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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…

official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 324 ABU’L- ḤOSAYN AḤMAD B. SAʿD KĀTEB, official of the Buyids and writer in Arabic of the 4th/10th century. Little is known of him beyond what Yāqūt records in his biographical notice. He apparently came from Fārs; in 323/935 he was appointed head of the finances of the province of Isfahan by the Buyid amir ʿEmād-al-dawla, who had in the previous year taken over Fārs from the governor o…

a town in medieval northern Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 2, pp. 218-219 ABĪVARD, a town in medieval Iran situated in northern Khorasan, in the northern foothills of the Hazār Masǰed range where these mountains slope down in the Qara Qum desert. It is important historically as part of the protective chain of frontier defense posts established by the ancient Iranian kings against the irruption of barbarians from the steppes of Inner Asia. Its site (now called Kohna Abīva…

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…

(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…

or ANDARĀBA, the name of a river and a town situated upon it in northern Afghanistan. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 1, pp. 10 ANDARĀB or ANDARĀBA (Lit.: " between the rivers"), the name of a river and a town situated upon it in northern Afghanistan, in what was in mediaeval Islamic times the province of Ṭoḵārestān. The valley lies in 35° 47’ north latitude and 68° 49’ east longitude, and falls within the modern Afghan province (post-1964 administrative reorganization) of Baḡlān. The town …

(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…

governor in Khorasan during the confused struggles for supremacy there between the Saffarids, Samanids, and various military adventures in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th century, d. 307/920. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 643-644 AḤMAD B. SAHL B. HĀŠEM, governor in Khorasan during the confused struggles for supremacy there between the Saffarids, Samanids, and various military adventures in the late 3rd/9th and early 4th/10th century, d. 307/920. Aḥmad sprang from an aristocratic family of Persian dehqāns of the Marv oasis, the Kām…

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…

governor in Ḵᵛārazm and son of the last Tahirid governor in Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 642 AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ṬĀHER, governor in Ḵᵛārazm and son of the last Tahirid governor in Khorasan. Although Vasmer has doubted whether Ṭāher b. Moḥammad, who ruled in Marv after the capture of Moḥammad b. Ṭāher at Nīšāpūr in 259/873, was the latter’s son, there seems no reason to doubt the filiation of Aḥmad. He is mentioned by Ebn al-Aṯīr, in his account of the complex fighting …

Official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of the 5th/11th century during the reigns of the sultans Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd I and Masʿūd III b. Ebrāhīm. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 350-351 ABŪ NAṢR HEBATALLĀH FĀRSĪ, QEWĀM-AL-MOLK NEẒĀM-AL-DĪN, official, soldier and poet of the Ghaznavid empire, flourished in the second half of the 5th/11th century during the reigns of the sultans Ebrāhīm b. Masʿūd I and Masʿūd III b. Ebrāhīm. His antecedents and his dates of birth an…

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…

a military adventurer who temporarily held power in Sīstān during the confused years following the collapse of the first Saffarid amirate and the military empire of ʿAmr b. Layṯ in 287/900. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 643 AḤMAD B. QODĀM, a military adventurer who temporarily held power in Sīstān during the confused years following the collapse of the first Saffarid amirate and the military empire of ʿAmr b. Layṯ¯ in 287/900. In the ensuing years, various Saffarid princes held power within the lim…

a settlement in medieval Badaḵšān in northeastern Afghanistan, now in the modern Afghan province of Eškāšem. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 6, pp. 614 EŠKĀŠ(E)M (called Sekāšem, Sekīmešt, and Eskīmešt by early geographers), a settlement in medieval Badaḵšān in northeastern Afghanistan (q.v.), now in the modern Afghan province of Eškāšem (lat. 36° 43′ N., long. 71° 34′ E.; not to be confused with Eškameš, further to the west in the Qondoz or Qaṭaḡan district of Badaḵšān). It is situated o…

(819-93), littérateur ( adīb) and historian of Baghdad, of a Khorasani family. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 6, pp. 663-664 EBN ABĪ ṬĀHER ṬAYFŪR, ABU’L-FAŻL AḤMAD (204-80/819-93), littérateur ( adīb) and historian of Baghdad, of a Khorasani family. His extensive adab works include treatises on poets and singing, praised by Abu’l-Faraj Eṣfahānī in his Ketāb al-aḡānī, and the partially extant literary anthology Ketāb al-manṯūr wa’l-manẓūm (Cairo, 1326/1908), used by, among others, Abū Ḥayyān Tawḥīdī in his al-Baṣāʾer wa’l-ḏaḵāʾer (see the li…

