Ata Malik Juvayni
عطاملک جوینی
Ruler of Baghdad
In office
1259–unknown
Preceded byGuo Kan[1]
Personal details
Born1226
Juvayn, Greater Khorasan
Died1283
Azerbaijan
NationalityPersian
Military service
AllegianceMongol Empire, Ilkhanate

Atâ-Malek Juvayni (1226–1283) (Persian: عطاملک جوینی), in full, Ala al-Din Ata-ullah (علاءالدین عطاءالله), was a Persian historian and an official of the Mongol state who wrote an account of the Mongol Empire entitled Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā (History of the World Conqueror).[2]

Early life

Juvayni was born in Joveyn, a city in Khorasan in eastern Persia. 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, in which role he oversaw a large area including Kingdom of Georgia.

Career

Juvayni, just as his predecessors 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).[2] 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 those books that he did not like.[3] 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.[2] Around 1282, Juvayni attended a Mongol quriltai, or assembly, held in the Ala-Taq pastures northeast of Lake Van. He died the following year in Mughan or Arran in Azerbaijan.

Siege of Alamut

Juvayni'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

Shahristan of Joveyn, the town of birth of Juvayni

Juvayni's position at court and his family connections made him privy to information unavailable to other historians. For unknown reasons, Juvayni's Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā ends in 1260, more than twenty years before his death.

The standard edition of Juvayni's history is published under the title Tarīkh-i Jahān-gushā, 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

  1. ↑ Colin A. Ronan (1995). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 5 of The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: An Abridgement of Joseph Needham's Original Text (illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 250. ISBN 0-521-46773-X. Retrieved 2011-11-28. Moreover, many Chinese were in the first wave of the Mongolian conquest of Iran and Iraq - a Chinese general, Guo Kan, was first governor of Baghdad after its capture in AD 1258.
  2. 1 2 3 Woolf, Daniel (2011-02-17). A Global History of History. Cambridge University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-521-87575-2.
  3. ↑ 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.

Sources

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