International Society for Iranian Studies

History: From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu (ca. 1000-1500 C.E.) Author(s): Charles Melville Source: Iranian Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3/4, A Review of the "Encyclopaedia Iranica" (Summer Autumn, 1998), pp. 473-482 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4311182 . Accessed: 19/09/2013 04:53
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Iranian Studies, volume 31, numbers3-4, Summer/Fall 1998

CharlesMelville History: From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu (ca. 1000-1500 C.E.)
THECOMINGOF THE THE HALF-MILLENNIUM OF PERSIAN HISTORYBETWEEN

Saljuqsand the establishmentof the Safavid dynasty is one of repeatedupheaval and largely alien rule. The arrivalof the Ghuzz tribes in the early 11th century was not an entirely peaceful affair-the authorof the Thrtkh-i Sistlin regardsit as a calamity for that formerly prosperous province-and much worse was to follow, with the Mongol invasions of the 13th century and Timur's campaigns in the late 14th, all of which causedenormous destruction,while leaving a profound impressionon Persiansociety, culture,and political life. This long and eventful period is seldom treatedas a whole; volume 2 of MarshallHodgson's The Ventureof Islam is still perhapsthe nearestapproach to a united vision of the "MiddlePeriods"of Islamic history, but of course his view is not confined to Iran.'Traditionally,the Mongol sack of Baghdadin 1258 and the end of the Abbasid caliphateis taken as the defining turning point in medieval Persianhistory, an event that falls almost exactly in the middle of the period underreview and which to some extent destroys its unity. Nevertheless, therewas considerablecontinuity despite the changes wrought by the Mongols. Comparedwith both what went before and what came after, certain recurring Persian history from featuresand long-termtrendshelp to define and characterize the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu. In the first place, this is the age of Turkish domination, which snuffedout the tentative Persian reassertiveness of the 10th century under such widely-differingregionaldynastiesas the Saffarids,Samanids,and Buyids. Turks were, of course, alreadyvery much in evidence, particularlyin the army and in the militaryregime of the Ghaznavids.Despite the continuing use of ghuliamsor slave troops,however, the Saljuqswere freebornTurkish chiefs and the reins of power were henceforthheld by rulers from the same milieu up to the Safavid period, and again underthe Qajars. Even the Safavids, generally claimed as a "Persian" of the Aq Qoyunlu and dynasty, were heirs to the tribal background relied heavily on Turcomansupport.What makes the Safavids distinctive is that once again-for the first time since the fall of the Abbasids-religion becomes a crucial element in state ideology. The period to 1500 is a formative phase in the

Charles Melville is Lecturerin Persian Studies, Cambridge University. 1. See also the recent Etats, societes et cultures du monde musulman medieval XeXVsiecle, vol. 1, ed. J.-C. Garcin (Paris, 1995), again with a wider perspective. D.O. Morgan, Medieval Persia 1040-1797 (London, 1988), considers that even the longer period up to 1800 possesses a unity that justifies its treatment in a single book (p. ix), though he doesn't go out of his way to elaborate the point.

