In Pursuit of the Past: Artuqid Patronage of the
Bu tez Artuklu hanedanının antik bilimler alanındaki himaye faaliyetlerini
inceleyen ilk çalışmadır. On ikinci ve on beşinci yüzyıllar arasında Cezire bölgesinde
hüküm süren Artuklu hanedanının Mardin, Hisn Kayfa, Amid ve Harput’ta faaliyet
gösteren üç kolu bulunmaktadır. Bu araştırma Artuklu hanedanı tarafından himaye edilen
bilim insanlarının hayatlarına ek olarak, bilim insanlarının seçkinlerle kurdukları ağları
ve Artuklu hükümdarları ile diğer aile üyelerine ithaf edilen bilimsel el yazmalarını analiz
etmektedir. Artukluların entelektüel faaliyetleri ve eğitim geçmişlerinin yanı sıra
kurdukları özel ve kamusal kütüphaneler, Artukluların antik bilimler konusundaki
duruşunu daha iyi anlamak için ayrıntılı olarak incelenmektedir. Artuklu sarayları
kültürel ve bilimsel arayışların desteklendiği son derece gelişmiş yerlerdi. Bilim
insanlarına, onların araştırmalarına ve kadim bilimler alanındaki öğrenim faaliyetlerine
verilen destek Artuklu hükümdarlarının ve hanedan üyelerinin bireysel eylemleri
tarafından bilinçli olarak yönlendirilmiştir. Bu tez epigrafiden fotoğrafa, şiirden kroniğe,
sikkeden mimariye kadar çeşitli materyalleri bir araya getirerek farklı bir yorum sunmakta
ve böylece bilimsel ve birincil kaynaklarda tarihi zaman zaman önyargılarla tasvir edilen
Artuklular’a yeni bir ışık tutmaktadır.
Anahtar kelimeler: Artuklu, el-Cezire, Orta Çağ, antik bilimler, felsefe, tıp, astronomi,
astroloji, simya, gizli bilimler, aritmetik, mühendislik, otomat, el yazmaları, sikke,
mimari, köprü, hastane, sur.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the invaluable
guidance, unwavering support, and motivational encouragement provided by my
professors, friends, family, and different institutions. I would like to acknowledge all of
the individuals and institutions that immensely contributed to the production of my thesis.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my thesis
advisor Asst. Prof. Suzan Yalman with whom I crossed paths in the last two years of my
undergraduate education at Koç University. I am grateful to her for introducing me to the
history and art of medieval Anatolia and for her guidance and endless support in selecting
my topic and successfully finishing my thesis.
I would like to thank Asst. Prof. Ivana Jevtic for being part of my thesis
committee, reading my thesis and sharing her expertise, and providing insightful feedback
to me. I offer my heartfelt gratitude to her for introducing me to the intricacies of
European and Byzantine art when I was a curious first-year student of the History of Art
and Archaeology department. Ivana Jevtic and Suzan Yalman were instrumental in my
career as a medievalist, and they also helped me learn about academic ethics, work
discipline, and exemplary teaching.
I am also grateful to Prof. Scott Redford for accepting our invitation and being
part of my thesis committee. His research on the art and architecture of medieval Anatolia
greatly influenced my desire to study this period and geography. I would like to thank
him for taking the time to read my thesis and for the constructive criticisms and valuable
comments that he provided based on his knowledge and experience. It was beneficial to
the development of my thesis.
Koç University, my academic home for the past nine years, has hosted a variety
of individuals and departments who have played critical roles in both my intellectual
development and the completion of my thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank
the History of Art and Archeology department faculty members for the opportunity to
participate in the MA graduate program and the Graduate School of Social Sciences staff
for their assistance. I would like to thank all Suna Kıraç Library and Anamed Library
staff, especially Rana Otur and Naz Özkan, for their great help and effort in locating
resources for my thesis research that I began during the pandemic in 2020. I would like
to thank Prof. Günsel Renda, Assoc. Prof. Alessandra Ricci, Assoc. Prof. Nikos
vii
Kontogiannis, and Prof. Inge Uytterhoeven who played a significant role in improving
my knowledge of art history, Byzantine archeology, and the Middle Ages. I would also
like to thank Alexis Rappas from the History department for teaching me how to be a
good historian, analyze primary sources, and write about historiography.
My thesis research also benefited from the contributions of numerous libraries,
museums, and individuals. I appreciate the help I received from the staff at the Mardin
Museum during my field trip and the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum during my
internship and thesis research. I would like to thank the Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul
Research Institute, and the Library of the Orient-Institut Istanbul for assisting me in
obtaining the materials for my thesis. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude
to Ahmet Faruk Okatan, who helped me with the Arabic translations and provided
invaluable feedback and clarifications. I am indebted to Zeynep Atbaş, Prof. Gerhard
Endress, and Dr. Teymour Morel for being very kind to answer my questions and provide
information and sources.
My friends, for whom I am most thankful for their love, patience, and fellowship,
contributed to the success of this thesis. First, I would like to thank my colleagues and
friends Çise İpek Çınar, Pelin Kalafatoğlu, Erhan Saçlı, Mertkan Karaca, and Emine
Öztaner who helped me get through this process and crossed paths at the graduate school.
I was fortunate to meet with Hasret Kılıçoğlu, Özge Şenses, Melis Yordamlı, Gediz Deren
Öktem, Melike Coşkun, Elif Erbil, Ezgi Ak, Burak Burkay Maktav, Elif Yumru, Alp
Bilginalp, Hanife Nurbahar Kurtlu, Beril Duman, Konstantinos Xypolytos, Zeynep
Camuşcu, Çağıl Bekik, Beste Oktar, and Yeşim Kaya at Koç University. I am indebted
to Mehmet Emin Yoldaş for being one of my thesis readers and for his intellectual
friendship that shaped new ways of thinking and conducting my research. My lifelong
friends Uzay Vardar and Zeynep Ece Demirer gave me endless encouragement and
understanding, which I am most thankful for.
I could never have reached my academic achievements and become the person I
am today without the patient support of my family. I am most grateful to my mom Ayla,
my father Ömer Faruk, and my sisters, Merve and Tuğba, for their love. My niece Elif
Asya and nephew Ali Aras always filled my life with joy, creativity, and inspiration while
writing my thesis. I would like to thank Semih, my biggest and constant supporter in this
process, the first reader and critic of my thesis, the indispensable companion of my
research trips and library visits, and the person I hope to be a lifelong friend and family
in the future.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... x
LIST OF MAPS .............................................................................................................. xv
ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... xvi
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 5
1.2 Ancient Sciences in the Medieval Islamicate World ...................................... 19
1.3 The Reception of the Ancient Sciences in Anatolia, Jazira and Syria ............ 25
1.4 Overview of Chapters ..................................................................................... 33
Chapter 1: ARTUQID PERCEPTION OF PHILOSOPHY, ASTRONOMY AND
OCCULT SCIENCES ..................................................................................................... 36
1.1 The Philosopher Ruler in Mardin: Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54) ..... 36
1.2 An Artuqid Copy of Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita (Book of the Fixed
Stars) 49
1.3 The Fondness for Astrology in the Jazira Region and Its Reflection on the
Artistic Production ...................................................................................................... 59
Chapter 2: PATRONAGE OF SCIENTIFIC TEXTS AND SCIENTISTS AT THE
ARTUQID COURTS ...................................................................................................... 72
2.1 Two Artuqid Cousins: Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67) and Najm al-
Din Alpi (r. 1154-76) .................................................................................................. 72
2.1.1 Najm al-Din Alpi’s Interest in the Aristotelian Cosmology ................... 73
2.1.2 Two Artuqid Translations of De Materia Medica ................................... 76
2.1.3 The Relations with the non-Muslim Population ..................................... 82
2.1.4 The Time of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and His Constructed Identity ... 87
2.2 The Descendants of Qara Arslan and Alpi ..................................................... 95
2.3 The Artuqids of Kharput ............................................................................... 102
2.3.1 Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi al-Maqtul and His Connections to the
Artuqid Dynasty and the Rum Seljuks .................................................................. 103
2.3.2 Two Curious Manuscripts from the Artuqids of Kharput ..................... 107
Chapter 3: ʿILM AND ʿAMAL: MATERIAL EVIDENCE OF SCIENTIFIC
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ARTUQID REALMS ..................................................... 116
3.1 Artuqid ruler Nasir al-Din Mahmud ibn Muhammad (r. 1201-22) and al-
Jazari’s Automata ...................................................................................................... 116
3.2 The Construction Projects ............................................................................. 134
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 165
Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 169
Primary Sources ........................................................................................................ 169
Secondary Sources .................................................................................................... 174
ix
Appendix A: Family Tree of the Artuqids .................................................................... 195
Appendix B: Dynastic Lineage of the Artuqids ............................................................ 196
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. Coin of Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54), 1147 (542 H), copper dirham,
26 mm, 5.28 gr, Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Inv. 15970, Istanbul (Şentürk,
What the Coins Tell Us, 108).
Figure 1.2. Coin of Husam al-Din Timurtash (r.1122-54), copper dirham, 23 mm, 5.54
gr, 5 h, illegible date , Leu Numismatik AG (https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p =lot
&sid=2614&lot=1378).
Figure 1.3. Coin of Julian (Iulianus III), 361-363 CE, minted in Antiochia ad Orontem
(Antioch), Miliarense, Silver, 21,1 mm, 4.10 gr, 6 h, Inv. RÖ 38202, Münzkabinett,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Figure 1.4. Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, f.227r, MS. Fatih 3422, Süleymaniye
Library, Istanbul.
Figure 1.5. Constellation of Virgo (al-ʻadhrāʼ in Arabic), Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-
Thābita, f.131r, and f.131v, MS. Fatih 3422, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
Figure 1.6. Constellation of Virgo, Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, MS. Marsh 144,
f.223 and f.224, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Figure 1.7. Constellation of Serpent Bearer (Serpentarius or Ophiuchus, al-ḥawwa wa’l-
ḥayya in Arabic), Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, f.74v, and f.74r, MS. Fatih 3422,
Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
Figure 1.8. ORBIS CAELESTIS Tabula (Table of the Celestial Orbs) showing the Roman
Statue of Atlas (Farnese Atlas) carrying the celestial sphere on his back and its depictions
of constellations and twelve signs, originally dated 2nd century CE and in National
Archaeological Museum of Naples, Inv. 6374, Italy (from Marcus Manilius’s
Astronomica, edited and published by Richard Bentley in 1739, London).
Figure 1.9. Celestial globe, 1144 (540 H), by Yunus ibn Husayn al-Asturlabi, possibly
from Iran, cast brass, inlaid with silver, engraved, Inv. MAO 824, Louvre Museum, Paris.
Figure 1.10. Constellation of Virgo, Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, Ahmet III 3493,
f.79r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database).
Figure 1.11. Coin of Sayf al-Din Ghazi II (r. 1170-80), 1171/2 (567 H), copper dirham,
29 mm, 12 gr, 29 h, minted in Mosul, Inv. 1917.215.1003, American Numismatic Society,
New York.
Figure 1.12. Coin of Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan (r. 1184-1201), 596 H (1199-1200),
copper dirham, 31 mm, 14.58 gr, Inv. C 297,The David Collections, Copenhagen.
Figure 1.13a-b. Left: Obverse side of ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr (r.1185-1204)’s coin, 582
H (1186-7), copper dirham, 27.5 mm, 8.65 g, Inv. C 483; Right: Obverse side of Nasir al-
Din Artuq Arslan (r. 1201-39)’s coin, 599 H (1202-3), copper dirham, 28.5 mm, 13.73
gr, minted in Mardin, Inv. C 191, The David Collections, Copenhagen.
xi
Figure 1.14. Relief showing eclipse dragon (al-jawzahr) from the Tigris Bridge of Jazirat
ibn ʿUmar (Cizre/ʿAin Diwar, today in the borders of Syria), photo by Joachim Gierlichs,
Spring 1993, the Archive Das Bild des Orients, Berlin.
Figure 1.15. The Mirror of Nur al-Din Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr (r. 1225-34), ca.1220-30s,
bronze cast, diam. 24 cm, Inv. 4/1996, The David Collections, Copenhagen.
Figure 1.16. Mina’i Bowl showing the representations of planets and celestial bodies, late
12th- early 13th century, Central or Northern Iran, Inv. 57.36.4, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
Figure 1.17. Plaster Cast of the Mirror Nur al-Din Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr (r. 1225-34),
15th century (?) Egyptian copy, GE A 321 Inv Gén 36, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
(BnF), Paris.
Figure 1.18. Brass Candlestick with inlaid silver decoration, possibly owned by the
Artuqid Sultan of Mardin, Al-Malik al-Salih Shams al-Din Mahmud ibn Ghazi II (r.1312
-63), dated 717 H (1317/8), made by Ali al-Mawsili, H. 0,53 m, diam. base 0,41 m,
Northern Iraq or Syria, Inv.13038, Benaki Museum, Athens.
Figure 2.1. MS. Mašhad, Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī 149, dated 1055 H (1645/6) Astan Quds
Razavi Library, Mashhad (Endress, 2006).
Figure 2.2. Depictions of seahorse and shellfish (f.20v) and lavender (f.53r), De Materia
Medica, MS. Arabe 4947, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Figure 2.3. Depiction of Persea and the handwritten note of al-Mawsili, De Materia
Medica, MS. Arabe 4947, f.19v, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Figure 2.4. Depiction of two men extracting sap from a balsam tree, De Materia Medica,
MS. Riḍā 5079 ṭibb 490, Imam Reza Shrine Library, Mashhad (Day, “Mesopotamian
Manuscripts of Dioscorides,” 276).
Figure 2.5. Coin of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67), 1165 (540 H), copper dirham,
29 mm, 12.15 gr, Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Inv.15884, Istanbul (Şentürk,
What the Coins Tell Us, 41).
Figure 2.6. Coin of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67), undated, copper dirham, 25
mm, 6.40 gr, Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Artuk 1202, Istanbul (Whelan, 2006, 157).
Figure 2.7. The dedicatory inscription of Bustān al-ʿārifīn (The Garden of the Gnostics)
prepared for Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, 1162 (557 H), f.1r, MS. Ayasofya 1686,
Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
Figure 2.8a-b. Coins of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (1144-67), left dated 570 H (1174/5),
right dated 562 H (1166/7), copper dirhams, Inv. 1917.215.963 and Inv. 1919.143.1,
American Numismatic Society, New York.
xii
Figure 2.9. Female slave musicians from al-Jazari’s musical boat automata, al-Jāmi‘ bayn
al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.98, Topkapı
Palace Library, Istanbul (Balafrej, 2022, 749).
Figure 2.10. Majmu’a consisting of eleven scientific texts from the library of Artuqid
Malik Abu’l-Harith ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Bakr ibn Qara Arslan ibn Dawud ibn Sökmen
ibn Artuq, dated 1286 (685 H), presumably Private Collection (Sotheby’s, Arts of the
Islamic World, Lot 140, 19 October 2016).
Figure 2.11. The dedicatory inscription written at the top-middle of MS. Ayasofya 2456,
f.IVr, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
Figure 3.1. Castle Water Clock, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-
ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.5r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The
Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition], 1990).
Figure 3.2. Door with the Kufic inscription, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘
fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.12r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (Al-
Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
Figure 3.3. Astronomical Dial of al-Jazari’s Castle Water Clock, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm
wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.27r, Topkapı Palace
Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices
[facsimile edition], 1990).
Figure 3.4. Zodiac circle with Helios in the center, Ptolemy’s Handy Tables (Procheiroi
Kanones), ca. 9th century, Byzantium, MS. Vaticanus Graecus (Vat. gr.) 1291, 9r.,
Vatican Library, Rome.
Figure 3.5. The Star Mantle of Henry II, between 1014-24, Inv.2728/3-6,
Diözesanmuseum Bamberg, Germany (Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2018, 74).
Figure 3.6. The Wooden Nave Ceiling of Capella Palatina, Sicily (Museums With No
Frontiers).
Figure 3.7. Al-Jazari’s door design for the Artuqid Palace in Amid, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm
wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.165r and f166v,
Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious
Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition], 1990).
Figure 3.8. The Monk Basin for Bloodletting, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘
fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.125v, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul
(Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
Figure 3.9. Measuring Instrument, Al-Jāmi‘ Bayn Al-‘Ilm Wa Al-‘Amal Al-Nāfi‘ Fī
Ṣinā‘At Al-Ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.170r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul
(Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
xiii
Figure 3.10. The Malabadi Bridge, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34, AG20K003976,
Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage, France (POP -
Plateforme Ouverte du Patrimoine).
Figure 3.11. The Remains of the Hisn Kayfa Bridge, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34,
AG20K004188, Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage,
France (POP-Plateforme Ouverte du Patrimoine).
Figure 3.12. The Reconstruction of Hisn Kayfa Bridge by Albert Gabriel (Gabriel and
Sauvaget, 1940, 71).
Figure 3.13. A recent photo of reliefs of Hisn Kayfa Bridge after they were transported to
the Batman Museum in 2018 (DHA [Demirören News Agency], 12.02. 2018,
https://www.cnnturk.com/turkiye/sular-altinda-kalacak-koprunun-ayaklarindakifigurler-
muzeye-tasindi).
Figure 3.14a-b. Left: Detail of blind arcade on the northern façade, The Great Mosque of
Mayyafariqin, (Archnet). Right: The mihrab capital with acanthus-leaf decoration,
Hatuniye (Sitti Radviyye) Madrasa, Mardin (Photo by the thesis author).
Figure 3.15. Haburman Bridge in Çermik (SALT Archive).
Figure 3.16. View of the Mountain of Çermik, and the Haburman Bridge on the right,
Photograph by Victor Pietschmann, 1914 (Pietschmann, 1940).
