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(or ANBĪR), a town of the medieval Islamic province of Gūzgān or Jūzǰān in northern Afghanistan, probably to be identified with the modern Sar-e Pol. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 6 ANBĀ R or ANBĪR, a town of the medieval Islamic province of Gūzgān or Jūzǰān in northern Afghanistan, probably to be identified with the modern Sar-e Pol. The variable spelling of the sources (in Yāqūt, I, pp. 257, 259, there are separate entries for each of the two forms) doubtless reflects a contemporary pronun…

(or ASFŌZAR), designation of a district (kūra) and later its chief town in the Herat quarter of Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 748 ASFEZĀR (or ASFŌZAR), designation of a district ( kūra) and later its chief town in the Herat quarter of Khorasan. The town was more recently known as Sabzavār of Herat (to distinguish it from the Sabzavār of Khorasan near Nīšāpūr, medieval Bayhaq), and at the present time is called Šīndand. Since the administrative re-organization of 1964, it has fallen within the welāyat or provinces of Farāh. The town l…

ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the Samanid emirate from the steppes to the north in the 990s. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 3, pp. 318-319 BOḠRĀ KHAN, ABŪ MŪSĀ HĀRŪN or Ḥasan b. Solaymān, called Šehāb-al-Dawla and Ẓahīr-al-Daʿwa, the first Qarakhanid khan to invade the Samanid emirate from the steppes to the north and to deal a severe blow at its fabric. He was the grandson of ʿAbd-al-Karīm Satūq Boḡrā Khan (d. 344/955), the first Qarakhanid to become a Muslim. In 380/990 Boḡrā Khan Hārūn occupied Esfījāb, an…

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…

secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 252 ABU’L- ʿALĀʾ ʿAṬĀʾ, called NĀKŪK, secretary and poet of the Ghaznavid period, d. 491/1098. Little is known of his life, but ʿAwfī, in a biographical notice in his Lobāb al-albāb, gives him the title of ʿamīd and kāteb. It seems that he filled high office under the Ghaznavid sultan Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd (450-92/1059-99). It is probable that he had some connection with the chief secretary, Abū Sahl Zūzanī (a contemporary of the …

Turkish slave commander of the Saljuqs; in the late 11th century, he bore the traditional title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 140 ANŪŠTIGIN ḠARČAʾĪ, Turkish slave commander of the Saljuqs; in the late 5th/11th century, under Sultans Malekšāh and Berkyaruq (Barkīāroq), he bore the traditional title of Ḵᵛārazmšāh. Ḵᵛārazm had passed into Saljuq hands with the flight of the son of the Oḡuz Yabḡū Šāh Malek of Jand in 433/1042 and had subsequently become an important base fo…

(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…

a small oasis town of central Iran (altitude 1,004 m) on the southern fringe of the Dašt-e Kavīr, 100 km southeast of Yazd in the direction of Kermān. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 4, pp. 391 BĀFQ, a small oasis town of central Iran (altitude 3,293 feet/1,004 m) on the southern fringe of the Dašt-e Kavīr, 62 miles/100 km southeast of Yazd in the direction of Kermān. Brackish water is supplied from qanāts and springs, and the main local activities are agriculture and weaving; some well-known iron deposits lie to the north of the town. …

or Barsḡān, a place in Central Asia, on the southern shores of the Ïsïq-Göl, in the region known as Semirechye or Yeti-su “the land of the seven rivers,” in what is now the Kyrgyz Republic. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 825 BARSḴĀN, or Barsḡān, a place in central Asia, on the southern shores of the Ïsïq-Göl, in the region known as Semirechye or Yeti-su “the land of the seven rivers,” in what is now the Kyrgyz Republic. In the medieval Islamic sources, the name seems also to have been applied, by a p…

(Pers. Baktūzūn), a Turkish slave general of the Samanids prominent in the confused struggles for power during the closing years of the Samanid amirate (end of the 10th century). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 86 BEGTUZUN, Pers. Baktūzūn ( tuzun being from the Orkhon Turkish tōḏun, a title of high military rank in the Gök Turkish empire, see G. Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, Oxford, 1972, pp. 350-51), a Turkish slave general of the Samanids prominent in the confused struggles for power …