(d. Marv, 1116-17), Persian writer and boon-companion ( nadīm), whose manual for courtiers preserves otherwise lost information on the later Ghaznavids. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 1-2 EBN BĀBĀ KĀŠĀNĪ (Qāšānī), ABU’L-ʿABBĀS (d. Marv, 510/1116-17), Persian writer and boon-companion ( nadīm), whose manual for courtiers preserves otherwise lost information on the later Ghaznavids. Presumably a native of Kāšān, Ebn Bābā worked in western Persia, Baghdad, and finally Khorasan, probably at the court o…

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…

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…

great-grandson of the co-founder of the Saffarid dynasty and ephemeral boy amir in Sīstān, 299-301/912-13. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 992 ʿAMR B. YAʿQŪB B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿAMR B. LAYṮ ABŪ ḤAFṢ, great-grandson of the co-founder of the Saffarid dynasty and ephemeral boy amir in Sīstān, 299-301/912-13. The first Saffarid empire had collapsed a decade after the defeat and capture of ʿAmr b. Layṯ, and Sīstān itself had come under Samanid occupation in 298/911, with Abū Ṣāleḥ Manṣūr b. Esḥ…

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 …

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)…

called JAHĀNSŪZ, Ghurid sultan and the first ruler of the Šansabānī family to make the Ghurids a major power in the eastern Islamic world (544-56/1149-61). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 778-779 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DĪN ḤOSAYN B. ʿEZZ-AL-DĪN ḤOSAYN, called JAHĀNSŪZ, Ghurid sultan and the first ruler of the Šansabānī family to make the Ghurids a major power in the eastern Islamic world (544-56/1149-61). By the early 6th/12th century the Šansabānī chiefs had acquired the main power in the mountainous region of Ḡ…

Samanid prince, the cousin of the amir Aḥmad b. Esmāʿīl (295-301/907-14) and uncle of his successor Naṣr b. Aḥmad (301-31/914-43). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 383 ABŪ ṢĀLEḤ MANṢŪR B. ESḤĀQ B. AḤMAD B. ASAD SĀMĀNĪ, Samanid prince, the cousin of the amir Aḥmad b. Esmāʿīl (295-301/907-14) and uncle of his successor Naṣr b. Aḥmad (301-31/914-43). Little is known of his personal life, except that he filled various governorships on behalf of the Samanid rulers. Esmāʿīl b. Aḥmad (279-95/892-90…

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…

Ghaznavid official and vizier, d. ca. 434/1043. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 660-661 AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ʿABD-AL-ṢAMAD ŠĪRĀZĪ, ḴᵛĀJA ABŪ NAṢR (usually “Aḥmad-e ʿAbd-al-Ṣamad” in Bayhaqī, Ghaznavid official and vizier, d. ca. 434/1043. The nesba “Šīrāzī” indicates a family origin in southwest Persia; and panegyrics to Aḥmad’s son mention descent from the ʿAbbasids. But the family was in the service of the Samanids by the late 4th/10th century; and Aḥmad’s father, Abū Ṭāher, is only heard of as …

Middle Pers. form Čagīnīgān, Arabic rendering Ṣaḡānīān, with the common rendering of Iranian č as ṣ. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 6, pp. 614-615 ČAḠĀNĪĀN (Middle Pers. form Čagīnīgān, Arabic rendering Ṣaḡānīān, with the common rendering of Iranian č as ṣ; Marquart’s speculation [1938, p. 93] of an origin in Mongolian čagan “white” is baseless; attested in Sogdian writing as cγʾny [Henning, pp. 8-9]), a district of medieval Islamic Transoxania substantially comprising the basin of the right-bank affluent of the Oxus, the Ča…

