[CT]introduction

Sohravardi, Majmu`é-ye āsār-e fārsi-ye Shaykh-e Eshrāq, p. 177.

See H. Ziai, Knowledge and Illumination (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), p. 141. Sohravardi offers the example of water that becomes ice in cold weather or vapor by interaction with fire. Each experiment and interaction reveals a property, but not the full potential, of an element. "True" knowledge of water only occurs in perceiving all its possible states and the full potential of each state.

Sohravardi, Majmu`é-ye āsār-e fārsi-ye Shaykh-e Eshrāq, p. 186. In translation, certain missing words have been added to clarify the original Persian text: l. 1, "qavi [va] roshan"; l. 2, "moluk [rā] khās bāshad" .

Ibid., pp. 186-87.

From the "Partownāmé" (Epistle of emanation), ibid., p. 81.

Ibid., p. 76.

Ibid. Sohravardi cast himself as a philosopher-sage in his relationship to the `Ayyubid prince al-Malek az-Zāher, son of the famous Saladin (Salāhoddin, r. 1169-93). But, encountering the wrath of traditional Islamic jurists, he was charged with blasphemy and executed by the order of Saladin in 1191. Sohravardi's involvement with the young `Ayyubid prince and the possible causes of his demise have been elaborated by H. Ziai in "The Source and Nature of Al-Suhrawardi's Illuminationist Political Doctrine," in Aspects of Islamic Political Philosophy, ed. C. Butterworth (Harvard University Press, forthcoming).

Ibid. According to Sohravardi, the light given to "illuminated" sages was passed down in the course of history through philosophers and sages of Persian, Greek, and Indian traditions to the visionary mystics of the Islamic tradition. To emphasize the universality of his doctrines, he intermittently used equivalent terms from all these traditions, including Biblical ones found in the Qorān.

Ibid.

1 It is often speculated that Changiz was using the delegation to gather information on the Khârazmshâh, with whom confrontation was inevitable if Changiz was to establish a world empire. But because most merchants in the delegation were Muslims, and Changiz's immediate preoccupation would have been the conquest of China, the Otrâr incident likely precipitated the events. See J. A. Boyle, "Dynastic and Political History of the Il-Khâns," in Cambridge History of Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975-), vol. 5, pp. 303-5.

2 W. Barthold, Turkestan (London: Gibb Memorial Trust, 1977), p. 404.

3 For further reading, see D. Morgan, The Mongols (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986), and J. Saunders, The History of the Mongol Conquests (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977).

4 According to the pope's envoy to the Great Khân's court, John de Plano Carpini, "Ogdây was poisoned by a woman who is probably to be identified with Fatima, the Persian favorite of his chief wife"; see J. A. Boyle, The Mongol World Empire 1206-1370 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1977), p. 343.

5 Ibid.

6 Morgan, The Mongols, pp. 96-99.

7 The Mamluk dynasty (1250-1517) is the name given to a succession of generals and military warlords ruling over Egypt and Syria who rose to the rank of soltân. Originally brought to Egypt as Caucasian or Circassian slaves for the army, they were known as mamluk, which in Arabic means "slave."

8 Although Qubilây's heir apparent, Jengim, and later Yuan emperors received some Chinese education, they were never fully integrated into Chinese society as were the Il-Khânids in Persia. See H. Franke, "Could the Mongol Emperors Read and Write Chinese?" Asia Major 3 (1952-53), pp. 28-41, and M. Weidner, "Painting and Patronage at the Mongol Court of China," Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1982, p. 186.

9 The famous stand on the Ugra River in 1480 by Ivan III against Khân Ahmad of the Golden Horde is generally considered a watershed event in Russian liberation from Mongol hegemony, even though Ahmad returned to Sarây before any battle took place. See C. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde (London: I. B. Tauris, 1987), pp. 70-72.

10 See M. Rossabi, "The Muslims in the Early Yan Dynasty," in China under Mongol Rule, ed. J. D. Langlois (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981), pp. 257-58.

11 Ibid., pp. 278-82.

12 See, for example, Abol-Qâsem `Abdollâh b. Mohammad-e Kâshâni, Târikh-e Uljâytu (History of Uljâytu), ed. M. Hambali (Tehrân: Bongâh-e Tarjomé va Nashr-e Ketâb, 1348), pp. 96, 153, 199.