(AMĪR-E ḤARAS) “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 959 AMĪR-E ḤARAS “commander of the guard,” the official at the court of the ʿAbbasid caliphs and at certain of its provincial successor states who was directly responsible for policing the palace and for carrying out the caliph’s wishes, includ…

poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 251 ABŪ AḤMAD B. ABĪ BAKR B. ḤĀMED AL- KĀTEB, poet and official of the Samanids, fl. first half of the 4th/10th century; his exact dates are unknown. His father, Abū Bakr, had been secretary to Amir Esmāʿīl b. Aḥmad (279-95/892-907) and vizier to Aḥmad Esmāʿīl (295-301/907-14) before the vizierate of Abū ʿAbdallāh Jayhānī. Abū Aḥmad thought that the family traditions of official servi…

title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1200-20). TERKEN (or TORKĀN) ḴĀTUN, the title of the wife of the Khwarazmshah Tekiš b. Il-Arslān (r. 1172-1200) and mother of ʿAlāʾ-al-Din Moḥammad (r. 1200-20). Terken Ḵātun (cf. Bosworth, “Terken Khātūn”) belonged to the Qanğlı group of Turks, apparently part of the Qıpčaq confederation that at this time controlled the steppes to the north of Khwarazm (see CHORASMIA) and the Aral Sea. More precisely, Nasavi claims that she ca…

the department of the administration which, in the successor states to the ʿAbbasid caliphate in the Islamic East, looked after military affairs, such as the recruitment and discharge of soldiers, their pay allotments, etc. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 687-689 ʿARŻ, DĪVĀN(-E), the department of the administration which, in the successor states to the ʿAbbasid caliphate in the Islamic East, looked after military affairs, such as the recruitment and discharge of soldiers, their pay allotments, their t…

in early medieval times the capital of the then still Iranian province of Farḡāna. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 729 AḴSĪKAṮ (AḴSĪKANT, later medieval form AḴSĪ), in early medieval times the capital of the then still Iranian province of Farḡāna; according to the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam (p. 112, tr. Minorsky, p. 116), it was “the residence of the amīr and his local representatives ( ʿommāl).” At the time of the Arab conquests in Central Asia, Farḡāna was an independent principality under a Sogdian local ruler (the name Aḵsīkaṯ must …

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 …

b. Maḥmūd b. Sebüktegīn, Abu’l-Moẓaffar, Ẓahīr-al-Dawla, Rażī-al-Dīn, etc., Ghaznavid sultan (r. 1059-99). A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 63-65 EBRĀHĪM B. MASʿŪD ( I) b. Maḥmūd b. Sebüktegīn, Abu’l-Moẓaffar, Ẓahīr-al-Dawla, Rażī-al-Dīn, etc., Ghaznavid sultan (r. 451-92/1059-99). Ebrāhīm succeeded his brother Farroḵzād in Ḡazna on 19 Ṣafar 451/April 6, 1059 (Bayhaqī, ed. Fayyāż, p. 483) at the age of twenty-seven; he and Farroḵzād were virtually the only survivors from the general…

the basic modern form of the name of two small towns of northern Persia, normally written Āba in medieval Islamic sources. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 29-30 ĀVA, the basic modern form (and the older spoken form) of the name of two small towns of northern Persia, normally written Āba in medieval Islamic sources. The geographers of that time had difficulty in distinguishing the two places, but usually designate them by the names “Aba of Hamadān” (Maqdesī, pp. 25, 51, “Āba of Qazvīn”) and “Aba of Sāva.” 1. Āba (now Āvaj) of Hamadān. This, the mo…

