819?999 Sunni Iranian empire in Central Asia
The
Samanid Empire
(
Persian
:
????????
,
romanized
:
S?m?niy?n
), also known as the
Samanian Empire
,
Samanid dynasty
,
Samanid amirate
, or simply as the
Samanids
, was a
Persianate
Sunni Muslim
empire, of
Iranian
dehqan
origin. The empire was centred in
Khorasan
and
Transoxiana
; at its greatest extent encompassing northeastern
Iran
and
Central Asia
, from 819 to 999.
Four brothers?
Nuh
,
Ahmad
,
Yahya
, and
Ilyas
?founded the Samanid state. Each of them ruled territories under Abbasid suzerainty. In 892,
Ismail Samani
(892?907) united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the
feudal
system used by the Samanids. It was also under him that the Samanids became independent of
Abbasid
authority. However, by 945, the government was under the de facto control of the Turkic military slave faction, and the Samanid family's authority had become purely symbolic.
The Samanid Empire is part of the
Iranian Intermezzo
, which saw the creation of a
Persianate
culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the
Islamic world
. This later contributed to the formation of the
Turko-Persian
culture.
[8]
The Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as
Rudaki
,
Ferdowsi
, and
Avicenna
. While under Samanid control,
Bukhara
was a rival to
Baghdad
in its glory.
[9]
Scholars note that the Samanids revived
Persian language
and culture more than the
Buyids
and the
Saffarids
while continuing to use
Arabic
for sciences as well as religious studies. They considered themselves to be descendants of the
Sasanian Empire
.
[9]
In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared that "here, in this region, the language is
Persian
, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings."
[9]
History
[
edit
]
Origins
[
edit
]
The Samanid dynasty was founded by
Saman Khuda
, his descendants became rulers of the Samanid Empire. He was a
dehqan
of Iranian origin from the village of Saman in
Balkh province
,
in present-day northern
Afghanistan
.
The earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in
Greater Khorasan
rather than
Transoxiana
.
In some sources, the Samanids claimed to be descended from the
House of Mihran
of
Bahram Chobin
.
[a]
It has been claimed that the House of Saman belonged to the
Oghuz Turks
, although the veracity is unlikely.
Originally a
Zoroastrian
, Saman Khuda converted to
Islam
during the governorship of
Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri
in
Khorasan
, and named his oldest son as
Asad ibn Saman
in the governor's honour.
In 819, the governor of Greater Khorasan, Ghassan ibn Abbad, rewarded the four sons of Asad ibn Saman for their aid against the rebel
Rafi ibn al-Layth
.
Nuh ibn Asad
received
Samarkand
;
Ahmad ibn Asad
received
Farghana
;
Yahya ibn Asad
received
Tashkent
, and
Ilyas ibn Asad
received
Herat
.
Rise
[
edit
]
The Samanids in Herat (819?857)
[
edit
]
Ilyas died in 856, and his son
Ibrahim ibn Ilyas
became his successor. The
Tahirid
governor of Khorasan,
Muhammad ibn Tahir
, subsequently appointed him as the commander of his army, and sent him on an expedition against the
Saffarid
ruler
Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
in
Sistan
. After facing defeat in battle near
Pushang
in 857, he fled to
Nishapur
, only to be captured by Ya'qub al-Saffar and sent to Sistan as a hostage.
The Samanid dynasty in Transoxiana (819?892)
[
edit
]
In 839/40, Nuh seized
Isfijab
from the nomadic
pagan
Turks
living in the
steppe
. Consequently, he had a wall constructed around the city to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2?his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad, were then appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan.
After Yahya died in 855, Ahmad took control over Chach, thus becoming the ruler of most of
Transoxiana
. He died in 864/5; his son
Nasr I
received Farghana and Samarkand, while his other son Ya'qub received Chach (areas around modern Tashkent/Chachkent).
Meanwhile, the Tahirids' authority had significantly weakened after suffering several defeats to Saffarid ruler Ya'qub al-Saffar. Hence, causing the Tahirids to lose their grip over the Samanids, who became more or less independent. Nasr I, used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother
Ismail
to
Bukhara
, which was in an unstable condition after suffering from raids by the
Afrighid dynasty
of
Khwarazm
. When Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants, who saw him as one who could restore order.
After not so long, disagreement over where to distribute tax money caused a conflict between the brothers. Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle and took control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had been invested with Transoxiana, and the Abbasid
caliphs
continued to recognize him as the rightful ruler.
Because of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless, a situation that would continue until his death in August 892.
Final unification and height of power (892?907)
[
edit
]
Following Nasr's death, Ismail moved the capital of the Samanid dynasty from Samarkand to Bukhara.
A few months later the Saffarid emir, Ya'qub al-Saffar, also died and was succeeded by his brother
Amr ibn al-Layth
, who saw himself as the heir of the Saffarids.