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474 Melville developmentof Persia'sreligious identity,encapsulatedin the growth and transformationof the Safaviyya leadershipitself, from Sufi shaikhs to Shici sultans. The tribalorigin of Persia's rulers duringthis periodis its second and concomitant characteristic. The nomadism of the court was a new feature, which entailednew offices and institutions and required adjustmentson the part of the bureaucracy. The traditionsof the InnerAsian steppeswere anotherelementto be absorbedinto the Perso-Islamicamalgam that had emergedunderthe Abbasids. This broughta new dimension to the natureof political legitimacy and additional instability to the processes of dynastic succession. In both the Saljuq and Mongol periods we see the rapid disintegrationof centralizedfamily rule into regional"partykingdoms." If therewas an increasingtendencytowardsmilitaryrule, the men of the pen continuedto play their part and to offer their services to their overlords,to the extent of involving themselves in their factionalism and intrigues. Even in the Mongol period, it is not possible to view amirs and viziers as two watertight opposing interests, with the latter portrayedas protectors of the indigenous population and moderators of governmentexcess. With the Islamizationof the Mongols, largely at the hands of Sufi shaikhs, who played an increasingly prominentrole in society and political affairs, such distinctions become even furtherblurred.Overarchingthese questions is the issue of how the nomadic invaderswere assimilatedinto Persian society and to what extent the acculturation of the Turco-Mongoliantribes was a one-way process. If these generalobservationscan be taken to characterize the period under review, to what extent do the available volumes of the Encyclopaedia Iranica flesh out the picture?How much use are the relevantarticles for understanding the period and how fully is it covered?What could one learn of the period by consulting the EIr? A survey of the relevantarticles suggests four broadgroups: (i) historiography and historiansof the period;(ii) dynasties and families; (iii) biographiesof leading figures, and (iv) institutions,offices, and technicalterms.In addition(v), thereare a numberof generalarticlesthatcannoteasily be classified undera single heading but relate principally to economic activity, including entries on some places that are at least partly relevantto our period. I propose to examine each of these groups in turn, though there will inevitably be some overlap between them. The focus is on political and dynastic history, government and the intellectual, artistic, and religious history of the period is administration; covered in otherreview articlesin this volume. (i) Historiographyand historians of the period From the Saljuq periodonwards,historical writing in Persian increasesin volin the areaof ume and importance,slowly displacingArabic works, particularly sources dynasticand local history.Thereare several entrieson the main narrative of the period,undereither theirtitles or the name of the author, reflectingthese trends. Persian historians of India, CAFIFand BARANI are also included.Two Arabicworksare covered,the AKBAR AL-DAWLATAL-SALJUQIYAand the Ibn cArabshah's biography of Timur, in adequte CAJA:EB-AL-MAQDUR, detail to bring out their importance(and, in the latter case, to highlight amas where furtherresearchis likely to be fruitful). EBN CARABSAHis himself the

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From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu 475 subject of a brief but useful entry. The Persian Matla'-i Sa'dain of CABDAL-RAZZAQSAMARQANDI is also given a full treatment,emphasizing his accountsof Timuridrelationswith Egypt, China and India. EBN AL-ATIR, perhaps the single most importantsource for the pre-Mongol period, has an appropriatelylong and analyticalentry. Otherwise,however, on the whole the entries are too brief to provide a real assessment of the work in question, and this is often not available elsewhere either.Ideally, we would readabout the structure,sources, outlook, and reliability of the chronicles, and their importanceas historical texts. The Tirikh-i Uljaita by ABU'L-QASEM KASANI, for example, is the only detailedaccount of the reign of the IlkhanOljeitu, but though it is full of precise dates, these are often inaccurate.Anothersource for the reign of Oljeitu, by BANAKATI, gets a succinct entry which gives little idea of what the work contains; while the entry on AHARI gives the misleading impressionthat his Thrtkh-i Shaikh Uvais has valuablematerialon Uvais's reign, whereasthe manuscript breaksoff at the outset of his rule. The only obvious omission I have noticed underthis heading is an entry on Aqsarali, authorof a Persian chronicle on the Saljuqs of Anatolia and their Mongol successors, down to ca. 1319. The Mongol and Timuridhistorians cAta' Malik Juvaini and cAli Yazdi will perhaps be found later under Juvainiand Sharafal-Din respectively? Local history is represented by brief entries on the lost history of Heratby ABU NASR FAMI; the historian of Yazd, AHMAD B. HOSAYN-for which see the useful study of Isabel Miller;2the historian of Kirman, AFZAL-AL-DIN KERMANI;the 14th-century history of Ruyan by AWLIAZALLAH AMOLI; and the local historyof Sabzavarby Ibn FunduqBAYHAQI, which does not di justice to the importanceand value of that work, long ago exploited by Jean Aubin.3 In additionto historiesand theirauthors,there are brief but useful articleson works connected with the administration, such as the Timurid ATAR ALWOZARA', and manualsfor secretaries,DASTUR-EDABIRIand DASTURALKATEB.An importantwork of this naturewhich might have been includedhere is the collection of Saljuq documents, the 'Atabat al-katabah.4 Chronology is very much a part of historiography,as shown by the use of the word tiarikh to designate both. A valuable and substantial article, CALENDARS ii. Islamic period infers, without emphasis, the importanceof Turkish patronageof astronomers,as witnessed by the calendarreforms undertakenfor Malikshahand the work of the Maraghah observatoryunder the Ilkhans and laterat Samarqand underUlugh Beg. The twelve-animalcalendarwas introducedinto Iranby the Mongols and continued to be used alongside the Hijri lunarcalendarfor longerthanis statedhere.5
2. I. Miller, "Local history in ninth/fifteenth century Yazd: the Tarikh-i Jadid-i Yazd,"Iran 27 (1989): 75-79. 3. J. Aubin, "L'aristocratieurbainedans l'Iran seldjukide: l'exemple de Sabzavar," Melanges R. CroZet 1 (1966): 323-32. 4. Ed. 'Abbas Iqbal (Tehran 1329/1950). 5. See my article, "The Chinese Uighur animal calendar in Persian historiography of the Mongol period," Iran 32 (1994): 83-98.