Figure 3.17. The Halilviran Bridge dated 1218/9 (615 H) (Diyarbakır Governorate).
Figure 3.18. The Halilviran Bridge’s second inscription mentioning al-Malik al-Salih
Nasir al-Din Mahmud and Ja’far ibn Mahmud al-Halabi (Diyarbakır Governorate).
Figure 3.19. The Ambar Çay Bridge before it collapsed, unknown date (İlter,1978, 165).
Figure 3.20. The Mirror Tower, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34, AG20K003984,
Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage, France (POP).
Figure 3.21. Left: Constellation of Leo, Al-Sufi’s K. Ṣuwar al-kawākib, Dhū ’l-Qa‘da 630
H (August/September 1233), Mosul, MS. Landberg 71, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek. Right:
The lion figure from the Mirror Tower in Mayyafariqin (Gierlichs, 1996).
Figure 3.22. Nur al-Din Muhammad’s Inscription on the Urfa Gate (Karaçam, 2012, 48).
Figure 3.23a-b. Left: Lion-bull struggle relief from the inner citadel gate, Amid
(Karaçam, 2012, 85). Right: Lion-bull struggle relief from the Great Mosque of Amid
(Musuem With No Frontiers).
Figure 3.24. The Detail of Ulu Beden Tower, Diyarbakır, 1984 (Archnet).
Figure 3.25. Roundel zodiac signs and floriated Kufic inscription from the Ulu Beden
Tower (Parla 2016, 10).
Figure 3.26. Roundel relief symbolizing the constellation Scorpion (Parla, 2016, 14).
xiv
Figure 3.27. The Seven Brothers Tower, undated, Diyarbakır (SALT Archive).
Figure 3.28-a.b. Right: Ceramic tile with the double-headed eagle motif from the
Artuqid Palace in Amid (Diyarbakır) (Parla 2016, 17). Left: Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s
copper coin, dated 615 H, minted in Hisn Kayfa, Inv. TK468, The Barber Institute Coin
Collection (Mıynat 2017).
Figure 3. 29. The View of Emineddin Complex taken from the Roof of the Jamiʿ al-Asfar
(Yellow Mosque in Arabic) or Najm al-Din Mosque, May 15, 2022 (Photo by the thesis
author).
Figure 3.30. The Madrasa Section of the Emineddin Complex, May 15, 2022. Photo by
the thesis author).
Figure 3.31. The Madrasa Section of the Emineddin Complex, May 15, 2022. Photo by
the thesis author).
Figure 3.32. The missing inscription of the Jamiʿ al-Asfar (Yellow Mosque) in Mardin,
located on the north façade, 19 April, 1911 - 21 April, 1911, Gertrude Bell, Inv.
GB/3/1/18/1/157 (Gertrude Bell Archive Newcastle University).
xv
LIST OF MAPS
Map 1. The early thirteenth-century Anatolia and the existing dynasties (Antony
Eastmond, Tamta’s World: The Life and Encounters of a Medieval Noblewoman from the
Middle East to Mongolia, 2017, p. xxvii)
Map 2. The Map of al-Jazira Region (Lorenz Korn, Central Periphery? Art, Culture and
History of the Medieval Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia, 8th-15th Centuries), 2017).
Map 3. The Region of al-Jazira (Carole Hillenbrand, A Muslim Principality in Crusader
Times: the Early Artuqid State, 1990).
Map 4. The Trade Routes of Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia and Caucasia in the Eleventh
and Twelfth Centuries (Map by Martin Jan Månsson).
Map 5. A Section of ÇEKÜL’s Silk Road-Culture Road Map Showing the Locations of
Khans in Red and Bridges in Green at the Artuqid Territories (Elazığ, Diyarbakır,
Batman, Mardin) (ÇEKÜL, 2012).
xvi
ABBREVIATIONS
BnF Bibliothèque Nationale de France
f. Folio
H. Hijri Calendar
Inv. Inventory
r. Recto
v. Verso
xvii
Map 1. The early thirteenth-century Anatolia and the existing dynasties (Antony
Eastmond, Tamta’s World: The Life and Encounters of a Medieval Noblewoman from the
Middle East to Mongolia, 2017, p. xxvii)
xviii
Map 2. The Map of al-Jazira Region (Lorenz Korn, Central Periphery? Art, Culture and
History of the Medieval Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia, 8th-15th Centuries), 2017).
xix
Map 3. The Region of al-Jazira (Carole Hillenbrand, A Muslim Principality in Crusader
Times: the Early Artuqid State, 1990).
1
1
INTRODUCTION
The Artuqids (r. 1102-1409) established their rule in the northern reaches of the
Jazira region, located in present-day southeastern Turkey, as one of the successor states
of the Great Seljuks.1 Syrian chronicle, Shams al-Din al-Jazari (d. 1338) reports that the
Artuqids are of the Döger, one of the nomadic tribes of the Oghuz (al-Ghuzz in Arabic).2
The founder of the Artuqids, Artuq ibn Eksük (d. 1091) was an active Turkmen chief
working for the Great Seljuk sultan Malikshah I (r. 1072-92). Artuq ibn Eksük further
assisted Seljuk expeditions in Syria and participated in the Seljuk takeover of Amid
(Diyarbakır).3 His descendants established their independent states that followed Great
Seljuk practice and tradition.4
The sons of Artuq ibn Eksük, Najm al-Din Ilghazi, Yaquti, and Sökmen,
established branches of the Artuqid dynasty in the Jaziran towns of Mardin, Mayyafariqin
(Silvan), and Hisn Kayfa (Hasankeyf). The three branches continued their rule for
different lengths of time. The longest prevailing was Artuqids of Mardin (r. 1106-1409).
It is followed by the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid (r. 1102-1231), and lastly, the
Artuqids of Harput (r. 1185-1233).5 Although they lived with Muslims (Turks, Arabs and
Kurds), Jews, and Christians (Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians) in their territories, the
Artuqids cared to preserve their traditions. They mainly relied on nomadic Turkmen
troops.6 The power of rule belonged to the Artuqid family and each branch controlled
1 Al-Jazira means island in Arabic. The Jazira region is geographically located at the northern reach of the
area bordered by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. See Map 2 and Map 3.
2 İbrahim Artuk and Cevriye Artuk, Artukoğulları Sikkeleri (İstanbul: Sümer Kitabevi, 1993), 13. First, I
utilize “Turkish” to designate the medieval Muslim rulers, states and culture rather than modern Turkey
and Turkish state throughout this thesis with two exceptions. I use “Turkish” for the modern Turkish
language. Second, “Turkish” is also mentioned in the review of twentieth-century art historiography in
Turkey. The medieval states are mentioned in this thesis are the Great Seljuks and post-Seljuk successor
states established in the Jazira such as the Artuqids, the Zengids, and the Rum Seljuks, and other dynasties
established in Anatolia starting in the eleventh century. The terms Turcoman, Turkmen and Turkman are
reserved for the nomadic tribesmen. For the meaning of the term “Turk”, Andrew Peacock argues that
“Turk has a general meaning, referring to the Turkish peoples and tribes in general. In addition, the Turkish
slave soldiery in Baghdad is usually called turk” in the Islamic sources.” See Andrew C. S. Peacock, Early
Seljuq History: A New Interpretation (London: Routledge, 2013), 48.
3 Andrew C. S. Peacock, The Great Seljuk Empire (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), 61.
Alexander Daniel Beihammer, Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040-1130
(London ; New York: Routledge, 2019), 249.
4 Peacock, The Great Seljuk Empire, 61.
5 Sheila R. Canby et al., Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs (New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2016), 21.
6 Osman Turan, Doğu Anadolu Türk Devletleri Tarihi: Saltuklular, Mengücikler, Sökmenliler, Dilmaç
Oğulları ve Artukluların Siyasî Tarih ve Medeniyetleri (İstanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, 2004), 220, 221, 249.
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different towns.7 There were struggles between the members of the Artuqid branches for
dominance in the Jazira region.8
The Artuqids were prolific builders, patrons of scientists, artists, and thinkers of
their time. Through following the Great Seljuk practices, the Artuqids taxed their
subjects, predominantly a Christian population. In return, they constructed and repaired
religious buildings, bridges, fortifications, roads, and established educational centers such
as madrasas and libraries. Hillenbrand argues that many rulers were joining military
campaigns in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These mobile rulers, including the
Artuqids, first put their emphasis on “mending roads and bridges” or strengthening city
walls thus they would not spare time for “cultural pursuits.”9 The author remarks that the
“rudimentary palace” of the early Artuqid period (1100-50) would differ from a very
sophisticated court circle.10 Hillenbrand further argues that “the Artuqid Turcoman rulers
changed from nomadic leaders to petty dynasts with an interest in fostering science and
the arts” after the second half of the twelfth century.11
The limited number of surviving written documents and Artuqid objects provide
evidence against Hillenbrand’s assumption about the early Artuqid dynasty, their courts
and the rulers who were not expected to pursue intellectual pursuits. The first part of
Chapter 1 presents the literary and material evidence from the reign of Artuqid ruler of
Mardin, “philosopher” Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54) about his intellectual
pursuits, the scholars he invited to his court, the library he established and wisely chosen
design of his first dated coin. Another example comes from the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa.
Timurtash’s cousin Rukn al-Dawla Dawud (1114-44) received a high-quality enamel
plate showing the ascension of Alexander the Great and honorific titles of the ruler, and
scenes of courtly pleasures. The provenance of the Innsbruck Plate, as it is called today,
is highly debated. However, scholars suggest that it was designed as a royal gift for Rukn
al-Dawla Dawud, who was an “ambitious Artuqid ruler” at that time.12
7 Canby et al., Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 23.
8 Gerhard Väth, Die Geschichte Der Artuqidischen fürstentümer in Syrien Und Der Ǧazīraʼl-Furātīya (496-
812/1002-1409) (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz, 1987), 183.
9 Carole Hillenbrand, “The History of the Jazira: A Short Introduction,” in The Art of Syria and the Jazira,
1100-1250, ed. Julian Raby (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 16.
10 Hillenbrand, “The History of the Jazira: A Short Introduction,” 16.
11 Ibid, 17.
12 Canby et al., 56-7. Different provenances are suggested by a number of scholars. Max van Berchem
favors either Iranian or Central Asian origin meanwhile Thomas Steppan thinks that it is related to the
Byzantine workshop. Scott Redford identifies the Georgian influence and designates Georgia as the
production place. See Scott Redford, “How Islamic Is It? The Innsbruck Plate and Its Setting,” Muqarnas
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3
This thesis aims to reconstruct the intellectual world in the Artuqid courts by
analyzing the patronage activities of Artuqid rulers in the fields of ancient sciences with
the help of surviving written documents and other material evidence. I argue that the
Artuqid courts were fairly developed and sophisticated spaces where the scientists
working on the ancient sciences were supported and hosted, intellectual debates between
the thinkers, scientists and some of the Artuqid rulers were taking place and scientific
manuscripts were read, discussed and patronized by the rulers. I read these developments
and the interests in the ancient sciences not as an institutionalized state policy, but rather
conscious activities heavily dependent on the preferences and characteristics of
individuals. Some rulers were more interested than others, for instance, Husam al-Din
Timurtash gained the epithet of “philosopher and sage” due to his knowledge of the
ancient sciences. More uninterrupted written evidence of the life and personal interests of
Artuqid rulers and the policy of the Artuqid branches, as well as more manuscripts written
on the ancient sciences at the time, are required to determine whether this tradition has
evolved into state policy.
Some Artuqid rulers were depicted in the written tradition with various prejudices
and criticisms based on their interests in the ancient sciences and due to the doctrines that
they believed in. This situation is also related to geographical, and sectarian factors. These
issues will be addressed in depth in the third section of the introduction. The patronage
movements and learning activities of Artuqid lords in the field of ancient sciences should
be analyzed in parallel with the activities of all other medieval rulers interested in ancient
sciences, especially the Ayyubids in Syria, the Zengids in Iraq and Syria and the Rum
Seljuks in Anatolia to which Artuqids was vassal states at different times as well as other
contemporaries, for instance, the Byzantines and Normans of Sicily. The continuation of
these activities is an important example of a shared medieval court culture and the rulers’
personal interests, regardless of ethnicity or religious background. This topic will be
analyzed in detail in the third section of the introduction and in the following chapters.
In the twelfth century, physician, poet, and philosopher Ibn al-Saʾigh al-ʿAntari
(d. after 1186) described the Turkish state (dawla al-Turk) as a state of ignorance where
7 (1990): 119-135. Thomas Steppan, Die Artuqiden-Schale Im Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum
Innsbruck: Mittelalterliche Emailkunst Zwischen Orient Und Occident: Ausstellung Im Neubau Der
Geisteswissenschaftlichen Fakultät Universität Innsbruck, 4.-13. Mai 1995 (München: Editio Maris, 1995).
Max van Berchem, Josef Strzygowski, and Gertrude Lowthian Bell, Amida, trans. Fatih Aygün et al.
(Ankara: Orient Yayınları, 2015), 108.
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the sciences and men of merit were fought.13 Al-ʿAntari also criticized Turks for being
morally corrupt, intellectually incompetent, and closing the door of mercy. Besides, the
nations were wiped out, and the government was dispersed under their rule.14 Al-ʿAntari,
who severely criticized the medieval Turks and their dynasties, established networks with
the princes, ministers, poets, doctors, and other influential people living in the Jazira
region. The Zengid and Artuqid lords were among them. In his Diwan, the third chapter
consists of his odes and letters dedicated to the kings, princes, and ministers, including
the Zengid ruler ʿImad al-Din Zengi (r. 1128-46), and four Artuqid lords, Husam al-Din
Timurtash (r. 1122-54), Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1148-67), and their sons Najm al-
Din Alpi (r. 1154-76), Nur al-Din Muhammad (r. 1167-85) respectively.
Al-ʿAntari began working for the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa in 1166 as the
supervisor of the hospital (bīmāristān) at Hisn Kayfa and remained in that position until
1186.15 Can this change be seen as a contradiction based on the difference between what
al-ʿAntari did and what he said? In light of what he said, al-ʿAntari might have considered
Artuqid and Zengid rulers and their courts were distinct from the medieval rulers whom
he criticized in his poems. It can be also a result of the nature and power dynamics of
patronage relationships in the medieval world. Al-ʿAntari might have had to stay out of
fights with the princes and ministers whose help and protection he needed, or he might
have had to hide his true feelings due to his fears. Therefore, when examining the primary
sources mentioning the Artuqid rulers, it is necessary to consider the authors’ selfinterests,
possible biases, and other circumstances influencing them.
In the absence of literary sources of the medieval period, it is challenging to find
out what the leaders and community thought about arts, sciences, and cultural pursuits.
The available information on the Artuqid dynasty is limited. Reading the voices and
observations of outsider writers like al-ʿAntari and combining them with the material
evidence in diverse forms that have survived to the present day allow researchers to
construct a more realistic and accurate picture of the ruling Artuqid lords, other royal
family members, and state officials of the Hisn Kayfa and Amid, Mardin, and Kharput
branches of the dynasty.
13 His full name is Abū l-Muʾayyad Muḥammad b. al-Mujallī Ibn al-Ṣāʾigh al-Jazarī al-ʿAntarī. See, Geert
Jan Van Gelder. “Ibn Al-Ṣāʾigh Al-ʿAntarī.” in Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition, Online Version.
14 Muḥammad ibn al-Mujallī Ibn al-Ṣāʾigh al-Jazarī al-ʻAntarī, Al-Muh̲tār as-Sāʼiğ Min Dīwān Ibn Aṣ-
Ṣaʼiğ, ed. Banāt Muḥammad Yūsuf Ibrāhīm (Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2017), 77. This
passage is located in the introduction of his Diwan.
15 Muḥammad ibn Al-Mujallī ʻAntarī, Al-Muh̲tār as-Sāʼiğ Min Dīwān Ibn Aṣ-Ṣaʼiğ, 16-19, 40.
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This thesis is built on a thematic subject where different types of artistic mediums
and historical sources are used to enrich the analysis. I use a variety of written sources,
including chronicles, a biographical encyclopedia of scientists and scholars, poetry,
medieval Arabic geography books, advice literature (mirror for princes), traveler’s
accounts, endowment charter (waqfiyya), the illustrated and unillustrated manuscripts
dedicated to the Artuqid lords. The histories of Arabic, Syriac, and Armenian chroniclers
establish the historical context in the Jazira region. For discussing material evidence,
especially coinage and architecture, I utilize coinage catalogues, photography, epigraphy,
and auction catalogues of the Artuqid objects and manuscripts in private collections.
1.1 Literature Review
The first artistic attention on the Artuqids, whose names are mentioned in history
books and universal dictionaries, started when Artuqid figural bronze coins were
considered worth collecting by collectors and numismatists.16 “Islamic coins” or coins
minted by Muslim states were generally epigraphic and excluded the figurative designs.17
For this reason, the figural copper coins minted by the Turkish dynasties in the Jazira and
Anatolia during the twentieth and thirteenth centuries were deemed to be different. They
were renowned for their “originality.”18 According to the French author and numismatist
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy (d. 1795), the Artuqid copper coins even entered “the cabinet
of the King of France.”19 The research on the Artuqid coinage has been going on for
nearly 250 years, and there is a considerable amount of literature.20 The pioneering study
16 The earliest record that I could find is the universal dictionary of French orientalist Barthélemy
d’Herbelot (1625-1695). He included the title of “Artak or Ortok” which provides the historical information
about the dynasty and some members of the Artuqids. See, Barthélemy d’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale,
Ou Dictionnaire Universel Contenant Généralement Tout Ce Qui Regarde La Connaissance Des Peuples
De L'Orient... Par M. D’Herbelot. [Précédé D'un Discours-Préface D’A. Galland] (Paris: Compagnie des
Libraires, 1697), 130-131.
