Al-Ubulla (Arabic: الأبلة), called Apologou (Greek: 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served as Iraq's principal commercial port for trade with India.
Al-Ubulla was situated on the right bank of the Euphrates–Tigris estuary at the opening into the Persian Gulf.[1][2] It was located to the east of old Basra and lay on the northern side of the eponymous canal, the Nahr al-Ubulla, which connected Basra southeastwards to the Tigris river, Abadan (in modern Iran) and ultimately to the Persian Gulf.[3][4] The 'Ashar neighborhood of modern Basra currently occupies the site of al-Ubulla.[5][6]
Al-Ubulla is identified with the ancient city of Apologou mentioned in the Greek manuscript Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.[5] The city dates at least to the Sasanian era (3rd–7th centuries CE), and possibly before.[1] According to the 10th-century chronicler Eutychius of Alexandria, it was founded by the Sasanian emperor Ardashir I (r. 212–224).[5] Toward the end of the Sasanian period, it typically formed part of the territories of the Empire's al-Hira-based Lakhmid vassals.[1]
During the early Muslim conquests in the 630s, al-Ubulla was conquered by the Arab forces of Utba ibn Ghazwan al-Mazini after the defeat of its 500-man Sasanian garrison. In fact the stubborn port city had to be conquered in two separate occasions by ʿUtba b. Ghazwān.[7][8] In a letter attributed to Utba, he describes the city as the "port of al-Bahrayn (eastern Arabia), Uman, al-Hind (India) and al-Sin (China)".[5] Following the foundation of the Arab garrison town of Basra further inland, al-Ubulla declined in strategic importance but remained a major trade port until the Mongol invasion.[5]
As indicated by the medieval Arabic geographers, al-Ubulla continued to be a large town, more populous than Basra, throughout the Abbasid era (750–1258).[5] Yaqut al-Hamawi praised the city and Ibn Hawqal describes the border lands of the Nahr al-Ubulla as a single extensive garden.[5] Al-Ubulla supplied Basra with fresh water and was noted for its linens and shipbuilding.[5] In 942, the governor of Uman captured the city on his way to Basra during his conflict with its strongman Abu'l-Husayn al-Baridi and his brother Abu Abdallah al-Baridi. According to the historian J. H. Kramers, the events of its occupation demonstrate its weakness as "a bulwark for that city [Basra]".[5]
The 13th-century Mongol invasions brought about a decline of several places in this part of Iraq, including al-Ubulla.[5] The 14th-century traveler Ibn Batuta described it as a mere village and around this time it disappeared from the historical record.[5]