13 Ibid., p. 16. Rashidoddin repeatedly used the epithet Pâdshâh-e Islam in his Jâme`ottavârikh. Similar epithets were used in pre-Mongol times, when the ruler was addressed as soltân and considered subordinate to the caliph. For example, in a pledge of allegiance addressed to the Saljug Soltân Sanjar (r. 1118-57), the Khârazmshâh Atsez (r. 1127-56) referred to Sanjar as Soltân-e Islam; see Asnâd va nâmehâ-ye târikhi, az avâel-e dowrehâ-ye Eslâmi tâ avâkher-e `ahd-e shâh Esmâ`il-e Safavi (Historical documents from the early Islamic period up to the era of Shâh Esmâ`il), ed. Sayyed `Ali Mo`ayyed-e Sâbeti (Tehrân: Tahuri Publishers, 1346), p. 98. Pâdshâh-e Islam replaced an earlier epithet that referred to the ruler as Malek-e Islam (Islamic sovereign); see, for instance, Abol-Fazl-e Bayhaqi, Târikh-e Bayhaqi (Bayhaqi chronicles), ed. S. Nafisi (Tehrân: Sanâ'i Publishing, 1319), p. 20.

14 On Il-Khânid coins the transcription of the Mongolian names of rulers appears in Persian. Scribes often miscopied texts and perpetuated errors, and the spellings of foreign rulers' names in written texts are frequently unreliable. Hence the Mongolian name M"ngka was officially transcribed in Persian as "Mungkâ."

15 Sa`di's name actually derived from Abu Bakr's son, Sa`d, in whose name Sa`di dedicated the preface to his Golestân (1258).

16 Turegina (r. 1241-46) and Oghul Ghâymish (r. 1249-51), the widows of the Great Khâns Ogdây and Guyuk, ruled briefly as regents at the death of their spouses, although not directly over the Persian lands.

17 Fazlollâh b. `Abdollâh-e Shirâzi, Târikh-e vassâfol-hazrat (Imperial historical stories) (1852; reprint, Tehrân: Ebn-e Sinâ Bookshop, 1338), p. 197. Abash and Mungkâ's daughter, the princess Kordujin, was appointed governor of Fârs under the Il-Khân Abu-Sa`id.

18 Ibid., p. 221.

19 Kâshâni, Târikh-e Uljâytu, p. 17; see also Hâfez-e Abru, Zeyl-e jâme`ottavârikh-e Rashidi (Continuation of Rashidoddin's jâme`ottavârikh), ed. K. Bayâni (Tehrân: Anjoman-e Âsâr-e Melli Publications, 1350), p. 64.

20 Kâshâni, Târikh-e Uljâytu, pp. 96-102.

21 An earlier farmân in Persian of the Great Khân Guyuk, issued in 1246, is Mongol, not Il-Khânid; see P. Pelliot, Revue de l'orient chrétien, 3d ser., 23 (1922), pp. 17-18. See also K. E. Lupprian, "Die Beziehungen der P„pste zu Islamischen und Mongolischen Herrschern im 13. Jahrhundert Anand Ihreis Briefwechsels," in Studi e Testi (Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1981), vol. 291, pp. 182-89.

22 Another word precedes "Ahmad-e Sâheb Divân" within the toghrâ (calligraphic monogram), which most probably should be read as s"z (literally, "has said" in Turkish). The three dots under this word can be construed as the dots for the letter "p," and it is tempting to read the first word as "Pulâd," perhaps indicating the name Pulâd Zheng Xiang, Qubilây's envoy at the Il-Khânid court. But scribes also used three dots under an "s" to differentiate it from the letter "sh." An extra dot in the "n" of "Sâheb Divân" favors the reading s"z. For the usage of the word s"z and its derivatives, see G. Doerfer, Trkische und Mongolische Elemente im Neuerpersischen (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1963-75), vol. 3, pp. 292-97.

23 Although Prof. G. Herrmann and Y. Zoka (personal communication) have suggested the reading of this word as ânjâ ("of there," i.e., Ardabil), the syntax and the script favor the reading Lanjâ, which must be Langâ, situated in Daylamân near the Caspian Sea. See V. Minorsky, Hudud al-'alam (Regions of the world), 2d ed. (London: Gibb Memorial, 1970), pp. 136, 387. The Historical Gazetteer of Iran, Teheran, and Northwestern Iran, ed. L. Adamec (Graz: Akademische Druck und Verlaganstalt, 1976-89), situates the village of Mandeshin (Mendejin) at 48ø15'N, 37ø25'E (map I-15-C).