17 The first epigraphic gold coin (dinar) was minted by the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik in 696 CE.
Earlier, the first Islamic coins adapted imagery from the Byzantine and Sassanian coins and occasionally
had figurative designs on them. The coin of ‘Abd al-Malik marked a new shift in the Islamic coinage
production. See, Stefan Heidemann, “Calligraphy on Islamic Coins,” in The Aura of Alif: The Art of Writing
in Islam, ed. Frembgen Jürgen Wasim (Munich: Prestel, 2010), 162-3. The Artuqids also minted silver
coins with epigraphy for international transactions. See Ali Mıynat, “Gümüş Sikkeler ve Çağdaş Yazılı
Kaynaklar Işığında Bir Artuklu Şehri Düneysir (Koçhisar -Kızıltepe)’in Yükselişi (12.-13. Yüzyıllar),”
Tarih Okulu Dergisi (TOD), no. XXXIII (2018): 45-65.
18 İsmail Galib Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou’ Atabeqyéh
Et Meliks Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin (Constantinople: Mihran, 1894), VII.
19 William Marsden, Numismata Orientalia Illustrata: The Oriental Coins, Ancient and Modern, of His
Collection, Described and Historically Illustrated, Vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1823), 123.
20 Lutz Ilisch, “Continuity and Transformation of the Lion and Sun Device on Coins of the Jazira from the
Artuqid to the Safavid State,” in At the Crossroads of Empires: 14th-15th Century Eastern Anatolia:
Proceedings of the International Symposium Held in Istanbul, 4th-6th May 2007, ed. Deniz Beyazit and
Simon Retting (Paris: Éditions de Boccard, 2012), 105.
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was first realized by the owners of coin collectors and numismatists in Europe. They were
mainly orientalists and interested in archaeology.
William Marsden (d. 1836), an Irish orientalist numismatist, wrote the first study
in numismatics addressing the quality of Artuqid coinage designs in 1823. In the first
volume of his book Numismata Orientalia Illustrata, Marsden wrote a chapter titled
“Turkoman Ortokites,” where he provided historical information about each coin in his
collection, their inscriptions, and comments on the possible sources of inspiration for
figural imagery.21 He argues that these Artuqid princes were “indiscriminately imitating
the dies of whatever foreign medals presented themselves,” so it was not essential to
question why these Muslim rulers used classical and Christian figures on their coinage.22
William Marsden introduced the concept of imitation in the analysis of Artuqid
coinage, which later found its way into Orientalist numismatic works. This argument
about imitation appears in several publications, particularly those published in Europe
during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For the defenders of this argument, the
Artuqid rulers were imitators who heavily relied on antiquarian and Christian imagery
and struck coinage without conscious choices. This argument needs to be questioned
critically. Examining the Artuqid coins reveals that the Artuqids simply did not use the
old coinage dies. On the contrary, Artuqid coins were subjected to a design and
manipulation process. Arabic epigraphy was added alongside the figural depictions,
contradicting the imitation claim of the European Orientalists. This limited view also
disregarded the presence of dynastic markers, the names of Caliphs, Artuqid rulers, and
other rulers to whom Artuqids paid homage, as well as other specific information
inscribed on the Artuqid coins.
While European orientalists agreeing with William Marsden discussed imitation
and unconscious choices of the Artuqids, Stanley Lane-Poole offered a different
interpretation favoring the “commercial usage” of figural imagery over the “imitation
argument. In 1875, British orientalist numismatist Stanley Lane-Poole (d. 1931)
published his article “Coins of the Urtuki Turkumans” in the second part of the
International Numismata Orientalia series.23 Lane-Poole argues that Artuqid figurative
21 Marsden, Numismata Orientalia Illustrata: The Oriental Coins, Ancient and Modern, of His Collection,
Described and Historically Illustrated, Vol. 1, 108-55.
22 Ibid, 145.
23 In this work, the author analyzes the coins from the collection of the British Museum, the cabinet of
Colonel C. Seton Guthrie, and foreign coin collections. See Stanley Lane-Poole, The International
Numismata Orientalia: Coins of the Urtuki Turkumans (London: Trübner & Co., Ludgate Hill, 1876), IX.
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coins have nothing to do with the self-glorification and the unorthodoxy of the rulers who
struck these figurative coinages. Instead, he emphasizes the Artuqids’ and other Turkish
dynasties’ commercial necessity to mint coins with figural imagery because of their trade
with the Greeks and other Christians of Anatolia.24 These Turkish rulers combined
elements of “European and Byzantine” imagery with Arabic epigraphy to create a hybrid
coinage that would be easily exchanged and easily recognized.25
Even though I have doubts about the argument involving the practical use of the
figural design for economic reasons due to the difficulty of verification, it was a
significant step for the scholarship in the nineteenth century. The advantages of using
visuals familiar to the public that Artuqid ruled over may be more than just practical.
However, these figural images could have been used as authenticity markers for Artuqid
coins, increasing trust in local circulation. Apart from his new argument, Lane-Poole’s
most significant contribution to the academy in terms of Artuqid research is the historical
information he provided on the Artuqid dynasty, its dynastic family tree, and the detailed
stylistic and material analysis of each Artuqid coin from the different coinage
collections.26
Ottoman numismatist İsmail Ghalib (d. 1895) is notable for correcting a longstanding
error in Orientalist publications focusing on Artuqid coinage. Considered the
second most significant numismatist in the Ottoman Empire, Ghalib closely followed the
publications on coinage in Europe.27 He introduced many Islamic and Turkish coins to
foreign scholars through his publications.28 In 1894, Ghalib published his study called
The Catalogue of Turcoman Coins including those of the Artuqids, from the Istanbul
Archaeology Museum collection.29 His first contribution to scholarship is ending the
confusion over the spelling of the name “Artuk” in this book. Ghalib criticizes incorrectly
used words, such as Ortok, Artak, Urtuk, and Ortokides, Urtukites, by the European
orientalists.30 His book, first published in Ottoman Turkish, and later translated into
24 Stanley Lane-Poole, The International Numismata Orientalia: Coins of the Urtuki Turkumans, 1.
25 Ibid, 1.
26 Ibid, 1-44.
27 Mahmut H. Şakiroğlu, “İSMÂİL GALİB,” Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi 23, (Ankara: İSAM
- İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi, 2001), 100.
28 Ibid, 100-1.
29 For Ottoman Turkish version, See İsmail Ghalib Edhem, Müze-i Hümâyûn Meskûkât-ı İslâmiyye
Kısmından Meskûkât-ı Türkmâniyye Kataloğu (Kostantiniyye: Mihran Matbaası, 1311). For French
translation, See Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou' Atabeqyéh Et
Meliks Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin (Constantinople: Mihran, 1894).
30 Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou' Atabeqyéh Et Meliks
Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, VII-IX.
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French, shows that Ghalib wants to address this European orientalist audience. Ghalib
followed the footsteps of Stanley Lane-Poole, and he acknowledged Lane-Poole’s
argument about the commercial necessity of minting coins with figural imagery by the
Artuqids.31 Ghalib further contributed to the Artuqid studies by providing detailed
historical information on the dynasty where historical and geographical context was
established.32
İsmail Ghalib offers a distinct approach to interpreting iconographic elements on
Artuqid coins. He highlights that the Artuqid coin depictions are not mere imitations of
Sassanid and Byzantine coins, as was the case for the first Caliphs in the early Islamic
state. Ghalib instead proposes a variety of figurative designs borrowed from different
cultures, such as Sassanid, Seleucid, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, mythological, and
astrological figures in the Persian style.33 His argument, particularly regarding the
diversity of representations, is quite influential in studying Artuqid art, as he
demonstrated that these rulers and their coin designers were not ignorant of other cultures
and concepts. As a researcher from the East, İsmail Ghalib offers a different viewpoint,
whereas William Marsden and Lane-Poole ignored the rulers’ conscious involvement in
the coinage production process. Like William Marsden and Stanley Lane-Poole, Ghalib’s
work focuses only on coinage, a single artistic medium, and does not allow researchers
to understand Artuqid art from a broader perspective. More than one artistic medium must
be investigated, and cross-cultural analysis is necessary.
At the turn of the twentieth century, three European orientalists Max van Berchem
(d. 1921), Josef Strzygowski (d. 1941), and Gertrude Bell (d. 1926) published an
influential academic study of the medieval architecture and epigraphic remains of Amida,
and Tur Abdin regions, in present-day Diyarbakır and Mardin. This book is titled Amida
and was published in 1910. The Amida consists of three chapters written in three different
languages (French, German and English).34 Berchem’s and Strzygowski’s analyses are
based on the documents and photographs gathered by French General Léon de Beylié (d.
1910) during his visit to Diyarbakır in 1907. De Beylié shared his material with Berchem.
German diplomat Max von Oppenheim (d. 1946) and German orientalist Carl Friedrich
Lehmann-Haupt (d. 1938) also provided photographs and documents to Max van
31 Ibid, XV, 21.
32 Ibid, VII-XVI.
33 Ibid, XVI.
34 Berchem, Strzygowski, and Bell, Amida, 17.
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Berchem. Only Gertrude Bell visited the region and conducted field research. She
documented her observations about the architecture and photographed them.35
The Swiss pioneer Arabic epigraphist Max van Berchem wrote a chapter focusing
on the epigraphic evidence from the buildings found in Amid (today Diyarbakır).36 The
author provides a chronological analysis of these findings, and he aims to document these
remains before they disappear. Berchem argues that it is not right to call the buildings
constructed in the lands where Islam was dominant during the medieval period “Islamic
buildings.” He instead proposes the phrase “buildings in the Muslim countries” to
highlight the differentiation between religious structures and other buildings.37 Van
Berchem openly opposes the nineteenth-century concept of “Islamic art,” which
undermines the involvement of non-Muslim artists, architects, and the existence of non-
Muslim buildings with more Islamic decorations and vice versa.
Max van Berchem’s most significant contribution to the study of Artuqid art is
the catalogue of the city fortifications, the Great Mosque of Amid and their close reading
in line with medieval and more contemporary historical sources to understand the
historical context of the ruling dynasties’ genealogical lineage and characteristics.38 In
the third section, Van Berchem discusses the decorative motifs, symbols, dimensions of
the city gates, and towers. He also analyzes the Turkish dynastic titles used in the
inscriptions.39 The author also analyzes the iconography in line with other Artuqid
objects, such as coins, the Innsbruck plate, and buildings from other regions such as
Aleppo Gate and Talisman Gate in Baghdad.40
Van Berchem further identifies two city towers constructed by the Artuqid ruler
Nasir al-Din Mahmud (r. 1200-22) and highlights “the traces of an influence foreign to
the local traditions” in their construction techniques.41 He also argues that it might result
from Ayyubid-Artuqid relations and inspiration from the Franko-Syrian tradition
developed by the Crusader states in Syria.42 This argument needs to be carefully
considered for analyzing the artistic milieu of the Artuqid dynasty. Due to the
geographical location of the Artuqid dynasty, they interacted with people of various
35 Berchem, Strzygowski, and Bell, Amida, 28, 171-2.
36 Ibid, 27-110.
37 Ibid, 27.
38 Ibid, 27-70.
39 Ibid, 73-8.
40 Ibid, 73-4, 78-89.
41 Ibid, 92.
42 Ibid, 92.
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cultures and religions. It will not be surprising to see the effects of this interaction in their
artworks. In Van Berchem’s analysis, one can trace the emphasis on the Turkish identity
of the Artuqids, their position in the Jazira region as vassals of Zengids and Ayyubids,
and their position as the Muslim patrons of art through a close reading of architecture in
Diyarbakır. Van Berchem’s most influential contribution to studies on the Artuqids may
be that he draws attention to these intercultural interactions and relations.
The work that laid the essential foundation for Artuqid architectural studies was
published by the French architect and art historian Albert Gabriel (d. 1972) with French
historian Jean Souvaget in 1940. The Voyages Archéologiques Dans La Turquie
Orientale presents the results of two regional surveys conducted in 1932.43 Gabriel
documents several significant buildings that the Artuqids constructed in the regions of
Mardin, Amid (Diyarbakır), and the cities of Dunaysir (Kızıltepe), Hisn Kayfa
(Hasankeyf), Kharput (Harput), and Mayyafariqin (Silvan). This book also contains a
separate chapter on the Arabic inscriptions, providing a more comprehensive study than
Berchem’s chapter in the Amida.44
Albert Gabriel’s book focuses on previously overlooked and understudied
material. The author further gives valuable information for the study of the Artuqid
artistic production. First, this work presents new epigraphic evidence from the Diyar Bakr
region that was not published before. Gabriel also records the undocumented Artuqid
buildings.45 This book is a milestone for researchers of the Artuqid dynasty. It is a
comprehensive catalogue from the earlier period, and it successfully documents the
buildings and dates them. It can be defined as an architectural survey rather than an art
historical analysis. The emphasis is given to the buildings’ formal qualities, and the
research is conducted in a formalist way. However, Gabriel cites historical sources and
attempts to establish the historical and geographical context of the Artuqid dynasty to a
certain extent. One of the strengths of this work is that it does not ignore the context.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the studies of European orientalists
and the Ottoman elite shed light on the perception of the Artuqid dynasty. The formalist
tendencies were visible in their research methods. Yet, Stanley Lane-Poole and İsmail
Ghalib, in numismatics, Max van Berchem, and Albert Gabriel in architecture, tried to
43 Albert Gabriel and Jean Sauvaget, Voyages Archéologiques Dans La Turquie Orientale (Paris: E. de
Boccard, 1940), V-VIII.
44 Gabriel and Jean Sauvaget, Voyages Archéologiques Dans La Turquie Orientale.
45 Ibid, 287-356.
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trace the geographical and historical context to a certain level. Especially, İsmail Ghalib,
Max van Berchem, and Albert Gabriel tried to identify cross-cultural interactions and
stylistic exchanges by reading the coinage designs and architectural structures. Thanks to
these studies, the attention to Artuqid art in the academic community increased; however,
these studies remained limited due to their focus on a single artistic medium and their
lack of cross-examining diverse artistic productions. Furthermore, even though these
authors mentioned how their Turkish heritage reflected upon the material evidence of the
Artuqids, they do not emphasize their ethnic background in the artistic analysis. The
emphasis on ethnicity prevails in modern Turkish art historiography of the twentieth
century.
The researchers who played a crucial role in the academic conceptualization of
the Turkish art were the Vienna School of Art History members, namely Josef
Strzygowski and his students Heinrich Glück (d. 1930) and Ernst Diez (d. 1961).46 Josef
Strzygowski was known for his theories explaining the “racial characteristics and purity
of Turkish art.47 His student “Glück argued that the traditions that crystallized during
nomadic times also transformed the architectural vocabulary of Islamic monuments.”48
Josef Strzygowski rigorously followed formalist art historical research in which
“morphological continues and transformations assessed in a comparative framework.”49
Context and texts were not welcome in his comparative art historical research, but the
artwork was the focal point of this research process.50
Strzygowski and his students’ publications on Turkish art attracted Turkish
thinkers and politicians in the Turkish Republic. Their articles were translated into
modern Turkish, which was quite influential in the eyes of Turkish intellectuals. The
students of Strzygowski were invited to Turkey to establish art history departments in
state universities.51 Ernst Diez was invited to Istanbul in 1943, and he founded the art
history chair of Istanbul University. In 1954, another student of Strzygowski, Katharina
Otto-Dorn (d. 1999), was invited to Ankara to open the new art history department at
46 Oya Pancaroğlu, “Formalism and The Academic Foundation of Turkish Art In The Early Twentieth
Century,” Muqarnas 24, (2007): 68.
47 Elif Kök, “Strzygowski in Turkey,” in Orient Oder Rom?: History and Reception of A Historiographical
Myth (1901-1970), ed. Ivan Foletti and Francesco Lovino (Rome: Viella, 2018), 108.
48 Kök, “Strzygowski in Turkey,” in Orient Oder Rom?: History and Reception of A Historiographical
Myth (1901-1970), 108.
49 Pancaroğlu, “Formalism and The Academic Foundation of Turkish Art In The Early Twentieth Century,”
69.
50 Ibid, 69.
51 Kök, 112.
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Ankara University. Ernst Diez worked with his assistant Oktay Aslanapa (d. 2013), his
Ph.D. student from the University of Vienna at Istanbul University in 1943. Diez, Otto-
Dorn, and Aslanapa were the first to introduce the formalist approach to Turkey.
However, they did not fully apply the style of Strzygowski but their distinct interpretation
of formalist methodology.52
In 1946, Diez published his book titled Türk Sanatı (Turkish Art). In this book,
Diez argues that the Byzantine and Armenian artistic traditions influenced medieval
Turkish-Islamic art. The nationalists heavily criticized Diez’s ideas at that time since this
argument was contradicting with “the idea of the purity and the continuity of Turkish
art.”53 The followers of Turkish nationalist art historiography took a relatively restricted
view of the development of medieval art history in Anatolia, ignoring that people of time
interacted in various ways, and the result of interaction reflected in their artistic
production. Researchers such as Ernst Diez ended up looking for new locations to work
since the scholarship did not deem their perspectives.54
This formalist perspective introduced to the Turkish academia impacted the
research and conceptualization of medieval Anatolian art in Turkey. Pancaroğlu argues
that dynastic classifications, “Seljuk,” “Beylik,” and “Ottoman,” used by the Turkish art
historiography to discuss the period between 1070 and 1453, are confusing and
problematic. For the researchers of the medieval era, the term “Seljuk” is an “umbrella
term” to define the period starting with the Battle of Manzikert (1070) until the 1300s.55
In reality, the term Seljuk was only used by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Other dynasties
of Turkish origin established themselves before the Seljuks in Anatolia and Jazira, namely
the Danishmendids, the Mengüjekids, the Artuqids, the Saltukids, etc. Besides,
Pancaroğlu underlines that this term “simply excludes non-Turkic or non-Muslim cultures
and polities, both of the Byzantines – also based in Nicaea and Trebizond – and of the
Kingdom of Armenian Cilicia.”56
52 Pancaroğlu, “Formalism and The Academic Foundation of Turkish Art In The Early Twentieth Century,”
75.