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476 Melville Travellers'accounts of Persia in this period may also be mentioned under the headingof sources;BARBARO,CLAVIJO,CONTARINIand CONTIare all given notices commensuratewith their importance. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Persia in the late 12th century, might have been worth a mention. Another Italian merchant, BUSCARELLO, is includedmore for the role he played in Mongol diplomaticrelationswith the west thanfor the recordhe left of his travels, as is Guillaume ADAM, who was appointedsecond archbishopof Sultaniyya in 1322. to the study of this particularly Among the scholars who have contributed period of Persian history, there are entries on BARTHOLD, BEREZIN, BLOCHET, BOYLE, and DEFREMERY. These articles tend to list their achievementsand output; space does not allow detailedevaluation of individual works. Persian historiographyis not adequatelystudied and it is useful to have importanthistoricaltexts and the work of Persian historians given space in the medieval Elr. In view of our heavy relianceon the chronicles for reconstructing Persian history, critical evaluations of these works are essential. For the postAbbasidperiod,Arabicsourcescontinue to be valuable, though often neglected, and no doubtmany of them will featurein the volume(s) devoted to "Ebn."With luck, a more thorough discussion and comparisonof the various genres will be possible in a futureentry on historiographythan can realistically be found in articleson individualworks. (ii) Dynasties and families The difficulty of establishingand maintainingcentralizedrule in medieval Persia, for dynastiesof tribal and nomadicorigin, is well illustratedby the particularly to both regional and local powers. The coverage number of entries dedicated extendsoutside the wider Iraniansphere,to includethe IndianBAHMANIDS,the DELHI SULTANATE and the Central Asian CHAGHATAYIDS. Actually, thanks to alphabetical chance, articles on the Ghurids, Jalayirids, Khwarazmshahs,Mongols/Ilkhans, Muzaffarids,Qara Qoyunlu, Saljuqs, and by entries on Timuridsare still to follow. Some of these are at least represented ATSIZ, etc.; see next section). individualrulers(cALAM-AL-DIN Thus only a couple of the majordynasties are dealt with here. The Kartsof Herat(AL-E KART) are given rathercursorytreatmentby BertoldSpuler, who concentratesmore on the wider picture of IlkhanidPersia and relations with neighboringpowers; nothing is revealed of the inner dynamics or politics of the Kartstate, nor of theirculturalpatronageor relationswith the religious classes.6 A long articleon the AQ QOYUNLU by R. Quiring-Zocheunderlinesthe essenthe tial Turk versus Tajik clash (esp. p. 166) that has been taken to characterize whole period, particularlyin the pioneering studies of Minorsky. Nevertheless, closer analysis might yield a more sophisticatedpicturethan a simple dichotomy between 'men of the sword' and 'men of the pen'. Although the authorrefersto
6. LawrenceG. Potter's Ph.D. thesis, "The Kart dynasty of Herat: religion and politics in medieval Iran" (Columbia, 1992), makes important progress in this
direction.