24 Map I-15-A of the Historical Gazetteer (ibid.) displays two villages whose names incorporate the word zâvié (hospice), indicating that such hospices were perhaps scattered throughout the region. The existence of so many zâviés and khâneqâhs (Sufi hospices) in the vicinity of Ardabil would later make the area a fertile ground for Safavid propaganda and recruiting during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

25 See Fazlollâh Rashidoddin, Jâme`ottavârikh (Universal history), ed. A. Alioghli (Baku: History Institute of the Soviet Republic of Âzarbâyjân, 1957), vol. 3, p. 231. Rashidoddin used the term bakhshi for Buddhist priests, most probably Uyghurs. The word also refers to Uyghur scribes, who were extensively employed by the Mongols. See E. Asin, "The Bakhshi," in The Arts of the Book in Central Asia, 14th-16th Centuries, ed. B. Gray (Paris: Unesco, 1979), p. 284.

26 See Boyle, "Dynastic and Political History of the Il-Khans," p. 374; see also Hamdollah Mostowfi, Târikh-e gozidé (Select history), ed. A. Navâ'i (Tehrân: Amir Kabir Press, 1339), p. 600.

27 See Rashidoddin, Jâme`ottavârikh, pp. 197, 231. Âq-Buqâ was the father of Amir Hosayn-e Gurkân, who later married his father's widow.

28 Ghiyâsoddin b. Homâm Khândamir, Habibossiyar (Dearest of chronicles), ed. Mohammad-e Dabir Siyâqi (Tehrân: Khayyâm Books, 1974), vol. 3, p. 137.

29 A study by F. W. Cleaves indicates that, following a practice instituted in the time of Changiz Khân, a number of Il-Khânid decrees in Uyghur bore the names of certain warlords and dignitaries attesting the imperial status of the decrees. In all cases, however, the names were written (also in Uyghur) on the back of the decree, clearly a position inferior to the high place of the names in cat. no. 9; see F. W. Cleaves, "A Chancery Practice of the Mongols in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 14 (1951), pp. 493-526. The Uyghur decrees use the term jig inu ([the decree] is attested [by]) in the text preceding the officials' names (ibid., pp. 511-12), while the word s"zindin (their sayings) follows the names of the amirs in cat. no. 9, a term similar in meaning to the one used for the il-khân himself: varlighindin (his words, i.e., his order). The named officials in the Uyghur decrees only attest their imperial provenance; in cat. no. 9, the warlords voice their support for the content of the decree.

30 Shirâzi, Târikh-e vassâfol-hazrat, p. 169.

31 For other âl-tamghâ samples, see P. Pelliot, "Les documents mongols du Musée de Teheran," Atharé Iran 1 (1936), pp. 37-44. See also A. Mostaert and F. W. Cleaves, "Trois documents mongols des archives secrŠtes vaticanes," Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 15 (1952), pp. 430-45.

32 Rashidoddin, Jâme`ottavârikh, p. 238. Bâytmish is also mentioned among the financial officers of the army (idachis) in the testament of Ghâzân to his brother Uljâytu; see Kâshâni, Târikh-e Uljâytu, p. 12. A Bâytmish Qushchi is also mentioned among the amirs sent by Arghun against a rebel prince in 1289; see Rashidoddin, Jâme`ottavârikh, p. 216.

33 See G. Doerfer, "Ein Persisch-Mongolischer Erlass aus dem Jahr 725/1325," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl„ndischen Gesellschaft 125 (1975), p. 340. A translation of the document's text has been communicated to me by Prof. G. Herrmann, who will publish it in the forthcoming Persische Urkunden der Mongolenzeit.

34 See B. Fragner, Repertorium Persischer Herrscherurkunden (Freiburg: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1980), p. 19.

35 See, for example, L. Fekete, Einfuhrung in die Persische Paleographie (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiado, 1977), nos. 7, 11-12, 16, 19, 22, 26, 30, 45, 62.

36 For examples of concise text, see Mungkâ's decrees in T. Allsen, "Politics of Mongol Imperialism," Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1979, p. 147.

37 The scribe and historian Tâj-e Salmâni is usually credited with defining the canons of the ta`liq script in the late fourteenth century; see Qâzi Ahmad-e Qomi, Golestân-e honar (Garden of talents), ed. A. Soheyli (Tehrân: Bonyâd-e Farhang-e Iran, 1352), pp. 15, 42. It is clear from this example, however, that the script had matured well before that time.

38 See A. Eqbâl, Târikh-e Moghol (History of the Mongols) (Tehrân: Amir Kabir Press, 1347), p. 284.

39 The Âltun debter recorded the early years of the Mongol empire, but no copy of it has survived. The Yuan chao bi shi (History of the Mongol imperial dynasty in China), compiled in Chinese from original Mongolian texts and the best source on the so-called "Secret History of the Mongols," must be a very similar text. See P. Pelliot, Histoire secrŠte des Mongols (Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1949), pp. 1-3.

