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Abū l-Sāj Dīwdād b. Dīwdast (d. 266/879) was a commander under ʿAbbāsid caliphs and progenitor of a short-lived line of Sājid governors in Azerbaijan (r. 276–317/889–929). He was born at an unknown date in the early-third/ninth century and died in Rabīʿ II 266/December 879. His Iranian names and those of his father indicate the probable origin of the family in Sogdia, or possibly, as Ibn Ḥawqal states, in the adjacent region of Ushrūsana ( K. ṣūrat al-arḍ, ed. J. H. Kramers (Leiden 1938–9), 2:506; trans. Kramers and Wiet, 2:484; cf. Barthol'd, 169, and Minorsky, 111). G…

ʿAmīd , literally “mainstay, support,” was a title of high civilian dignitaries, such as secretaries, treasurers, and wazīrs. It appears in fourth/tenth century ʿAbbāsid administrative contexts, when, according to the historian ʿArīb b. Saʿīd al-Qurṭubī (d. c. 370/980), al-Ḥusayn b. al-Qāsim (in office 319–20/931–2), the wazīr of al-Muqtadir (d. 320/932), appears with the laqab or honorific of ʿAmīd al-Dawla (cited in Dominique Sourdel, Le vizirat ʿabbāside (Damascus 1959–60), 2:464). In the early fifth/eleventh century, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-Rūdhbārī, a wazīr of the Fā…

Bahrām Shāh b. Masʿūd (III) b. Ibrāhīm, Abū l-Muẓaffar Yamīn al-Dawla wa-Amīr al-Milla (d. c.552/1157), was a Ghaznawid sultan who reigned in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India 511–45/1117–50 and c. 547–52/1152–7. Sultan Masʿūd III (d. 508/1115) left numerous sons, and on his death there was a struggle for power amongst rival contenders. The designated heir, his second son Shīrzād, reigned only one year and was then overthrown and killed in 509/1116 by his brother Malik Arslān, or Arslān Shāh (r. 509–11/1116–8), Masʿū…

Balāsāghūn, a town of mediaeval Central Asia (also spelt Balāsāqūn; known by the Turks as Quz Ordu or Quz Ulus (encampment or territory of the Ghuzz)), was the chief centre in early Islamic times of “the land of the seven rivers” (Turkish, Yeti Su; Russian, Semirechye). (See Barthold, Zwölf Vorlesungen, 81.) It was probably founded by Sogdian merchants whose trade routes took them into the steppes. Early Islamic sources on the Turks locate it here in the Çu river valley, but only the geographer al-Maqdisī (ed. de Goeje (Leiden 1906), 275) give…

Alptekin (Alptegīn, d. 352/963) was a Turkish ghulām, or military slave commander, of the Sāmānids of Transoxania, who founded a centre of Turkish power in eastern Afghanistan that subsequently developed into the Ghaznavid state. (Alptigin (Turk.) literally means “hero prince”; however, by the fourth/tenth century, the second element, tigin, had undergone a downward social shift and was commonly found in the names of slaves.) Nothing is known of Alptekin’s origins, but it appears that he had been purchased as a slave from Inner Asia and entered the Sāmānid army as a ghulām of Amīr Aḥm…

Akhlāṭ, or Khilāṭ (Greek Khleat, Armenian Khlatʿ)—modern-day Hilat in the Turkish Republic—is a town in eastern Anatolia situated on the northwestern shore of Lake Van (38o 45'N., 42o 28'E.). Its history probably goes back to pre-Christian times and the Khald people of the Urartian kingdom. One of the caliph ʿUmar’s (r. 12–23/634–44) commanders, ʿIyāḍ b. Ghanm (d. 20/641), made a peace treaty with the people of Akhlāṭ in 20/641. Over the next four centuries, it fell administratively within the province of Armenia/Armīniya and was ruled at …

Abū Saʿīd b. ʿAbd al-Ḥayy b. al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd Gardīzī (fl. first half of the fifth/eleventh century) is important as an historian of the eastern Islamic world, in particular, for the first four centuries or so of Islam. His life and career are very obscure, with neither his birth nor death dates known. His family presumably came from Gardīz and the region of Zamīndāwar in eastern Afghanistan. He probably held some function at the Ghaznavid court or in the bureaucracy; the title of his book, the Zayn al-akhbār (“Ornament of histories”) seems to be an allusion to the laqab (honorific) of th…

Nāʾīn (Nāyin) is a small town (lat. N 32°52′ long. E 53°05′, elev. 1,408 metres) on the southwestern edge of the Great Desert of central Iran, on the road connecting Yazd with Isfahan and Qum. The town, known for its large citadel and its congregational mosque, seems to have had a pre-Islamic history, but nothing is known of it. The mediaeval Islamic geographers place it in the sardsīr (cooler upland regions) and describe it as located administratively within Fārs but as dependent on either Yazd or Isfahan. According to Mustawfī (69, trans. 77), its citadel, wh…

a dynasty of Deylamite origin. Its original center of power was at Šamirān in the district of Ṭārom on the middle course of the Safidrud river in the region of Deylam, but it subsequently extended its authority over a large part of northwestern Iran. MOSAFERIDS (also Sallarids or Kangarids; this last form is more probable than that of Langarids; see Kasravi, pp. 36-37), a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in northwestern Iran in the 4th-5th/10th-11th centuries. Its original center of power was at Šamirān in the district of Ṭārom on t…

(ŠIRVĀN, ŠARVĀN), a region of Eastern Transcaucasia, known by this name in both early Islamic and more recent times, and now (since 1994) substantially within the independent Azerbaijan Republic. ŠERVĀN (ŠIRVĀN, ŠARVĀN), a region of Eastern Transcaucasia, known by this name in both early Islamic and more recent times, and now (since 1994) substantially within the independent Azerbaijan Republic, being bounded by the Islamic Republic of Iran on the south, the independent Armenian Republic on the west, and Daghestan of the Russian Federation of States on its north. Geography and topo…

(Āl-e Ziār), a minor Islamic dynasty of the Caspian coastlands (931- ca. 1090). They ruled first in northern Iran, and then in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān. ZIYARIDS (Āl-e Ziār), a minor Islamic dynasty of the Caspian coastlands (931- ca. 1090).They ruled first in northern Iran, and then in Ṭabarestān and Gorgān. The Ziyarids belonged to hitherto submerged mountain peoples, notably the Deylamites, Gilites (Gelae; see GILĀN iv, EIr X/6, p. 634), and Kurds, whose rise to power constitutes the “Daylami intermezzo” of Iranian history (Minorsky).After the decline of direc…

a slave commander of the Samanids and the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in eastern Afghanistan. SEBÜKTEGIN, ABU MANṢUR NĀṢER-AL-DIN Wa’l-DAWLA, a slave commander of the Samanids (q.v.) and the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty in eastern Afghanistan. The Turkish name Sebüktegin means “beloved prince,” but the second element ( tegin “prince”) had declined in status from Orkhon Turkish times, becoming part of the onomastic of Turkish slave ( ḡolām) commanders under the ʿAbbasids (Golden, pp. 52-53). Sebüktegin was probably born in the 330s/940s. The sparse details of his…