53 Kök, 112.
54 For more information about Ernst Diez and his academic life, See Zehra Tonbul, “The Art
Historiographical Odyssey of Ernst Diez,” PhD diss., (Boğaziçi University, 2018). Zehra Tonbul, “Parallel
Odysseys of Ernst Herzfeld and Ernst Diez,” in The Reshaping of Persian Art: Art Histories of Islamic Iran
and Beyond, ed. Szántó Iván and Yuka Kadoi (Piliscsaba: The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies,
2019), 235-260.
55 Pancaroğlu, “Formalism and The Academic Foundation of Turkish Art In The Early Twentieth Century,”
67.
56 Ibid, 67.
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Pancaroğlu does not mention it, but the term “Seljuk” also excludes the Crusader
states established in Anatolia, respectively the county of Edessa (1097-1150) and the
principality of Antioch (1098-1287). One ends with an ethnically homogeneous history
and art history writing about Anatolia. It also neglects the diverse populations living and
interacting with each other in the region. It is possible to argue that the first Turkish
dynasties, established after the Battle of Manzikert in 1070, were suppressed and
undermined by this rigid and non-inclusive title. In the nationalist Turkish art
historiography, the interactions of these medieval Turkish and non-Turkish states with
their neighbors and the points where they differ from Seljuk art have been ignored while
analyzing the artistic and architectural productions listed under the realm of the Rum
Seljuk dynasty.
Celal Esad Arseven (d. 1971) wrote the first art history book on Turkish art,
undermining principalities such as the Artuqids by using the term Seljuk in a rigorous and
non-inclusive manner and introducing “hierarchical typology” of buildings to the field.
His book Türk San’atı (Turkish Art) was published in 1928. Arseven adapted the research
methods of Josef Strzygowski in his book, and this was his attempt to create a narrative
of the “Turkish art distinct from Islamic art.”57 One can trace the effects of nationalist,
formalist reading in the content of the book. Arseven separately analyzes “central Asia”
and “Asia Minor,” and he classifies the period as “before Seljuk art” and “Byzantine art
and Seljuk art” in the Asia Minor section.58 The book only mentions of an Artuqid
building, the Malabadi Bridge. But Arseven argues that the Seljuks constructed this
bridge. He simply uses the term “Seljuk” to define an Artuqid bridge.59 The Artuqids and
other states in medieval Anatolia are “invisible” and “ignored” in Arseven’s book due to
this “umbrella term,” as expressed by Oya Pancaroğlu’s argument mentioned above. This
perspective highlights Seljuks as dominant and most influential figures in the artistic
production of medieval Anatolia.
The first academic work recognizing the importance of Artuqid art in Turkey was
completed on May 3, 1963. The student of Katharina Otto-Dorn, Fügen Tunçdağ [later
Fügen İlter] (d. 2015), finished her doctoral dissertation titled “Artuk Oğulları Sanat
Eserleri” (“Artworks of the Sons of Artuk”) at the Ankara University.60 I have not seen
57 Celal Esad Arseven, Türk San’atı (İstanbul: Akşam Matbaası, 1970), 53-4.
58 Arseven, Türk San’atı, 57.
59 Ibid, 81.
60 Fügen Tunçdağ, “Artuk Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” PhD diss., (Ankara University, 1963).
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this thesis used in most academic publications focusing on the Artuqids because it was
not published as a book. Tunçdağ, on the other hand, has an article based on her
dissertation that is frequently cited in various publications.61 She emphasizes that while
Artuqids were significant conveyers of Syrian architectural heritage to the medieval
dynasties in Anatolia, their artistic productions have been neglected in the scholarship.
Her doctoral thesis aims to fill this gap.62 The author further argues that Artuqid
architecture was influenced by early Islamic and, to a lesser extent, early Christian
architectural works found in various geographies.63 Tunçdağ examines twenty-three
architectural works (mosques, madrasas, bridges, fortifications) in chronological order,
followed by the Artuqid handicrafts, in her work prepared in a catalogue style. The author
analyzes architectural plan types, ornamentation, and epigraphic evidence by using the
Turkish-style formalist reading prevalent in Turkey. Tunçdağ, who also consults
historical sources occasionally, emphasizes context and historical background.64
The book titled The Development of Artuqid Era Turkish Architecture in Anatolia
by Ara Altun is the most comprehensive catalogue written on Artuqid architecture. His
doctoral dissertation forms the basis of this investigation.65 Altun wrote his thesis while
studying under Oktay Aslanapa at Istanbul University.66 The introductory chapter sets the
dynastic and historical context, and is followed by a catalogue of the buildings, an
evaluation section, a discussion of the architects of the Artuqid period, and a conclusion.67
The catalogue follows the hierarchical typology that was standard in twentieth-century
Turkish art history publications. In the assessment section, Ara Altun provides the history
of each building, information about renovations and restorations, and other details
explained with historical sources. The author also mentions the north Syrian influences
on Artuqid art, as well as the Artuqids’ relationships with the Rum Seljuks, Zengids, and
Ayyubids, which are important concepts to highlight in the conceptualization of the
Artuqid artistic milieu.68
Furthermore, Altun argues that the Artuqids ruled in a vibrant region regarding
movements of ideas and people. This aspect might have influenced the synthesis of their
61 Fügen İlter, “Erken Devir Anadolu Türk Mimarisinde 12. ve 13. Yüzyıl Artukoğulları Medreselerinin
Yeri,” Vakıflar Dergisi, 8 (1969): 197-208.
62 Tunçdağ, “Artuk Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” 1.
63 Ibid, 2-3, 138.
64 Ibid, 1-3.
65 Ara Altun, Anadoluʼda Artuklu Devri Türk Mimarisiʼnin Gelişmesi (İstanbul: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1978).
66 Altun, Anadoluʼda Artuklu Devri Türk Mimarisiʼnin Gelişmesi, III.
67 Ibid, 268-82.
68 Ibid, 283-88.
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architectural designs. The author does not consider this eclectic style as “imitation,”
which was the case for the orientalist numismatists in the nineteenth century. But Altun
emphasizes that their style resulted from research and trial in the architectural
constructions.69 Based on his argument, one can discuss the consciously chosen
architectural elements or decorations in the Artuqid artistic production. This opinion is
significant, and it should be discussed more in the scholarship to enhance our
understanding of this dynasty and its patronage activities. Altun further emphasizes that
more research on the artistic milieu of Artuqid art in the current scholarship needs to be
conducted in the future.70
Classicizing architectural details used in Syria and Jazira, particularly in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, sparked scholarly debate especially about the Zengid and
Artuqid dynasties and their architectural projects. The pre-Artuqid example of Great
Mosque of Amid (Diyarbakır) and the Great Mosque of Harran are frequently discussed
in these publications next to the Syrian examples. Ernst Herzfeld (d. 1948) opposes the
term “renaissance of the antique” but instead he proposes “an uninterrupted antique
tradition” namely ‘classical survival’ for the first time.71 On the other hand, Michael
Rogers (d. 2022) argues that since the localized use of classicizing decorations lasted
around “little more than fifty years,” this was a result of a “classical revival.”72 Julian
Raby underlines Rogers’ use of the highly controversial term “renaissance” in the title of
his article.73 The discussion of survival versus revival was enlarged by Terry Allen and
Yasser Tabbaa later. Allen advocates the “classical revival” due to the “deliberate use of
antique forms” and their disappearance after 1175 (570 H) in Syria.74 In contrast, Tabbaa
proposes “classical survival” since he identifies the continuity of classicizing
decoration.75 These two terms, which appear as restrictive concepts, have been re-
69 Ibid, 295.
70 Ibid, 301.
71 Ernst Herzfeld, “Damascus: Studies in Architecture: II.” Ars Islamica 10 (1943): 32.
72 John Michael Rogers, “A Renaissance of Classical Antiquity in North Syria (11th 12th Centuries),”
Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes XXI (1971): 354.
73 Julian Raby, “Nur Al-Din, the Qastal al-Shuʿaybiyya, and the ‘Classical Revival.’” Muqarnas 21 (2004):
280.
74 Terry Allen, A Classical Revival in Islamic Architecture (Wiesbaden: Reichart, 1986), IX-X.
75 Yasser Tabbaa, “Survivals and Archaisms in the Architecture of Northern Syria, ca. 1080-ca. 1150,”
Muqarnas 10 (1993): 29–41. Tabbaa is also known for his work on the Sunni Revival which stresses the
rise of Sunni sectarian and political between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, and its reflection on the
architecture and art in the forms of new styles. During this period, there was a rise in use of geometrical
ornaments such as muqarnas, and geometric interlacing compositions (especially star-and-polygon designs
defined as “girih mode” by Gülru Necipoğlu). Court engineer of the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid, al-
Jazari designed a bronze door design for the Artuqid palace in Diyarbakır (Amid) in late twelfth century.
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evaluated in a number of scholarly publications, and new suggestions have been made.76
The classical iconography of the Artuqid and Zengid copper coins minted in the
Jazira region between the mid-twelfth and mid-thirteenth centuries is also examined in
scholarly publications in the context of the survival-revival debate. Spengler and Sayles
first question whether the choice of classicizing imagery was a part of “the twelfthcentury
renaissance” in 1992.77 Four years later, the authors change their expression into
“classical revival.”78 In a recent article, Sayles highlights the “exceptional” coinage
designs inspired from the “classical past” and were introduced by the Artuqids and
Zengids in the mid-twelfth century. The author re-emphasizes the “the twelfth-century
classical revival.”79 On the other hand, Helen Mitchell Brown sees it as an indication of
“an antiquarian interest.”80 I also prefer to interpret this classical style imagery as a part
of an antiquarian interest rather than relying on highly restrictive, controversial and
debated definitions of “revival,” “survival,” and “renaissance.”
Al-Jazari’s design utilizes the intersection of two linear systems and star-and-polygons in his cast
metalwork door. Jazari’s door is thought to be an extension of Sunni revival, which highlights the rise of
the geometric techniques in the art production in the Jazira region. Both Necipoğlu and Tabbaa includes al-
Jazari’s design in their analyses. See, Yasser Tabbaa, The Transformation of Islamic Art during the Sunni
Revival (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001). Gülru Necipoğlu and Mohammad Al-Asad, The
Topkapı Scroll Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture: Topkapı Palace Museum Library MS H.
1956 (Santa Monica, CA: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1995).
76 Keser-Kayaalp and Wheatley-Irving argues: “Classicizing elements, whether they were interpreted as
belonging to classical, late antique or later buildings (revival or survival), and whether they were viewed
in a confessional frame or not, similarly underwent a new synthesis in late eleventh and twelfth century
Islamic architecture, as is particularly visible in the Jazira.” Elif Keser-Kayaalp and Linda Wheatley-Irving,
“Late Antique Architectural Sculpture at the Mayyāfāriqīn Mosque,” in Central Periphery ?: Art, Culture
and History of the Medieval Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia, 8th-15th Centuries), ed. Lorenz Korn and
Müller-Wiener Martina (Wiesbaden: Reichert verlag, 2017), 135. Heidemann argues that “the classical
style – as we have concluded – was not coded as a memory of classical antiquity or a remote past as Terry
Allen supposed. If we look at the cityscapes on the portable arts and on coins, then a regional classicizing
eastern Mediterrenean style seemed to be current and well represented. After centuries, this Mediterranean
style and taste materialized in Syria, because the Syrian elite had previously lacked the financial resources
of a blossoming economy and thus the sponsorship of architecture and art.” See Stefan Heidemann,
“Memories of the Past? The “Classical” or “Sunni” Revival in Architecture and Art in Syria between the
Mediterranean and Iran in the 12th and 13th Centuries,” in Proceedings of the international conference
on Islamic civilisation in the Mediterranean, Nicosia, 1–4 December 2010 / Akdeniz’de İslam Medeniyeti,
Milletlerarası Konferans Tebliğleri: Lefkoşa, 1–4 Aralık 2010 (Istanbul: IRCICA, 2013), 20.
77 William F. Spengler, and Wayne G. Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography,
Vol I: The Artuqids (Lodi, Wisconsin: Clio’s Cabinet, 1992), 20.
78 William F. Spengler and Wayne G. Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol
II: The Zengids (Lodi, Wisconsin: Clio’s Cabinet, 1996), 11.
79 Wayne G. Sayles, “Classical Revival in Twelfth-Century Jazira: Religion–Humanism on Contemporary
Coins,” in Medieval Coins and Seals: Constructing Identity, Signifying Power, ed. Susan Solway
(Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2015), 155, 157.
80 Helen Mitchell Brown, “Some Reflections on the Figured Coinage of the Artuqids and Zengids,” In Near
Eastern Numismatics, Iconography, Epigraphy and History: Studies in Honor of George C. Miles, ed. D.
Kouymjian (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1974), 356.
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Heidemann argues that Allen’s “classical revival” argument about the recall of
the Greek and Roman past never occurred in the vibrant writing production in Syria and
northern Jazira during the twelfth century. He adds that “knowledge of the Greek and
Latin languages was lost in the twelfth century in Syria and northern Mesopotamia,
including the Christians, mostly Aramaic speaking population.”81 In the Artuqid context,
two instances of “spolia” usage are recorded in the written accounts. Syriac chronicler
and patriarch Michael the Syrian (d. 1199) reports that after the Artuqid ruler of Hisn
Kayfa and Amid, Nur al-Din Muhammad (r. 1167-85) “took away marble columns from
the church and placed them in his house, he suffered a mortal blow and died.”82
While Ayyubid scholar ʿIzz al-Din ibn Shaddad (d. 1285) recounts that “a preconquest
church in Amid near the garden of al-Manazi” was destroyed during the reign
of Artuqid ruler of Hisn Kayfa and Amid, Nasir al-Din Mahmud (r. 1201-22) ibn
Muhammad. “With some of its stones they built a qaysariyya [market hall] for textiles,
and part of it remained as a testimony to its grandeur.”83 Michael the Syrian, as a
Christian, criticizes Nur al-Din’s act of taking columns from the church. Ibn Shaddad
seems to be more neutral about Nasir al-Din’s project. In Amid, the Artuqids were
interested in using pieces from religious context and incorporating them into their new
structures. It is difficult to determine whether their motivation was “propaganda” or they
were selected as “spolia” due to an interest in antiquity. It is intriguing that only a portion
of the church mentioned by Ibn Shaddad was used, and the remainder was preserved and
praised by the author for its “ancient aesthetics.”84
Kenner questions if the “so-called classical revival” could be enlarged to the
manuscript production in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the Jazira region. The
author mentions of al-Jazari’s book on automata, and two new Arabic translations of De
Materia Medica of Dioscorides which were deeply connected to the Greek and classical
tradition and patronized by Artuqid ruler of Hisn Kayfa Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and
81 Heidemann, “Memories of the Past? The “Classical” or “Sunni” Revival in Architecture and Art in Syria
between the Mediterranean and Iran in the 12th and 13th Centuries,”19.
82 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XV-XXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, ed. Amir Harrak. trans. Amir Harrak (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2019),
436.
83 Elif Keser-Kayaalp, “The Great Mosque of Diyarbakır in Light of Discussions on Spolia and Classicism,”
in Spolia Reincarnated: Afterlives of Objects, Materials, and Spaces in Anatolia from Antiquity to the
Ottoman Era (İstanbul: ANAMED, Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, 2018),
141.
84 Ibid, 141.
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Artuqid ruler of Mardin Najm al-Din Alpi.85 Chapter 2 of this thesis will discuss the
translation projects initiated by Najm al-Din Alpi and Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan.
Additionally, I include another book project patronized by Najm al-Din Alpi, the
translation of Aristotle’s De Caelo from Syriac to Arabic. Chapter 3 will focus on the
book of al-Jazari’s automata and its relationship with the ancient sciences and past
knowledge. As mentioned above, Heidemann underlines the lack of knowledge of Latin
and Greek in the twelfth century even in the Christian population, and the re-translation
projects undertaken by the Artuqid dynasty were materialized through the usage of Syriac
versions rather than the original works in the Greek language. In the Artuqid context, his
argument can be demonstrated.
The term “renaissance” also appears in the writings of Turkish archaeologist and
politician Remzi Oğuz Arık (d. 1954), who was a supporter of Anatolianism
(Anadoluculuk) school considering Anatolia as Turkish homeland and advocating the
“Anatolian roots of Turkish art.”86 In his magazine article titled “Mardin” focusing on its
history and artistic heritage, Arık discusses his ideas on the “first renaissance of the
Orient” first time and introduces its initiators as the “Turkmens” who migrated to Anatolia
in the eleventh century.87 Ten months later, Arık published another magazine article titled
“What Our History Has Taught” expresses his perspective as:
85 Jaclynne J. Kenner, “Restricted Access Art in the Name of Science: The Kitāb al-Diryāq in Text and
Image,” in Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts, ed. Anna Contadini (Leiden:
Brill, 2010), 36.
86 Suzan Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural
Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237),” Ph.D. diss., (Harvard University, 2011), 18. For more
details about Remzi Oğuz Arık, See Scott Redford, “‘What Have You Done for Anatolia Today?’: Islamic
Archaeology in the Early Years of the Turkish Republic,” Muqarnas 24 (2007), 246-7.
