Ata-Malik Juvayni
Ata-Malik Juvayni | |
|---|---|
 Depiction of Ata-Malik Juvayni writing, from a 1290 edition of the Tarikh-i Jahangushay. Located in the Bibliothèque nationale de France | |
| Governor of Baghdad | |
| In office 1259–1283 | |
| Preceded by | Guo Kan |
| Succeeded by | Sharaf al-Din Harun Juvayni |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1226 |
| Died | 5 March 1283 Mughan, Ilkhanate |
| Resting place | Charandab Cemetery, Tabriz |
| Relations | Shams al-Din Juvayni (younger brother) Sharaf al-Din Harun Juvayni (nephew) |
| Children | Mansur Unnamed daughter |
| Parent |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Mongol Empire, Ilkhanate |
| Writing career | |
| Language | Persian |
| Notable works | Tarikh-i Jahangushay |
Ata-Malik Juvayni (Persian: عطاملک جوینی) was a bureaucrat and historian from the Juvayni family who served under the Mongol Empire. He is known for composing the Tarikh-i Jahangushay ("History of the World Conqueror"), an important account on the history of Central Asia and the 13th-century Mongol invasion of Iran.
Early life
[edit]Born in 1226, Ata-Malik belonged to the Persian Juvayni family, whose history of bureaucratic service goes back to the Seljuk era.[1] Both his grandfather and his father, Baha al-Din, had held the post of sahib-divan or Minister of Finance for Muhammad Jalal al-Din and Ögedei Khan, respectively. Baha al-Din also acted as deputy c. 1246 for his immediate superior, the emir Arghun Aqa, in which role he oversaw a large area, including the Kingdom of Georgia.[2]
Career
[edit]Just like his predecessors, Ata-Malik became an important state official. He visited the Mongol capital of Karakorum twice, beginning his history of the Mongols conquests on one such visit (c. 1252–53).[3] He was with Ilkhan Hulagu in the 1256 campaign at the taking of Alamut, where he selected many 'choice books' from the famous Alamut library for his own purposes and burnt the books that he did not like.[4] He was responsible for saving part of its celebrated library. He had also accompanied Hulagu during the sack of Baghdad in 1258, and the next year was appointed governor of Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia, and Khuzistan.[3][5] Around 1282, Ata-Malik attended a Mongol quriltai, or assembly, held in the Ala-Taq pastures northeast of Lake Van. He died the following year in Mughan.
Ata-Malik was survived by at least one son, Mansur (died 1293) and a daughter who became the wife of the Sufi shaykh Sadr al-Din Ibrahim Hamuwayi, who played a key role in converting the later Ilkhanate ruler Ghazan to Islam.[1]
Siege of Alamut
[edit]Ata-Malik's brother was the powerful Shams al-Din Mohammad Sahib-Divan, who had served as Minister of Finance under Hulagu and Abaqa Khan. A skillful leader in his own right, Shams al-Din also had influential in-laws: his wife Khoshak was the daughter of Avag Mkhargrdzeli, Lord High Constable of Georgia, and Gvantsa, a noblewoman who went on to become queen of Georgia.
Work and legacy
[edit]Ata-Malik's position at court and his family connections made him privy to information unavailable to other historians. For unknown reasons, Ata-Malik's Tarikh-i Jahangushay ends in 1260, more than twenty years before his death.
The standard edition of Ata-Malik's history is published under the title Tarikh-i Jahangushay, ed. Mirza Muhammad Qazwini, 3 vol, Gibb Memorial Series 16 (Leiden and London, 1912–37). An English translation by John Andrew Boyle The History of the World-Conqueror was republished in 1997.
References
[edit]- ^ a b Lane 2009, p. 63–68.
- ^ Lane, George (1999). "Arghun Aqa: Mongol Bureaucrat". Iranian Studies. 32 (4): 462. ISSN 0021-0862.
Juvaini, who worked as Arghun Aqa's private secretary from 1243
- ^ a b Woolf, Daniel (2011-02-17). A Global History of History. Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-521-87575-2.
- ^ Daftary, Farhad (2007). The Ismailis, Their History and Doctrines. New York, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2nd Edition. p. 305. ISBN 978-0-521-61636-2.
- ^ Dashdondog 2011, p. 166.
Sources
[edit]- Lane, George (2009). "Jovayni, ʿAlāʾ-al-Din". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume XV/1: Joči–Judeopersian communities of Iran V. Qajar period (1786-1925). London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 63–68. ISBN 978-1-934283-14-1.
- Tucker, Ernest (2008). "Jahāngošā-ye Nāderi". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume XIV/4: Jade III–Jamalzadeh, Mohammad-Ali II. Work. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 382–383. ISBN 978-1-934283-04-2.
- Zaryab, Abbas (2002). "Baghdad ii. From the Mongol Invasion to the Ottoman Occupation". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- Rajabzadeh, Hashem (2009). "JOVAYNI FAMILY". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XV, Fasc. 1. pp. 61–63.
- Ashraf, Ahmad (2006). "Iranian identity iii. Medieval Islamic period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XIII, Fasc. 5. pp. 507–522.
- Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335) (PDF). Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-18635-4.
External links
[edit]- History of the World Conqueror by Ala Ad Din Ata Malik Juvaini, translated by John Andrew Boyle, Harvard University Press 1958, on the Internet Archive
- ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn ʻAṭā Malik Juvaynī (1997). Genghis Khan: the history of the world conqueror. Manchester University Press ND. p. 763. ISBN 0-7190-5145-2. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