b. Moḥammad, Abu Aḥmad (d. 399/1009), Amir in Sistān of the “second line” of Saffarids, who ruled between 352/963 and 393/1003 and may be termed “the Khalafids” after an ancestor (the grandfather of the restored Amir Abu Jaʿfar Aḥmad). A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 4, pp. 362-363 b. Moḥammad, Abu Aḥmad (d. 399/1009), amir in Sistān of the “second line” of Saffarids, who ruled between 352/963 and 393/1003 and may be termed “the Khalafids” after an ancestor (the grandfather of the restored Amir Abu Jaʿfar Aḥmad).…

an Arab dynasty that ruled in central Iraq with their capital at Ḥira for roughly three centuries, from about 300 to 602 CE, generally but intermittently as the allies and clients of the Sasanian kings of Persia. LAKHMIDS, an Arab dynasty that ruled in central Iraq with their capital at Ḥira for roughly three centuries, from about 300 to 602 CE, generally but intermittently as the allies and clients of the Sasanian kings of Persia, with especially close links in the sixth century, when the Lakhmids were bulwarks of the Sasanian pos…

a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003. From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire, at one point invading Iraq and threatening Baghdad. SAFFARIDS, a dynasty of medieval Islamic eastern Iran which ruled from 247/861 to 393/1003. From a base in their home province of Sistān, the first Saffarids built up a vast if transient military empire which at one point stretched from the borders of Afghanistan and India in the east to Fārs, A…

(also Mokrān) the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east westwards to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistān and Balučestān province of modern Iran. MAKRĀN (also Mokrān) the coastal region of Baluchistan, extending from the Somniani Bay to the northwest of Karachi in the east westwards to the fringes of the region of Bashkardia/Bāšgerd in the southern part of the Sistān and Balučestān province of modern Iran. Makrān is thus bisect…

vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Mawdud b. Masʿud and ʿAbd-al-Rašid b. Maḥmud, remaining in official service under the latter’s successor Farroḵzād b. Masʿud. ʿABD-AL- RAZZĀQ b. AḤMAD b. ḤASAN MEYMANDI, vizier to the Ghaznavid sultans Mawdud b. Masʿud and ʿAbd-al-Rašid b. Maḥmud, remaining in official service under the latter’s successor Farroḵzād b. Masʿud. He was the son of the celebrated vizier of Sultan Maḥmud of Ghazna (see Aḥmad b. Ḥasan Maymandi). His birth date is unknown but he may have been closely associated with his father in official d…

the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its own elected representative assembly, within the Republic of Azerbaijan but separated from it by Armenia. NAḴJAVĀN, present-day Nakhchivan (lat 39°12′ N, long 45°24′ E), the administrative center of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) with its own elected representative assembly, within the Republic of Azerbaijan but separated from it by Armenia. The region covers 5,363 square miles and has a total population of 398,000, in which Nakhchivan city’s population is 71,200 (2009 figures). The city li…

author of a general history in Persian valuable as a first-hand source for the history of the Ghurids, the Šamsi Delhi Sultans, and the irruption of the Mongols into the eastern Islamic lands. MENHĀJ-e SERĀJ, Menhāj-al-Din Abu ʿAmr ʿOṯmān b. Serāj-al-Din Moḥammad Jowzjāni, qāżi, author of a general history in Persian valuable as a first-hand source for the history of the Ghurids, the Šamsi Delhi Sultans, and the irruption of the Mongols into the eastern Islamic lands (see Ṭabaqāt-e Nāṣeri). Everything known about him and his career stems from mentions in his own history. He…

called Naṣir-al-Dawla and Nāṣeḥ "Counselor,” vizier of the Buyids in Iraq, b. 314/926, d. 367/978. EBN BAQIYA,MOḤAMMAD b. MOḤAMMAD b. BAQIYA, ABU ṬĀHER, called Naṣir-al-Dawla and Nāṣeḥ "Counselor,” vizier of the Buyids in Iraq, b. 314/926, d. 367/978. He was born at ʿAwāna to the north of Baghdad of peasant stock; later in his career, detractors would accuse him of promoting base men to high positions. He is first heard of farming the tolls over the Tigris crossings at Takrit, and when the Buyid Moʿezz-al-Dawla Aḥmad b. Buya seized …

(ṬOVARĀN), the mediaeval Islamic name for the mountainous district of east-central Baluchistan lying to the north of the mediaeval coastal region of Makrān, what was in recent centuries, until 1947, the Aḥmadzay Khanate of Kalat. ṬURĀN (ṬOVARĀN), the mediaeval Islamic name for the mountainous district of east-central Baluchistan lying to the north of the mediaeval coastal region of Makrān, what was in recent centuries, until 1947, the Aḥmadzay Khanate of Kalat (see BALUCHISTAN i. Geography, History, and Ethnography, sec. 7-8). To…

the family name of two viziers of the Samanids of Transoxiana and Khorasan. ʿOTBI, the family name of two viziers of the Samanids of Transoxiana and Khorasan. 1. Abu Jaʿfar b. Moḥammad b. al-Ḥosayn (thus in Gardizi; the sources are, however, uncertain about his names and nasab), vizier in the first place to the Amir ʿAbd-al-Malek b. Nuḥ (I) from 344/956 to 348/959. After a military coup, he was appointed vizier in succession to Abu Manṣur Moḥammad b. ʿOzayr (Gardizi, p. 41; Barthold, p. 250). He is praised by Kermāni (p. 36), repeated in ʿA…

penultimate ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty, apparently still in Ghazna until the dynasty found its last home at Lahore in northwestern India at a date around or soon after the time of his death. ḴOSROWŠĀH B. BAHRĀMŠĀH, with honorifics variously recorded as Moʿezz-al-Dawla, Neẓām-al-Dawla, Moʾayyed-al-Dawla wa’l-Din, and Tāj-al-Dawla, penultimate ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r. ca. 552-55/1157-60), apparently still in Ghazna until the dynasty found its last home at Lahore in northwestern India at a date around or soon after the time of his death (Bosworth, 1996, pp. 296-97). The l…

an anonymous local history in Persian of the eastern Iranian region of Sistān, the region that straddles the modern Iran-Afghanistan border. It forms a notable example of the flourishing genre of local histories in the pre-modern Iranian lands. TĀRIḴ-E SISTĀN, an anonymous local history in Persian of the eastern Iranian region of Sistān, the region that straddles the modern Iran-Afghanistan border. It forms a notable example of the flourishing genre of local histories, dealing with towns and provinces, in the pre-modern Iranian lands. The first and major part of the history, w…

sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, recorded on his coins with the honorifics Šehāb-al-Din wa’l-Dawla and Qoṭb-al-Mella. MAWDUD B. MASʿUD B. MAḤMUD, ABU’L-FATḤ, sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty (r. 432-41/1041-49), recorded on his coins with the honorifics Šehāb-al-Din wa’l-Dawla and Qoṭb-al-Mella. Mawdud inherited a Ghaznavid state that had just lost its western lands, namely Ray and the fringes of Jebāl, and Khorasan, to the Saljuqs, but was still a powerful force in the Islamic East, controlling eastern Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and in…

vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. BARḠAŠI, ABU’L MOẒAFFAR MOḤAMMAD b. EBRAHIM, vizier to two of the last Samanid Amirs of Transoxiana and Khorasan. Neither his birth nor death date is known, nor is the origin of his nesba clear, but it seems that he began what was presumably a secretarial career in the time of Amir Naṣr (II) b. Aḥmad (II) (r. 331-43/943-54). He comes into mention in the closing years of the emirate, being appointed vizier to Amir Nuḥ (II) b. Manṣur (I) (r. 365-87/976-97) in 386/996 when …

a district of eastern Transcaucasia, now within the northwesternmost part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, where the modern town of Sheki or Shaki. ŠAKKI, a district of eastern Transcaucasia, now within the northwesternmost part of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, where the modern town of Sheki or Shaki (lat 41°12′ N, long 47°10′ E) perpetuates its older name; in 2008 the town had a population of 65,000. The usual boundaries of pre-modern Šakki comprised, on the north to northeast, the southern slopes …

the first fully independent ruler of the Turkish Ghaznavid dynasty, who reigned (388-421/998-1030) over what had become by his death a vast military empire. MAḤMUD B. SEBÜKTEGIN, YAMIN-AL-DAWLA ABU’L-QĀSEM, the first fully independent ruler of the Turkish Ghaznavid dynasty (see GHAZNAVIDS), who reigned (388-421/998-1030) over what had become by his death a vast military empire stretching from northwestern Persia to the Punjab in India and from Ḵᵛārazm (Chorasmia) and the middle stretches of the Oxus River to Makrān and the Arabian Sea shores. On the maternal side, he was the e…

OVERVIEW of the entry: i. Geography, ii. Dašt-e Gorgān, iii. Population, iv. Archeology, v. Pre-Islamic history, vi. History from the rise of Islam to the beginning of the Safavid Period, vii. To the end of the Pahlavi era. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 139-154 GORGĀN i. Geography GORGĀN, the ancient Hyrcania, an important Persian province at the southeast corner of the Caspian sea. In June 1997, the eastern part of the Māzandarān Province, consisting of the two sub-provinces of Gorgān and Gonbad-e Kāvus/Qābus (formerly c…

the Arabised form of Kufiči, lit. “mountain dweller,” the name of a people of southeastern Iran found in the Islamic historians and geographers of the 10th-11th centuries. QOFṢ, the Arabised form of Kufiči, lit. “mountain dweller,” the name of a people of southeastern Iran found in the Islamic historians and geographers of the 10th-11th centuries (on the etymology of their name, see Bosworth, 1976, p. 9). They are frequently linked in these sources with the Baluch, as the Qofṣ wa Baluṣ or Kuč o Baluč, but must have been e…

the classical designation for Transoxania or Transoxiana. It was defined by the early Arabic historians and geographers as the lands under Muslim control lying to the north of the middle and upper Oxus or Āmu Daryā. MĀ WARĀʾ AL-NAHR (lit. “what lies beyond the river”), the classical designation for Transoxania or Transoxiana. It was defined by the early Arabic historians and geographers as the lands under Muslim control lying to the north of the middle and upper Oxus or Āmu Daryā, in contrast to Iran proper and its eastern province …

vizier to the Buyid ruler of Fars and Khuzestan. EBN MAFANA, Abu Manṣur Bahrām b. Māfana (< māh-panāh "under the moon’s protection,” Justi, Namenbuch, p. 187), called in the sources al-ʿĀdel "the Just One,” vizier to the Buyid ruler of Fars and Khuzestan, ʿEmād-al-Din Abu Kālijār Marzobān (r. in Shiraz 415-40/1024-48; see Buyids). Ebn Māfana was born at Kāzarun in 366/976-77 (Ebn al-Jawzi, VIII, p. 111; Ebn al-Aṯir, IX, p. 502). Details of his early life are lacking, but he presumably embarked on a secretarial career. He is mentioned as adviser to…

(Šarvānšāhs), the various lines of rulers, originally Arab in ethnos but speedily Persianized within their culturally Persian environment, who ruled in the eastern Caucasian region of Šervān from mid-ʿAbbasid times until the age of the Safavids. ŠERVĀNŠAHS (Šarvānšāhs), the various lines of rulers, originally Arab in ethnos but speedily Persianized within their culturally Persian environment, who ruled in the eastern Caucasian region of Šervān from mid-ʿAbbasid times until the age of the Safavids. The title itself probably dates back to pre-Islamic times, since Ebn Ḵ…

It was during the governorship in Khorasan of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿĀmer for the caliph ʿOṯmān that the Arabs first appeared in Sistān, when in 31/652 Zarang surrendered peacefully, although Bost resisted fiercely. It was during the governorship in Khorasan of ʿAbdallāh b. ʿĀmer for the caliph ʿOṯmān that the Arabs first appeared in Sistān, when in 31/652 Zarang surrendered peacefully, although Bost resisted fiercely. From the base of Zarang, raids were launched eastwards into Arachosia/Roḵḵaj and Zamindāvar (q.v.) against the local r…

recorded on his coins with various other honorifics. He seems to have had generally peaceful relations with his western neighbors, the Great Saljuqs. MASʿUD (III) B. EBRĀHIM, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA WA’L-DIN ABU SAʿD, Ghaznavid sultan (r. 492-508/1099-1115), recorded on his coins with various other honorifics (see Bosworth, 1977, p. 83). He succeeded his father, Ebrāhim, probably after fratricidal succession disputes amongst his many brothers, though details are lacking; indeed, in the light of Masʿud’s apparently successful reign, we know remarkably …

an extensive general history composed in Persian by b. Serāj-al-Din Jowzjāni, who for the first part of his career lived in Ḡur under the Ghurid sultans and latterly in Muslim India under the Moʿezzi or Šamsi Delhi sultans. ṬABAQĀT-E NĀṢERI, an extensive general history composed in Persian by b. Serāj-al-Din Jowzjāni, who for the first part of his career lived in Ḡur under the Ghurid sultans and latterly in Muslim India under the Moʿezzi or Šamsi Delhi sultans (b. 589/1193 in Ḡur, d. at Delhi in India apparently in the time of Ḡiāṯ-al-Din Balaban, r. 664-86/1266-89; see MEHNĀJ-E SERĀJ). The w…

the last sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in northwestern India, essentially in the Panjab, with his capital at Lahore. Various honorifics are attributed to him in the historical sources, in the verses of poets eulogizing him, and in the legends of his coins in the collections of the British Museum and Lahore ḴOSROW MALEK b. Ḵosrowšāh, ABU’L-MOŻAFFAR (r. ca. 555-82/1160-86), the last sultan of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in northwestern India, essentially in the Panjab, with his capital at Lahore. Various honorifics (Tāj-al-Din wa’l-Dawla, Serāj-al-Daw…

province of Iran located between Fars and Sistan va Balučestān; also the name of its principal city and capital.A version of this article is available in printVolume XVI, Fascicle 3, pp. 246-315 KERMAN (Kermān), a province in southeastern Iran; also the name of one of its sub-provinces as well as that of its principal city and capital.KERMAN i. Geography Physical geography. Kerman province is situated in southeast Iran, to the southwest of the Kavir-e Lut (see DESERT). Covering an area of 182,000 km2 (70,000 square miles), Kerman is the largest province in Persia, constitutin…

