Yahya ibn al-Hakam

Yahya ibn al-Hakam ibn Abi al-As (Arabic: يَحْيَى بْنِ الْحَكَم بْنِ أَبِي الْعَاص, romanized: Yaḥyā ibn al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ; died before 700) was an Umayyad statesman during the caliphate of his nephew, Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705). He fought against Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) at the Battle of the Camel and later moved to Damascus where he was a courtier of the Umayyad caliphs Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680) and Yazid I (r. 680–683). He was appointed governor of Palestine by Abd al-Malik and is credited in an inscription for building part of a road connecting Damascus to Jerusalem in 692. He served as governor of Medina for a year in 694/95 and afterward led a series of expeditions against the Byzantine Empire along the northern frontier of Syria.