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From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu 477 the marriagebetween Uzun Hasan's daughterand Sultan HaidarSafavi, the previous connection with Junaidis passed over. There is perhaps an insufficient emphasis on the extent to which the Safavids were themselves the posterity of the Aq Qoyunlu, not only in a genealogical sense, but also as heirs to a tribally constitutedmilitaryelite posing the same problemsfor stable government. R. Stephen Humphreysgives a very succinct statementof the distinguishing featuresof the political system of the period as a whole in his article on the KurdishAYYUBIDS, less obviously connectedwith Persian history or culture but rightly viewed as successors to the Saljuqs. The fragmentationof Saljuq power into appanagesis reflectedin a sequence of articles on the atabegates, notionallyestablishedon behalf of Saljuqprinces (s.v. ATABAK). These articles provide useful surveys of the Ildegozids of Azarbaijan (I'm not sure that of the name as Ildeniiz can be dismissed so easily), the Bosworth's reconstruction Salghuridsof Fars, the rulers of Greaterand Lesser Luristan, the Ahmadilis of Maraghahand the Atabegs of Yazd. All are critical and up-to-datereviews of these dynasties,7most of whom survived into and beyond the lchanid period. They were important not only in giving some continuity of rule and local autonomy in their districts, but also as patrons. In additionto those noted, for example, Nusratal-Din Ahmadb. Yusufshah(brotherand heir of Afrasiyab,not son, p. 897) was the dedicatee of Hindushah'sTajiaribal-salaf, and Arslan Aba b. Aq Sunqur,the Ahmadili, was dedicatee of the Bahr al-fawd`id.8 Of the Mongol successor regimes, there is an article on the CHOBANIDS, but not on the Jalayirids,who could have been incorporated by the device of calling them Al-i Jalayir (the same goes for the Al-i Muzaffar);in a sense, the DU'L-QADR are also a Mongol successor state, becoming independent in Anatolia afterthe collapse of the Ilkhanate. One region with more than its share of local rulers is the Caspian province of Mazandaran. It is representedhere by entries on the Bavandids (AL-E BAVAND), BADUSPANIDS of Ruyan and Rustamdar,and AL-E AFRASIAB. The history of this region is ratherobscure and seldom impinges on events south of the Alburz, though the converse is less true. The coherentand detailednarratives providedin these articles are thus particularlywelcome, as is the space devoted to them. Among other things, the progress and influence of Shicism in the Caspianprovinces, as well as their conservativeattitudeto their pre-Islamic heritage, give these regions a particularlysignificant place in the continuity of Persianculture. Apartfrom rulingdynasties, there are entries on the DARGAZINIfamily of Saljuq viziers and the Bukharanfamily of culama, the AL-E BORHAN. The authorsemphasizethe importanceof such families in administrative,economic, and civic life, bringing with them political influence that in neither case was necessarily any less oppressive than the Turkish regimes with which they clashed.
7. Though Shabankara'i'sMajma' al-ansab, which contains sections on the rulers of Fars, Luristan,and Yazd, is not cited in the bibliography of any of these articles (see now ed. Mir Hashim Muhaddith,Tehran, 1984). 8. The sea of precious virtues. A medieval Islamic mirrorfor princes, trans. and ed. J. S. Meisami (Utah, 1991).