87 Full quote reads: “The eleventh century is, in a way, a fusion and a turning century for Anatolia, for the
whole of Asia Minor. The expulsion of the Byzantine Empire from Anatolia, the place it used as a colony,
becomes sharpened in this century, and the fact that Anatolia has ceased to be a colony and has reached a
unity of culture and politics for the first time since the Bronze Age, begins to become real in this century.
The same Turkmen influx, which began to give Anatolia its great unity, caused the first “renaissance” to
be born in the Muslim orient. Today is the first time that we call its name. That renaissance made a new
attempt to bring the classical world of the Mediterranean and the great resources of the orient (who taught
western classicism) closer together and fuse them. In a way, the traditions of the oriental and extinct nations,
the Greek and Roman world, which seemed to be understood in the mirror of the cultural remains and with
the help of those remains, were reintroduced to the oriental world with this renaissance and the hand,
intelligence and taste of the Turkmens.” See Remzi Oğuz Arık, “Mardin,” in Coǧrafyadan Vatana
(İstanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1969), 185-6. Translation by the thesis author. Text is originally written
in Turkish. First published in the Ülkü Magazine on February 10, 1942. Ülkü Magazine was a publication
of the People’s House in Ankara. The author mentions of the Artuqid dynasty and provides details about
some rulers and the nature of the Artuqid art and architecture. Arık also uses a nationalist ideological
discourse in this text and ignores Mardin’s non-Turkish, Christian and pre-Artuqid past by saying: “When
you use the real archeology method, Mardin emerges as the property of the Turkmen only and only. Look
right: Turkish, look left: Turkish, look down: Turkish, look above: it is Turkish.” See Ibid, 184. I would
like to thank my advisor, Suzan Yalman, for drawing my attention to this article.
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“It was at this time that the Turkmens took their place in Asia Minor and in the Islamic world.
Whether they work on behalf of the Abbasids or as independent states; the translation of ancient
texts into Arabic, the superiority of the mind over the transmission, the favor of freedom of
conscience constituted their characteristics. This is how the Orient’s first Renaissance was born.
This Turkmen intervention that saved the Near East from a real suicide, this first oriental
Renaissance was about to drown at the hands of the later Arab caliphs and Ashʿari and Ghazali, who
were empowered by them, when the Seljuk Turkmens who settled in Anatolia, the Near East, opened
their homeland like a garden to the legacy of this Renaissance. A Shams Tabrizi, a Mawlana, a
Sultan Walad, a Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, who could not live in other provinces, found freedom of
conscience and thought in our provinces, and settled down.”88
Arık openly advocates the Orientalist arguments claiming that both al-Ghazali and
supporters of Ashʿarite theology were responsible for the so-called “decline of Islamic
science” and “decline of the Golden Age of Islam” due to their criticisms of the ancient
sciences in the medieval world.89 Arık accuses them of attempting to destroy the “first
Renaissance in the Orient.” His references to the translation projects of ancient texts into
Arabic as well as the relatively tolerant environment offered for the scientific activities
and intellectuals by the medieval dynasties and their ruling elites in Anatolia gathers all
the themes that will be discussed in the following section.
1.2 Ancient Sciences in the Medieval Islamicate World
The Arabic word ʿilm (pl.ʿulūm) means “knowledge”; however, it can indicate
different meanings in various contexts. The other concepts referred to by ʿilm include
88 First published in the Millet Magazine, issue 8 (December), 1942. Remzi Oğuz Arık was the editor-inchief
of the Millet Magazine. Translation by the thesis author. Text is originally written in Turkish. Arık
capitalizes the word “Renaissance” in this text. I preserved his use. See Remzi Oğuz Arık, “Tarihimizin
Öğrettikleri,” in Coǧrafyadan Vatana (İstanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1969), 24.
89 Al-Ghazali (d. 1111) is famous for attacking the arguments of philosophers following the Neoplatonic
and Aristotelian philosophical doctrines in his book Tahāfut al-Falāsifa (The Incoherence of the
Philosophers). The ideas of al-Ghazali, who adhered to Ashʿarite in theology and Shafiʿi in law, profoundly
influenced later thinkers’ opposing views on the ancient sciences and the followers of the Aristotelian
philosophers in their period. See, Al-Ghazālī, The Incoherence of the Philosophers: A Parallel English-
Arabic Text = Tahāfut Al-Falāsifah, trans. Michael E. Marmura (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University
Press, 2000). See Frank Griffel, The Philosophical Theology of Al-Ghazali: A Study of His Life and His
Cosmology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 97-8. In the Orientalist scholarship, Ghazali and
his attack on the philosophers have been considered the most significant reason behind the decline of
sciences in the Islamic world. He was further labeled as the initiator of an “Islamic Orthodoxy.” The
scholars of history of science have been debating on this matter in detail recently and challenging this
Orientalist argument. See George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of European Renaissance
(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2007), 234. For a critical analysis of the history of the “decline of Islamic
science” thesis in the scholarship, See Sonja Brentjes, “The Prison of Categories—‘Decline’ and Its
Company,” in Islamic Philosophy, Science, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honor of Dimitri Gutas, ed.
David Reisman, and Opwis Felicitas Meta Maria (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 131-56. Orientalist Ignác Goldziher
(d. 1921) was the first researcher to suggest that ancient sciences were rejected by the Islamic orthodoxy.
See, Ignác Goldziher, Stellung der alten islamischen Orthodoxie zu den antiken (Berlin: Verlag der Königl.
Akademie der Wissenschaften, in Kommission bei G. Reimer, 1916).
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“science,” “learning,” and especially in Qur’an, “divine knowledge.”90 All branches of
sciences started to be classified according to their origins. In the period of early Islam,
Muslims began to study the Qur’an, the hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet
Muhammad), and the traditional (al-ʿulūm al-naqliyya) or religious sciences emerged.
These include speculative theology (ʿilm al-kalām), jurisprudence (ʿilm al-fiqh), Arabic
grammar (ʿilm al-lugha), and interpretation of Qur’an (ʿilm al-tafsīr).91 The traditional
sciences are transmitted through divine revelation or Prophet Muhammad. According to
al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the religious sciences are superior to the philosophical sciences.92
All scholarly disciplines associated with foreign origin are called ancient sciences
(ʿulūm al-awāʾil) or philosophical (al-ʿulūm al-hikmiyya al-falsafiyya), or rational
sciences (al-ʿulūm al-ʿaqliyya).93 Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1406) coins the
term “intellectual sciences” or “sciences of philosophy and wisdom.”94 He divides them
into four groups respectively logic, physics (subdivision: medicine), metaphysics, and
mathematical sciences (geometry, arithmetic (subdivisions: calculation, inheritance law,
and business arithmetic), music, and astronomy (subdivision: astrology). He adds
talismans, sorcery, and alchemy to the list.95 However, Ibn Khaldun refutes philosophy,
astrology, and alchemy and criticizes them by listing their weaknesses, damage to the
religion, and impossibility (especially in the case of alchemy).96
The Greek philosopher Aristotle (d. 322 BCE), who made significant
contributions to the categorization and development of ancient sciences, was called “the
First Teacher” (al-muʿallim al-awwal) by medieval Muslim scientists.97 The scholars
began to develop their original and creative research outputs after meticulously studying
the works of ancient sciences, particularly the Greek sciences. They often disagreed with
“the First Teacher.” Muslim scientists considered Aristotle as “the ultimate authority”
while deciding whether an idea should be accepted or rejected.98
90 Christopher A Furlow, “'ilm is Islam: The Islamic Concept of Knowledge from Classical Traditions to
Modern Interpretations.” Deconstructing Islamic Studies 2020: 147.
91 Furlow, 148.
92 Ibid, 150.
93 Stephen Blake, Astronomy and Astrology in the Islamic World (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2016), 28. Also, see Furlow, 150.
94 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History - Abridged Edition, ed. N. J. Dawood, trans.
Franz Rosenthal (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), 508.
95 Ibn Khaldun, 546-7.
96 Ibn Khaldun, 582-599.
97 Fuat Sezgin, Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam (Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Geschichte der
Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 2003), 170.
98 Ibn Khaldun, 550.
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In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Orientalists and historians analyzed
the hostile arguments of the Muslim thinkers, for instance al-Ghazali and al-Taymiyya,
to show that the “Islamic Orthodoxy” was in opposition to the ancient sciences and it led
to the so-called “decline of sciences” in the Islamicate world.99 A similar view was also
projected for the Byzantine Empire. Its association with the “Christian Orthodoxy” and
the existence of similar opposing statements by some Byzantine scholars about the
ancient sciences were considered as a part of “science versus Christianity” conflict.
Nicolaidis defines the bias in historiography as “science and Byzantium were considered
incompatible notions.”100
Certain groups have always opposed to ancient sciences in the Eastern and
Western contexts, but their ideas did not reflect the views of whole communities in real
life. Various scientific texts were circulated among different groups. They included the
frequently criticized occult sciences, particularly those dealing with astrology, alchemy,
magic and divination.101 Additionally, the research on libraries and reading habits
supports this reality. In Damascus, the thirteenth-century al-Ashrafiyya Library catalogue
shows that it consisted of a wide variety of texts in ancient sciences including medicine,
oneiromancy, geomancy, astronomy, mathematics, pharmacology and more. This public
library was a part of a Sunni mausoleum-madrasa context, yet it stored texts on religious
and scientific topics and Shiite and Muʿtazilite texts, which contrast with the Sunni
“Orthodox” revival thesis and the Orientalist portrayal of Islamic Orthodoxy with a
hostile approach to the ancient sciences.102 Today, new research projects are questioning
99 Brentjes, “The Prison of Categories—‘Decline’ and Its Company,” 138.
100 Nicolaidis explains the reason as “ecclesiastical conflicts” rather than “science versus Christianity”
conflict. In the book, he discusses the perspective of Orthodox Church toward the sciences in the Byzantine
period, in the Ottoman Empire and the modern Greek nation-state. See Efthymios Nicolaidis, Science and
Eastern Orthodoxy: From the Greek Fathers to the Age of Globalization, trans. Susan Emanuel (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), x.
101 Jack Tannous mentions different Christian religious leaders and learned personalities who had deep
interest in astrology, and diverse forms of divination among the Eastern Christian communities in the
seventh century. See Jack Boulos Victor Tannous, The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion,
Society, and Simple Believers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020), 228-9, 231-2. For more
details about the occult sciences in Byzantium, See Paul Magdalino and Maria Mavroudi, eds., The Occult
Sciences in Byzantium (Geneva: La Pomme d’Or, 2007). Maria Mavroudi, A Byzantine Book on Dream
Interpretation: The Oneirocriticon of Achmet and Its Arabic Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2002). Paul Magdalino
and Andrei Timotin, eds., Savoirs prédictifs Et Techniques Divinatoires De L’antiquité Tardive à Byzance
(Seyssel: La Pomme d'or, 2019). Paul Magdalino, “The Byzantine Reception of Classical Astrology,” in
Literacy, Education and Manuscript Transmission in Byzantium and Beyond, ed. Catherine Holmes and
Judith Waring (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 33-58. Also, See Emilie Savage-Smith, ed., Magic and Divination in
Early Islam (New York: Routledge, 2017). Liana Saif et al., eds., Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and
Practice (Leiden: Brill, 2021).
102 Konrad Hirschler, Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library: The Ashrafiya
Library Catalogue (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 74, 117, 119-123.
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the existing biases, addressing the problems in the scholarship and offering new
conceptual perspectives for studying the science in both Islamicate and Christian
societies.103
Furthermore, Brentjes argues that the argument that ancient sciences were
completely excluded from the curriculum of Sunni madrasas, as claimed by George
Makdisi in 1981, is misleading. The historical evidence shows that the teaching and
learning of ancient sciences have entered into the mosques, madrasas and khānqāhs (Sufi
lodges) located in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, Artuqid and Zengid cities in the Jazira, and
Rum Seljuk cities in Anatolia at least by the end of the twelfth century. Scientific texts
were copied for the libraries and students were studying with the madrasa professors on
both religious and ancient sciences at the same time. A number of subfields of the ancient
sciences, most notably medicine, were also supported by the endowed professorship
chairs existed in the madrasas and hospitals.104
In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Islamic state expanded and created a fertile
ground for cultural exchange and scientific developments. After 750, when the Abbasid
Caliphs initiated a large-scale translation project, several scientific texts written in Greek,
Syriac, Sanskrit, and Pahlavi (Middle Persian) were translated into Arabic and introduced
to the Arabic-speaking communities.105 Syriac scholars played a crucial role in these
Arabic translations, either directly from Greek or via the Syriac language as an
intermediary.106 This act of translation was not a passive process that simply transferred
the classical and late antique legacy into a new context without any interventions. But it
was rather an active process where these translators sometimes introduced changes in the
103 For the context in Byzantium, See Stavros Lazaris, ed., A Companion to Byzantine Science (Leiden:
Brill, 2020). For the Islamicate contexts, See Sonja Brentjes, Peter Barker, and Rana Brentjes, eds.,
Routledge Handbook on Science in the Islamicate World Practices from the 2nd/8th to the 13th/19th
Centuries (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023).
104 George A. Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 1981). Brentjes, “The Prison of Categories—‘Decline’ and Its Company,”
139-141.
105 Sezgin, Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam, 8-10. For an analysis of political, social and religious behind
the translation movement, See Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic
Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ‘Abbasid Society (2nd-4th/8th Centuries) (London:
Routledge, 1998).
106 In the late antiquity, the Syriac-speaking Christians were already involved in the translation and
transmission of the Greek scientific and philosophical texts, especially in the monastic contexts. The
knowledge of Greek as a “medium of study” continued among the Syriac-speaking communities at least
until the ninth century. They also translated literary and religious texts from Greek to Syriac as well. See
Daniel King, “Why the Syrians Translated Greek Philosophy and Science,” in Why Translate Science?:
Documents from Antiquity to the 16th Century in the Historical West (Bactria to the Atlantic), ed. Dimitri
Gutas, Charles Burnett, and Uwe Vagelpohl (Leiden etc.: Brill, 2022), 170-173. Also, See George Saliba,
“Revisiting The Syriac Role in the Transmission of Greek Sciences into Arabic,” Journal Of The Canadian
Society For Syriac Studies 4, No. 1 (2009): 27-32.
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texts by inserting their own ideas and commentaries or removing contents for enhancing
texts’ legibility or fitting into the demands of political, religious and cultural environment
they were in.107
Sabra argues that the perception about the Islamic science as a transmitter of the
classical and Hellenic science to the medieval Latin context in Europe is reducing its role
in a process of “reception, preservation and transmission” where the legacy of “superior”
culture is being received by the “inferior” repository culture.108 The same point was also
valid for the Byzantium, since it was seen as a “warehouse from which to retrieve
information on ancient texts.”109 Later, the Europeans recovered the ancient knowledge
from the manuscripts copied by the Byzantines and further developed it.110 By studying
the ancient knowledge, these medieval actors first preserved it, but also creatively
contributed to it by correcting the mistakes in the ancient texts or writing commentaries
on them to reflect their new and developed ideas.111
Various medieval Muslim religious groups’ ideas regarding ancient sciences were
influenced by how beneficial these sciences were for Muslims and how they did not
contradict the Islamic faith. Mathematical sciences, especially geometry and arithmetic,
were praised and supported as long as they did not engage in theological debates outside
their sphere of influence.112 Astronomy was another field of ancient sciences that
religious men tolerated. Religious figures even studied theoretical astronomy and
planetary theories.113 Al-Biruni (d. 1048) reflects on the practical reasons for astronomy
and defines astronomy as a servant of religion, helping to determine the qibla (the
direction of the prayer), the times of the prayers, and the date of feasts. He adds that
107 Hayrettin Yücesoy, “Translation as Self-Consciousness: Ancient Sciences, Antediluvian Wisdom, and
the ’Abbāsid Translation Movement,” Journal of World History 20, no. 4 (2009): 531.
108 Ibid, 531. Abdelhamid Ibrahim Sabra, “Situating Arabic Science: Locality versus Essence,” Isis 87, no.
4 (1996): 225.
109 Maria Mavroudi, “Translations from Greek into Latin and Arabic during the Middle Ages: Searching
for the Classical Tradition,” Speculum 90, no. 1 (2015): 28.
110 Mavroudi, “Translations from Greek into Latin and Arabic during the Middle Ages: Searching for the
Classical Tradition,” 34, 57.
111 In modern perception of science, the medieval people did not have proper science since their activities
were not based on observation. Their role was limited to the transmission of ancient legacy into the modern
era. For further discussion on this topic, See Stavros Lazaris, “Introduction,” In A Companion to Byzantine
Science, ed. Stavros Lazaris (Leiden: Brill, 2020),1–26.
112 George Saliba, A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories during the Golden Age of Islam
(New York: New York University Press, 1994), 55. Even while some loud detractors of the ancient sciences
in the tenth and eleventh centuries (particularly during this period) existed, the more common attitude was
skepticism and doubt rather than outright rejection. See, Aydın Sayılı, The Observatory in Islam and Its
Palace in the General History of the Observatory (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1988), 9.
