Masisah. Malmistra according to Latin writers; in Armenian Msis.
According to
The Description of Aleppo
(ms. ar. 1683, fol. 67 r.):
this name includes two towns; between the two flows the
Djihân river, the western city is
Masisah,
the eastern city Kafr-bîà, it was called the little Baghdad (Baghdâd as-Soghrâ)
Ibn abi-la'koûb said:
It was built by al-Mansoûr
during his caliphate. It was a simple post before him.
Al-Mamoûn builds Kafr-bîà;
the Djihân river flows between the two places; on this stream there is an old bridge,
large and built in stone.
According to the same author, the citadel of Masisah was built during the reign
of
Abd al-Malik ibn-Marwân;
there was a church that
'Omar ibn' Abd al-'Azîz destroyed.
This person had the mosque djâmi built for the locals in the vicinity
of Kafr-bîâ.
Hishâm ibn 'Abd al-Malik
built the suburb of the city that
suffered
from the earthquake of the year A.H. 140. We still cite al-Mansoûr and
al-Mahdî as the builders
of this city ;
ar-Rashîd built a ditch there. It was taken from the Muslims in 354
of the Hegira by the takafoûr.