(Nehāvand), a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region. NEHĀVAND, a town in western Iran, situated in the northern Zagros region (lat 34˚11′ N, long 48˚22′ E, elev. 1,786 m/5,860 ft.). It lies some 90 km/50 miles south of Hamadan, from which it is separated by the massif of the Alvand Kuh, which rises to 3,572 m/11,716 feet, and from which streams provide Nehāvand and its agricultural hinterland with a plentiful water supply. Since Nehāvand lies on an historic route from central Iraq through Kermanshah (q.v.) to northern Iran, it has often been trave…

a town on the north bank of the middle course of the Araxes (Aras) river of eastern Transcaucasia, former in Persian territory but now in the Republic of Azerbaijan. ORDUBĀD, a town on the north bank of the middle course of the Araxes (Aras) river of eastern Transcaucasia, former in Persian territory but now in the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is some 94 km north-northwest of Tabriz and lies at an altitude of 948 m. The Turco-Persian name “army town” implies a foundation during the period of the Mongol invasions or the ensuing Il-Khanid one, especially as the Il-Khanids …

B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL, Amir-e Saʿid “The Fortunate Amir,” a title he was given after his death, ruler of the Samanid dynasty (q.v.) in Transoxiana and Khorasan between 301/914 and 331/943. NAṢR (I) B. AḤMAD (I) B. ESMĀʿIL, Amir-e Saʿid “The Fortunate Amir,” a title he was given after his death, ruler of the Samanid dynasty (q.v.) in Transoxiana and Khorasan between 301/914 and 331/943. The reign of his father Aḥmad (295-301/907-14), called Amir-e Šahid “the Martyr Amir,” was brought to a quick and sudden end when he was murdered by his own ḡolāms; some sources say that these slave troo…

ABU ʿALI AḤMAD b. Moḥammad [Ebn], Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur and accomplished writer in Arabic on a variety of topics, including history, theology, philosophy and medicine (d. 421/1030). MESKAWAYH, ABU ʿALI AḤMAD b. Moḥammad [Ebn], Persian chancery official and treasury clerk of the Buyid period, boon companion, litterateur and accomplished writer in Arabic on a variety of topics, including history, theology, philosophy and medicine (d. 421/1030). His name appears v…

(also A/Āstovā; Ostov), a rural district ( rostāq) of northern Khorasan, considered in medieval Islamic times to be an administrative dependency of Nišāpur. OSTOVĀ (also A/Āstovā; Ostov), a rural district ( rostāq) of northern Khorasan, considered in medieval Islamic times to be an administrative dependency of Nišāpur. According to Yāqut ( Boldān, Beirut, I, pp. 175-76), it comprised ninety-three villages. It lay across the road going north from Nišāpur to Nasā on the edge of the steppes. It was in the corridor of Atrak and Kašafrud rivers betwe…

(now OŠNAVIYA), a small town of southwestern Azerbaijan. It lies near the southwestern corner of Lake Urmia on the Qādar-Čay river; it is some 32 km from the lakeshore and also some 32 km from the meeting-place of the modern frontiers of Iran, Turkey, and Iraq. The medieval geographers reckoned its distance from Tabriz as 16 farsang òs. It lies on a historic route from the Urmia basin over the Kela-Šin Pass to Ravānduz and the plains of northern Iraq. OŠNUYA, OŠNU, OŠNOH (now OŠNAVIYA), a small town of southwestern Azerbaijan. It lies near the southwestern corner of Lake Ur…

a medieval town of Transoxania, in a rural district ( rostāq) of the middle Jaxartes River (Syr Darya), apparently known in early Islamic times as Fārāb/Pārāb/Bārāb. OTRĀR, a medieval town of Transoxania, in a rural district ( rostāq) of the middle Jaxartes River (Syr Darya), apparently known in early Islamic times as Fārāb/Pārāb/Bārāb. The latter two forms are found in the 10th-century geographers (e.g., Moqaddasi [Maqdesi], pp. 263, 273; Ebn Ḥawqal, pp. 510-11, tr. Kramers and Wiet, II, p. 488; Ḥodud al-ʿālam, ed. Sotuda, pp. 117-18, tr. Minorsky, pp. 118-19.) It was notab…

a district of medieval Islamic Transoxania lying to the east of Samarqand (q.v.) on the upper reaches of the Zarafšān river or Nahr-e Ṣogd. OSRUŠANA, a district of medieval Islamic Transoxania lying to the east of Samarqand on the upper reaches of the Zarafšān river or Nahr-e Ṣogd. It extended northwards to the southern bend of the Syr Darya and the western fringes of Farghana (see FARḠĀNA), and southwestwards to the Bottamān mountains, which separated the upper Oxus basin and its right-bank tributaries from the Syr Da…

Abu’l -ʿAbbās (b. 209/824-25, d. 253/ 867), high official in Iraq and the central lands of the caliphate. MOḤAMMAD b. ʿABD-ALLAH b. ṬĀHER, Abu’l -ʿAbbās (b. 209/824-25, d. 253/ 867), high official in Iraq and the central lands of the caliphate. He was one of several sons of ʿAbd-Allāh b. Ṭāher Ḏu’l-Yaminayn, governor of Khorasan for the ʿAbbasids 213-30/828-45 (see ʿABD-ALLĀH B. ṬĀHER ḎU’L-YAMINAYN), and spent his early years in Khorasan as one of his father’s aides. Then he was summoned westwards by the caliph al-Motwakkel to take over the governorship and šorṭa (command of the guard)…

(1877-1966), outstanding Russian scholar of Persian history, historical geography, literature and culture. MINORSKY, Vladimir Fed’orovich (1877-1966), outstanding Russian scholar of Persian history, historical geography, literature and culture, who worked on a very broad canvas, with contributions of substantial value in the related fields of Turkish, Mongol, Caucasian, Armenian, and Byzantine studies, where they touched on Persian studies in the broad sense. Backed by formidable linguistic expertise in both …

the name of two of the later amirs of the Samanids (q.v.), the first ruling in both Transoxiana and Khorasan, and the second in Transoxiana only. MANṢUR B. NUḤ, the name of two of the later amirs of the Samanids (q.v.), the first ruling in both Transoxiana and Khorasan, and the second in Transoxiana only. 1. MANṢUR(I) B. NUḤ (I), Abu Ṣāleḥ, called Amir-e Sadid “The Righteous, Just Amir” (r. 350-69/961-76). By the mid-4th/10th century, the Samanid empire had reached its peak of power. Subsequently, the authority of the Amirs was increasingly challenged by pow…

a port of Lower Iraq during the classical and medieval Islamic periods. It lay in the delta region of the Tigris, at the head of the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab, on the west bank of the Tigris and on the north side of the canal, the Nahr al-Obolla which, together with the Nahr Maʿqel, connected Obolla with Baṣra during the early Islamic period. OBOLLA, a port of Lower Iraq during the classical and medieval Islamic periods. It lay in the delta region of the Tigris, at the head of the Šaṭṭ al-ʿArab, on the west bank of the Tigris and on the north side of the canal, the N…