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…

“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 …

one of the five administrative divisions (kūra) of Fārs, in Sasanian and early Islamic times. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 4, pp. 384-385 ARDAŠĪR-ḴORRA, one of the five administrative divisions ( kūra) of Fārs, in Sasanian and early Islamic times (the other four being enumerated under the Sasanians as Šāpūr-Ḵorra, Arraǰān, Eṣṭaḵr and Dārābīerd). The name means literally “glory of Ardašīr,” with reference to the founder of the Sasanian monarchy, Ardašīr I, son of Pāpak, just as Šāpūr-Ḵorra (lyin…

or Parau, a small medieval town in eastern Persia, lying east of the Caspian Sea and just beyond the northern edge of the Kopet-Dag range facing the Kara Kum desert. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 3, pp. 244-245 FARĀVA (Parau), a small medieval town in eastern Persia, lying east of the Caspian Sea and just beyond the northern edge of the Kopet-Dag range facing the Kara Kum desert. In the early Islamic period it was one of a string of strongly defended fortresses ( rebāṭs), also including Abīvard, Nasā, and Dehestān (qq.v.), along the northern front…

a small town of medieval Fārs, now in the modern rural subdistrict of the same name. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 5, pp. 520 EQLĪD, a small town of medieval Fārs, now in the modern rural subdistrict of the same name (lat. 30° 54’ N., long. 52° 40’ E.). It lies in the Zagros Mountains, and the mediaeval geographers placed it therefore in the sardsīr or cold zone. Administratively, it was in the kūra of Eṣṭaḵr, and is described by the early geographers as populous, with a fortress, running water, and extensive agricultural lands where …

a small district on the middle Syr Darya in Transoxania, at the confluence of that river with its right-bank tributary, the Arys, which flows down from Esfījāb, and also the name of a small town within it. A version of this article is available in print Volume IX, Fascicle 2, pp. 208 FĀRĀB (Pārāb, Bārāb; Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, ed. Sotūda, p. 117, tr. Minorsky, p. 118; Eṣṭaḵrī, p. 346, tr. pp. 307, 360; Moqaddasī/Maqdesī, pp. 26, 48), a small district on the middle Syr Darya (Nahr al-Šāš, Sayḥūn) in Transoxania, at the confluence of that river with its r…

a dehqān (landowner) of Hamadān, marzbān (governor) in the former Lakhmid capital of Ḥīra in central Iraq during the years preceding the Arab conquest of that province. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 2, pp. 177 ĀZĀḎBEH B. BĀNEGĀN (MĀHĀN?) B. MEHR-BONDĀD, a dehqān (landowner) of Hamadān, marzbān (governor) in the former Lakhmid capital of Ḥīra in central Iraq during the years preceding the Arab conquest of that province. Ṭabarī’s account of his governorship cites as source Hešām b. Moḥammad Kalbī and this same …

(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 …

"sons," term for the offspring of Persian soldiers and officials in the Yemen and of Arab mothers. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 226-228 ABNĀʾ “sons” in Arabic, used as a term for the offspring of Persian soldiers and officials in the Yemen and of Arab mothers. These people were known thus in the lifetime of the Prophet (ca. 580-632 A.D.) and survived as a distinct ethnic and social group in the first century or so of Islam. The Sasanians made Iraq an integral part of their empire, and Persians settled there in appreciable numbers (cf. …

a local dynasty, most probably of Iranian origin but conceivably of Iranized Arab stock, who ruled in the principality of Čaḡānīān on the right bank of the upper Oxus in the basin of the Sorḵān river. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 764-766 ĀL-E MOḤTĀJ, a local dynasty, most probably of Iranian origin but conceivably of Iranized Arab stock, who ruled in the principality of Čaḡānīān on the right bank of the upper Oxus in the basin of the Sorḵān river (Čaḡān-rūd in Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, p. 41), first as vassals of the Samanids in the 4th/10th century a…

governor ( ʿamīd) of Balḵ and northern Afghanistan under the Saljuq ruler of Khorasan, Čaḡrī Beg Dāʾūd, and then under his son, Alp Arslan. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 3, pp. 254 ABŪ ʿALĪ AḤMAD B. ŠĀḎĀN, governor ( ʿamīd) of Balḵ and northern Afghanistan under the Saljuq ruler of Khorasan, Čaḡrī Beg Dāʾūd, and then under his son, Alp Arslan. One of the main events of his tenure of power was the final capture from the Ghaznavids of the important bridgepoint over the Oxus of Termeḏ; after this event, the…

b. Ḵosrow-Fīrūz Šīrāzī (1046-93), last vizier of the Great Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 12-13 EBN DĀROST, TĀJ-AL-MOLK ABU’L- ḠANĀʾEM MARZBĀN b. Ḵosrow-Fīrūz Šīrāzī (438-86/1046-93), last vizier of the Great Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh (r. 465-85/1072-92). Born of a secretarial family in Fārs, he served the Saljuq slave amir Qoṭb-al-Dīn Sāvtegīn in southern Persia and Iraq during the early part of Malekšāh’s reign. Sāvtegīn commended him to the sultan, who first…

