Description
Book SynopsisThis book translates the sections on pre-Islamic Persia in three Muslim Arabic chronicles, those of Ahmad al-Ya‘qubi (d. ca. 910), ‘Ali al-Mas‘udi (d. ca. 960) and Hamza al-Isfahani (d. ca. 960s). Their accounts, like those of many other Muslim historians on this topic, draw on texts that were composed in the period 750-850 bearing the title ‘The History of the Kings of the Persians’. These works served a growing audience of well-to-do Muslim bureaucrats and scholars of Persian ancestry, who were interested in their heritage and wished to make it part of the historical outlook of the new civilization that was emerging in the Middle East, namely Islamic civilization. This book explores the question of how knowledge about ancient Iran was transmitted to Muslim historians, in what forms it circulated and how it was shaped and refashioned for the new Perso-Muslim elite that served the early Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, a city that was built only a short distance away from the old Persian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
Trade ReviewReviews'This is an important contribution to a reconstruction of sāsānid historiography.' (Translated from German.)
Tino Shahin,
PlekosTable of ContentsAcknowledgements viiAbbreviations ixNote on Conventions xiIntroduction 1Translations1. Hamza al-Isfahani 252. ʿAli al-Masʿudi 793. Ahmad al-Yaʿqubi 106Appendices1. Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ and the ‘History of the Kingsof the Persians’ 1352. The Chronicle of Siirt and the ‘Book of Lords’ 1443. Abu Maʿshar and the Lost Books of Jay 151Gazetteer 157Maps 163Tables1. Reign lengths of Pishdadid, Kayanid and Arsacid kings 1662. Reign lengths of Sasanid kings 1683. Genealogy of the Sasanid Emperors 1704. Transmission of key sources cited in this book 172Bibliography 173Index 181