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478 Melville Given the absence of modem monographson all but a tiny fraction of Persia's dynasties (the nearestapproachstill being the relevantchaptersof The CambridgeHistory of Iran), these encyclopedia articles fulfill a very important need in assembling scatteredmaterialsand bibliographicinformation. Many of them demonstrate the EIr's value in stimulating researchon little-studiedsubjects. (iii) Biographies There are about75 entries on historicalfigures from the period underreview, far too many to mention individuallyhere. A basic subdivision of the entries by type indicatesthat dynastic rulers constitute the largest group, and are evenly spreadacross the period, so that Saljuq and Ghuridsultans, Atabegs, Ismacili Imams, Khwarazmshahs, Ilkhans, Timurids, and various others are represented, including sultans of Delhi. Although rulers from Transoxania are featured,neither Batu Khan of the Golden Horde nor his brotherand successor Berke are included. The rulers are generally given sufficient space for a propersurvey of their reigns and of the issues facing them, including the ever-present question of succession. The Saljuq sultans, ALP ARSLAN and BARKIAROQ, both had to fight for their positions in a political system that was resistantto centralization and in which brotherswere as likely to succeedas sons. By chance, all but four of the Ilkhansappearin the first two letters of the alphabet,and the result is a series of valuablearticlesby Peter Jackson (consulting editor for the Mongols). These draw interesting insights from the Arabic sources, particularlyfor the reign of ABU SACID, which is not well servedby Persian historiography,and not just for the long-runningwar against the Mamluksof Egypt and Syria. Two of the Bavandid rulers are given their own entries, neither of which adds very much to the information already given in the detailed article by Wilferd Madelungdevoted to the dynasty(see above), thoughit is interestingto see how he slightly amplifies this material in his article on CALA'-AL-DAWLA HASAN, whereasProf. Bosworthviews CALA\-AL-DAWLA CALJfrom a rather wider perspective.Whetheror not it is feasible to impose a standard formula on the differenttypes of article is a question for the editors, but there is always a need to strikea balancebetween an overview of a subject and the presentationof factual detail, which should be that much easier to achieve when the subject appearsin more thanone place. A second category of biographiesof amirs and royal princes or princesses reveals a far less even coverage. There is an almost exclusive monopoly of biographiesfor the Mongol and to a lesser extent Timuridperiods.Only two or three amirs from the Saljuq period are mentioned, one of whom, ANUSTIGIN GARtAkI, was in effect the first of the Khwarazmshahs. Categorizationof the atabegsas amirsratherthanrulerswould slightly redressthe apparentimbalance, but this must be partly a result of editorialinconsistency (particularlyif comparedwith the previous Ghaznavidperiod).There is perhapsno certain way of deciding who should be includedmerely in the context of largerarticles, and who merits an individual entry, however brief. Various Aq Sunqurs, notably alBursuqi,would certainlydeserve their own article. Even for the Mongol period, generallywell covered,there are one or two surprisingomissions, such as cAli

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From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu 479 Padshahthe Oiratand Ariq Boke, brotherof Hulegu. The few women to be mentioned are all from the Ilkhanidperiod when, it is true, they play a far more visible and important role in affairs.9 Thus the princesses and royal wives, BOLOGANKATUN, DELSAD KATUN, and DOKUZ KATUN are representative of a wider constituency (Baghdad Khatunis omitted). The extent to which the rulingTurco-Mongolelites graduallyassimilatedthe cultureof their subjects is brought out in various articles on Timurid prince governors who became importantpatronsand even practitioners of the arts,notably BAYSONGOR. If the men of the sword, so importanta group in the period underreview, appearratherfew, the men of the pen too seem under-represented. This time the bias is strongly towards the Saljuq period, to which the vizier al-Kunduri could have been addedunder'Anid al-Mulk. Only BORHAN-AL-DIN,the Muzaffarid vizier, CALA'-AL-DINMOHAMMAD, and DARVIS AHMAD, the Timurid officials, post-datethe Ilkhans.There may be several very good reasons for these variationsin coverage (notablyof course the alphabet,but also the existence of sources and the volume of information available about individuals), but it is worth drawingattentionto them, in case it is possible througha deliberate editorial policy to achieve a more even balance. No amirs or viziers from the sultanate in Indiaare included,no doubton purpose.Loosely underthe heading of men of the pen, but in fact men of action in a religious guise, are the Ismacili di' , CAYTAS, and the Turcomandervish, BARAQ BABA, who accordingto some accounts was responsiblefor Oljeitu's war againstGilan. The articles on these two groups are generally shortbut sufficient to indicate the importanceof the subject and the reason for its inclusion. As with the duplication between dynastiesand rulers,however,there is also occasionally a wasteful overlap between rulers and those who served them. Thus the treatmentof BUQA, the Mongol amir and vizier, adds nothing to the article on ARGUN KHAN, other than some conflicting information and the odd statement that Khabushanis near Ray; in fact, two separateincidents in the struggle between Arghunand AhmadTeguderseem to have been conflatedinto one, cf. AHMAD TAKUDAR.'? (iv) Offices and institutions For the administrativesystems of the regimes from the Saljuqs to the Aq is advised to refer to the respective dynasties. In practice, Qoyunlu the reader however, there are various betterplaces to look for informationon both administrative history and individualposts. Ann K. S. Lambton devotes a long article (CITIES iii. Administrationand social organization)to distilling a lifetime's researchon the subject,incorporating a discussion of about 30 terms and offices. She has little to say on social structure,a gap partly catered for elsewhere (CLASS SYSTEM iv. Classes in medieval Islamic Persia), in an article that
9. See particularly A. K. S. Lambton, Continuity and change in medieval Persia: Aspects of administrative, economic and social history, IJth-14th century (Albany, N.Y., 1988), chap. 8. 10. For Buqa, see now the study by Jean Aubin, Emirs mongols et vizirs persans dans les remous de l'acculturation, Studia Iranica,Cahier 15 (Paris, 1995).

