reign of Muḥammad Khu dā bandah Öljeitü in
arrival of the Mongols Again this relied very
706/1307–8, the compendium was probably tran-
largely on oral reports of native informants con-
scribed and illustrated under the supervision of
cerning the other peoples of the world with whom
its author 133 By securing the preservation of his
the Mongols came into contact 137
writings and their transmission, Rashīd al-Dīn
The dragon makes an appearance in the text
ensured that both he and the pādishāh-i Īrān va
as well as in the paintings In the section on the
Islām (as both Ghāzān and Öljeitü were called)
history of the Saljuqs an account is given of the
would be remembered by posterity 134
Great Saljuq sulṭān Muḥammad ibn Malik Shāh,
Rashīd al-Dīn, who served the Ilkhanids
which details how at the beginning of his reign
Ghāzān and Öljeitü, had entered service in the
in 501/1108 he overthrew and killed the Mazya-
Ilkhanid court as a physician (hence his appella-
did Sayf al-Dawla Ṣadaqa and the amīr Ayāz 138
tion Ṭabīb, the physician) Not least through real-
Around the contenders a large army had gathered
ising the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, he became one of the
“in such a fashion that drawing up ranks for battle,
key figures in the relationship between yuan
their splendour and equipment outshone the Sul-
China and the Iranian world during the Ilkhanid
tans ” In spite of this:
period His first volume, devoted to an official
The Sultan had the aid of heaven and the assis-
history of the Mongols and their conquests, is
tance of the Lord
particularly informative since the vizier relied
They have written that, on that day of battle,
very largely on oral information, partly provided
black clouds, fire, thunder and lightning had
by Ghāzān Khān himself, and partly by the per-
appeared above the enemy, as well as the form
sonal representative of the Great Khān, Bolād
of a dragon out of whose mouth fire was coming,
Zhengxiang (Pers Pūlād Chīngsāng, d 712/1313),
so that the whole group threw away their weap-
who repeated to him passages from the now lost
ons They recognized death, and beheld the fear
so-called Altin Defter (“Golden Book”), the offi-
and terror of the Resurrection 139
cial Mongol chronicle 135
Rashīd al-Dīn’s description draws on visual signs
According to Rashīd al-Dīn’s deed of endow-
of nature which include black clouds, fire, thun-
ment (waqfnāma) dated 709/1309, he created and
der and lightning He appears to allude to imag-
sponsored a foundation, the Rab-ʿi Rashīdī
ery used in the Qurʾān ( sūra 2, 55–6):
(“Rashid’s quarter”), in an outlying quarter of
And when you said, “O Moses, we shal not believe
Tabriz, which served as a centre of intellectual
in you, until we see Allah manifestly,” the thun-
activity with numerous buildings including a
derbolt struck you, while you were looking on
mosque, madrasa, khānaqāh (dervish lodge), a
Then we made you alive after your death, so that
hospital as wel as a vast library and a scriptorium
you might give thanks
In the latter the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh and other texts
authored by Rashīd al-Dīn (which were to be
The natural phenomenon of the thunderbolt thus
bilingual, that is to say copied in both Arabic and
serves the purposes of heaven, miraculously hin-
Persian, the two main literary languages of the
dering human vision At the same time Rashīd
Ilkhanid empire and the neighbouring states),
al-Dīn touches upon a Mongol belief according
were illustrated and illuminated, and then dis-
to which:
seminated throughout the empire 136
lightning storms come from an animal like a
The second volume of the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh
dragon, and in that region they witness it coming
deals with the histories of the “ancient kings,” the
down out of the air onto the ground, striking its
pre-Islamic rulers, then addresses Islamic history
tail against the earth, coiling around itself, and
from the time of the Prophet Muḥammad to the
pouring fire from its mouth 140
133 Blair, 1995, p 14
Islamic Art (formerly the Royal Asiatic Society), London
134 Hoffmann, 2000, p 73
138 For the section on the history of the Saljūqs, Rashīd
135 Spuler, 1939, repr 1955, pp 221–2; Allsen, 2001,
al-Dīn and his compilers probably relied heavily on the
pp 73–5
Saljūq-nāma of Ẓāhir al-Dīn Nīshāpūrī, written in c
136 “Articles of Endowment of the Rab-ʿi Rashidi,” tr
584/1188 for the last Great Saljūq sulṭān Ṭoghrıl III ibn
Thackston, 1995, pp 114–5
Arslan (r 571/1176–590/1194)
137 Two substantial groups of folios written in Arabic sur-
139 The History of the Seljuk Turks, tr Luther and ed
vive from a grand illustrated copy of the Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh
Bosworth, 2001, p 73
produced in 714/1314–5, now housed in the Edinburgh
140 Tr Thackston, vol 1, 1998–9, p 82 Cf Roux, 1978,
University Library, and the Nasser D Khalili Collection of
p 122