay system. Reinforced and following careful instructions, Afshin finally took the castle in 837 or 838. Offered a guarantee of safety, Babak scorned it, saying a single day as a ruler beat forty years as a slave. He was betrayed soon afterwards and died in January 838.
Source: Babak Khorramdin