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480 Melville explores both the traditional groupingsof sword, pen, religion and commerceand the relations between them (cross-reference here should be made to CAYYAR, and, for the importanttribalelement in society, to CAgAYER,a regrettably brief entry). DIVAN ii. Governmentoffice (esp. 434-36), contains a summaryof the main administrative offices and departments. It is difficult to chart the significance of changes in titulature,though the vizierate seems on the whole to have maintainedits position; for a clarificationof the situation underthe Timurids, see DIVANBEGIi. The most persistent role of the bureaucracy is in financial administration,covered by various articles on taxes (cAWAREZ; BIGAR, BIGARI;CUSTOMS DUTIES). The peripateticnatureof the Saljuqand Mongol courtsis discussed not only underDIVAN, but in articles on CAPITAL CITIES ii. In Islamic times (esp. 771-72) and COURTS AND COURTIERSiii.-v., the latter a particularly useful attemptto synthesize informationon court etiquetteand organization,which has not received much scholarlyattention.It remainsunclearwhatpracticaleffect the nomadic lifestyle of the courthad on administration, beyond the introduction of new offices such as the yartchi (camp master)and perhapsa simplification of procedures.Many of the offices attachedto the court are listed separately,some held by the military elite, such as the AKTAJI (why not Akta6l?), BEGLERBEGI, which was equivalentto the Arabictitle AMIR-AL-OMARAM, tAgNIGIR, and BOKAVOL, others evidently by the civilian secretariat,e.g. ALd, though as Bosworth notes, many household and nominally administrative posts tended to fall to the Turkish military (see DAWA(T)DAR).The conflict and rivalrybetween the pen and sword is also alludedto in the article on the bureaucrats (DABIR ii. In the Islamic period), as is the factionalism that often affectedboth groupings. The primacy of the Persian bureaucrats in the early Ilkhanidperiod,at least, was probablyundermined by the influx of other ethnic groups into the chancery. An article on bitikc'1 (Mongol scribe) would have been useful in this context. These articles are necessarily concise, particularlyfor the period under review, but takenin combinationthey providea very adequatepicture of the current state of knowledge-which is hampered by an absence of archivalmaterial and a relianceon manuals. Thus we see the theoreticalduties of the offices and occasionally the abuses associatedwith them, and also their development over time and the decline in status of certaintitles, e.g. AMIR. Many of the terms introducedduring the Turkish invasions were inherited via the Zangids and Ayyubids by the Mamluk sultanate in Egypt, where they have received more systematic study. Of all the institutionsof the period, the army is perhapsthe most prominent and is discussed in severalplaces. ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period(I, 499) is a good place to startfor a generalreview, which does not, however, enter into or refer to the debate aboutthe size of the Ilkhanidarmies and the logistical problemsposed by the numbersof mountsemployed." A common featureof the armies of the period was the continuing use of military slaves, to supplement the tribalcontingentsthatmade up the originalforces of the Saljuqsand Mongol
11. See various articles by J. Masson-Smith cited and discussed by D. 0. Morgan, The Mongols (Oxford, 1986), ch. 4, and Lambton, op. cit., 20-24.

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From the Saljuqs to the Aq Qoyunlu 481 invaders;cf. BARDA AND BARDADARI v. Militaryslavery in Islamic Iran for a brief overview. The compositionof the Mongol armyis furtherdiscussed under tERIK; by the Timuridperiod, the term had come also to mean a tax to levy troops. Evidencefor the continuity of institutions such as the military review into the Turcomanperioddepends largely on the Aq Qoyunluexample in Fars in
1476, cf. CARZ, DIVAN(-E).