40 For example, see B. Gray, The World History of Rashid Al-Din (London: Faber and Faber, 1978).

41 The oral tradition of earlier Iranian (Pârthian) literature has been referred to by M. Boyce, quoted in G. Lazard, "The Rise of the New Persian Language," Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 4, p. 604. For the oral tradition of the Shâhnâmé, see O. M. Davidson, "The Crown-Bestower in the Iranian Book of Kings," Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1983.

42 See J. Khaleghi Motlagh, "Mo`arrefi va arzyâbi-ye barkhi az dastnevishâ-ye Shâhnâmé" (Introducing and evaluating some early Shâhnâmé manuscripts), Iran Nameh 4, no. 1 (1985), p. 31; also J. Khaleghi Motlagh, "The `Florence' Manuscript of the Shahnama dated 1217," Iran Nameh 7, no. 1 (1988), pp. 63-95.

43 The following reference in the older Abu Mansuri prose preface of the Shâhnâmé (as in cat. no. 27) indicates that when an illustrated manuscript was produced, it was either achieved with Chinese (khitân) help or was influenced by Central Asian and Chinese modes of painting: "And he [the Sâmânid Nasr, son of Ahmad] ordered to the poet Rudaki to translate the fables of Kalilé va Demné (Kalilé and Demné) into Persian verses. And the Kalilé va Demné became popular and was quoted by both the young and the aged. And his [Amir Nasr's] name was immortalized. And then the khitâns added paintings to it, to make it more enjoyable to the reader." See also A. Eqbâl, Bist maghâlé-ye Ghazvini (Twenty articles from Ghazvini) (Tehrân: Donyâ-ye Ketâb, 1363), p. 33.

An extensive reference by Hamzé-ye Esfahâni (d. 970) states that historical accounts and stories concerning lovers were turned into verse for their kings (i.e., Sâsânians) and registered in books deposited in libraries: "The number of these books assembled was so large that it cannot be specified"; see Lazard, "The Rise of the New Persian Language," pp. 624-25. This account is couched in the typically exaggerated terms of Persian chroniclers, but whatever truth can be attached to it, the advent of Islam shifted the focus of manuscript production to Arabic texts, mostly the Qorân, and even if there ever were a tradition of manuscript illustration (such as is often cited for the Artang, the teachings of the third-century religious innovator Mâni), it was not pursued in the Islamic context.

44 See A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, "Le livre des rois, miroir du destin," Studia Iranica 17 (1988), p. 31.

45 The Shâhnâmé so influenced the Mongols that the last of the Il-Khânid puppets, Anushiravân (r. 1343-55), used the usual epithet of the Sâsânian king Anushiravân the Just (531-72) in his decrees; see fig. 6. The descent of the Il-Khânid Anushiravân from Changiz has been contested (see Eqbâl, Târikh-e Moghol, p. 363), but irrespective of his true genealogy, he might not have had a Mongolian name, otherwise Malek Ashraf would have used it on the decrees to emphasize the Il-Khânid connection.

46 Trans. Wheeler Thackston.

47 See M. S. Simpson, The Illustration of an Epic: The Earliest Shahnama Manuscripts (New York: Garland Publishers, 1979).

48 Archaeology Museum Library, Istanbul, ms. 216. For additional information on this manuscript, see M. S. Simpson, "The Role of Baghdad in the Formation of Persian Painting," in Art et société dans le monde iranien, ed. C. Adle (Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1982), pp. 91-116.

49 See A. Lane, Early Islamic Pottery (London: [publ?], 1947), pls. 52-74.

50 See H. Fazâ'eli, Ta`lim-e khatt (Teaching calligraphy) (Tehrân: Sorush Publications, 2536), p. 265. The original document (no. 1632) is in the Senâ Library, Tehrân. Fazâ'eli based his early fifteenth-century attribution for the text on the immature style of its nasta`liq script.