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…

(from Ar. plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 2, pp. 196-197 BĪĀR (from Arabic beʾār, plur. of beʾr “well, spring”), a small settlement of medieval Islamic times on the northern fringe or the Dašt-e Kavīr, modern Bīārjomand, described by the medieval geographers as being three days’ journey from Besṭām and as being comprised administratively within the province of Qūmes (…

or BENĀKAṮ, the main town of the medieval Transoxanian province of Šāš or Čāč; it almost certainly had a pre-Islamic history as a center of the Sogdians. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 6, pp. 668-669 BANĀKAṮ, BENĀKAṮ (in Jovaynī, Fanākat), the main town of the medieval Transoxanian province of Šāš or Čāč, to be distinguished from the nearby town of Benkaṯ, another name of the town of Šāš, later Tashkent. Banākaṯ flourished in early Islamic times and almost certainly had a pre-Islamic history as a center of the Sogdians. According to Markwart, Wehrot und A…

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…

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…

military commander in 3rd/9th century Khorasan, one of several contenders for authority in the region after the collapse of Taherid rule had left a power vacuum, d. 268/882. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 650 AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH ḴOJESTĀNĪ, military commander in 3rd/9th century Khorasan, one of several contenders for authority in the region after the collapse of Taherid rule had left a power vacuum, d. 268/882. He was from Ḵoǰestān, a small town of Bādḡīs (the district northeast of Herat, described b…

Ghaznavid sultan (r. 509-11/1116-18). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 548-549 ARSLĀNŠĀH b. Masʿud (III) b. EbrĀhĪm, Abu’l-Molūk Solṭān-al-Dawla, Ghaznavid sultan (r. 509-11/1116-18). The alternative form of his name, Malek Arslān or Arsalān, is the more common one. When Malek Arslān’s father, Masʿūd III, died in 508/1115, his second son Ażod-al-dawla Šīrzād succeeded briefly as sultan in Ḡazna. He reigned just one year, according to Ḥamdallāh Mostawfī, when his brother Ma…

a minor Iranian Shiʿite dynasty of Māzandarān in the Caspian coastlands that flourished in the late medieval, pre-Safavid period. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 742-743 ĀL-E AFRĀSĪĀB, a minor Iranian Shiʿite dynasty of Māzandarān in the Caspian coastlands that flourished in the late mediaeval, pre-Safavid period; it is also called (e.g. by Rabino) the Kīā dynasty of Čalāb or Čalāv (after the district [ bolūk] of that name in Āmol, Māzandarān). In the tortuous politics and military maneuverings of the petty princes of the Cas…

amir of the line of later Saffarids, sometimes called the third dynasty of Saffarids and, by a historian like Jūzǰānī, the “Maleks of Nīmrūz and Seǰestān.” A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 291 ABU’L- FAŻL (in Jūzǰānī ABU’L-FATḤ) TĀJ-AL- DĪN NAṢR B. ṬĀHER, amir of the line of later Saffarids, sometimes called the third dynasty of Saffarids and, by a historian like Jūzǰānī, the “Maleks of Nīmrūz and Seǰestān.” He succeeded his father Bahāʾ-al-dawla Ṭāher b. Moḥammad in about 483/1090-91 and died, a centenarian, in 559/1164. The Tārīḵ-e Sīstān records …

a small settlement and subdistrict ( dehestān) in the district ( baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 191 ʿAQDĀ, a small settlement and subdistrict ( dehestān) in the district ( baḵš) of Ardakān-e Yazd lying at 32° 30’ north latitude and 53° 36’ east longitude on the road connecting Yazd with Nāʾīn and Isfahan, at a distance of 74 km from Nāʾīn and 100 km from Yazd. In medieval Islamic times, ʿAqdā was regarded as an administrative dependency of Yazd and as marking the frontier between Yazd and Nāʾīn, the latte…

