Al-Massisah lies on the
Nahr Jayhan (the river Pyramus).
It was conquered by 'Abd-Allah, son of the Omayyad Caliph
'Abd-al- Malik,
in the 1st (7th) century, who rebuilt its fortifications and established a strong garrison here.
A mosque was erected on the summit
of the hill, and the church in the fortress was turned into a granary. A suburb or second
town was built shortly afterwards on the other bank of the Jayhan, called Kafarbayya,
where the
Caliph Omar II founded a second mosque and dug a great cistern.
A third quarter, lying to the east of the Jayhan, was built by the
last Omayyad Caliph
Marwan II, and named Al-Khusus ;
he surrounded it by a wall with a ditch,
and wooden doors closed its gateways. Under the Abbasids the
Caliph Mansur turned an ancient
temple into a Friday Mosque, making it thrice as large as the older mosque of
Omar II.
Harun-ar-Rashid rebuilt Kafar-bayya, and its mosque was further enlarged by
Mamun.
The two quarters of Kafarbayya, and
Massisah proper were connected by a stone bridge across
the Jayhan ; the town bore the title of Al-Ma'muriyah, 'the Populous,' or 'Well-built,'
said to have been bestowed upon it by the Caliph Mansur, who restored Massisah after it
had been partially destroyed by earthquake in [A.H.] 139 (5 June 756 to 24 May 757 CE). At a later date Massisah,
like its neighbours, passed into the possession of the kings of
Little Armenia.