In the spring of 900, Amr
clashed
with Ismail near
Balkh
, but was defeated and taken into captivity.
Ismail thereafter sent him to Baghdad, where he was executed.
Ismail was thereafter recognized as the ruler of all of Khorasan and Transoxiana by the caliph.
Furthermore, he also received the investiture over
Tabaristan
,
Ray
and
Isfahan
.
It was also during this period that the Afrighid dynasty was forced into submission.
Before Ismail Samani's major victory against the Saffarids, he had made various expeditions in Transoxiana; in 892, he put an end to the
Principality of Ushrusana
by seizing all of its lands. During the same period, he put an end to the Bukhar Khudas in Bukhara. In 893,
Ismail Samani
invaded the territories of the
Karluk Turks
, taking
Talas
and converting the
Nestorian church
there into a
mosque
.
[22]
[23]
The same year, he conducted a campaign to gather slaves, taking ten to fifteen thousand captives.
[24]
The
Samanid slave trade
was the main trade income of the Samanid Empire, forming the base of economy of the state.
[25]
In 900, Ismail sent an army under Muhammad ibn Harun al-Sarakhsi against
Muhammad ibn Zayd
, the
Zaydi
ruler of Tabaristan and
Gorgan
. The invasion was successful; Muhammad ibn Zayd was killed and Tabaristan was conquered by the Samanids. However, Muhammad ibn Harun shortly revolted, forcing Ismail himself to invade the region the following year. Muhammad ibn Harun thereafter fled to
Daylam
, while Ismail reconquered Tabaristan and Gorgan.
In 901,
Amr Saffari
was defeated at the battle of Balkh by the Samanids, which reduced the Saffarid dynasty to a minor tributary in Sistan.
It was during this period that the Samanids were at their height of power, ruling as far as
Qazvin
in the west
[28]
and
Peshawar
in the east.
Ismail is known in history as a competent general and a strong ruler; many stories about him are written in Arabic and Persian sources. Furthermore, because of his campaigns in the north, his empire was so safe from enemy incursions that the defences of Bukhara and Samarkand went unused. However, this later had consequences; at the end of the dynasty, the walls?earlier strong, but now falling apart?were greatly missed by the Samanids, who were constantly under attack by the
Karakhanids
and other enemies.
Ismail died in November 907, and was succeeded by his son
Ahmad Samani
(r. 907?914).
Intermediate period (907?961)
[
edit
]
The Samanids and main Asian polities
c.
900
Not long after his accession, Ahmad invaded Sistan; by 911, Sistan was under complete Samanid control, and Ahmad's cousin
Abu Salih Mansur
was appointed as its governor. Meanwhile, an
Alid
named
Hasan al-Utrush
was slowly re-establishing Zaydi over Tabaristan. In 913, Ahmad sent an army under Muhammad ibn Sa'luk to deal with him. Although the Samanid army was much larger, Hasan managed to emerge victorious. Ahmad, before he could plan another expedition to Tabaristan, was the following year murdered by some of his slaves in a tent near Bukhara.
During his reign, Ahmad is also said to have replaced the language of the court from Persian to
Arabic
, which made him unpopular among his subjects, and forced him to change it back to Persian. After Ahmad's death, his eight-year-old son
Nasr II
(r. 914?943) succeeded him.
Due to Nasr's youth, his prime minister
Abu 'Abd-Allah al-Jaihani
took care over most of the state affairs. Jaihani was not only an experienced administrator, but also a prominent geographer and greatly educated man. Almost right after Nasr II had ascended the throne, several revolts erupted, the most dangerous one being under his paternal grand-uncle, Ishaq ibn Ahmad, who seized Samarkand and began minting coins there, while his son Abu Salih Mansur seized
Nishapur
and several cities in Khorasan. Ishaq was eventually defeated and captured, while Abu Salih Mansur died of natural causes in 915.
Some time later Nasr II once again had to deal with rebels; in 919, the governor of Khorasan, Husayn ibn Ali Marvarrudhi, rebelled against Samanid authority. Nasr responded by sending an army under
Ahmad ibn Sahl
to suppress the rebellion, which the latter managed to accomplish. After a few weeks, however, Ahmad shortly rebelled himself at Nishapur, made incursions into Gorgan, and then fortified himself in
Merv
to avoid a Samanid counter-attack. Nevertheless, the Samanid general Hamuya ibn Ali managed to lure Ahmad out of Merv, and defeated him in a battle at
Marw al-Rudh
; he was captured and imprisoned in Bukhara, where he remained until his death in 920.
In the west, Nasr II clashed several times with
Daylamite
and
Gilite
rulers; In 921, the Zaydids under the Gilite ruler
Lili ibn al-Nu'man
invaded Khorasan, but were defeated by the
Simjurid
general
Simjur al-Dawati
. Later in 930, a Dailamite military leader,
Makan ibn Kaki
, seized Tabaristan and Gurgan, and even took possession of Nishapur in western Khorasan. He was, however, forced to withdraw back to Tabaristan one year later, due to the threat that Samanids posed.
