Aghmat (Morocco)

Aghmat (Tashelhit: Aɣmat, Arabic: أغمات Āghmāt; pronounced locally Ughmat, Uɣmat) was an important commercial medieval Berber town in Morocco. It is today an archaeological site known as "Joumâa Aghmat". The city is located approximately 30 km south-east of Marrakesh on the Ourika road. The initial "a" of the name may be unvocalized, and the name may sometimes be spelled "Ghmat", "Ghmate" or even the French-style "Rhmate" (as it appears in the Michelin Guide). According to a Berber legend, Aghmat was populated by Christian Berbers when it was conquered in 683 by the Muslim forces of Uqba ibn Nafi, a general of the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria. However, this story first surfaces almost 700 years after that date, and many historians give it no credibility. It is directly contradicted by one of the earliest Persian historians, al-Baladhuri. who states that Musa bin Nusair conquered the Sous and erected the mosque at Aghmāt.