Samanid Amir (r. 365-87/976-97), initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only, called after his death Amir-e Rāżi, “The Well-Pleasing Amir,” or according to Naršaḵi, Amir-e Rašid, “The Rightly-Guided Amir.”Nuḥ was the last Samanid to enjoy a reign of significant length, but within it he had little freedom to act independently. NUḤ (II) B. MANṢUR (I), ABU’L-QĀSEM, Samanid Amir (r. 365-87/976-97), initially in both Transoxania and Khorasan, latterly in Transoxania only, called after his death Amir-e Rāżi, “The Well-Pleasing Amir,” or according to…

ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxania and Khorasan, 343-350/954-61. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 128 ʿABD-AL- MALEK B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Transoxania and Khorasan, 343-350/954-61. The historian of Bokhara, Naršaḵī, and the Ghaznavid historian Gardīzī accord him the designation of al-Amīr al-Rašīd, but it appears from his coins that he was called al-Malek al-Movaffaq during his lifetime, and it seems that he was referred to after his death as al-Malek al-Moʾayyad. The reign of ʿAbd-al-Malek’s…

a town in the medieval Islamic region of Guzgān in northern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 166-167 GORZEVĀN (thus in the Ḥodud al-ʿālam; Yaʿqubi, Qorzomān; Ebn Ḥawqal and Yāqut, Jorzovān; Moqaddasi, Jorzovān and Korzovān), a town in the medieval Islamic region of Guzgān (q.v.) in northern Afghanistan. It lay in the district of the headwaters of the Fāryāb and Andḵuy rivers, still in modern Afghanistan called Darzāb wa Gorzevān ( Ḥodud al-ʿālam, tr, Minorsky, comm. p. 335). It was the summer residence ( qaṣaba) of the local princes…

an ancient town of Upper Mesopotamia, now located in the modern Turkish province of Diyarbakir approximately 40 km/25 miles south-southeast of Edessa, or Urfa. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 13-14 ḤARRĀN, an ancient town of Upper Mesopotamia, now located in the modern Turkish province of Diyarbakir approximately 40 km/25 miles south-southeast of Edessa, or Urfa. It is the Greek “Hai Kharrai,” and Roman “Carrhae,” but has a more ancient history as the “Ḫarrānu” of Assyrian texts; in the Old…

Governor of Khorasan (9th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 186-187 ʿABDALLĀH B. ṬĀHER ḎU’L-YAMĪNAYN, governor of Khorasan for the ʿAbbasid caliphs (213-30/828-45) and most outstanding of the line of Taherid governors there. His tenure of power lasted for seventeen years, compared with the short ones of his father (less than two years) and of his brother and predecessor Ṭalḥa (six years), and so it was primarily he who established the fame and splendor of the Taherids and acquired a permanent place in later Arabic literature and culture. ʿAb…

a town of medieval eastern Khorasan, situated just to the south of the Harīrūd River, and variously described in the sources as being between six and ten farsaḵs to the west-southwest of Herat. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 229-230 FŪŠANJ (arabicizedform Būšanj; Mid. Pers. Pūšang [Markwart, Provincial Capitals, p. 11], also reflected in the Būšang of the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 64, 104), a town of medieval eastern Khorasan, situated just to the south of the Harīrūd River, and variously described in the sources as being between six and ten f…

city of southwestern Iran, located in the province of Ḵūzestān on the Kārun river. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 688-691 AHVĀZ, a city of southwestern Iran. Located in the province of Ḵūzestān at 31°19′ north latitude and 48°46′ east longitude, elevation 82 feet, Ahvāz lies on the Kārūn (early Islamic Doǰayl) river below its confluence with the Dezfūl river or Āb-e Dez in the Ḵūzestān plain, but at a point where the river breaks through the low ridge of sandstone hills, the Jabal …

a Saljuq princess who became the second wife of the Ghaznavid Sultan Masʿud III (r. 1099-1115). A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 179 GOWHAR ḴĀTUN, a Saljuq princess who became the second wife of the Ghaznavid Sultan Masʿud III (r. 492-508/1099-1115). Because the Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh (q.v.) sent her from Ray to Ḡazna with a lavish wedding cortège, on which his vizier Neẓām-al-Molk had expended 100,000 dinars, she is known in the sources for Ghaznavid history as the Mahd-e ʿErāq “bride from ʿErāq[-e ʿAjami or Western Persia”] (Ḥo-sayni, pp…

Ancient town of lower Iraq between Baṣra and Vāseṭ, to the east of the Tigris, in the region adjacent to Ahvāz, known in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times as Mēšūn (Mid. Pers. form) or Maysān/Mayšān (Syriac and Arabic forms). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 64 ABARQOBĀḎ, an ancient town of lower Iraq between Baṣra and Vāseṭ, to the east of the Tigris, in the region adjacent to Ahvāz, known in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times as Mēšūn (Mid. Pers. form) or Maysān/Mayšān (Syriac and Arabic forms). The correct form of the town name is given by Dīnavarī ( al-…

Ghaznavid vizier of the middle years of the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 157-158 ʿABD-AL -RAZZĀQ ABU’L-FATḤ B. AḤMAD B. ḤASAN MAYMANDĪ, Ghaznavid vizier of the middle years of the 5th/11th century. He was the son of the famous minister of sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd I, Šams-al-kofāt Aḥmad b. Ḥasan Maymandī (d. 424/1032). The Maymandī family served the Ghaznavids for at least three generations, since a nephew of ʿAbd-al-Razzāq, Abū Naṣr (or Abu’l-Moʾayyed) Manṣūr b. Saʿīd b. Aḥmad b. Ḥasan, was ʿāreż or war minister under sult…

a significant Turkic tribe in western Eurasia in the 5th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 184-187 ḠOZZ, a significant Turkic tribe in western Eurasia in the 5th century. i. ORIGINS Ḡozz is the rendering by Muslim geographers of the Turkic Oḡuz. Oḡur, the Bulḡaro-Čuvašic form of this term, is noted as the name of a Turkic people in Western Eurasia in the 5th century. Oḡur/Oḡuz is probably a term denoting some kind of tribal confederation, perhaps signifying a union of related tribes or clans. Chinese sources sometimes …