[30]
[31]
Makan then returned to Tabaristan, where he was defeated by the
Ziyarid
ruler
Mardavij
, who managed to conquer the region.
[30]
[32]
In 935, Nasr II re-established Samanid control in Gurgan and made Mardavij's successor
Vushmgir
his vassal. However, in 939 he declared independence, but was defeated the following year at
Iskhabad
.
In 943 several Samanid army officers, angry at Nasr's support of
Isma'ili
missionaries, formed a conspiracy to murder him. Nasr's son
Nuh I
, however, learned of the conspiracy. He went to a banquet designed to organize the plot and had the head of their leader cut off. To appease the other officers, he promised to stop the Isma'ili missionaries from continuing their activities. He then convinced his father to abdicate, who died of
tuberculosis
after a few months.
[33]
Right when Nuh I ascended the throne, a revolt erupted in Khwarazm, which he managed to suppress. Later in 945, he had to deal with the
Muhtajid
ruler
Abu 'Ali Chaghani
, who refused to relinquish his post as governor of Khorasan to
Ibrahim ibn Simjur
. Abu 'Ali Chaghani then rebelled, and was joined by several prominent figures such as
Abu Mansur Muhammad
, whom he appointed as his commander-in-chief. In 947, he installed Nuh's uncle
Ibrahim ibn Ahmad
as
amir
in Bukhara. Abu 'Ali Chaghani then returned to his domains in
Chaghaniyan
. Ibrahim, however, was unpopular with the people of Bukhara, and Nuh soon retaliated by retaking the city and blinding Ibrahim and two brothers.
When Abu Ali Chaghani received the news of the re-capture of Bukhara, he once again marched towards it, but was defeated by an army sent by Nuh and withdrew back to Chaghaniyan. After some time, he left the region and tried to obtain support from other Samanid vassals. Meanwhile, Nuh had Chaghaniyan ravaged
and its capital sacked.
Another battle shortly ensued between Abu 'Ali Chaghani and a Samanid army in
Tukharistan
, which resulted in a Samanid victory. Fortunately for Abu Ali Chaghani, he managed to secure the support of other Samanid vassals, such as the rulers of
Khuttal
, and the Kumiji
mountain people
, but in the end made peace with Nuh, who allowed him to keep Chaghaniyan in return for sending his son Abu'l Muzaffar Abdallah as hostage to Bukhara.
By 945, the Turkic military slave faction (who were formerly recruited by the Samanid rulers in positions of governance) were fully in charge of the government. By this time, the Samanid family only held nominal power; similar to how the
Buyids
held de facto power over the
Abbasid Caliphate
around the same time.
[37]
Alp Tigin
, nominal vassal of the Samanids, conquered Ghazna in 962 from the Lawik dynasty.
[38]
The fifth of these commanders was Sebuktigin, who governed ?azna for twenty years till 387 AH/997 CE with the title (as it appears from his tomb inscription
[39]
) of al-??jeb al-ajall (most noble commander). He would later be the founder of an independent dynasty based in Ghazna, following the decline of the Samanid Empire in the 990s.
[40]
Decline and fall (961?999)
[
edit
]
The power of the Samanids began to crumble in the latter half of the 10th century. In 962, one of the
ghulams
,
Alp Tigin
, commander of the army in Khorasan, seized
Ghazna
and established himself there.
[41]
His successors, however, including
Sebuk Tigin
, continued to rule as Samanid "governors". With the weakened Samanids facing rising challenges from the
Karakhanids
for control of
Transoxiana
, Sebuk later took control of all the provinces south of the Oxus and established the
Ghaznavid Empire
.
In 992, a
Karakhanid
, Harun Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the
Karluk
confederation
Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan
, captured
Bukhara
, the Samanid capital.
[42]
Harun died shortly afterwards, however, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara. In 999, Nasr b. Ali, a nephew of Harun, returned and took possession of Bukhara, meeting little resistance. The Samanid domains were split up between the
Ghaznavids
, who gained
Khorasan
and
Afghanistan
, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana; the
Oxus River
thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.
[43]
Isma'il Muntasir's attempt to resurrect the Samanid state (1000?1005)
[
edit
]
Isma'il Muntasir
was the youngest son of Nuh II?he was imprisoned by the Karakhanids after their conquest of Bukhara in 999. Some time later, Isma'il managed to escape to Khwarazm, where he gained support. Driving the Karakhanids out of Bukhara, he then moved on to and captured Samarkand. The approach of the Karakhanid army, however, forced Isma'il to give up all of his possessions, following which he travelled to Khorasan, where he captured Nishapur. Mahmud's army, however, made its way to the region, and Isma'il decided it necessary to flee again.
