Book/Printed Material History of the Seljuk Empire.
About this Item
Title
- History of the Seljuk Empire.
Summary
- Tārīkh dawlat Āl Saljūq (History of the Seljuk Empire) is a chronicle of the Seljuks in Iraq between 1055 and approximately 1175. It is a version of a work of the Persian-born political figure and savant ʻImad al-Din Muhammad al-Isfahani (1125-1201), as abridged by his near contemporary, al-Fath ibn ʻAli al-Bundari (1190 or 1191-1245 or 1246). The original work by 'Imad al-Din is entitled Nusrat al-fatrah wa-ʻusrat al-qutrah (Victory over feebleness and refuge from trifles). The story begins with the entry of the Seljuk conqueror, Tugrul, into Baghdad in 1055. The work covers the complex royal succession of the dynasty and its amirs, as well as other civil and military leaders, wazirs (advisors), religious authorities, and other notables. It also covers the origin of the name "Seljuk" and the impetus for the rise of the Seljuk sultanate. Although born in Persia (present-day Iran), ʻImad al-Din wrote principally in Arabic and spent most of his life at the Ayyubid courts of Egypt and the Near East. He died in Damascus in 1201. His chronicle is written in a mix of straightforward narrative and baroque rhymed prose, which scholars have found a challenge to interpret and about which al-Bundari complains: "I found the pearls of what he wished to say and express hidden in the wave-crashing seas of his rhyming...." 'Imad al-Din nonetheless is an important source for the history of the medieval Near East, both in his history of the Seljuks and in several other historical works and literary anthologies. Little biographical information exists about al-Fath ibn ʻAli al-Bundari, except that he also condensed another of 'Imad al-Din's historical works, al-Barq al-Shami (The Syrian thunderbolt), which is a personal account of life at the court of the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria, Saladin (1137-93). The edition of Tārīkh dawlat Āl Saljūq presented here was published by al-Mausu'at Press in Cairo in 1900.
Names
- Bundārī, al-Fatḥ ibn ʻAlī, 1190 or 1191-1245 or 1246 Editor.
- Kātib al-Iṣfahānī, ʻImād al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, 1125-1201 Author.
Created / Published
- Cairo : al-Mausu'at Press, 1900.
Headings
- - Iraq
- - 1055 to 1175
- - Islamic Empire
- - Kings and rulers
- - Seljuks
- - Turks
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - Original resource extent: 284 pages ; 24 centimeters.
- - Reference extracted from World Digital Library: Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey, editors, Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Volume 1 (London and New York: Routledge, 1998).
- - Original resource at: Qatar National Library.
- - Content in Arabic.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021666302
Online Format
- compressed data
- image