Ghaznavid sultan, r. 441-44/1050-53. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 149-150 ʿABD-AL -RAŠĪD, ABŪ MANṢŪR ʿEZZ-AL-DAWLA B. MAḤMŪD B. SEBÜKTIGĪN, Ghaznavid sultan, r. 441-44/1050-53. He succeeded to the amirate after the death of Mawdūd b. Masʿūd in Raǰab, 441/December, 1049 and the brief reigns of the child Masʿūd b. Mawdūd and of Bahāʾ-al-dawla ʿAlī b. Masʿūd. The actual date of ʿAbd-al-Rašīd’s accession is given by Ebn Bābā Qāšānī in his Ketāb raʾs māl al-nadīm (Istanbul MS Turhan Valide 234, fol. 208b.) as 27 Šaʿbān 441/24 January 1…

a region of central Afghanistan, essentially the modern administrative province (welāyat) of Ḡōrāt. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 4, pp. 399-400 ḠUR, a region of central Afghanistan, essentially the modern administrative province ( welāyat) of Ḡōrāt. Pre-modern Ḡur comprised the basins of the upper Harirud, the Farahrud, the Rud-e Ḡōr, and the Ḵašrud, together with the intervening mountain chains. The moun-tains rise to over 10,000 feet, increasing as they merge in the east into the Hindu Kush and Pa…

administrative and then military office in the pre-modern Iranian world. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 5, pp. 544-548 ḤĀJEB, an administrative and then military office in the pre-modern Iranian world. ḤĀJEB i. IN THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD The office of ḥājeb, implying military command, appears in the Iranian world with the Samanids, where it probably grew out of the amir’s domestic household, in which the ḥājeb had had duties similar to those of the Umayyad and Abbasid ḥājebs or doorkeepers/chamberlains. The office of chief ḥājeb of the Samanids ( al…

the border river of Afghanistan and Persia. It originates in the mountains in the Hazārajāt (q.v) and flows into the Sistān in southeastern Persia and finally drains into the Hāmun Lake. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 2, pp. 170-176 HELMAND RIVER (Av. Haētumant; modern usage, Hirmand, Halmand), the border river of Afghanistan and Persia. It originates in the mountains in the Hazārajāt (q.v) and flows into the Sistān in southeastern Persia and finally drains into the Hāmun Lake (q.v.). i. Geography. ii. In Zoroastrian tradition. iii. In the medieval …

(Ar. Janza), the Islamic name of a town in the early medieval Islamic province of Arrān (the classical Caucasian Albania, Armenian Alvankʿ). A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 282-283 GANJA (Ar. Janza), the Islamic name of a town in the early medieval Islamic province of Arrān (the classical Caucasian Albania, Armenian Alvankʿ; see ARRĀN). In imperial Russian times, the town was called Elisavetpol after 1813; in Soviet times, when it came within the Azerbaijan SSR, it was first called Gandzha …

(1854-1933), scholar in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish, specially notable for his work in the field of the historical geography of the pre-modern Middle Eastern and Eastern Islamic lands and his editing of Persian geographical texts. Le Strange’s chef d’ɶuvre is, however, undoubtedly The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate(1905). LE STRANGE, GUY (b. Hunstanton, Norfolk, 24 July 1854; d. Cambridge, 24 December 1933), scholar in Persian, Arabic, and Spanish, specially notable for his work in the field of the historical geography of the pre-modern Middl…

(d. 809), HĀRUN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-ALLĀH, the fifth caliph of the ʿAbbasid dynasty (r. 786-809), the third son of the caliph al-Mahdi. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 17-20 HĀRUN AL-RAŠID, HĀRUN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-ALLĀH (d. Ṭus, 3 Jomādā II 193/24 March 809), the fifth caliph of the ʿAbbasid dynasty (r. 170-93/786-809), the third son of the caliph al-Mahdi and second son borne him by the slave concubine Ḵayzorān. He was born in Ray, either on 26 Ḏu’l-ḥejja 145/17 March 763 or 1 Moḥarram 1…

city on the desert fringes of southwestern Mesopotamia; known in pre-Islamic times as the capital of the Lakhmid Arab dynasty, clients of the Sasanians, it survived as an urban settlement into the early centuries of the Islamic period. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 3, pp. 322-323 ḤIRA, a city on the desert fringes of southwestern Mesopotamia; known in pre-Islamic times as the capital of the Lakhmid Arab dynasty, clients of the Sasanians. It survived as an urban settlement into the early centuries of the Islamic period. Figure 1. The region of Ḥira …

the third dynasty of caliphs who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs in Damascus. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 89-95 ʿABBASID CALIPHATE in Iran. The aim of the present article is not to give a chronological history of Persia under ʿAbbasid rule but to examine some of the main trends affecting the political, religious, and cultural development of Persia during the period when ʿAbbasid rule was effective there—essentially from the middle of the 2nd/8th century to the opening decades of the 4th/10th century. The es…

an important fortress of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the mountainous district of Rudbār, within the region of medieval Islamic Daylam in northwestern Iran. LANBASAR (the form in Rašid-al-Din and Ḥamd-Allāh Mostawfi; popular pronunciation, and the form used by Jovayni, Lam(m)asar), an important fortress of the Nezāri Ismaʿilis in the valley of the Šāhrud river, a tributary of the Safidrud, in the mountainous district of Rudbār, within the region of medieval Islamic Daylam in northwestern Iran. Its precise location is in th…

name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus range and on the head waters of the Moṟḡāb. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 292 ḠARČESTĀN, name of a region in early Islamic times, situated to the north of the upper Harīrūd and the Paropamisus range and on the head waters of the Moṟḡāb. To its west was Bāḏḡīs and to its northeast Gūzgān. Ḡarčestān thus corresponds to the region known at present as Fīrūzkūh and forms part of the province of Bādḡīs in contemporary Afghanistan. The term ḡarča perhaps reflec…

a local dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled in the Zagros mountains region of southwestern Persia, essentially in Lorestān and the adjacent parts of Fārs, and which flourished in the later Saljuq, Il-khanid, Mozaffarid, and Timurid periods. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 93 HAZĀRASPIDS, a local dynasty of Kurdish origin which ruled in the Zagros mountains region of southwestern Persia, essentially in Lorestān and the adjacent parts of Fārs, and which flourished in the later Saljuq, Ilkhanid, Mozaffar…

a landowner ( dehqān) of Transoxania (12th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 210 ʿĀBEDĪ, ABU’L-RAJĀʾ AḤMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD, a landowner ( dehqān) of Transoxania. At Samarqand in 504/1110-11 (during the reign of the Qarakhanid Arslān Khan Moḥammad b. Solaymān, son-in-law of the Saljuq Sultan Sanǰar), he related to Neẓāmī ʿArūżī how the poet Rūdakī had been rewarded by the Samanid Naṣr b. Aḥmad (250-79/864-92) for a poem praising the amir and Bokhara, his capital. ʿĀbedī had transmitted the story from his grandfather (of the same name). C. E…

a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 2, pp. 129-130 ḴĀTUN, a title of high-born women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. Although the title is first attested in Orkhon Turkish, where qatun/ ḵatun in the Kül-tegin and Bilge-qaghan inscriptions denotes “wife of the khan or ruler, queen” (Tekin, pp. 342-43; Kāšḡari, tr. Atalay I, p. 410; tr. Dankoff and Kelly I, p. 311), the word is almost certainly of Sogdian origin ( xwtʾy “lord, ruler,” xwt’yn “lord’s wife”; Clauson, p. 602…

the penultimate ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania, r. 389/999. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 127-128 ʿABD-AL -MALEK B. NŪḤ B. MANṢŪR, ABU’L-FAVĀRES, the penultimate ruler of the Samanid dynasty in Khorasan and Transoxania, r. 389/999. In the decade of the 380s/990s, the Samanid amirate was being subverted internally by the rivalries of ambitious Turkish military commanders and was attacked externally after 382/992 by the Qarakhanid Turkish ruler from beyond th…