The article on COMMUNICATIONSunfortunatelybegins with the 19th century,but relevantand often repetitiveinformationis to be found in articleson the horse (ASB iii. In Islamic times) and the postal service (CAPAR), neither of which refers to the other;cf. also BARID. (v) Miscellaneous topics The question of communications leads us beyond the details of dynastic and institutionalhistory and of the people who made it, to the wider dimensions of the period. It is helpful to have a geographicalperspectiveon Persian history, though in many cases this simply means that the same basic material is rearrangedunderdifferentheadings.Thus AZERBAIJANiv. Islamic history to 1941 contains a brief reminderof the history of the Ildegozids and the Atabegs of Maraghah(see above), as well as focusing on the importanceof Azerbaijan,and particularlyTabriz, as a capital under the Mongol and Turcoman dynasties. CENTRAL ASIA v. In the Mongol and Timuridperiods contains great areasof overlap with the articleon the Chaghatayids, thoughdifferent emphases and bibliographies make both valuable. Articles on BALK and BUKHARA (why not Bukara?) in the pre- and post-Mongolperiodsilluminatethe effects of largerhistorical developmentson the rise and fall of cities, and the importanceof their religious associations, e.g. with the Kubraviyyaand Naqshbandiyya in the case of Bukhara.'2 The fundamental importanceof contacts with the east during this periodis furtherunderlined by articles on CHINESE TURKESTAN iii. and iv., that again contain much on the Chaghatayidsand assert that diplomatic and commercialcontactsbetween Chinaand Persiadeclined in the early 14thcentury, although this is not the impression given elsewhere.'3 The matter is not broacheddirectly in CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS iii. In the Mongol period, but the hazardsof the overlandjourney are mentioned, as is the Great Khan's representative in Persia,BOLOD Ch'eng-Hsiang(s.v.), who has been the subjectof some more recentresearch.'4

12. The articles on Balkh were unable to take advantage of R. D. McChesney's Waqfin Central Asia. Four hundredyears in the history of a Muslim shrine, 14801889 (Princeton, N.J., 1991). 13. See now T. Allsen, "Changing forms of legitimation in Mongol Iran," in G. Seaman and D. Marks, eds., Rulersfrom the steppe: State formation on the Eurasian periphery (Los Angeles, 1991), 235. 14. See T. Allsen, "Notes of Chinese titles in Mongol Iran,"Mongolian Studies 14 (1991): 27-39 and idem, "Biography of a cultural broker: Bolad Ch'eng-hsiang in China and Iran,"in J. Raby and T. Fitzherbert,eds., The Court of the Il-Khans 12901340, Oxford Studies in Islamic Art 12 (1996), 7-22.

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482 Melville Such contacts were of artistic, intellectual, and commercial significance. Commercialcontacts are coveredin an article on COMMERCE iv. Before the Mongol conquest(for the later period, see Supplement), which usefully concenas much as the commodities trateson traderoutesand methodsof transportation and economic aspects of trade.Articles on the bazaar(BAZAR), CARAVAN, and CARAVANSARY also addressthe organizationof tradeand commercial activity, with reference to historical developmentsin our period. The important areaof numismatics and monetaryhistory, relevantto economic, financial, and political affairs, is covered in articles on COINS AND COINAGE (see esp. 2030), DINAR, and DIRHAM, with excellent illustrations. The Ilkhanidexperiment with papermoney is also treatedseparately(CAV [sic]). In conclusion, the foregoing review necessarily touches only briefly on the main trendsand the majortopics coveredby the Encyclopaedia Iranica, but is perhapssufficientto reveal the greatwealth of its materialon the history of the work, and Saljuqto Aq Qoyunluperiod. It is certainlyan indispensablereference on the whole, despite increasingrestrictionson space, providesnot only a summary of existing knowledge but also the fruits of new researchand many signposts for the way forward.The cross-referencingis not all it might be, and where authorsare not aware of what has been or is being written in other relatedarticles, this could be broughtto their attention,in an effort to avoid duplicationand stimulatedifferentapproaches.An index of the articles would be very useful and in my view easily as desirableas a list of the contributors,who form, indeed,a Theirreadinessto contribute most impressiveand celebratedgroupof authorities. to the Encyclopaedia is both a testimony to and a guaranteeof its quality.

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