b. Mūsā b. Mardawayh b. Fūrak Eṣfahānī (935-1019), scholar of Isfahan in the Buyid period, who wrote in the fields of tradition, tafsīr (Koranic exegsis), history, and geography. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 38-39 EBN MARDAWAYH (Mardūya), AHMAD b. Mūsā b. Mardawayh b. Fūrak Eṣfahānī, scholar of Isfahan in the Buyid period (323-410/935-1019), who wrote in the fields of tradition, tafsīr (Koranic exegsis), history, and geography. He studied Hadith in Iraq and in his native town and was the pupil of such leading tradit…

a small town of medieval Khorasan, in the Qara Qum, or sandy desert, between Marv and Saraḵs, 10 farsaḵs from the former, on which it was administratively dependent. A version of this article is available in print Volume VI, Fascicle 6, pp. 645 DANDĀNQĀN, a small town of medieval Khorasan, in the Qara Qum, or sandy desert, between Marv and Saraḵs, 10 farsaḵs from the former, on which it was administratively dependent (Ebn Ḵorradāḏbeh, pp. 24, 202; Eṣṭaḵrī, p. 284; Ebn Rosta, p. 279; Zhukovskiĭ, pp. 21-22, 38). The site of the settlement is now in the Repub…

(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…

b. Moḥammad (d. 1195), a leader of the Oghuz Turkmen in Khorasan and, in the latter years of the 12th century, ruler of Kermān. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 4, pp. 416 DĪNĀR, MALEK b. Moḥammad (d. 591/1195), a leader of the Oghuz Turkmen in Khorasan and, in the latter years of the 12th century, ruler of Kermān. He is first mentioned as one of the Oghuz tribal chiefs who in 548/1153 brought about the downfall of the Saljuq sultan Sanjar (511-52/1118-57) in Khorasan (Ebn al-Aṯīr, XI, p. 176). Duri ng the subsequent Oghuz …

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…

lit., “the monastery at the bend in the river”; a medieval town in Iraq situated on the Tigris 15 farsangs (= 80 km) southeast of Baghdad. A version of this article is available in print Volume VII, Fascicle 2, pp. 170 DAYRAL-ʿĀQŪL (lit., “the monastery at the bend in the river”; cf. Syriac ʿaqûlā “bend”; Payne Smith, II, cols. 2963-65), a medieval town in Iraq situated on the Tigris 15 farsangs (= 80 km) southeast of Baghdad. It presumably grew up around a Christian monastery, but the latter had apparently disappeared by the time of Šāboštī (10th century), who did not mention its existence in his K…

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…

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 …

b. ʿAbd-Allāh (fl. 9th century), author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 1, pp. 37-38 EBN ḴORDĀḎBEH (or Ḵorradāḏbeh), ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿOBAYD-ALLĀH b. ʿAbd-Allāh (fl. 3rd/9th century), author of the earliest surviving Arabic book of administrative geography. He was not, apparently, the first geographer to write in Arabic, but he is the first whose book has survived in anything like its original form. His grandfather Ḵorradāḏbeh …

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…

name of three historical localities: a village in Fārs, a fortress o the northeast of Lake Zereh in Sistān, and especially the district of that name in Khorasan. A version of this article is available in print Volume XV, Fascicle 1, pp. 59-61 JOVAYN, name of three locales. 1. Jovayn or Jovaym in Fars. A village in the district ( kura) of Ardašir Ḵorra (a major admistrative division of Fars during the Sasanian and early Islamic periods; q.v.) at five parasangs ( farsaḵ) from Shiraz on the road to Arrajān (Eṣṭaḵri, p. 133; Ebn Ḥawqal, p. 202; Moqaddasi, pp. 106, 455; Ḥodud al-ʿālam, p. 134, tr., p…

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…

The Iranian name of the family, Farīḡūn, may well be connected with that of the legendary Iranian figure Farīdūn/Afrīdūn; moreover the author of the Ḥodūd al-ʿālam, who seems to have lived and worked in Gūzgān, specifically says in his entry on the geography of Gūzgān that the malek of that region was a descendant of Afrīdūn. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 756-758 ĀL-E FARĪḠŪN, a minor Iranian dynasty of Gūzgān (Gūzgānān, Jūzǰān; in what is now northern Afghanistan) which flourished from some time before the beginning of th…