113 Saliba, A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories during the Golden Age of Islam, 54.
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knowledge of spherical astronomy and mathematics is required for making these
measurements precisely.114
On the other hand, strong condemnation of astrology existed. Some religious
circles attacked astrology, and were not alone in their criticisms. Translations from Greek
and Syriac into Arabic included anti-astrological texts, too.115 Astrologers were also
rejected by some scientists working in various fields of the ancient sciences. The affinity
of astrologers with the Greek philosophical tradition influenced scientists in all areas
related to philosophy. The first attack on astrology came from the philosophers and
astronomers.116 Another group that deliberately distanced itself from astrology was
mathematicians. The mathematicians and astronomers tried to prove that their fields
distinct from astrology to protect themselves from potential criticisms.117 Physicians had
to distance themselves from astrology as well.118
In the beginning, astronomy and astrology were expressed by the same term ‛ilm
al-nujūm (the science of the stars). Later, two new classifications were used for astronomy
‛ilm al-hay’a (the science of the heavenly configurations) and astrology ‛ilm aḥkam alnujūm
(the science of the decrees of the stars).119 By the thirteenth century, the distinction
between astronomy and astrology became clear. After this date, astronomy was classified
as a mathematical science, and astrology as applied science including alchemy, medicine,
and agriculture.120 During this time, astronomers transitioned from political to religious
patronage. They began working as muwaqqit (timekeeper) and regulating the prayer times
in mosques. Astronomers emphasized religious themes in their work and were no longer
required to write astrological texts at the request of rulers and their family members.121
Sabra argues that the positions of muwaqqit could also be occupied by “distinguished
mathematicians” with knowledge of astronomy.122
An example of astronomers working as muwaqqits is also seen in the Artuqid
context. The endowment charter (waqfiyya) of the Great Mosque in Mardin was prepared
during the reign of Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II ibn Alpi (r. 1176-84) on March 19, 1178 (27
114 Ibid, 60.
115 Ibid, 56.
116 Ibid, 55-6, 69.
117 Ibid, 57.
118 Ibid, 68.
119 Ibid, 57.
120 Ibid, 66.
121 Ibid, 79.
122 Abdelhamid Ibrahim Sabra, “The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in
Medieval Islam: A Preliminary Statement,” History of Science 25, no. 3 (1987): 236.
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Ramadan 573 H). In the charter, there was a muwaqqit, an assistant muwaqqit for
regulating of praying hours, and an architect and a carpenter (al-najjar) appointed to
repair and maintain the buildings among the officials assigned to the mosque and its
madrasa to the west of the mosque. Two professors from the two most common sects in
the region, a Shafiʿi and a Hanafi, were also appointed to the Great Mosque’s madrasa in
Mardin.123
Attacks and criticisms of certain medieval circles could not prevent astrologers
from being active in the society. Astrologers were seen “in the streets, shops, in the
company of the armies, on ships, on deathbeds, and in official positions at the court.”124
The astrologer (al-munajjim) was a significant part of the court. Persian vizier of the
Great Seljuks, Nizam al-Mulk (d. 1092) mentions the astrologer and physician among the
boon-companions of the kings.125 The rulers’ primary reason for patronizing physicians,
astrologers, astronomers, and experts in applied mathematics was the “practical benefits
promised by them” to their patrons.126 Mathematical sciences provided practical benefits
and were actively sponsored by the different segments of the society. Iranian theologian
Abu al-Hassan al-ʿAmiri (d. 991) argues that there was no contradiction between the
mathematical and the religious sciences. He counted mechanics or engineering as a part
of the mathematical sciences such as arithmetic, music, astronomy, and geometry.
Another branch of mathematical sciences was architecture.127
1.3 The Reception of the Ancient Sciences in Anatolia, Jazira and Syria
Medieval rulers in Anatolia and Jazira in the twelfth century were interested in
and protected ancient sciences. Among these individuals, one could include the Artuqid
rulers, Danishmend Ghazi and his sons, the Mengüjekids of Erzincan, and the Rum Seljuk
123 Sadi Bayram, “Arşivlerde Kayıtlı Mardin’de Yapılmış En Eski Vakıflar: İmam Zeynel Abidin’in 1158
M. Tarihli ve Artukoğulları’ndan Kutbuddini İlgazi İbni Melik Necmeddin İbni Emir Timurtaş 1178 M.
Tarihli Vakfiyeleri,” in Makalelerle Mardin I, Tarih-Coğrafya, ed. by İbrahim Özcoşar (İstanbul: Mardin
Valiliği İl Özel İdaresi, 2007), 294-8. Also See Zekai Erdal, “Mardin Ulu Cami Üzerine Yeni Görüşler =
New Opinions on the Great Mosque of Mardin.” Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi
= Journal of Social Sciences (2017): 338-9.
124 Saliba, A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories during the Golden Age of Islam,70. For the
detailed analysis of the astrologer’s position in the medieval society, See George Saliba, “The Role of the
Astrologer in Medieval Islamic Society,” Bulletin d’Etudes Orientales 44 (1992): 45-67
125 Niẓām al-Mulk, The Book of Government or, Rules for Kings: The Siyar Al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-Nama of
Nizam Al-Mulk, trans. Hubert Darke (London: Routledge, 2002), 90.
126 Sabra, “Situating Arabic Science: Locality versus Essence,” 662.
127 Ahmad Yusuf Al-Hassan and Donald Routledge Hill, Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History
(Cambridge; Paris: Cambridge University Press; UNESCO, 1986), 263.
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sultans who were the descendants of Qutalmish ibn Arslan (d. 1063).128 The head of these
dynasties patronized book production, several scholars and also read about the sciences.
They loved to discuss intellectual pursuits. Some of these rulers were knowledgeable
enough to put their theoretical knowledge in ancient sciences into practice.
As explained in the previous section, the ancient sciences in the medieval period
were both supported and criticized by the different segments of society. Regarding the
social context of ancient sciences, there was no single viewpoint but rather a variety of
perspectives. This was also true for the context in the Anatolia. After visiting the Lands
of Rum (bilād al-Rūm) or Anatolia, a religious scholar named ʿUmar ibn Muhammad ibn
ʿAli was very surprised by the environment he witnessed. After seeing that the people
were not dealing with religious sciences, but with ‛ilm al-nujūm (the science of the stars),
he wrote his work entitled ʿAqāid Ahl al-Sunna (The Beliefs of the People of Sunna) for
instructing people on the fundamentals of the religion (uṣūl al-dīn). His travel date is
unknown, but this work was copied in the fourteenth century.129
A Persian cosmological treatise written in Anatolia can be interpreted as a
reflection of the region’s interest in the ancient sciences. This work titled Kashf al-ʿAqaba
was composed by Ibn Kamal Ilyas ibn Ahmad al-Qaysari who defined himself as the
administrator of Kayseri. The treatise is undated. It was copied in 1327 (727 H) and
located in the same collection with ʿAqāid Ahl al-Sunna in the Süleymaniye Library.130
This treatise was dedicated to a ruler with the title ṣaḥib-qirān-i ‘ālam (Lord of the
Auspicious Conjunction of the World) which reflects an astrological reference. However
his name is not written. Bayram claims that Ahmad al-Qaysari wrote this work to the
Danishmendid ruler Malik Gazi Gümüshtigin ibn Danishmend (r. 1084-1104) dating the
treatise to the early twelfth-century.131 On the other hand, Peacock argues that there is no
definite information to associate the treatise with the Danishmendid ruler. Bayram’s
128 Ramazan Şeşen, “Selçuklular Dönemi’nde İlme Genel Bir Bakış,” III. Uluslararası Mevlana Kongresi:
Bildiriler, 5-6 Mayıs 2003 = 3rd International Mevlana Congress: Papers, 5-6 May 2003 (TC. Selçuk
Üniversitesi: Konya, 2004), 239.
129 Ahmet Ateş, “Hicri VI-VIII. (XII.-XIV.) Asırlarda Anadolu'da Farsça Eserler,” Türkiyat Mecmuası 7-
8, no. 2 (1945): 123. It is registered at the Süleymaniye Library as MS. Fatih 5426/17, f.182v-192v. Its
introduction is in Arabic and the rest is written in Persian, See “Work 17: Risala-yi ‘aqā’id-i ahl al-sunna
(‘Umar b. Muḥammad b. ‘Alī)” The Islamisation of Anatolia Project. https://arts.standrews.ac.uk/anatolia
/data/documents/TK_Sul_Fatih_5426?hlu=&hl=Fatih%7 C5426%7C.
130 Registered as MS. Fatih 5426/24, 244v-261r at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul. Ibn al-Kemal İlyas
Ibn Ahmed, Anadolu'da Te’lif Edilen İlk Eser Keşfu’l Akabe, ed. Mikail Bayram (Konya: Hayra Hizmet
Vakfı, 1981), 8-9, 16.
131 Ibid, 10.
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argument has not been proven so far.132
Although it is not clear when and for whom it was written, Ahmad al-Qaysari
explains the nature of patronage relationship between the ruler and the scholars in this
work. It reads: “Those who favor that “supreme being” are mostly the virtuous and
philosophers. Scholars all over the world turned to him. Each of them was respected as
much as they spread their knowledge and happiness, and were satisfied with his sea of
generosity.”133 The more scholars give the more they receive from this unknown ruler.
It’s possible to characterize him as a philosophy-lover monarch.
Another point raised by Bayram is that the fondness for ancient sciences,
particularly philosophy, in both the Great Seljuks, Rum Seljuks and the Danishmendids
was motivated by sectarian reasons. During the reign of first Great Seljuk sultan, Tugrul
Bey (r. 1040-63), his vizier al-Kunduri (d. 1064) made the official sect of the state as
rationalist Muʾtazilism and acted against the Shafiʿi and Ashʿarite religious groups. Some
Ashʿarite were persecuted and jailed similar to the miḥna (test/inquisition) movement
initiated by the Abbasid Calip Al-Maʾmun in the ninth century. Bayram argues that
Tugrul Bey was following the Hanafi and rationalist Muʿtazilite sect and supported these
acts.134 When Nizam al-Mulk became the vizier, sultan Alp Arslan (r. 1063-72) had al-
Kunduri arrested and Nizam al-Mulk made efforts to make Shafiʿi and Ashʿarite the
official sect of the state. The vizier established the Nizamiyya Madrasas where Shafiʿi
and Ashʿarite professors were employed.135 However, Alp Arslan was disturbed by the
fact that Nizam al-Mulk belonged to the Shafiʿi sect. The Seljuk sultan further described
the situation as a pity. Nizam al-Mulk also mentions that Alp Arslan’s religious beliefs
(most likely Hanafism) as “imperious and fanatical” and this situation made the vizier
afraid.136 Lastly, there were people who followed both the Muʿtazilite theology and
Hanafi law at the time. The case of Tugrul Bey can be an example of this fact.
The records of Tugrul Bey’s period provide some details about him, but this does
not apply to every medieval ruler. Other researchers, unlike Bayram, are hesitant to make
definitive judgments about the sectarian tendencies of the rulers of states in medieval
132 Andrew C. S. Peacock, Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia (Cambridge, United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press, 2019), 34.
133 Ibn Ahmed, Anadolu'da Te’lif Edilen İlk Eser Keşfu’l Akabe, 14-5.
134 Mikail Bayram, Danişmend Oğulları Devleti’nin Bilimsel ve Kültürel Mirası (Konya: Nüve Kültür
Merkezi, 2009), 20, 23.
135 Ibid, 21-2.
136 Niẓām al-Mulk, The Book of Government or, Rules for Kings: The Siyar Al-Muluk, or, Siyasat-Nama of
Nizam Al-Mulk, 96.
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Anatolia.137 A record by Ibn al-Athir can shed light on the Artuqid leaning toward
sectarianism, specifically of Najm al-Din Ilghazi and his brother Muʿin al-Din Sökmen
who founded the Artuqid branches in Mardin and Hisn Kayfa. Ibn al-Athir records that
Ilghazi and Sökmen both visited the shrine of Imam Abu Hanifa in Baghdad where they
swore to be loyal to the Seljuk sultan Muhammad I in (1102/1103) 496 H. Their visit
might indicate that some of the Artuqid family members were following the Hanafi
branch of Sunni jurisprudence.138
Hanafi and Shafiʿi people had access to their own distinct places of worship and
educational opportunities in the Artuqid mosques and madrasas. The first madrasa of
Aleppo, al-Zajjajiya was completed by the Artuqid governor Badr al-Dawla Sulayman
ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbar in 1123 (517 H).139 The Madrasa al-Zajjajiya was a Shafiʿi institution
following the tradition of Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad.140 Although another Artuqid
ruler, Salman ibn Balak ibn Artuq, began its construction in 1116, Badr al-Dawla
completed it. The Shiʿite inhabitants of Aleppo are said to repeatedly have destroyed the
building at night, preventing it from being finished.141 Another example comes from the
city of Amid. When Qutb al-Din Sökmen II from the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid
constructed the Mesudiye Madrasa in 1193 (570 H), the jurists from the four Sunni sects
(Hanafi, Shafiʿi, Hanbali, and Maliki) were all present and able to teach at the madrasa.142
Few details are known about the possible sectarian tendencies of the Artuqid
rulers. The sectarian background of two Artuqid rulers, Husam al-Din Timurtash and
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, will be discussed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. The only point
to say with certainty is that Artuqid dynasty officially followed the Sunni doctrine. Their
coinage paid homage to the Sunni Abbasid Caliphs. The Artuqid mosques and madrasas
were reserved for the Sunni population. Nevertheless, whether the Artuqids were
affiliated with the Ashʿarite or Muʿtazilite theological movements is unknown. It should
137 Suzan Yalman, “‘Ala Al-Din Kayqubad Illuminated: A Rum Seljuq Sultan as Cosmic Ruler,” Muqarnas
Online 29, no. 1 (January 2012): 172.
138 ʻIzz al-Dīn Abu al-Hassan Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from
Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 1: The Years 491-541/1097-1146: The Coming of the Franks and the Muslim
Response, trans. Donald Sidney Richards (New York: Routledge, 2016), 353.
139 Ramazan Şeşen, Selahaddin Devrinde Eyyübiler Devleti (Hicri 569-589 / Miladi 1174-1193) (İstanbul:
İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Yayınları, 1983), 258.
140 Hatim Mahamid, “Waqf and Madrasas in Late Medieval Syria,” Educational Research and Reviews 8,
no. 10 (2013): 605.
141 Yasser Tabbaa, “Monuments with a Message: Propagation of Jihad under Nur Al-Din (1146-1174),” in
The Production of Meaning in Islamic Architecture and Ornament (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2021), 5, 23.
142 Hüseyin Karaçam, “Artuklu Kitabeleri (1102-1409),” MA Thesis., (Marmara University, 2012), 66.
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be noted that the sectarian orientations were quite fluid and dependent on the person. The
political environment was also shaping these choices. Still, it can be possible that the
Artuqid and other medieval Muslim rulers supported scientists and were interested in
ancient sciences because of a similar sectarian orientation in Anatolia and Jazira.
However, more evidence is needed to draw any firm conclusions.
Regarding ancient sciences and scientific practices in medieval Anatolia and
Jazira, thinkers particularly in Syria expressed their opposite perspectives. Arab
chronicler Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233)’s discourses are significant written evidence for
analyzing the criticisms of the rulers in Anatolia and Jazira from Syria. Yalman draws
attention to Ibn al-Athir’s criticism of the Rum Seljuk sultans and its relation to the
sectarian attitudes about the learning of sciences existed in Syrian circles.143 Ibn al-Athir
reveals his thoughts on the “negative” situation arising from the family’s close connection
with astrology while discussing the Seljuk prince Qutalmish ibn Arslan (d. 1063), the
ancestor of the Rum Seljuk sultans. Ibn al-Athir reports:
It is remarkable that this Qutalmish understood astrology and had mastered it,
notwithstanding that he was a Turk. Besides this he knew other Turkish lore. His sons after
him continued to seek this learning of the ancients and to attract its practitioners. This was
a blot that stained their reputation for religion.144
Ibn al-Athir is critical of astrology and other forms of ancient science, much like the
previously mentioned religious scholar ʿUmar ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAli at the beginning
of this section. The author boldly criticizes Qutalmish’s and his descendants’ involvement
in the ancient sciences and their support for scientists as a blot on damaging their religious
reputation. Peacock argues that Ibn al-Athir’s discourse also contradicts “the stereotypical
image of the Seljuks as the pious defenders of Sunni Islam” in the scholarship.145
The opinion of the rulers in Syria concerning the Rum Seljuk sultans’ interests for
the ancient sciences was also documented. Ibn al-Athir’s pro-Zengid work titled Al-
143 Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural
Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237),” 381-2.
144 His epithet was Shihab al-Dawla (Star of the State). Ibn al-Athīr, The Annals of the Saljuq Turks:
Selections from al-Kāmil fī‘l-Ta‘rīkh of ‘Izz al-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr, trans. D. S. Richards (London and New
York: Routledge Curzon, 2002), 152. Andrew Peacock translates the part “Besides this he knew other
Turkish lore” as “(he) knew other sciences of scholars.” See Andrew C. S. Peacock, “A Seljuq Occult
Manuscript and its World: MS Paris persan 174,” The Seljuqs and their Successors: Art, Culture and
History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020), 163.
145 Peacock, “A Seljuq Occult Manuscript and its World: MS Paris persan 174,” 163.
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Taʾrīkh al-Bāhir fi’l-Dawlat al-Atābakiyya (The Dazzling History of the Atabeg State),
reports Zengid ruler Nur al-Din Mahmud (r. 1146-74)’s views on the Rum Seljuk sultan
ʿIzz al-Din Qilij Arslan II (r. 1155-92). In his letter outlining the terms of peace written
in 1173 (568 H), Mahmud accused Qilij Arslan II of heresy, embracing philosophical
ideas and abandoning the holy war. Qilij Arslan II was also obligated to make a public
profession of faith before Mahmud’s envoy, provide military support if needed, and wage
the holy war against the Byzantine Empire.146 Nur al-Din Mahmud acted as the promoter
of Sunni Islam during his rule, and is widely regarded as one of the Sunni Revival’s
greatest figures.147 Nur al-Din’s assessment of Qilij Arslan as “heretic,” who had a quiet
conservative character, may have referred to the sect or philosophical beliefs of Qilij
Arslan II followed.
