The annals of the Saljuq Turks : selections from al-Kāmil fīʾl-Tāʾrīkh of ʿIzz al-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr

Abstract

Ibn al-Athir, who died at the end of the 13th century, is one of the most important historians of Islam. His major chronicle, the Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh , is one of the greatest achievements of Muslim historiography for the range and comprehensiveness of the sources it assembled and for its narrative. It covers the whole sweep of Islamic history up to his own lifetime and also some pre-Islamic narrative from the Creation'. This volume concentrates on the period of the greatest figures amongst the Saljuks, the Turkish dynasty that dominated the eastern Islamic world in the 11th and 12th centuries. This period covers the arrival and settlement in Islamic lands of the Oghuz Turkish tribesmen, their military and social impact and the rise of the Saljuq family to the sultanate, a new institution of far-reaching political power within the framework of Sunni Islam. Modern scholarship has produced no full narrative history of the Seljuk period. This translation will put students directly in touch with this period through a broad and authoritative account. The aim has been to produce a readable text which diverges as little as possible form the original Arabic. It will enable non-Arabic readers to gain knowledge and an understanding of the basic historiography of this pivotal period of Islamic history, and it will also be an invaluable resource for students and researchers with many different levels of Arabic. The annotation is substantial, in particular offering references to, and translations from, parallel or complementary passages from the Arabic historians in whose tradition Ibn al-Athir worked.

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