Elwell-Sutton’s interests and publications in Persian studies fall into five categories: Persian language; Persian literature; modern Persian history and politics; Persian folklore; and Islamic science. His Colloquial Persian and Elementary Persian Grammar have remained in print as standard works. A version of this article is available in print Volume VIII, Fascicle 4, pp. 372-373 ELWELL-SUTTON, LAURENCE PAUL (b. Ballylickey, Cork County, Ireland, 2 June 1912-d. Edinburgh, 2 September 1984), scholar of Islamic and modern Persia (Figure 1). Son of a…

the name both of an administrative subdistrict (dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province (ostān). A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 8, pp. 847-848 ĀŠTĪĀN, the name both of an administrative subdistrict ( dehestān) and its chef-lieu in the First Province ( ostān). It lies on the northeastern side of the central Zagros mountain massif in a region traditionally known as ʿErāq (modern Arāk), and the dehestān is one of three making up the district ( baḵš) of Ṭarḵūrān in the subprovince ( šahrastān) of Arāk or Solṭānābād; the town of Arāk lies to …

river of northern Khorasan, flowing first northwest, and then southwest into the Caspian Sea. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 16 ATRAK, river of northern Khorasan, flowing first northwest, and then southwest into the Caspian Sea. Its course is some 320 miles (according to Ḥamdallāh Mostawfī, 120 farsaḵs); the upper two-thirds drain the wide trough between the mountain chains of the Kopet-Dag and the Kūh-e Hazār Masjed to the north and the Kūh-e ʿAlī, Kūh-e Šāh Jahān and Kūh-e Bīnālūd to the south. The Atra…

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…

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…

the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by means of couriers mounted on mules or horses or camels or traveling on foot. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 8, pp. 797-798 BARĪD, the official postal and intelligence service of the early Islamic caliphate and its successor states. The service operated by means of couriers mounted on mules or horses or camels or traveling on foot. In this way, official letters and dispatches were delivered to the central dīvān in Damascus or B…

title given to various dynastic rulers of Ḵᵛārazm (see CHORASMIA).KHWARAZMSHAH i. AFRIGHIDS See ĀL-E AFRIḠ. KHWARAZMSHAH ii. MAʾMUNIDS See ĀL-E MAʾMUN. KHWARAZMSHAH iii. LINE OF ANUŠTIGIN After the Saljuq takeover in Khwarazm in the early 1040s, the Saljuq Sultans appointed various governors in the province, including Alp Arslān’s (r. 1063-72) son Arslān Arḡun, a son of the vizier Neẓām-al-Molk (1018-92), and several Turkish ḡolām commanders (see BARDA AND BARDADĀRI). One of these last was Anuštigin Ḡarčaʾi, Malek Šāh’s (r. 1073-92) ṭaštdār, or keeper of the royal washing b…

(or BANU’L-AḤRĀR), in Arabic literally “the free ones,” a name applied by the Arabs at the time of the Islamic conquests to their Persian foes in Iraq and Iran. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 6, pp. 667 AḤRĀR (or BANU’L-AḤRĀR), in Arabic literally “the free ones,” a name applied by the Arabs at the time of the Islamic conquests to their Persian foes in Iraq and Iran. In a poem by the Prophet’s older contemporary, Omayya b. Abi’l-Ṣalt al-Ṯaqafī, concerning the Persian conquest of Yemen from the Ethiopian…

It is likely that substitution ciphers were used by early Persian states, for nearly identical versions were still in use in Qajar Persia. During the reigns of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah and Moḥammad Shah (1834-48) the minister Abu’l-Qāsem Qāʾemmaqām devised a number of letter-substitution codes for communicating with different princes and viziers. A version of this article is available in print Volume V, Fascicle 8, pp. 883-885 CODES ( romūz, sg. ramz), including the use of secret writing and cryptanalysis, in Persia. The use of codes in communications and diplomacy goes ba…