Qilij Arslan II seems to have continued his curiosity in the ancient sciences and
maintained contact with scientists and thinkers even after signing the peace deal with Nur
al-Din Mahmud. During his reign, Illuminationist philosopher Shihab al-Din al-
Suhrawardi al-Maqtul (d. 1191) was active in Anatolia. He is believed to have visited
Qilij Arslan’s court in Konya, and established networks with the house of Rum Seljuks.148
Moreover, Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286) reports that the court astrologers convinced Qilij
Arslan II that the apocalypse was about to come in 1186. For preparations, the sultan
wasted a lot of money and excavated the ground where he constructed sturdy dwellings
at the depths. But this prediction did not happen.149 Qilij Arslan II also employed
physician and astrologer Hubaysh ibn Ibrahim al-Tiflisi (d. ca. 1203) at his court. Al-
Tiflisi wrote treatises on dream interpretation and astrological topics such as prognostics
for the Rum Seljuk sultan.150 It is clear that astrology was a part of court culture of the
Rum Seljuk palace in Konya.
Qilij Arslan II’s contemporary Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143-
80) also supported astrology and medicine at his court. The emperor even engaged in
146 Abdülkerim Özaydın, “KILICARSLAN II,” in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi, vol. 25
(Ankara: İSAM - İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi, 2022), 399.
147 Tabbaa, The Transformation of Islamic Art during the Sunni Revival, 23.
148 For detailed information, See Chapter 2, Pages 106-7.
149 Andrew C. S. Peacock, Islam, Literature and Society in Mongol Anatolia (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2019), 218.
150 His full name is Kamal al-Din Abu’l-Fadl Hubaysh al-Tiflisi. Peacock, “A Seljuq Occult Manuscript
and its World: MS Paris persan 174,” 164.
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medical practices himself.151 Manuel I was also shaping his state affairs based on
astrological predictions and wrote a treatise titled Defense of Astrology.152 The Ayyubid
sultan Salah al-Din (r. 1174-93) was also Qilij Arslan II’s contemporary and another
important figure who is depicted to support the so-called Sunni Revival and protect
Sunnism after Nur al-Din Mahmud in the medieval period and modern historiography. A
Christian physician named Abu Sulayman Dawud ibn Abu’l-Munan (d. ca. 1187/583 H)
voluntarily offered Salah al-Din astrological advice and persuaded the sultan for
Jerusalem’s conquest. After successful takeover, Salah al-Din offered Abu’l-Munan his
help.153
Salah al-Din’s biographer Bahaʾ al-Din ibn Shaddad (d. 1234) portrays him as a
very conservative and devoted religious person who attached importance to both the
Quran and hadith.154 The Ayyubid ruler also believed in the bodily resurrection and hated
philosophers, materialists and the deniers of God’s attributes [the Muʿtazilites].155 If Ibn
Shaddad’s report is true, Salah al-Din seems to agree with al-Ghazali’s critique of the
philosophers, particularly Ibn Sina and their denial of bodily resurrection. Salah al-Din
was depicted to have a negative view of philosophy. The first anecdote, if it is true as
well, shows that Salah al-Din was pragmatist enough to take advantage of astrology when
it came to warfare.
In Syria, it is evident that the views of Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Shaddad, Nur al-Din
Mahmud, and Salah al-Din regarding some of ancient sciences are in contrast to those of
the Rum Seljuks, Artuqids, and the rulers of other states in medieval Anatolia. However,
Sonja Brentjes’ recent research challenges the scholarship’s long-standing misconception
about the Ayyubid dynasty’s alleged persecution of ancient sciences in Syria based on
151 Glen M. Cooper, “Chapter 3 Byzantium between East and West: Competing Hellenisms in the Alexiad
of Anna Komnene and her Contemporaries,” In East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern
Times: Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World, ed. Albrecht Classen (Berlin, Boston: De
Gruyter, 2013), 263.
152 Paul Magdalino, “Astrology,” in The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium, ed. Anthony
Kaldellis and Niketas Siniossoglou (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 198.
153 Sonja Brentjes, “Ayyubid Princes and Their Scholarly Clients from the Ancient Sciences,” in Court
Cultures in the Muslim World: Seventh to Nineteenth Centuries, ed. Albrecht Fuess and Jan-Peter Hartung
(Routledge, 2014), 337.
154 Bahāʼ al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Rāfiʻ Ibn Shaddād, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, or, Al-Nawādir
Al-sulṭāniyya Wa'l-maḥāsin Al-Yūsufiyya, trans. Donald Sidney Richards (Aldershot, Hants, England;
Burlington: Asghgate, 2002), 20.
155 Ibn Shaddād, The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin, or, Al-Nawādir Al-sulṭāniyya Wa'l-maḥāsin
Al-Yūsufiyya, 20.
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two notable events.156 Brentjes argues that the descendants of Salah al-Din had a strong
interest in employing scientists working in the field of ancient sciences, especially
medicine.157 The Ayyubid rulers were interested in arithmetic, geometry, music,
astronomy, astrology, engineering and construction of mechanical devices.158
Most of the physicians employed by the Ayyubid princes were also trained in
philosophy, and some of them wrote philosophical and medical treatises to their patrons.
The Ayyubid viziers with physician backgrounds were also well-versed in philosophical
sciences.159 The fact that the Ayyubid rulers were interested in philosophy and other
ancient sciences and supported thinkers who worked in these fields at the Ayyubid courts
shows that the prejudice against philosophy and other ancient sciences in Syria was not
effective in all segments of the society. Keeping in mind Salah al-Din’s stance, different
members of the dynasties could have diverse perspectives about the ancient sciences and
their patronage at the courts. Individual activities play a significant role here.
Biases against philosophy motivated by religious reasons caused negative
perceptions about medieval rulers who were enthusiastic about philosophy. These rulers
could not confess their philosophical beliefs publicly and had to hide their ideas. Ibn al-
Athir records two instances of this situation. First, the Seljuk sultan and son of Qilij Arslan
II, Rukn al-Din Sulaymanshah (r. 1196-1204), was thought to have “corrupt beliefs” since
he believed in the philosophers’ doctrine. Rukn al-Din protected thinkers who followed
this doctrine and kindly treated them. However, “although he was himself clever,
preferring to conceal his belief so that people would not turn away from him.”160
156 First one is the execution of Illuminationist philosopher Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi al-Maqtul in 1191
with the order of Salah al-Din. The second one is the dismissal of theologian and jurisprudent Sayf al-Din
Amidi (d. 1233) from his position at the Aziziyya Madrasa after 1229. In the modern scholarhip, the second
event is associated with the “Orthodox” leanings of the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, Al-Malik al-Ashraf
Musa (r. 1229-37). However, his fame was not only related to the dismissal of Amidi but also due to the
medieval accounts portrayed him. See Hirschler, Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic
Library: The Ashrafiya Library, 102-3.
157 Brentjes, “Ayyubid Princes and Their Scholarly Clients from the Ancient Sciences,” 326.
158 Ibid, 342.
159 Ibid, 331, 345-6.
160 After this information, Ibn al-Athir shares another anecdote about Rukn al-Din Sulaymanshah: “I was
told of him that he had in his entourage a man, a relative of his, who was accused of being a zindīq and
holding the doctrines of the philosophers. A canon lawyer came to court one day and they both disputed.
When the man declared some part of the philosophers’ creed, the lawyer stood up, stepped toward him and
slapped and cursed him while Rukn al-Dīn was present but keeping silent. The lawyer went out and the
other said to Rukn al-Dīn, ‘Something like that happens to me in your presence and you do not express
disapproval!’ He replied, ‘If I had spoken up, we would all have been killed. It is impossible to profess
openly what you want,’ and he left him.” See ʻIzz al-Dīn Abu al-Hassan Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn
Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 3 The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The
Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace, trans. Donald Sidney Richards (New York: Routledge,
2016), 80.
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The second example comes from the Artuqid context. The Artuqid lord of Amid
and Hisn Kayfa branch, al-Malik al-Salih Nasir al-Din Mahmud, was defined as “a tyrant
who ruled his subjects badly” by Ibn al-Athir.161 Mahmud was believed to have followed
the philosophical doctrine of the denial of bodily resurrection. Ibn al-Athir asserted that
those who held this belief were liars and wished God would punish them.162 As mentioned
above, Ayyubid sultan Salah al-Din, theologian al-Ghazali and other medieval
personalities reported to confirm the bodily resurrection. Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s opinion
contrasts with the religiously accepted belief of some medieval circles.
Another example coming from the Syrian context reveals that the Ayyubid ruler
of Karak al-Malik al-Nasir Dawud (r. 1229-48) was well-trained in philosophical
doctrines. Dawud was leaving his slaves behind and traveling far away from his home to
attend private philosophy classes in Damascus. He was also concealing his philosophy
book beneath his cloak.163 Bar Hebraeus vividly depicts the situation in Syria and shows
that even an Ayyubid ruler had to hide his interest in philosophy from the some
community members.
1.4 Overview of Chapters
The First Chapter consists of three sections covering the Artuqid patronage
activities related to philosophy, astronomy, and occult sciences. As a case study, the first
section focuses on the Artuqid ruler of Mardin Husam al-Din Timurtash’s life, his support
for the research of ancient sciences, his rapprochement, and relations with famous
scientists and religious scholars of his time. I analyze all the information available about
Timurtash from historical sources, including his coin design, architectural projects and
library, and the ancient science researchers he supported. After analyzing the content of
the poem line and letter written for the Artuqid ruler by the poet and physician al-ʿAntari,
who had met Husam al-Din Timurtash, I explain how al-ʿAntari’s observations help to
evaluate Timurtash’s self-constructed identity. Moreover, the second part deals with al-
Sufi’s famed manuscript of the Book of the Fixed Stars, copied in Mardin during the reign
of Husam al-Din Timurtash. This section details art historical analyses of specific
constellation depictions in this Artuqid copy and their possible sources of inspiration. It
161 Ibid, 241.
162 Ibid, 241.
163 Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the Son of Aaron, the Hebrew Physician,
Commonly Known as Bar Hebraeus: Being the First Part of His Political History of the World, trans. Ernest
A. Wallice Budge (London: Oxford University Press, 1932), 404.
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establishes that the Mardin copy closely follows the classical iconography. The
iconography of celestial globes most likely inspired the artist/copyist. After examining a
second manuscript attributed to another Artuqid lord, Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, which
new research reveals was not dedicated to him, I highlight the significance of al-Sufi’s
book through medieval copies produced by other dynasties and cultures.
The third section focuses on the astrological and celestial themes frequently
encountered in the art objects and architectural works of both the Artuqid and Zengid
dynasties in the Jazira region. A “mule” coin with an Artuqid design on one side and a
Zengid design on the other highlights the likelihood that the designers and die-engravers
of the Artuqid and Zengid coinages probably attended the same school, given the
iconographic similarity of these coinage styles. After discussing the astrological-themed
coins minted by the Mardin and Kharput branches and their details, I examine the mirror
of Artuq Shah, one of the most important and famous works from the Artuqids that have
survived to the present day. I reveal that astrological themes were not limited to coins and
mirrors by discussing a lavishly designed candlestick dedicated to the fourteenth-century
Mardin Artuqid ruler al-Malik al-Salih and its afterlife.
The Second Chapter investigates the translation projects carried out in the Artuqid
courts, particularly Aristotle’s De Caelo and Dioscorides’s De Materia Medica, through
the intellectual exchange happened between these two courts, by the two Artuqid rulers
Alpi and Qara Arslan. It also reveals Syriac translators-scholars were in charge of their
translations, as well as both rulers’ interest in the ancient sciences. Although it is not
certain that the originals of the manuscripts prepared for Alpi and Qara Arslan have not
survived to the present day, I present a comparative analysis of two extant copies thought
to have been copied from the original versions and today housed in Paris and Iran. Then
I discuss how both Alpi’s and Qara Arslan’s relationships with Christians that were
recorded in historical sources and question whether these written sources contradict or
comply with their real-life activities.
In Chapter 2, I reveal Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan’s ambitious character, who
introduced himself as a very orthodox religious profile in a manuscript from his private
library and on his coins. This part is devoted to his personality and further discusses how
combining pagan, Christian, and Islamic symbolism with Arabic epigraphy on the ruler’s
coins demonstrates deliberate changes and manipulation processes in coinage production.
I also describe the patronage relationship between physician al-ʿAntari and Fakhr al-Din
Qara Arslan, al-ʿAntari’s significant observations about the Artuqid dynasty, and the
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networks he established in the same section. I resolve the confusion regarding the date of
Qara Arslan’s death date by presenting new evidence used for the first time. In the
continuation of the chapter, I examine the patronage activities of the Artuqid rulers, who
came after Alpi and Qara Arslan, in the field of ancient science, the doctors they hired,
and the manuscripts dedicated to them. In the last part, Artuqids of Kharput’s fondness
for philosophy among the rulers and members of the royal family, Ishraqi philosopher al-
Suhrawardi’s related movements, his manuscript dedicated to Imad al-Din Abu Bakr and
a majmua sold by Sotheby’s auction house in 2016, and another manuscript registered at
the Süleymaniye Library are all analyzed in this part. I draw attention to the private
libraries of the Artuqids of Kharput here and reveal their interest in other ancient sciences
and philosophy.
Through Jazari’s mechanical devices, bridge, fortification, and hospital
construction projects, Chapter 3 explores the reflection of theory and practice in science
during the Artuqid dynasty. The first section details al-Jazari’s life and automata
manuscript, his patron Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s advanced knowledge of ancient sciences
and his passion for philosophy, his son Rukn al-Dawla Mawdud’s interest in occult
sciences, and his patronage relationship with al-Jawbari. In the architectural section, I
demonstrate how the technologically advanced level of the Artuqid dynasty was
transferred into practice over bridges, city walls, and hospitals by combining epigraphic
and photographic details with the primary historical records.
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Chapter 1:
ARTUQID PERCEPTION OF PHILOSOPHY, ASTRONOMY AND
OCCULT SCIENCES
1.1 The Philosopher Ruler in Mardin: Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54)
Husam al-Din Timurtash’s career as lord of Mardin started after his father Najm
al-Din Ilghazi’s death in November 1122. His brother Shams al-Dawla Sulayman ibn
Ilghazi took over Mayyafariqin, while his nephew Badr al-Din Sulayman ibn ʿAbd al-
Jabbar ibn Artuq remained in power in Aleppo.164 Timurtash reigned over Mayyafariqin
upon the death of his brother Sulayman in 1124.165 In the same year, he took control of
Aleppo at the age of twenty, but after returning to Mardin, his brief rule in Aleppo ended.
While commenting on his abandonment of Aleppo, Arab historian Ibn al-Athir (d. 1233)
defined him as a weak and incompetent ruler166 “who loved calm and easy life.”167
Another Arab chronicler Ibn al-Adim (d. 1266), criticized Timurtash for his deficient
ruling skills and the loss of Muslim power in Aleppo due to his “youthfulness.”168 The
remarks of Ibn al-Athir and Ibn al-Adim from Syria show that Timurtash differed from
his father, Najm al-Din Ilghazi (r. 1114 or 1115-1122), and his grandfather, Artuq ibn
Eksük (d. 1090). They were both very active Great Seljuk commanders and were known
to be the fierce enemies of the Crusaders. Timurtash sought to maintain power in his
realm for thirty years after retreating to the Diyar Bakr region. Still, local rivals included
his cousin Rukn al-Dawla Dawud ibn Sökmen (r. 1108-44), Artuqid ruler of the Hisn
Kayfa, and Zengid ruler ʿImad al-Din Zengi (r. 1128-46), with whom he formed alliances
164 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part
1: The Years 491-541/1097-1146: The Coming of the Franks and the Muslim Response, 240. Also See,
Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XV-XXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, ed. Amir Harrak, trans. Amir Harrak (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2019),
136. Badr al-Din Sulayman was appointed as deputy of Aleppo by his uncle Najm al-Din Ilghazi in 515
/1121-1222. See Ibid, 231.
165 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 142. See, Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading
Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 1: The Years 491-541/1097-1146: The Coming of the Franks and
the Muslim Response, 255.
166 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part
1: The Years 491-541/1097-1146: The Coming of the Franks and the Muslim Response, 254. Ibn al-Athir
mentions Timurtash’s age as seventeen in the year 1121-1122 (515). See, Ibid, 231.
167 Ibid, 251.
168 Selim Tezcan, “Jihad in a Context of Shifting Alliances and Enmities: Study on the Relations of The
Early Artukids and Crusaders as Reflected in Contemporary Muslim and Christian Historiography, 1098-
1124,” PhD diss., (Bilkent University, 2013), 634.
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when necessary.169
Timurtash is the first Artuqid lord whose intellectual pursuits in ancient sciences
and learning are well documented in written sources. Ibn al-Azraq, a local chronicler of
Mayyafariqin who worked for Timurtash as a metal trading agent, provides a first-hand
account of his personality, intellectual interests, and level of education in his book entitled
Tārīkh Mayyāfāriqīn wa Āmid. Al-Saʿid 170 Husam al-Din Timurtash was an amir, a
scientist familiar with all sciences. He loved the people of knowledge (ahl al-ʿilm), kept
contact with them, and honored the masters in every industry. He was very generous and
virtuous and would not harm anyone unless it was necessary.171 The chronicler remarks
that if a man of religion and science172 were to come, Timurtash would welcome him,
treat him well, and provide him with everything he needed. If he discovered someone
involved in science, he would approach him, bestow him, and inquire about what that
person knew about science and art.173 It is clear that al-Azraq’s close relationship with
Husam al-Din impacted the chronicler’s positive attitude and comments in favor of the
Artuqid lord. However, Ibn al-Azraq’s keen observations about Timurtash and his
enthusiasm for scientific activities provide essential details not found in other history
books.
