ABSTRACT
This chapter delves deeper into the history of this patriarchal dynasty of the Umayyads, focusing in particular on the whereabouts of their claims to power and authority in and from Syria. Simultaneously, in Mecca in the Hejaz, there were prominent local leaders who are similarly believed to have contested Yazid’s succession. In the best of patriarchal and patrimonial leadership traditions, that authority was still primarily based on Abd al-Malik’s personal bond with members of his own Marwanid clan. Initially, Abd al-Malik’s fourth son and successor, Hisham, succeeded with his Syrian court and entourage in keeping at bay these old controversies and new fault lines, and thus in maintaining stability, coherence, and order for most of his reign of almost two decades. A subsequent attempt to create a new power base in Egypt was ineffective, and eventually Marwan perished, together with a handful of his supporters, in a new confrontation near the Egyptian village of Busir, in the Nile Valley.