51 See Simpson, Illustration of an Epic, pp. 55-83.

52 This manuscript is generally known as the "second" small Shâhnâmé; ibid., p. 388.

53 See, for example, ibid., pl. 50.

54 Rashidoddin's sons and grandson had been nominated as governors of Esfahân, Kermân, Baghdad, Ardabil, Antioch, Semnân and Dâmghân, and Diyârbakr, part of Iraq, Tâlesh, and Fârs. Majdoddin was superintendent of the army, and his son Ghiyâsoddin Mohammad was inspector of the province of Khorâsân. See Bâstâni-ye Pârizi, Âsiyâ-ye haft sang (Seven-stone mill), 5th ed. (Tehrân: Donyâ-ye Ketâb, 1364), p. 546; G. Ghani, Bahs dar âsâr-o afkâr-o ahvâl-e Hâfez (Essay on the works, thoughts, and biography of Hâfez) (Tehrân: Zavvâr Publishing, 1321), p. 30.

55 The following poem is quoted in Ghani, Bahs dar âsâr-o afkâr-o ahvâl-e Hâfez, p. 20, from an anthology compiled by Tâjoddin Ahmad-e Vazir, dated 1380 (Municipal Library of Esfahân):

[NPX]

From the late Soltân Abu-Sa`id, the exalted, the just:

Your love sat in majesty upon the throne of the heart.

It stationed sedition as gatekeeper at the door to the soul.

It gave a document of license to the army of tribulation and grief to wreak havoc in the kingdoms of hearts.

The edifice your lips built in the kingdom of the heart, the eyebrows on your forehead destroy.

Are you still not ready to cease? Is it not yet time to quell this sedition? (Trans. W. Thackston)

56 Ibid., p. 20. Abu-Sa`id is making a pun on the names of the cities while also referring to Dameshq Khâjé (i.e., Lord Damascus) and Baghdad Khâtun.

57 Eqbâl, Târikh-e Moghol, p. 351.

58 D. James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1988), pp. 156-60.

59 Ibid., no. 66.

60 Trk ve Islam Eserleri Mzesi, K202, dated A.H. 720/1320; Topkapi Sarây Library, H151, dated A.H. 730/1330; Bayazit Library, 8056, dated A.H. 738/1337; Trk ve Islam Eserleri Mzesi, K452, dated A.H. 741/1341. Reproduced in James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, nos. 49, 53, 62, 65 respectively.

61 Ibid., no. 62.

62 O. Grabar and S. Blair, Epic Images and Contemporary History: The Illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 13-27.

63 Grabar and Blair (ibid., p. 48) suggest that Ghiyâsoddin Mohammad ordered the production of the manuscript in the year before his death, when he engineered the election of Arpâ Gâvun, a Changizid prince, to succeed Abu-Sa`id. It seems unlikely, however, that Arpâ Gâvun's short and tumultuous reign, from November 1335 to May 1336, would have allowed completion of such a major task, one likely to require several years of work. Their supposition that some of the illustrations allude to Uljâytu, Baghdad Khâtun, and other figures closely related to Abu-Sa`id make Abu-Sa`id a more likely patron than Arpâ Gâvun.

64 Contrary to the assertion of Grabar and Blair (ibid., p. 60), no overpainting could be detected on this painting under microscopic examination.

65 G. D. Lowry and M. C. Beach, An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection (Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1988), nos. 74-85.

66 Ghani, Bahs dar âsâr-o afkâr-o ahvâl-e Hâfez, p. 146.

67 The Qorân was copied in thirty sections by Yahyâ al-Jamâli as-Sufi in 1344-46. It was later transferred from the shrine (also known as Shâh-e Cherâq) to the Pârs Museum, Shirâz. For a reproduction, see M. Lings, The Quranic Art of Calligraphy and Illumination (London: World of Islam Festival Trust, 1976), no. 50, and James, Qur'ans of the Mamluks, no. 69.

68 Amir Hâji traced his ancestors to an Arab tribe that had moved to Khorâsân in the early Islamic invasions of that region; see, for instance, Mahmud-e Kotobi, Târikh-e âl-e Mozaffar (History of the Mozaffarids), ed. A. Navâ'i (Tehrân: Amir-e Kabir Press, 1364), p. 30, and H. Sotudé, Târikh-e âl-e Mozaffar (History of the Mozaffarids) (Tehrân: Tehrân University Press, 1346), p. 58. The first Atâbak ruler, Roknoddin Sâm, married into the Kâkuyids, which would have allowed his descendants to claim the Kâkuyid territories of Esfahân and Yazd. See C. E. Bosworth, "Dailamis in Central Iran: The Kâkuyids of Jibal and Yazd," in The Medieval History of Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia (London: Variorum Reprints, 1977), pp. 73-95

69 See S. Album, "Power and Legitimacy: The Coinage of Mubâriz al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Muzaffar at Yazd and Kirmân," in Le monde iranien et l'islam (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1974), vol. 2, pp. 157-71.