B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, author of a Persian history Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first half of the 8th/14th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 2, pp. 181-182 HENDUŠĀH B. SANJAR B. ʿABD-ALLAH SAḤEBI KIRANI, the little-known author of a Persian history called the Tajāreb al-salaf (fl. first half of the 8th/14th century). Virtually nothing is known of his life or when he was born and died. Browne (1924, p. 246 n. 1) thought that the nesba Ṣāḥebi meant that he was in the entourage of some leading political figure of the time and that Kir…

[KAKWAYHIDS], a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in western Persia, Jebāl, and Kurdistan about 1008-51 as independent princes. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 4, pp. 359-362 KĀKUYIDS (KAKWAYHIDS), a dynasty of Deylamite origin that ruled in western Persia, in Jebāl and Kurdistan about 1008-51 as independent princes, and thereafter locally as feudatories of the Great Saljuqs until the mid-12th century. They represent one of the hitherto submerged local powers of this region, Deylamite and…

There were at least three raids by the early Ghaznavids into Ḡūr, led by Sultan Maḥmūd and his son Masʿūd, in the first decades of the 11th century; these introduced Islam and brought Ḡūr into a state of loose vassalage to the sultans. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 586-590 GHURIDS (or Āl-e Šansab), a medieval Islamic dynasty of the eastern Iranian lands. They began as local chiefs in Ḡūr (q.v.) in the heartland of what is now Afghanistan, but became a major power from the mid-12th century until the opening ye…

or Atrak or ʿAbd-Allāh Abu Ḵozayma (d. 828), Kharijite rebel in Sistān and Khorasan during early ʿAbbasid times. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 6, pp. 648 ḤAMZA B. ĀḎARAK or Atrak or ʿAbd-Allāh Abu Ḵozayma, Kharijite rebel in Sistān and Khorasan during early ʿAbbasid times. He was of dehqān (q.v.) stock from southern Afghanistan, to the east of Bost, where there was a long tradition of Kharijite, anti-government activity. His rebellion began in the countryside of Sistān in 179/795-96 or possibly in the following …

Arabo-Persian form of the Central Asian title yabḡu. Although it is best known as a Turkish title of nobility, it was in use many centuries before the Turks appear in the historical record. A version of this article is available in print Volume XIV, Fascicle 3, pp. 314-317 JABḠUYA, Arabo-Persian form of the Central Asian title yabḡu. i. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY Although yabḡu is best known as a Turkish title of nobility, it was in use many centuries before the Turks appear in the historical record. The earliest form of the word attested is the Chinese xihou (ancient i̯əp-g’u; Karlgren, pp. 67…

(ĀBASKŪN), a port of the medieval period on the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea in Gorgān province. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 69-70 ABASKŪN (ĀBASKŪN), a port of the medieval period on the southwest shore of the Caspian Sea in Gorgān province. Perhaps it should be connected with the Sōkanda river in ancient Hyrcania mentioned by Ptolemy ( Geographia 6.9.2.). It seems to have been at or near the mouth of the Gorgān river (the Herand river in Ḥodūd al-ʿālam). According to Swedish archeologists “Abaskun should be identified with Gumüš T…

a title for highborn women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. In early Islamic Turkish, it was used for a khan’s wife or a princess, hence as a higher title than begüm. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 5, pp. 502 KĀNOM (khanom, khanum), a title for highborn women in the pre-modern Turkish and Persian worlds. In early Islamic Turkish, it was used for a khan’s wife or a princess, hence as a higher title than begüm. It is attested from Timurid times onwards, and the ambassador to the Timurid court Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (early 15th c…

or GMS; a series of publications, which has continued for almost a century, mainly, but not exclusively, dedicated to editions and translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish texts. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 601-602 GIBB MEMORIAL SERIES (GMS), a series of publications, which has continued for almost a century, mainly, but not exclusively, dedicated to editions and translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish texts. The Series is financed by the Gibb Memorial Trust, which was originally set up…

vizier of the Ghaznavids in the late 5th/11th to early 6th/12th century. He is described as serving Sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (451-92/1059-99). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 110 ʿABD-AL -ḤAMĪD B. AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL-SAMAD ŠĪRĀZĪ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the late 5th/11th to early 6th/12th century. He is described as serving Sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (451-92/1059-99) for twenty-two years and then his son Masʿūd III (492-508/1099-1115) for all sixteen years of his reign, which would…

a concise but very important Persian geography of the then known world, Islamic and non-Islamic, begun in 982-83 by an unknown author from the province of Guzgān (in northern Afghanistan). A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 4, pp. 417-418 ḤODUD AL-ʿĀLAM, a concise but very important Persian geography of the then known world, Islamic and non-Islamic, begun in 372/982-83 by an unknown author from the province of Guzgān (q.v.) in what is now northern Afghanistan. It was dedicated to the local prince of the Far…

“Still water,” a salt lake in the province of Ḡazna in modern Afghanistan, lying 30 km southeast of the present Ḡazna-Kandahār highway and 100 km south of Ḡazna itself. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 48 ĀB-E ĪSTĀDA “still water,” a salt lake in the province of Ḡazna in modern Afghanistan, lying 30 km southeast of the present Ḡazna-Kandahār highway and 100 km south of Ḡazna itself, in 32°30 ′ north latitude and 67°55 ′ east longitude and at an altitude of 2,130 m above sea level. The lake, some 25 …

b. MOʿADDAL (r. 247-65/861-79), founder of what may be distinguished as the Laythids, or the “first line” within the Saffarid dynasty, who built up a powerful military empire in the eastern regions of the Islamic world centered on Sistān, The rise to power of Yaʿqub and his brother ʿAmr effected a substantial breach in the fabric of the ʿAbbasid caliphate, aggravating a process which began with the autonomous stances of the caliphs’ governors in Khorasan, the Tahirids and the Samanids, who were local potentates in the upper Oxus region and Transoxiana. YAʿQUB b. LAYṮ b. MOʿADDAL (r. 247-6…

ARSLĀN B. PALANG-ERI, Turkish ḡolām who became the ḥājeb “chamberlain” and court favorite of the Great Saljuq Sultan Masʿud b. Moḥammad b. Malek Šāh (r. 1134-52). A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 1, pp. 105-106 ḴĀṢṢ BEG ARSLĀN B. PALANG-ERI, Turkish ḡolām who became the ḥājeb “chamberlain” and court favorite of the Great Saljuq Sultan Masʿud b. Moḥammad b. Malek Šāh (r. 1134-52); he played a prominent role in the troubled events of western Persia during that reign. Palang-Eri, Persian-Turkish “leopard-man,” se…