In 1003 Isma'il came back to Transoxiana, where he requested and received assistance from the Oghuz Turks of the
Zarafshan
valley. They defeated the Karakhanids in several battles, even when Nasr Khan was involved. For various reasons, however, Isma'il came to feel that he could not rely on the Oghuz to restore him, so he went back to Khorasan. He tried to gain Mahmud's support for a campaign to restore the Samanid state, but failed. Some time afterwards, he returned to the Zarafshan valley, where he gained the support of the Oghuz and others. A Karakhanid army was defeated in May 1004, but subsequently the Oghuz deserted Isma'il during another battle, and his army fell apart.
Fleeing to Khorasan yet again, Isma'il attempted to reenter Transoxiana in the end of 1004. The Karakhanids stopped this and Isma'il was nearly killed. Following this, he sought the hospitality of an
Arab
tribe near
Merv
. Their chief, however, killed Isma'il in 1005. His death marked the defeat of the last attempt to restore the Samanid state. Descendants of the Samanid family continued to live in Transoxiana where they were well regarded, but their power was relatively broken.
Iranian intermezzo
[
edit
]
Along with several other states, the Samanid Empire was part of the
Iranian Intermezzo
, or "Persian renaissance". This period has been described as having a key importance in the formation of the Islamic civilization, both politically and culturally. In political terms, it saw an effective break up of the
Abbasid power
and the rise of several successor states such as the Samanids and Buyids while in cultural terms, it witnessed the rise of new Persian as an administrative and literary language.
[45]
Culture
[
edit
]
Government
[
edit
]
The system of the Samanid state was modelled after the Abbasid system,
which in turn was modelled after the Sasanian system.
The ruler of the state was the
amir
, and the provinces were governed by appointed governors or local
vassal
rulers.
The administrative, political and economic affairs were administered by the
divan
, and the Samanid bureaucracy used Arabic in its diplomatic discourses.
[48]
The economy was managed by the
mustawfi
, diplomatic correspondence and important state papers by the
diwanal-rasa'il
, and the royal guard and military affairs by the
sahib al-shurta
.
The main responsibility of both governors and local rulers was to collect taxes and support the Samanid ruler with troops if needed. The most important province in the Samanid Empire was Khorasan, which was initially given to a relative of the Samanid ruler or a local Iranian prince (such as the
Muhtajids
), but was later given to one of his most trusted slaves. The governor of Khorasan was normally the
sipah-salar
(commander-in-chief).
Like in the Abbasid Caliphate, Turkic slaves could rise to high office in the Samanid state, which would sometimes give them enough power to nearly make the ruler their puppet.
Cultural and religious efforts
[
edit
]
The Samanids revived
Persian culture
by patronizing
Rudaki
,
[51]
Bal'ami
and
Daqiqi
.
[52]
The Samanids determinedly propagated
Sunni Islam
, and repressed
Ismaili
Shiism
[53]
but were more tolerant of
Twelver
Shiism.
[9]
Islamic architecture and Islamo-Persian culture was spread deep into the heartlands of
Central Asia
by the Samanids. Following the first complete translation of the
Qur'an
into
Persian
in the 9th century, populations under the Samanid empire began accepting
Islam
in significant numbers.
[54]
The arabization of the Samanids was clearly minimal compared to the almost entirely arabized Tahirids.
Despite Arabic literature and science flourishing in the Samanid Empire, its distance from Baghdad allowed the Samanids to be a crucial element in the renaissance of New Persian language and culture.
This Persianate culture variant was the first to use a language besides Arabic in Islamic culture.
Although the
Zoroastrian
population had previously been suppressed by the Abbasid Caliphate,
[56]
according to Al-Masudi, the Samanid empire
[b]
[57]
still had fire-temples that were still being venerated by the present Zoroastrian population.
[57]
Despite the fact that the Samanids professed
Sunni Islam
, however, they were much more tolerant towards its Zoroastrian population than the previous empires.
[58]
Through zealous missionary work as many as 30,000 tents of
Turks
came to profess Islam and later under the Ghaznavids more than 55,000 under the
Hanafi
school of thought. The mass conversion of the Turks to Islam eventually led to a growing influence of the
Ghaznavids
, who would later rule the region.
[
citation needed
]
Under
Nuh II
, a Hanafi work, which was being used to contest Ismailism, was translated into Persian.
[59]
Agriculture and trading were the economic bases of the Samanid State. The Samanids heavily engaged in trade with
Europe
. Thousands of Samanid coins have been found in the
Baltic
and
Scandinavia
.
[60]
Literature
[
edit
]
During the 9th and 10th centuries, there was a large amount of growth in literature, mostly in poetry. It was during the Samanid period that
Persian literature
appeared in Transoxiana and was formally recognized.
The advancement of an Islamic New Persian literature thus started in Transoxiana and Khorasan instead of
Fars
, the homeland of the Persians. The best known poets of the Samanid period were
Rudaki
(d. 941),
Daqiqi
(d. 977) and
Ferdowsi
(d. 1020).
