Saljuq-nama
Encyclopedia
The Saljuq-nama or Seljuk-nama,, is a history of the Great Seljuk Empire written by the Persian historian Ẓāhir al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī around 1175. Written in Persian, it has been acknowledged as the primary source for Saljuq material for Persian works dating from 13th century to 15th century, which include; Rahat al-sudur
Rahat al-sudur
The Rahat al-sudur wa-ayat al-surur or Rahat al-sudur , is a history of the Great Seljuq Empire, its breakup into minor beys and the subsequent Khwarazmian occupation, written by the Persian historian Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi and finished around 1204/1205. Rawandi was encouraged and supported in...

, Jami al-tawarikh, Tarik-i Guzida
Tarikh-i guzida
The Tarikh-i guzida or Tarikh e Gozideh, is a compendium of Islamic history from the creation of the world until 1329, written by Hamdallah Qazvini and finished in 1330...

, Zubdat al-tawarikh and Rawdat al-safa. Abu l-Qasim Qashani, a Persian historian who wrote about the Ilkhanids, made alterations and additions to the original text, which was later mis-identified as the original Saljuq-nama.

Content

The Saljuq-nama is vague concerning the history of the sultans prior to Toghrul III
Toghrul III of Seljuq
Toghrul III was the last sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire.The son of sultan Arslan Shah, he succeeded him in 1175 or 1176. In 1190 he tried to free itself from the tutelage of the Atabeg of Azerbaijan, Kizil Arslan, but he was overthrown and imprisoned by the latter, who proclaimed himself sultan...

, as noted by Claude Cahen, that Nishapuri had, "..relatively poor sources at his disposal for the Seljuqs before his own lifetime...". Being of a complicated textual history and consisting of a rhyming preface, it first appears as the historical part of a compendium known as Rahat al-sudur
Rahat al-sudur
The Rahat al-sudur wa-ayat al-surur or Rahat al-sudur , is a history of the Great Seljuq Empire, its breakup into minor beys and the subsequent Khwarazmian occupation, written by the Persian historian Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi and finished around 1204/1205. Rawandi was encouraged and supported in...

. A later version appears in the 14th century compendium of histories known as Jami al-tawarikh, which was compiled by Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah, vizier of the Ilkhanids of Iran.

Modern era

In 1953, Ismail Afshar claimed he had found a copy of the Saljuq-nama. A.H. Morton believes this copy to be a work by Abu l'Qasim Qashani. Accordingly, no copy of the Saljuq-nama is believed to exist today. However, A.H. Morton is producing a text based on MS. Persian 22b which is an anonymous history of the Seljuqs dedicated to Sultan Toghrul III. Morton contends that this is a copy of Nishapuri's original work.
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