Arabicized form of Persian Gowzgān(ān), a district of eastern Khorasan in early Islamic times, now roughly corresponding to the northwest of modern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 1, pp. 81-82 JOWZJĀN, the Arabicized form of the Persian Gowz-gān(ān), a district of what was in early Islamic times eastern Khorasan, now roughly corresponding to the northwest of modern Afghanistan, adjacent to the frontier with the southeastern fringe of the Turkmenistan Republic. Vladimir Minorsky surmis…

the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be knowledgeable about horses, be a skillful horseman” and the noun faras “horse." A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 245 FĀRES (plurs. forsān, fawāres), the Arabic term for “rider on a horse, cavalryman,” connected with the verb farasa/farosa “to be knowledgeable about horses, be a skillful horseman” and the noun faras “horse.” Since in ancient Arabian society the owner of a horse was a comparatively rich man, often a tribal chief, sayyed, and since in th…

vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 261 ABŪ BAKR B. ABĪ ṢĀLEḤ, vizier of the Ghaznavids in the 5th/11th century. He is first heard of as the second vizier to serve Sultan Farroḵzād b. Masʿūd (443-51/1052-59). He was called to this office, probably at the end of 445 or beginning of 446/spring-summer, 1055, in succession to Ḥosayn b. Mehrān. He had already had a long career as official and soldier and for thirty years had been a governor…

member of the Dailamite dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 536/1141?). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 328-329 ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR GARŠĀSP (II), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA ʿAŻOD-AL-DĪN B. ʿALĪ B. ABĪ MANṢŪR FARĀMARZ B. ʿALĀʾ-AL-DAWLA MOḤAMMAD, member of the Dailamite dynasty of the Kakuyids (d. 536/1141?). Like his father ʿAlī and grandfather Abū Manṣūr Farāmarz, Abū Kālīǰār Garšāsp was head of the Kakuyid family in their fief of the town of Yazd, which had been granted by the Saljuq Toḡrïl Beg in 433/1051. …

Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din Atsïz b. Moḥammad, , who had skillfully preserved the autonomy of Chorasmia. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 6, pp. 643-644 IL-ARSLĀN, ABU’L-FATḤ, Chorasmian king of the line of Anuštegin Ḡarčaʾi (r. 1156-72). He was the son and successor of ʿAlāʾ-Din Atsïz b. Moḥammad (see ATSÏZ ḠARČAʾI), who had skillfully preserved the autonomy of Chorasmia (see CHORASMIA ii.) and had taken a prominent role in affa…

b. Neẓām al-Molk (1043-1106/7), eldest son of the great Saljuq vizier and himself vizier to the Saljuq sultans Barkīāroq (1092-1105) and Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (1105-18). A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 2, pp. 164-165 FAḴR-AL-MOLK b. Neẓām al-Molk, ABU’L-FATḤ MOẒAFFAR (b. 434/1043; d. 500/1106-7), eldest son of the great Saljuq vizier and himself vizier to the Saljuq sultans Barkīāroq (q.v.; 485-98/1092-1105) and Moḥammad b. Malekšāh (498-511/1105-18). He seems to have had no qualifications for office beyond the distinguished name o…

(or ASBĪJĀB, ESBĪJĀB) a town and district of medieval Transoxania. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 749-750 ASFĪJĀB (or ASBĪJĀB, ESBĪJĀB) a town and district of medieval Transoxania, essentially comprising the basin of the Syr Darya’s right-bank affluent, the Ares (Russian Arys’) river. The town of Asfīǰāb lay upstream from Čemkant and corresponds to the 19th-century Sayrām (in the territory of the present Soviet Kazakhstan). The district lay beyond the Iranian heartlands of Tra…

ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 7, pp. 696-697 ASAD B. SĀMĀNḴODĀ, (Sāmānḵodāt in Naršaḵī), ancestor of the Samanid dynasty. Sāmānḵodā seems to have been a local landowner ( dehqān) of the village of Sāmān in the district of Balḵ. Bīrunī gives a genealogy going back four generations from Sāmānḵodā to the Sasanian Bahrām Čūbīn ( Āṯār al-bāqīa, p. 39; Chronology, p. 48); while Gardīzī traces the line back to Gayomarṯ, the first man (ed. Nazim, pp. 19-20; ed. Ḥabībī, p 145). This affiliation of the Sa…

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…

B. EBRĀHĪM, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR, Ghaznavid sultan in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India (r. 1117-1157?). A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 5, pp. 526-527 BAHRĀMŠĀH B. MASʿŪD III B. EBRĀHĪM, ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR, Ghaznavid sultan in eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India with the favored honorific title (among many) of Yamīn-al-Dawla wa Amīn-al-Mella, reigned 511-?552/1117-?1157. Bahrāmšāh was one of Masʿūd III’s several sons, though probably not by the latter’s wife Jawhar Ḵātūn, daughte…