Although Persian was the most-favored language,
Arabic
continued to enjoy a high status and was still popular among the members of the Samanid family.
For example,
al-Tha'alibi
wrote an Arabic anthology named
Yatimat al-Dahr
("The Unique Pearl"). The fourth section of the anthology included a detailed account of the poets that lived under the Samanids. It also states that the poets of Khwarazm mostly wrote in Arabic.
The acknowledged founder of Persian classical poetry, and a man of great perception, was Rudaki, who was born in the village of
Panjrudak
, which is today part of the
Panjakent District
in
Tajikistan
.
Rudaki was already becoming popular during his early years, due to his poems, his voice, and his great skill in using the
chang
(an Iranian instrument similar to the
harp
). He was shortly invited to the Samanid court, where he stayed almost the rest of his life. Fewer than 2,000 lines of his poetry have survived, but are enough to prove his great poetic skills?he perfected every basic verse form of medieval Persian poetry: mathnawi,
qasida
,
ghazal
and
ruba'i
.
"Look at the cloud, how it cries like a grieving man
- Thunder moans like a lover with a broken heart.
- Now and then the sun peeks from behind the clouds
- Like a prisoner hiding from the guard." ? Rudaki
Another prominent poet was
Shahid Balkhi
, born in the village of Jakhudanak near Balkh. Not much is known about his life, but he is mentioned as being one of the best poets in the court of Nasr II, and one of the best scholars of the age. He was also a student of Rudaki, and had close relations with him. He died in 936, a few years before Rudaki's death. His death saddened Rudaki, who afterwards wrote an emotional
elegy
about him.
Daqiqi, who was a native of
Tus
, began his career at the court of the
Muhtajid
ruler Abu'l Muzaffar ibn Muhammad in
Chaghaniyan
, and was later invited to the Samanid court.
Under the Samanids, a special interest arose in ancient Iranian legends and heroic traditions, thus inspiring Daqiqi to write the
Shahnameh
("The Book of Kings"), a long
epic poem
based on the history of the Iranians. However, by his death in 977, he had only managed to complete a small part of it, which was about the conflict between
Gushtasp
and
Arjasp
.
However, the most prominent poet of that age was Ferdowsi, born in Tus in 940 to a
dehqan
family. It was during his youth that there was a period of growth under the Samanids. The rapid growth of interest in ancient Iranian history made him continue the work of Daqiqi, completing the Shahnameh in 994, only a few years before the fall of the Samanid Empire. He later completed a second version of the Shahnameh in 1010, which he presented to the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud. However, his work was not as appreciated by the Ghaznavids as it had been by the Samanids.
Population
[
edit
]
Under the Samanid Empire, the
Zarafshan
valley,
Kashka Darya
and
Usrushana
were populated by
Sogdians
;
Tukharistan
by the Bactrians;
Khwarezm
by the Khwarazmians; the
Ferghana valley
by the Ferghanans; southern
Khorasan
by Khorasanians; and the
Pamir mountains
and environs by the
Saka
and other early Iranian peoples. All these groups were of Iranian ethnicity and spoke dialects of
Middle Iranian
and
New Persian
. In the words of Negmatov, "they were the basis for the emergence and gradual consolidation of what became an Eastern Persian-Tajik ethnic identity."
Language
[
edit
]
Ferghana, Samarkand, and Bukhara were starting to be linguistically
Persianized
in originally Khwarazmian and Sogdian areas during Samanid rule.
[64]
The Persian language spread and led to the extinction of Eastern Iranian languages like
Bactrian
and
Khwarezmian
with only a tiny amount of
Sogdian
-descended
Yaghnobi
speakers remaining among the now Persian-speaking Tajik population of Central Asia. This was due to the fact that the Arab-Islamic army which invaded Central Asia at the time also included some Persians who later governed the region like the Samanids.
[65]
Persian was rooted into Central Asia by the Samanids.
[4]
Intellectual life
[
edit
]
In the 9th and 10th centuries, intellectual life in Transoxiana and Khorasan reached a high level. In the words of N.N. Negmatov, "It was inevitable that the local Samanid dynasty, seeking support among its literate classes, should cultivate and promote local cultural traditions, literacy and literature."
The main Samanid towns ?
Bukhara
,
Samarkand
,
Balkh
,
Merv
,
Nishapur
,
Khujand
,
Bunjikath
,
Hulbuk
,
Termez
and others, became the major cultural centres under the state. Scholars, poets, artists and other men of education from many Muslim countries assembled in the Samanid capital of Bukhara, where a rich soil was created for the prosper of creative thought, thus making it one of the most distinguished cultural centres of the Eastern world. An outstanding library known as
Siw?n al-Hikma
("Storehouse of Wisdom") was put together in Bukhara, known for its various types of books.
