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Illustration of Samuel Ha-Nagid, a vizier, poet and general of Granada
Poet Military Scholar Early Islamic, Zirid & Almohad711–1238

Samuel Ha-Nagid

Lived c. 993–1056 (about 63 years)

Also known as
Samuel ibn Naghrillah, Shmuel HaNagid, Samuel the Nagid

Samuel Ha-Nagid, also known as Samuel ibn Naghrillah, was born in 993. In 1013 the civil war and the Berber conquest of Córdoba compelled him, like many other Jews, to emigrate. In 1027 he was named Nagid, or leader, of the Jewish community. He served as grand vizier of the Taifa of Granada and commander of its army in battle, and under Badis he was vizier and top general. He died in 1056, and his son Joseph took over as vizier and leader of Granada's Jewish community.

He is also considered one of the greatest Jewish poets of all time. His poetry survived and was rediscovered in the early 20th century.

For the setting, read about the Jewish quarter of the Realejo, the Zirid dynasty and the 1066 Granada massacre.

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Places to see

The Alcazaba fortress towers rising from the western end of the Alhambra hill, with Granada's old city below
Alcazaba, Granada

In their time

  1. Early Islamic, Zirid & Almohad

    711–1238

    After Arab forces took the peninsula in 711, the settlement on the Albaicín hill became Gharnata, while nearby Medina Elvira served as the regional capital until 1013, when the Zirids moved the capital to the hilltop. They left walls, cisterns and a street plan still legible today. Under the vizier Samuel ha-Nagid the city reached the Jewish Golden Age, which ended on 30 December 1066 when a mob killed his son Joseph and thousands of Jews in a single day.

    1. Arab Baths El Bañuelo

      Monument

      El Bañuelo on the Darro is the only Arab bath outside the Alhambra open to visitors, its 11th-century star-pierced vaults and marble columns largely original.

    2. Puerta de Elvira

      Monument

      The 11th-century Zirid gate at the edge of the Albaicín — the western entrance to medieval Granada, free to enter, open 24/7, and older than the Alhambra.

    3. Torres Bermejas

      Monument

      11th-century Moorish towers in the Realejo, remnant of Granada's original defensive walls. Free to view from outside, adjacent to the Alhambra complex.

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Twelfth-century Granada at dusk, an Almohad-era courtyard with a woman's silhouette reading a manuscript by lamplight, evoking Hafsa bint al-Hajj al-Rakuniyya, warm amber light and carved plaster arches
Hafsa bint al-Hajj: Granada's Poet of Love and Loss
Medieval stone towers and narrow winding streets of Granada's Albaicín quarter, the site of the Zirid dynasty's alcazaba cadima fortress, with dark stone walls and green vegetation against a bright Spanish sky
Zirid Dynasty Granada: The Berbers Who Built a City
1066 Granada massacre scene in Jewish history: a mob attacking the Jewish quarter of Nasrid-era Granada at dusk, the Alhambra hill silhouetted in the background, smoke rising over whitewashed rooftops, sombre red and amber tones
1066 Granada Massacre: When the Jewish Golden Age Ended in a Day
Narrow whitewashed street in the Realejo neighbourhood of Granada, Spain, the former medieval Jewish quarter at the heart of convivencia between Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Nasrid Granada, with the Alhambra visible on the hill above
Convivencia in Granada: how three faiths lived side by side