(d. 1100), Turkish eunuch slave commander of the Great Saljuqs. A version of this article is available in print Volume XI, Fascicle 2, pp. 180 GOWHAR-ĀʾĪN, Saʿd-al-dawla, Turkish eunuch slave commander of the Great Saljuqs (d. 493/1100). In his early life he had been a slave ( mamluk) of the Buyid ruler of Iraq, Abu Kālijār b. Solṭān-al-Dawla, but passed into the service of the Saljuqs (Ebn al-Jawzi, Montaẓam IX, p. 115; Ebn al-Aṯir, Beirut, X, p. 295; Ṣadr-al-Din Ḥosayni, p. 51). In 464/1071-72, Sultan Alp Arslān (q.v.) appointed him the Saljuq military governor ( šeḥna) in Baghdad, an o…

a small town in the Qazvīn district. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 213-214 ABHAR (or Awhar in local pronunciation, see Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, tr. Minorsky, pp. 132, 383), a small town in the Qazvīn district, on the highway connecting Ray and later Tehran with Tabrīz and Azerbaijan. The geographers state that it lay 12 farsaḵs west of Qazvīn and that Zanǰān (the town with which it is often coupled in the geographical and historical sources) was 20 farsaḵs farther (thus Ebn Ḥawqal, tr. Kramers, p. 351; but Ebn Rosta, tr. Wiet, p. 196, makes this last journey 15 far…

an Islamic dynasty of Turkish slave origin 977-1186, which in its heyday ruled in the eastern Iranian lands, briefly as far west as Ray and Jebāl; for a while in certain regions north of the Oxus, most notably, in Kᵛārazm; and in Baluchistan and in northwestern India.A version of this article is available in printVolume X, Fascicle 6, pp. 578-583 GHAZNAVIDS, an Islamic dynasty of Turkish slave origin (366-582/977-1186), which in its heyday ruled in the eastern Iranian lands, briefly as far west as Ray and Jebāl; for a while in certain regions north of th…

son of a Turkish slave commander of Maḥmud of Ghazna who served as governor in Kᵛārazm 1032-35, first for the Ghaznavids, and then as an independent ruler. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 1, pp. 17 HĀRUN B. ALTUNTAŠ, son of a Turkish slave commander of Maḥmud of Ghazna (q.v.) who served as governor in Kᵛārazm from 423/1032 until 426/1035 (see CHORASMIA ii.), first of all for the Ghaznavids, and then as an independent ruler. Hārun succeeded his father Altuntaš as de facto governor of Ḵᵛārazm on his death in Jomādā I 423/April-May 1032 (for the ev…

Name of (1) a small town in northern Fārs province, and (2) a medieval town near the northern shore of Lake Baḵtegān in Fārs.A version of this article is available in printVolume I, Fascicle 1, pp. 51i. Town in Northern FārsThe name of a small town in northern Fārs province, lying to the northeast of the chaîne magistrale of the Zagros at an altitude of 2,011 m/6,200 ft in 52°40 ′ east longitude and 31°11 ′ north latitude. It is on the easterly (formally the winter, now the all-weather) main Isfahan-Shiraz highway, 204 km from the former and 280 km fr…

b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century. He was clearly connected with the Ghaznavid court and administration and close to the sultans. A version of this article is available in print Volume X, Fascicle 3, pp. 314-315 GARDĪZĪ, ABŪ SAʿĪD ʿABD-al-ḤAYY b. Żaḥḥāk b. Maḥmūd, Persian historian of the early 5th/11th century whose exact dates of birth and death are unknown. His life is almost wholly obscure, although his nesba implies a connection with Gardīz (q.v.) in eastern Afghanistan, and the name Zahāk/Żaḥḥāk seems to have been a popular on…

ABŪ NAṢR ŠARAF-AL-DĪN, high official who served the Great Saljuq sultans and the ʿAbbasid caliph during the first half of the 6th/12th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 139 ANŪŠERVĀN B. ḴĀLED B. MOḤAMMAD KĀŠĀNĪ, ABŪ NAṢR ŠARAF-AL-DĪN, high official who served the Great Saljuq sultans and the ʿAbbasid caliph during the first half of the 6th/12th century. He was born at Ray in 459/1066-67; the date of his death at Baghdad is variously given as 532/1137-38 and 533/1138-39. After secretarial training, he rose to prominence in the servic…

Samanid amir in Transoxania and Khorasan (295-301/907-14). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 349-350 ABŪ NAṢR AḤMAD B. ESMĀʿĪL SĀMĀNĪ, called AMĪR-E ŠAHĪD (“the martyred amir”) because of his violent death, Samanid amir in Transoxania and Khorasan (295-301/907-14). Under his father, Esmāʿīl b. Aḥmad (the real founder of Samanid fortunes), he had been for a time governor of the recently conquered province of Gorgān (see below). Succeeding as amir, he became ruler of a considerable…

Arabic philologist and grammarian (probably 110-209/728-824, but the sources have other, slightly different dates). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 355-356 ABŪ ʿOBAYDA MAʿMAR B. AL-MOṮANNĀ, Arabic philologist and grammarian (probably 110-209/728-824, but the sources have other, slightly different dates). His father and grandfather came from Bāǰarvān, but he himself was born in Baṣra, a mawlā of the clan of Taym of Qorayš. The assertion that his family was of Jewish origin is probably a calumny of his enemies; more p…

Vizier to the atabeg of Lorestān Šams-al-dawla Ḡāzī Beg Aydoḡmuš (7th/13th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 357 ABU’L- QĀSEM ʿALĪ B. ḤASAN B. MOḤAMMAD B. ABĪ ḤANĪFA, vizier to the atabeg of Lorestān Šams-al-dawla Ḡāzī Beg Aydoḡmuš. It was for this vizier that Abu’l-Šaraf Nāṣeḥ b. Ẓafar b. Saʿd Jorbādqānī, in the early years of the 7th/13th century, made his simplified Persian version of Abu’l-Naṣr ʿOtbī’s ornate Arabic history of Sebüktigin and Maḥmūd of Ḡazna, al-Taʾrīḵ al-yamīnī (See: ʿOtbī). C. Edmund Bosworth Bibliography Nafīsī, Naẓ…

member of the Deylamī dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 1095). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 8, pp. 848-849 ʿALĪ B. FARĀMARZ, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA or MOʾAYYED-AL-DAWLA ʿAŻOD-AL-DĪN B. ABĪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA MOḤAMMAD B. DOŠMANZĪĀR, member of the Deylamī dynasty of the Kakuyids, d. 488/1095. In the middle years of the 5th/11th century, under ʿAlī’s father, Abū Manṣūr Farāmarz, the Kakuyids of Jebāl had lost their former capital of Isfahan to the Saljuq leader Ṭoḡrïl Beg. They had been…