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…

sect of early Islam which arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (r. 656-61) and Moʿāwiya b. Abi Sufyān (r. 661-80). A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 4, pp. 434-435 KHARIJITES IN PERSIA, adherents of a sect of early Islam that arose out of the conflict between ʿAli b. Abi Ṭāleb (q.v.; r. 35-40/656-61) and Moʿāwiya b. Abi Sofyān (r. 41-60/661-80), the fourth and the fifth caliph respectively, when their opposing armies met at Ṣeffin in 37/657. An intransigent element in ʿAli’s forces withdrew its allegiance (Ar. ḵaraja, ‘to leave’) when he ag…

or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt), the chief town until the 10th century of the Islamic province of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 7, pp. 779-780 BARḎAʿA or BARDAʿA (Arm. Partav, Georgian Bardavi, Mid. Pers. Pērōzāpāt; see Marquart, Ērānšahr, pp. 117-18), the chief town until the 4th/10th century of the Islamic province of Arrān, the classical Caucasian Albania, situated two or three farsaḵs (i.e., 8-12 miles) south of the Kor river on its affluent the Ṯarṯūr (mod…

ruler of Ḵᵛārazm with the traditional title Ḵᵛārazmšāh, 521 or 522/1127 or 1128 to 551/1156. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 18-19 ATSÏZ ḠARČAʾĪ, ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN WA’L-DAWLA ABU’L-MOẒAFFAR B. MOḤAMMAD B. ANŪŠTIGIN, ruler of Ḵᵛārazm with the traditional title Ḵᵛārazmšāh, 521 or 522/1127 or 1128 to 551/1156. His family was of Turkish ḡolām origin; his grandfather was appointed governor of Ḵᵛārazm by the Saljuq Sultan Malekšāh; and his father Qoṭb-al-dīn Moḥammad succeeded in the office. In effect, the governorship t…

a province of medieval Islamic times on the right bank of the upper Oxus river in modern Tajikistan. A region of lush pastures, Ḵottal was famed for horse-breeding. ḴOTTAL (Ḵottalan), a province of medieval Islamic times on the right bank of the upper Oxus river in modern Tajikistan. The province lay between the Vaḵšāb and Jaryāb rivers, which are the Vaḵš tributary of the Oxus (see ĀMU DARYĀ) and the upper course of the Oxus, now known as the Panj. To its west were the provinces of Vakš, Qobāḏiān and Čaḡāniān, and to its east the northeaster…

Turkish slave comꏂmander of the Ghaznavid sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd (d. 1040). A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 1, pp. 86 BEGTOḠDÏ (Turkish, lit. “a prince has been born, has arisen,” Persian Baktoḡdī), Turkish slave commander of the Ghaznavid sultans Maḥmūd and Masʿūd, d. 431/1040. His career must have begun in the reign of Maḥmūd, though it is only in the time of his son Masʿūd (421-32/1031-41) that he achieved prominence and commands. He was appointed commander-in-chief in Khorasan at…

b. Mīḵāʾīl b. Saljūq, Abū Solaymān, a member of the Saljuqs, the leading family of the Oghuz Turks, who with his brother Ṭoḡrel (Ṭoḡrïl) Beg founded the Great Saljuq dynasty in Persia in the 5th/11th century. A version of this article is available in print Volume IV, Fascicle 6, pp. 617-618 ČAḠRĪ BEG DĀWŪD b. Mīḵāʾīl b. Saljūq, Abū Solaymān (b. in the 380s/990s, d. 452/1060), a member of the Saljuqs, the leading family of the Oghuz Turks, who with his brother Ṭoḡrel (Ṭoḡrïl) Beg founded the Great Saljuq dynasty in Persia in the 5th/11th century. A…

Ḵᵛārazmšāh who reigned in Transoxania and central and eastern Iran as well as in Ḵᵛārazm, (596-617/1200-20). A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 7, pp. 780-782 ʿALĀʾ-AL- DĪN ABU’L-FATḤ MOḤAMMAD B. TEKIŠ B. IL-ARSLAN, Ḵᵛārazmšāh who reigned in Transoxania and central and eastern Iran as well as in Ḵᵛārazm, 596-617/1200-20. ʿAlāʾ-al-dīn Moḥammad (before his succession to supreme power he was actually known by the laqab or honorific of Qoṭb-al-dīn, traditional amongst the Ḵᵛārazmšāhs of Anūštigin’s line) was the second son of Sultan Te…

“commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. The term seems to be basically Islamic; although it does not occur in the Koran, we do find there the related concept of the “holders of authority.” A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 9, pp. 956-958 AMĪR, “commander, governor, prince” in Arabic. Etymologically, the Arabic root amara “to command” corresponds to the common Hebrew root āmār “to say;” the amir, as well as being the person entitled to give orders and command, thus might also be considered as the spokesman and orator of his gro…