Harun ibn-Yahya

   Palestinian Arab author whose unique memoir, written ca. 900, is preserved in a later Arab anthology called the Book ofPrecious Things. Captured as a prisoner of war in Askalon, he was taken to Attaleia, then to Constantinople (qq.v.) where he spent some years, perhaps as a slave. His memoir is especially important for its detailed description of Constantinople. For example, he includes a description of the water clock, or horologion (q.v.), at Hagia Sophia (q.v.). His subsequent trip to Rome via Thessalonike (qq.v.) is likewise filled with useful information, including his report that it took 12 days to journey from Constantinople to Thessalonike and that all along the way he saw villages and cultivated land.