Arts
[
edit
]
Due to extensive excavations at
Nishapur
, Iran, in the mid-twentieth century, Samanid pottery is well-represented in Islamic art collections around the world. These ceramics are largely made from
earthenware
and feature either calligraphic inscriptions of Arabic proverbs, or colorful figural decorations.
[68]
The Arabic proverbs often speak to the values of "Adab" culture?hospitality, generosity, and modesty.
[69]
-
Lute player. Samanid (or
Seljuk
)
[70]
metal work,
Khorezm
, 10th century. Islamic Art Museum (Museum fur Islamische Kunst), Berlin.
[71]
-
"
Simurgh
platter", Iran, Samanid dynasty. 9th-10th century. Islamic Art Museum (Museum fur Islamische Kunst), Berlin.
-
Example of figural earthenware ceramics from Samanid period. From
Nishapur
,
Iran
, 10th century CE.
-
Bowl with Arabic inscription "Planning before work protects you from regret; prosperity and peace", 10th century CE,
Iran
.
Legacy
[
edit
]
In commending the Samanids, the epic Persian poet
Ferdowsi
says of them:
??? ?? ?????? ????????
? ???????? ?? ?? ????????
"Where have all the great
Sasanians
gone?
From the
Bahr?mids
to the Samanids what has come upon?"
A Bukharian historian writing in 943 stated that
Ismail Samani
:
was indeed worthy and right for
padishahship
. He was an intelligent, just, compassionate person, one possessing reason and prescience...he conducted affairs with justice and good ethics. Whoever tyrannized people he would punish...In affairs of state he was always impartial.
[72]
The celebrated scholar
Nizam al-Mulk
, in his famous work
Siyasatnama
, stated that Ismail Samani:
was extremely just, and his good qualities were many. He had pure faith in God (to Him be power and glory) and he was generous to the poor ? to name only one of his notable virtues.
[73]
The
Somoni
currency of
Tajikistan
is named after the Samanids. A notable airline based in
Dushanbe
is also named
Somon Air
. Also, the highest mountain in Tajikistan and in the former
Soviet Union
is named after Ismail Samani.
[74]
The mountain was formerly known as "Stalin Peak" and "Communism Peak" but in 1998 the name was officially changed to
Ismoil Somoni Peak
.
Samanid rulers
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Pourshariati refers to the Mihrans as Parthian,
while Frye refers to Bahram Chobin as Sasanian.
- ^
Specifically
Kirman
,
Sijistan
, and
Khorasan
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Persian Prose Literature." World Eras. 2002. HighBeam Research. (September 3, 2012);"
Princes, although they were often tutored in Arabic and religious subjects, frequently did not feel as comfortable with the Arabic language and preferred literature in Persian, which was either their mother tongue?as in the case of dynasties such as the Saffarids (861?1003), Samanids (873?1005), and Buyids (945?1055)...
".
[1]
- ^
Elton L. Daniel,
History of Iran
, (Greenwood Press, 2001), 74.
- ^
a
b
Paul Bergne (15 June 2007).
The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic
. I.B.Tauris. pp. 6?.
ISBN
978-1-84511-283-7
.
- ^
Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006).
"East-West Orientation of Historical Empires"
.
Journal of World-Systems Research
.
12
(2): 222.
ISSN
1076-156X
. Retrieved
12 September
2016
.
- ^
Taagepera, Rein (1997).
"Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia"
.
International Studies Quarterly
.
41
(3): 475?504.
doi
:
10.1111/0020-8833.00053
.
JSTOR
2600793
.
- ^
Canfield L., Robert (2002).
Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective
. Cambridge University Press. p. 12.
ISBN
978-0-521-52291-5
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
The History of Iran
by Elton L. Daniel, pg. 74
- ^
Renee Grousset,
The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia
, Transl. Naomi Walford, (Rutgers University Press, 1991), 142.
- ^
"Samanids", C. E. Bosworth,
The Encyclopedia of Islam
, Vol. VIII, Ed. C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs and G. Lecomte, (E.J. Brill, 1995), 1026.
- ^
Starr, S. Frederick (2015).
Lost Enlightenment Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
. Princeton University Press. p. 233.
ISBN
9780691165851
.
- ^
Gangler, A., Gaube, H., Petruccioli, A. (2004). Bukhara, the Eastern Dome of Islam: Urban Development, Urban Space, Architecture and Population. Tyskland: Ed. Axel Menges. p. 39
- ^
Bosworth, C. Edmund
(15 December 1998).
"ESM???L, b. A?mad b. Asad S?M?N?, AB? EBR?H?M"
.
Encyclopædia Iranica
. Retrieved
24 January
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Nazim (1987), p. 164
- ^
Madelung (1975), pp. 211?212
- ^
Madelung (1975), p. 212
- ^
A new text on Ismailism at the Samanid court
, Patricia Crone and Luke Treadwell,
Texts, documents, and artefacts:Islamic Studies in Honour of D.S. Richards
, ed. Chase F. Robinson, (Brill, 2003), 46.