(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…

(350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and Khorasan and successor of his brother ʿAbd-al-Malek after the latter’s death in Šawwāl, 350/November, 961. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 383-384 ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR (I) B. NŪḤ B. NAṢR, called AL-AMĪR AL-SADĪD and AL-MALEK AL-MOẒAFFAR (350-66/961-76), Samanid ruler in Transoxania and Khorasan and successor of his brother ʿAbd-al-Malek after the latter’s death in Šawwāl, 350/November, 961. ʿAbd-al-Malek’s reign had been filled with discord, the ami…

literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from the Saljuq period onwards, had the responsibility of tasting the ruler’s food and drink in order to ensure that it was not poisoned. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 1, pp. 47-48 ČĀŠNĪGĪR, literally “taster” (Pers. čāšnī “taste”), the official who at the court of Turkish dynasties in Iran and elsewhere, from the Saljuq period onwards, had the responsibility of tasting the ruler’s food and drink in order to ensure that it was not poisoned. Un…

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…

(r. 1172-1200), ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar, a ruler of the branch of Khwarazmshahs who descended from the Great Saljuq slave commander (ḡolām) Anuštigin Ḡarčāʾi. TEKIŠ B. IL ARSLĀN, ʿAlāʾ-al-Donyā wa’l-Din Abu’l-Moẓaffar (r. 1172-1200; for his full name, see Ebn al-Aṯir XI, p. 377; for the meaning of tekiš Turk. “he who strikes in battle,” see Bayur), a ruler of the branch of Khwarazmshahs who descended from the Great Saljuq slave commander (ḡ olām) Anuštigin Ḡarča’i (r. ca. 1077-97) and ruled in Khwarazm (see CHORASMIA). Tekiš was the eldest son of Il Arslān (r. 1…

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 region of eastern Transcaucasia. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 5, pp. 520-522 ARRĀN, a region of eastern Transcaucasia. It lay essentially within the great triangle of land, lowland in the east but rising to mountains in the west, formed by the junction of the Rivers Kur or Kura and Araxes or Aras. It was thus bounded on the north by Šervān; on the north west by Šakkī (Armenian Šakʿe) and Kaxeti in eastern Georgia; on the south by Armenia and Azerbaijan; and on the southeast …

(d. 1149-50), son of the well-known Saljuq vizier (d. 485/1092) and himself vizier for the Great Saljuqs and then for the ʿAbbasid caliphs. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 642-643 AḤMAD B. NEẒĀM-AL- MOLK, ABŪ NAṢR (d. 544/1149-50), son of the well-known Saljuq vizier (d. 485/1092) and himself vizier for the Great Saljuqs and then for the ʿAbbasid caliphs. He was born in Balḵ, his mother being a Georgian princess; she was either daughter or niece of King Bagrat I and formerly married (or at leas…

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 …

(or Bavan), a small town in the medieval Islamic province of Bāḏḡīs, to the north and west of Herat. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 3, pp. 306-307 BABAN (or Bavan), a small town in the medieval Islamic province of Bāḏḡīs, to the north and west of Herat, more particularly, in the district of Ganj Rostāq (q.v.), which formed the eastern part of Bāḏḡīs. It must have been within the Herat welāyat of modern Afghanistan, just south of the border with the Turkmenistan S.S.R. and near the modern Afghan town of Košk. The 4th/10th-century geographers link it with …

b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence and incipient disintegration, being the last effective ruler of the line. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 382 ʿEMĀD-AL-DĪNMARZBĀN, ABŪ KĀLĪJĀR b. Solṭān-al-Dawla Abū Šojāʿ (399-440/1009-48), amir of the Buyid dynasty in the period of that family’s decadence and incipient disintegration, being the last effective ruler of the line. He ruled over Fārs and Ḵūzestān 415-40/1024-48, in Kermān fro…