HAMDANI [ABU MOHAMMED IBN AHMAD IBN YA`QUB UL-HAMDAN'I] (d. 945), Arabian geographer, belonged to a family of Yemen. He was held in repute as a grammarian and poet. He compiled astronomical tables, devoted himself to the ancient history and geography of Arabia, and died in prison at Santa in 945.
His Geography of the Arabian Peninsula (Kitab Jazirat ul-`Arab) by far the most important work on the subject, was edited by D. H. Muller (Leiden, 1884) . His other important work is the Iklzl (Crown) concerning the genealogies of the Himyarites and the wars of their kings in ten volumes. Of this, part 8, on the citadels and castles of south Arabia, has been edited by D. H. Muller in Die Burgen and Schlosser Sihdarabiens (Vienna, 1879-81). See G. Fliigel, Die gram matischen Schulen der Araber (Leipzig, 1862) ; A. Sprenger, Alte Geographie Arabiens (Bern, 1875).