- ^
Hansen, Valerie (2020).
The Year 1000
. Penguin Random House. p. 150.
- ^
Gard?z?, ed. ?ab?b?, pp. 161?62; J?zj?n?, ?abaq?t, I, pp. 226?27; Ne??m-al-Molk, pp. 142?58; ?ab?nk?ra??, pp. 29?34; Bosworth, 1965, pp. 16?21
- ^
Flury, pp. 62?63
- ^
"GHAZNAVIDS"
Encyclopædia Iranica
. Retrieved 17 August 2014
- ^
Sinor, Denis, ed. (1990),
The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia
, Cambridge University Press,
ISBN
978-0-521-24304-9
- ^
Davidovich, E. A. (1998), "Chapter 6 The Karakhanids", in Asimov, M.S.; Bosworth, C.E. (eds.),
History of Civilisations of Central Asia
, vol. 4 part I, UNESCO Publishing, pp. 119?144,
ISBN
978-92-3-103467-1
- ^
Bosworth, C. E. (1 January 1998).
History of Civilizations of Central Asia
. UNESCO. p. 106.
ISBN
978-92-3-103467-1
.
An agreement was reached at this point with the Karakhanid Ilig Nasr
b. Ali
making the Oxus the boundary between the two empires [the Karakhanids and the Ghaznavids], for the shrunken Samanid amirate came to an inglorious end when the Ilig occupied Bukhara definitively in 999
- ^
Cho, Min Yong (2008). "How Land Came into the Picture: Rendering History in the Fourteenth-Century Jami al-Tawarikh".
S2CID
190712717
.
- ^
Peacock, A. C. S.; Tor, D. G. (2017-08-30).
Medieval Central Asia and the Persianate World: Iranian Tradition and Islamic Civilisation
. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. xix.
ISBN
978-0-85772-743-5
.
- ^
Starr, S. Frederick (2015).
Lost Enlightenment Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane
. Princeton University Press. p. 234.
ISBN
9780691165851
.
- ^
Rante, Rocco (2022).
Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbekistan
. Paris: Louvre Editions. p. 178.
ISBN
978-8412527858
.
- ^
"Mihragan", J. Calmard,
The Encyclopedia of Islam
, Vol.VII, Ed. C. E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W. P. Heinrichs and C. Pellat, (Brill, 1993), 18.
- ^
C.E. Bosworth,
The Ghaznavids: 994?1040
, (Edinburgh University Press, 1963), 131.
- ^
An Ismaili Heresiography: The "Bab Al-Shaytan" from Abu Tammam's Kitab Al ... By Wilferd Madelung, Paul Ernest Walker, pg. 5
- ^
Michael Dillon,
Xinjiang: China's Muslim far Northwest
, (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), 11.
- ^
Marietta Stepaniants, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 166
- ^
a
b
T.W. Arnold,
The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith
, (Archibald Constable & Co, 1896), pp. 179-180 and
[2]
on pp 161
- ^
The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism, eds. M. Stausberg & Y. S.-D. Vevaina, 2015, pp. 112
- ^
Savran, Scott (2017).
Arabs and Iranians in the Islamic Conquest Narrative: Memory and Identity Construction in Islamic Historiography, 750-1050
. Routledge. p. 45.
ISBN
9780415749688
.
- ^
History of Bukhara, By Narshakhi trans. Richard N. Frye, pg. 143
- ^
Kirill Nourzhanov; Christian Bleuer (8 October 2013).
Tajikistan: A Political and Social History
. ANU E Press. pp. 30?.
ISBN
978-1-925021-16-5
.
- ^
Paul Bergne (15 June 2007).
The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic
. I.B.Tauris. pp. 5?.
ISBN
978-1-84511-283-7
.
- ^
Grube, Ernst J. (February 1965). "The Art of Islamic Pottery".
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin
.
23
(6): 209?228.
doi
:
10.2307/3258167
.
ISSN
0026-1521
.
JSTOR
3258167
.
- ^
Pancaroglu, Oya. "Serving wisdom: The contents of Samanid epigraphic pottery." Studies in Islamic and Later Indian Art from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museum (2002): 58-68.
- ^
Walker, Alicia (30 April 2012). "The Emperor and the World: Exotic Elements and the Imaging of Middle Byzantine Imperial Power, Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries C.E.": 108?143, Fig. 53.
doi
:
10.1017/CBO9780511791895.007
.
- ^
Collinet, Annabelle (2022).
Splendeurs des oasis d'Ouzbekistan
. Paris: Louvre Editions. p. 199.
ISBN
978-8412527858
.
- ^
Edward Allworth (2013).
The Modern Uzbeks: from the fourteenth century to the present: a cultural history
. Hoover Press. p. 19.
ISBN
978-08-17-98733-6
.
- ^
Ni??m al-Mulk (2002).
