The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh (Persian/Arabic: , ) is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate. Written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318 AD) at the start of the 14th century, large coverage of the work has caused it to be called "the first world history". It was in three volumes and published in Arabic and Persian versions.
The surviving portions total approximately 400 pages of the original work. The work describes cultures and major events in world history from China to Europe; in addition, it covers Mongol history, as a way of establishing their cultural legacy. The early illustrated manuscripts represent "one of the most important surviving examples of persian art in any medium", and are the largest surviving body of early examples of the Persian miniature.
Contents
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh consists of four main sections of different lengths:
The Taʾrīkh-ī Ghazānī, the most extensive part, which includes: The Mongol and Turkish tribes: their history, genealogies and legends The history of the Mongols from Genghis Khan up to the death of Mahmud Ghazan The second part includes: The history of the reign of Öljaitü up to 1310 (no known copy) The history of the non-Mongol peoples of Eurasia (a universal history from the time of Creation, following the organization of work of the Abbasid historian al-Tabari in his History of the Prophets and Kings, often referred to as at-Tabari's HIstory, and to the historic Muslim history of Qazi Beiza'i in the Neẓām al-tawārīkh: Adam and the patriarchs the kings of the pre-Islamic Iran Muhammad and the Caliphs (Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates) the Islamic dynasties of Persia (Ghaznavids, the shahs of Khwarezm, the Isma'ili state of Alamut) the Turkic peoples, the History of China Jewish history, Frangistan (ie., Europe, primarily the Papal States and Holy Roman Empire) the Indians. The Shu'ab-i panjganah ("Five genealogies, of the Arabs, Jews, Mongols, Franks, and Chinese"). This text exists in two copies of the manuscript in the library of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul (ms 2937), but has only been published on microfilm. The Suwar al-aqalim, a geographical compendium. Unfortunately, it has not survived in any known manuscript.
Author
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani was born in 1247 at Hamadan, Iran into a Jewish family.
Description
Sources
To write the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, Rashid al-din based his work on many written and oral sources, some of which can be identified: From Iran, it is very similar to work by Ata-Malik Juvayni, a Persian historian who wrote an account of the Mongol Empire entitled Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy "History of the World-Conqueror". Also from Iran, the Shahnameh is drawn upon.
Contemporary manuscripts
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh was the center of an industry for a time, no doubt in part due to the political importance of its author. The workshop was ordered to produce one manuscript each in Arabic and Persian every year, which were to be distributed to different cities. Although approximately 20 of the first generation of manuscripts were produced, very few survive, which are described below. Other later copies were made from the first set, with some illustrations and history added to match current events.
Edinburgh folios
The Edinburgh part has a page size of 41.5 × 34.2 cm, with a written area of 37 × 25 cm, and contains 35 lines per page written in Naskhi calligraphy. There are some omissions: folios 1, 2, 70 to 170, and the end; and it is dated to 1306-1307, in a later inscription, which is nonetheless accepted. The text comprises four parts: the history of Persia and pre-Islamic Arabia, the story of the Prophet and Caliphs, the history of the Ghaznavids, Seljuks and Atabeys, and the history of the sultans of Khwarezm. This part of the manuscript was discovered in the 1800s by Duncan Forbes, who found it among the papers of Colonel John Baillie, so this section is sometimes referred to as "Baillie's collection".
Seventy rectangular miniatures adorn the manuscript, which reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Tabriz at the time of its production. In this capital, a crossroads of trade routes and influences, and a place of great religious tolerance, Christian, Chinese, Buddhist and other models of painting all arrived to feed the inspiration of the artists.