The Samanids, Ghaznavids, and Ilkhanids and From Timur to Babur: Empire in Central Asia

HIST 100711/15/13

History at the Movies

• Kingdom of Heaven (2005)• Thur. Nov. 21st 6-9pm• McMicken 53

Return of the Dihqans• Samanids (r. 819-999)– Descent from pre-Islamic nobility– Maintained lands in Transoxania– Sub-governors under Tahirids– 901 – defeat Saffarids for control of Khurasan– Mixture of Islamic and Persian identity– Ability to deploy local networks

Monument to Isma`il b. Ahmad al-Samani (r. 892-907), Tajikistan

Persian-Islamic Culture• Samanid court culture combines pre-Islamic Persian traditions

with Islam• Samanids rule through mixture of Persian kingship with Muslim

piety• New Persian – Persian in Arabic script• Persian as language of court and administration• Employment of religious scholars• Involvement in war against steppe Turks

Tomb of Ismail b. Ahmad, Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Nishapurware

New Persian• Is it anti-Arab?• Shu’ubiyya• Translation from Arabic• al-Tabari (d. 923), Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk (History of the Prophets and Kings)• Bal’ami, Tarikhnama-i Tabari (History of al-Tabari) – written in 963• Tafsiri Tabari

Manuscript of Tarikhnama-i Tabari

Shahnama• “Book of Kings”• Stories of pre-Islamic Persian kings• Abu al-Qasim Firdawsi (940-1020)

– 1010 – completes verse Shahnama– 50,000 rhymed verses– Becomes national epic of Iran and neighboring countries

• Is this anti-Islamic?• Is it anti-Arab?

Shahnama as Mirror for Princes• Royal farr – divine right of kings

– All kings must have it– Kings who misbehave can lose it

• Tales of legendary kings set the model for rulers both good and bad• Establishes a model of Persian kingship• Not entirely compatible with Islam

Turko-Persian Culture• Turks entering Islamic world pass through the courts of the

Samanids first• Ghaznavids (r. 962-1186): Samanid ghulams turned rulers of

Afghanistan and Khurasan– Adoption of Persian as courtly language– Adoption of Persian dress and culture– Actual patrons of the Shahnama?!?

• Persian kingship another ideal for Turkic sultans to live up to.Mahmud of Ghazna (r. 997-1030) in hiscourt.

Shanama and Turko-Persian Culture

Steppe Peoples and Turko-Persian Culture

• Experience of ruling Transoxania and Khurasan• Incorporation of Persian advisors

– Seljuqs and Nizam al-Mulk• Over time, not just a shared culture• Shared story of transition from nomadic tribalism to empire• Turkic-Mongol social organization combined with Persianate-Islamic institutions and culture

Turko-Persian Culture and the Mongols

• Mongol destruction of Central Asia• Calculated frightfulness• Il-Khanids – not immediately interested in Islam and Muslim traditions

– Golden Horde (Kipchak) and Chagatai Khanates convert first– Early favoritism towards Christians and Buddhists– Turko-Persian culture comes first

Chinggis Khan remembered as Persian Shah

Turko-Mongol Traditions

• Lineage of Chinggis Khan – new source of legitimacy• Chagatay (son) and the Chagatay Khanate (r. 1225-

1687) – Central Asia• Jochi (son) and the Golden Horde (Kipchak Khanate) (r. 1240’s-1502) – Russia and Siberia• Hulagu (grandson) and the Il-khanids (r. 1256-1335) – Iraq, Iran, and Anatolia

Timurids (r. 1370-1507)• Moghulistan – “Land of the Mongols” – modern Kazakhstan• Turkified Mongols• Turko-Persian culture• Timur (Tamerlane) (r. 1370-1405)

– Dream of recreating empire of Chinggis Khan– Not a Chinggisid– Islam as part of legitimization– “Sword of Islam”

Timur the Mongol• Emir Timur not Timur Khan• Suyurghatmish (r. 1370-1384) – Khan of the Western Chagatai Khanate, Chinggisid• Saray Mulk Khanum (ca. 1343-1406) – Wife of Timur, Chinggisid• Son-in-law State• Tokhtamysh-Timur War (1380’s-1390’s) – Timur battles Golden Horde for steppe supremacy

Timur the Turko-Persian• Samarqand – Timur’s capital

– Silk Road entrepot– Samanid capital (along with Bukhara)

• 1383-1387 – Conquest of Iran• Isfahan – surrenders and later revolts

– Timur massacres 100,000-200,000 people– 28 towers of glowing heads– Systematic – spares artists and engineers

• Transformation of Samarqand• de Clavijo (d. 1412): Ambassador from Castile

Gur-e Amir, Samarqand

Timur the Muslim• Can’t become caliph• Ordained by God with supernatural personal power• Conquest is proof he is favored by God• “I am not a man of blood; and God is my witness that in all my wars I have never been the aggressor, and that my enemies have always been the authors of their own calamity.”

Timur the Muslim• 1399-1402 – conquest of Anatolia, Iraq, and Syria• Wars with Mamluks and early Ottomans to restore Seljuq

authority• Removes Knights Hospitaller from Smyrna • Ghazi – Holy warrior• Establishment of mosques and madrassas• Sayyid Baraka (1343-1403): Sufi teacher, buried next to Timur

Registan, Samarqand

Forensic Reconstruction (1941)

Ulugh Beg Observatory, Samarqand

Ulugh Beg Observatory, Samarqand