The Book of Government, Or, Rules for Kings: The Siyar Al-Muluk, Or, Siyasat-nama of Nizam Al-Mulk
. Psychology Press. p. 14.
ISBN
978-07-00-71228-1
.
- ^
Richard Foltz
,
A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East
, London: Bloomsbury, 2019, p. 68.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Blair, Sheila, ed. (1992).
The Monumental Inscriptions from Early Islamic Iran and Transoxiana
. Vol. V. E.J. Brill.
- Bregel, Yuri (2003).
An Historical Atlas of Central Asia
. Vol. 9. Brill.
ISBN
9789004123212
.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1968). "The Development of Persian Culture under the Early Ghaznavids".
Iran
.
6
: 33?44.
doi
:
10.2307/4299599
.
JSTOR
4299599
.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1973).
"The Heritage of Rulership in Early Islamic Iran and the Search for Dynastic Connections with the Past"
.
Iran
.
11
. Taylor & Francis: 51?62.
doi
:
10.2307/4300484
.
JSTOR
4300484
.
- Bosworth, C.E.
(1975). "The ??hirids and ?aff?rids". In
Frye, Richard N.
(ed.).
The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 90?135.
ISBN
0-521-20093-8
.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1984).
"A?MAD B. SAHL B. H??EM"
. In
Yarshater, Ehsan
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume I/6: Afghanistan?Ahriman
. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 643?644.
ISBN
978-0-71009-095-9
.
- Bosworth, C. E. (1984).
"?L-E MO?T?J"
. In
Yarshater, Ehsan
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume I/7: Ahriman?Alafrank
. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 764?766.
ISBN
978-0-71009-096-6
.
- Bosworth, Clifford Edmund (2004).
The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual
. Columbia University Press.
ISBN
9780748621378
.
- Bosworth, C. E. (2011).
The Ornament of Histories: A History of the Eastern Islamic Lands AD 650?1041: The Persian Text of Abu Sa'id 'Abd Al-Hayy Gardizi
. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1?169.
ISBN
978-1-84885-353-9
.
- Daniel, Elton. (2001)
The History of Iran
(The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations) Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
ISBN
0-313-30731-8
,
ISBN
978-0-313-30731-7
- Donner, Fred M. (1999). "Muhammad and the Caliphate: Political history of the Islamic Empire up to the Mongol Conquest". In Esposito, John L. (ed.).
The Oxford History of Islam
. Oxford University Press.
- Frye, R.N.
(1975).
"The S?m?nids"
. In
Frye, Richard N.
(ed.).
The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 136?161.
ISBN
0-521-20093-8
.
- Grousset, Renee (1991).
The Empire of the Steppes:A History of Central Asia
. Translated by Walford, Naomi. Rutgers University Press.
- Gutas, Dimitri (1982). "The
?iw?n al-?ikma
Cycle of Texts".
Journal of the American Oriental Society
.
102
(4): 645?650.
doi
:
10.2307/601973
.
JSTOR
601973
.
- Houtsma, M. Th (1993).
First Encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913?1936
. Brill. pp. 579?1203.
ISBN
9789004097964
.
- Litvinsky, Ahmad Hasan Dani (1998).
History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Age of Achievement, A.D. 750 to the end of the 15th-century
. UNESCO.
ISBN
9789231032110
.
- Negmatov, N.N. (1998). "The Samanids". In Asimov, M.S.; Bosworth, C.E. (eds.).
History of Civilizations of Central Asia
. Vol. IV, part one:The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. UNESCO. pp. 77?94.
- Pourshariati, Parvenah (2011).
Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran
. I.B. Tauris.
- Shahbazi, A. Shapur (2005).
"SASANIAN DYNASTY"
. In
Yarshater, Ehsan
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition
. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
- Treadwell, W. L. (1991).
The Political History of the S?m?nid State
(PhD thesis). University of Oxford.
- de la Vaissiere, Etienne (2005).
Sogdian Traders: A History
. Brill.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Schindel, Nikolaus (2017). "POLAND: The S?m?nid Hoard of Pepineg (?)/ Przemysl from the Year 1849".
The Numismatic Chronicle
.
177
: 451?458.
JSTOR
26637395
.
|
---|
Regional rulers (819?857)
| |
---|
Amirs
of
Khorasan
| |
---|
[B]
indicates usurpers or rival claimants
|
|
---|
| |
* indicates short living provinces
† indicates provinces ruled by tributary rulers
|
|
---|
|
---|
| Ancient
| 3400?539 BC
| |
---|
550 BC?AD 224
| |
---|
AD 224?651
| |
---|
|
---|
Medieval and
early modern
| 632?1090
| |
---|
977?1432
| |
---|
1370?1925
| |
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|
---|
Modern
| |
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See also
| |
---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Persian and Caspian kingdoms
| |
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Kurdish kingdoms
| |
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Khwarezmian kingdoms
| |
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Sogdian kingdoms
| |
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See also
| |
---|