Ibn al-Azraq shares an interesting anecdote about Timurtash. During Husam al-
Din’s stay in Mayyafariqin in 1145/6 (540 H), a famous sheikh from Isʿird (modern-day
Siirt) named Nur al-Huda Sulayman ibn ʿUmar al-Alawi174 arrived. The ruler was
169 Carole Hillenbrand, “Timurtās̲h̲ b. Il-G̲ h̲āzī,” in Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, Online Version.
170 The title “al- Saʿid” (Blessed) is first used by Ibn al-Azraq. Timurtash’s widely known title is “Husam
al-Din” (Sword of the Faith).
171 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 96. Folio 176b, See Ibn al-
Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 208. In Carole
Hillenbrand’s translation on page 141, it says “Husam al-Din was a knowledgeable amīr, well versed in all
branches of religious knowledge. He liked the ʿulamāʾ, maintaining close contact with them, and he
honoured skilled craftsmen in every trade.” In the Arabic text on page 208, Ibn al-Azraq’s sentence says:
“kāna amīran, āliman muṭlaʿan alā jamīʿi alʿulūm, yuḥibbu ahl alʿilm.” The chronicler does not use the
word ʿulamāʾ and “religious knowledge” but he instead uses ahl al-ʿilm (people of knowledge), and
muṭlaʿan alā jamīʿi alʿulūm (familiar with all sciences). Al-Azraq does not make a distinction between
religious and ancient/philosophical sciences here and especially underlines Timurtash’s interest in all
branches of sciences.
172 Al-Azraqs’ expression “rajul min āṣḥāb alʿimāma wālʿulūm” (a man of the turban and sciences). See
Folio 176b, Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 208.
173 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 97. Folio 176b, See Ibn al-
Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 208.
174 The nisba ʿAlawī used to refer to the descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661), the cousin of Prophet
Muhammad, or more specifically to refer to the Alawis/Alawites (Nusayris) which is a Shiite sect emerged
in Syria and spread to the northern Jazira region. See, Wadad Kadi, “ʿAlawī,” in Encyclopædia Iranica,
accessed August 10, 2022, https://iranicaonline.org/articles/alawi-the-nesba. The Alawis are of Arabic
origin and should not be confused with the Alevis of Turkey, who are of Turkish and Kurdish origin. In the
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interested in having a conversation with him and went to see him, but the sheikh did not
stand up for Timurtash. Al-Alawi sat in the mosque and fascinated people with his
preaching and talking. If Timurtash was in Mayyafariqin, al-Alawi would accompany
him; if the lord traveled to Mardin, the sheikh would accompany him. Wherever
Timurtash stayed, so did al-Alawi. The sheikh had a great reputation in the eyes of
Timurtash. Nevertheless, after some of the sheikh’s actions caused the people and
Timurtash to lose respect for and interest in the sheikh, he traveled to Syria. He took the
Ismaili citadel of Abu Qubais in Syria. However, al-Alawi could not remain there for long
due to his conflict with the Ismailis.175 Following the event, the sheikh returned to
Timurtash’s side. Around this time, Sheikh Nur al-Huda al-Alawi encouraged the Artuqid
ruler to study alchemy (al-kīmiyāʾ),176 but he failed to achieve any results from his
attempts.177
Al-Azraq’s anecdote contains two noteworthy points. First, Timurtash’s
companionship with sheikh al-Alawi, potentially related to the Shiʿite Alawis, as a Sunni
Artuqid ruler reflects his openness to scientists and religious figures of different
backgrounds.178 Besides, Timurtash portrays a more liberal profile than other Sunni rulers
around him.179 The second point is that Husam al-Din Timurtash is fascinated by
medieval period, the Ismailis, especially Nizari Ismailis were the regional competitor of the Alawis. See,
Stefan Winter, A History of the 'Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2016), 1, 33.
175 The Castle of Abu Qubays was purchased by the Nizari Ismailis (also called Assassins) around 1140s.
It is located near the Jabal Bahra (today Jabal Ansariyya) Mountains in Hama Governorate of Syria. See,
Winter, A History of the ‘Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic, 35.
176 There may be a connection between the Sheikh’s encouragement of alchemical studies and his Shiʿite
identity. Foster argues that there is “a special affinity exists between the Shīʿa and alchemy: alchemical
gnomologia are attributed to the first Shīʿī imam and fourth caliph, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and the sixth imām,
Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, is considered to be the author of several alchemical works and—even more importantly—
the teacher of Jābir b. Ḥayyān. As for the Jābir corpus, it shares key concepts of the Ismāʿīliyya or rather
those of the extremist Shīʿīs.” Regula Forster, “Alchemy,” In Encyclopedia of Islam, Third Edition, Online
Version.
177 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 77. Folio 171a and 171b, See
Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 112, 188, 189.
Ahmet Savran translated the word al-kīmiyāʾ into Turkish as chemistry. However, in the context of the
medival period, “chemistry” did not exist in the modern sense, and the term represented alchemy instead.
Because of this, I am referring to alchemy in my text.
178 The sheikh’s conflict with the Ismailis in Syria and his death at the hands of two Ismailis in Is’ird in
1151 may have been a result of his Alawi identity. For the details of his assassination, See, Ibn al-Azraq al-
Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 77-8. Folio 171a and 171b, Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī,
A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 112-3, 188-9.
179 Given the lack of historical records, it is impossible to state which Sunni school of law (maḏhab)
Timurtash followed. Despite this, there is evidence proving his Sunni identity. According to Ibn al-Azraq,
in June 1152, the sultan and Abbasid caliph in Baghdad sent Timurtash a patent of authority (manshūr) and
a robe of honor (khilʿat) to acknowledge his rule in Diyar Bakr region. At the time, Caliph al-Muqtafi (r.
1136-1160) and Seljuq sultan Ghiyath al-Din Mas’ud (r. 1133 - 1152) were ruling. See, Ibn al-Azraq al-
Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 92. Folio 175a, Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim
Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 134, 203.
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alchemy, a field of ancient science. Teachings on alchemy from ancient Greece and
Hellenistic times were also passed down to Islamic alchemy. They all aim to transmute
base metals into gold or silver using an elixir (al-iksīr) or philosophers’ stone (ḥajar alfalāsifa).
Alchemical practices in the Islamic world were associated with various courts
and rulers. Timurtash’s case is an example of this phenomenon.180
Rulers’ interest in alchemy was influenced by their desire to increase their
wealth.181 Ibn al-Azraq claims that Timurtash minted his first copper coin (fulūs al-ṣafār)
in 1147/8 (542 H) after sending al-Azraq to the city of Maden, located in the northern
part of the Diyar Bakr region, to purchase copper needed.182 The minting of the coin takes
place two years after al-Alawi met Timurtash. Husam al-Din’s increased pursuit of
alchemy may have been closely related to his goal of minting his coin around this time,
although the chronicler does not date when the sheikh left the Artuqid ruler’s side and
returned to him. If Timurtash had been successful in alchemy, he could have produced
the metals for his first coin.
Intellectual gatherings were held at the court of Husam al-Din Timurtash, in which
the Artuqid lord invited and hosted scientists and thinkers. One of these visitors was Ibn
al-Saʾigh al-ʿAntari (d. after 1186), a physician, poet, and philosopher. In the year 1138/9
(533 H), al-ʿAntari paid a visit to the court of Timurtash and wrote two eulogies and a
letter (risāla) for the ruler in which he described the impact of the conjunction of planets
(al-qirānāt)183 on the kings and the states.184 In this risāla, he further discusses how the
Turkish state caused the deprivation of foresighted people with knowledge of literature
180 Islamic alchemy was developed by transmitting classical teachings, especially by translating Greek texts
from Late Antiquity and Syriac works. See Forster, “Alchemy,” Online Version.
181 Ibid.
182 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 82-3. See, Folio 172b, Ibn al-
Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 120, 194.
183 The Arabic term qirānāt stands for the gathering of two or more planets in the same zodiac sign in
astrology. Persian astrologer Abu Maʿshar al-Balkhi (d. 886) wrote an influential book titled Kitāb al-Milal
wal-Duwal (the Book of Religions and Dynasties) also known as Kitāb al-qirānāt (On Conjunctions)
explaining the effects of conjunctions in historical astrology. Abu Maʿshar’s book offers a scientific
foundation for prognostication about dynasties, kings, religions, prophets, epidemics, wars, and other
possible events by using the conjunctions of planets, comets, and other astronomical bodies. See, Jaʿfar Ibn
Muḥammad Abū Maʿshar Al-Balkhī, Abū Ma'šar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and
Dynasties (On the Great Conjunctions), 2 Vols, ed. Keiji Yamamoto, trans. Charles Burnett and Keiji
Yamamoto (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
184 It is unclear whether al-ʿAntari wrote this letter after or before meeting Timurtash in 1138/9. However,
the letter verifies an existing correspondence between the poet and the lord. The content and information it
give about Timurtash are quite unique. See Al-ʻAntarī, Al-Muh̲tār as-Sāʼiğ Min Dīwān Ibn Aṣ-Ṣaʼiğ, 20.
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and science.185 Besides, al-ʿAntari states that after the death of a certain woman, Husam
al-Din Timurtash revived science and literature.186 In the third verse of his eulogy, which
he attached to his risāla, al-ʿAntari reveals how Timurtash supported scientific activities.
The poet says, “He (Timurtash) revived the dying sciences, and with a price more
valuable than the gold, he encouraged and made people demand them.”187
As mentioned at the beginning of introduction, al-ʿAntari clearly explains in his
Diwan that scientists and intellectual people in the medieval Turkish state(s) faced
problems and setbacks. On the other hand, al-ʿAntari depicted Timurtash differently than
the other medieval rulers he criticized. The poet praises the lord of Mardin with the title
of “reviver” and, at the same time, highlights the ruler’s efforts to support sciences
financially and voluntarily. Details provided by Ibn al-Azraq and al-ʿAntari are valuable
in profiling Timurtash. The Artuqid ruler was fond of science and learning. He also
established friendships and relationships with scholars and was very pragmatist.
Timurtash was interested in occult sciences and did not hesitate to take advantage of the
opportunities provided by occult sciences (al-ʿulūm al-gharība), such as astrology and
alchemy. The fact that al-ʿAntari conveyed knowledge about the effects of planetary
conjunctions in his letter reflects that Timurtash was interested in astrology and was
curious about his future and the destiny of the state he ruled, just like other medieval
rulers of his time.
Husam al-Din Timurtash had a particular fondness for philosophy among the
ancient sciences. This fact was reflected in medieval authors’ definitions of him and his
patronage activities. The poet al-ʿAntari’s second eulogy for Timurtash, dated 1138/9
(533 H), contains an intriguing description of the ruler.188 In the ninth verse, the poet says,
“The only philosopher (faylasūf) king (mālik) of his time, the arrival of whom pleased the
185 In the prose introduction of his Poem 135, al-ʿAntari explains the details about this undated treatise he
wrote for Timurtash. However, his Diwan does not contain a copy of this treatise. At the end of his treatise,
he adds his second eulogy dedicated to Husam al-Din Timurtash. This euology consists of seven verses.
See Al-ʻAntarī, 161-2.
186 Her identity is unknown. Nonetheless, there are two possible candidates. According to Ibn al-Azraq,
Timurtash lost two of his daughters when he was alive. Safiyya Khatun, his first-born child, died in 1149/50
(544) in Amid (Diyarbakır). Safiyya (Safiye) Khatun was married to Jamal al-Din Mahmud ibn İlaldı. Nura
Khatun died in Erzen in the last ten days of Rajab in 1151 (546 H). She was married to the lord of Erzen.
The death of Nura Khatun deeply saddened Husam al-Din. The chronicler provides no mention of when
Timurtash’s wives died. He also had other daughters, Zumurrud (Zümrüd) Khatun and Hadiyya (Hediye)
Khatun, who were still alive until Timurtash died. See, Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed
Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 40, 95-6, 106. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times:
The Early Artuqid State, 50, 139, 147.
187 Ibid, 162.
188 Poem 134. This poem consists of forty verses in total. See, Al-ʻAntarī, 158-161.
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philosophers and sages (ḥukamāʾ) in Greece.”189 Al-ʿAntari’s line is very intriguing, since
he establishes a link between the ancient Greek masters of philosophical sciences and the
Artuqid lord. The “philosopher king,” a central philosophical concept in Plato’s Republic,
is also evoked by al-ʿAntari’s description of Timurtash. According to Plato, the ideal state
is ruled by the “philosopher-king” endowed with virtue and knowledge. This Platonic
theory expects either the philosophers to become a king or the king needs to
philosophize.190 Al-ʿAntari must have known this significant ancient concept. It reveals
the level of his philosophical knowledge.
Husam al-Din Timurtash minted his first coin nine years after al-ʿAntari’s poem
portrayed him as a philosopher-king. Aside from how others perceive him, one of the
most important pieces of evidence of Timurtash’s self-perception is the iconography on
this 1147/8 (542 H) dated coin he minted. It is a very rare specimen, and was not published
in many coin catalogues and academic publications focusing on the Artuqid coinage.191
The Ottoman numismatist İsmail Ghalib wrongly attributed it to the Artuqid ruler of
Mardin and great-grandchild of Timurtash, Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan (r. 1184-1201)
in 1894. Later, Butak followed Ghalib’s interpretation in 1947.192 Lowick published the
full inscription for the first time after comparing ten copies in 1974 and attributed it to
Husam al-Din Timurtash.193
The obverse side of this coin, which is available in copies dated 542 H (1147/8)
543 H (1148) and 544 H (1149/50),194 depicts a bust of a bearded and diademed male, his
head facing right in profile within a circle (Figure 1.1). He is wearing a double pearl
diadem and a draped garment reminiscent of the Roman military cloak paludamentum
fastened by a fibula on his right shoulder. The figure has a slightly curly, pointed beard
189 Singular ḥakīm. This special term is used as honorific title for polymaths, sages and philosophers of
Ancient Greece in Arabic. Muslim writers especially used this title to refer Aristotle. See, Gregorios D.
Ziakas, “Islamic Aristotelian Philosophy,” in Two Traditions, One Space: Orthodox Christians and
Muslims in Dialogue, ed. George C. Papademetriou (Boston, MA: Somerset Hall Press, 2011), 78. Ibn al-
Ṣāʾigh al-Jazarī al-ʻAntarī, 159.
190 Melissa Lane, “Philosopher King,” in Encyclopedia of Political Theory, ed. Mark Bevir (Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2010), 1036-7.
191 Stanley Lane-Poole, William Marsden, and İbrahim Artuk did not publish this coin.
192 İsmail Ghalib Type I, See Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui,
Frou' Atabeqyéh Et Meliks Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, 38. Behzad Butak, XI. XII. ve XIII. Yüzyıllarda
Resimli Türk Paraları (İstanbul: Pulhan Matbaası, 1947), 33. Nicholas M. Lowick, “Les Premières
Monnaies Artuqides: Une Exhumation Tardive,” Revue Numismatique 6, no. 16 (1974): 95.
193 Lowick, “Les Premières Monnaies Artuqides: Une Exhumation Tardive,” 96. Spengler and Sayles,
Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 74.
194 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 73.
Ramazan Uykur, Madenden Yansıyan Tarih: Artuklu Sikkeleri (Ankara: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi, 2017),
225. Uykur records the third date 544 H (1149/50) on a specimen located in the Mardin Museum (Inv. 660)
in his book.
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(Figure 1.2). There are pseudo-Latin inscriptions on the right and left sides of the bust
portrait.195 The outer legend on the obverse, written in Kufic script, gives the date and the
mint name as Mardin. On the reverse, the Kufic inscription196 shows his titles “al-amir al-
ʿalim” (the wise amir/ ruler), “Husam al-Din” (sword of the faith), “malik al-umara” (the
king of princes) and “al-malik al-ʿadil” (the just king). His dynastic genealogy and an
epithet paying homage to the Abbasid Caliph are also written on the reverse side.197
Figure 1.1. Coin of Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54), 1147 (542 H), copper dirham,
26 mm, 5.28 gr, Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Inv.15970, Istanbul (Şentürk,
What the Coins Tell Us, 108).
Figure 1.2. Coin of Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-54), copper dirham, 23 mm, 5.54
gr, 5 h, illegible date, Leu Numismatik AG.
195 Lowick, “Les Premières Monnaies Artuqides: Une Exhumation Tardive,” 96.
196 This style of linear Kufic writing is similar to the “talismanic Kufic” coined by Venetia Porter. See
Venetia Porter, “The Use of the Arabic Script in Magic,” Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies
40 (2010): 131-40. I would like to thank Scott Redford for drawing my attention to this detail.
197 The epithet reads “zahir amir al-Muʾminin (helper of the Commander of the Faitful).” Ibid, 96. Spengler
and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 73-4.
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The coin designs of the last pagan Roman emperor and Constantine the Great’s
nephew, Julian II (r. 361-3) (orig. Flavius Claudius Julianus), or Julian the Apostate, as
he acquired this title in Christian tradition, are the examples iconographically similar to
Timurtash’s first coin mentioned above.198 On the obverse side, Julian II is depicted
wearing a double pearl diadem and Roman military cloak paludamentum (Figure 1.3).
His head is facing right just like Timurtash’s coin. Julian II first minted coins with cleanshaven
Roman imperial iconography when he was Caesar in Gaul between 355 and 360.
After he was proclaimed Augustus in 361, he preferred the short bearded bust profile with
the double pearl diadem and used until the long-bearded iconography was introduced
starting in December 361 and until his death in June 363.199
Figure 1.3. Coin of Julian (Iulianus III), 361-363 CE, minted in Antiochia ad Orontem
(Antioch), Miliarense, Silver, 21,1 mm, 4.10 gr, 6 h, Inv. RÖ 38202, Münzkabinett,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Timurtash’s coin is clearly inspired by the obverse of Julian II’s long-bearded
coins struck in gold, bronze and silver, however his reverse does not show Julian II’s
military-themed representations or the attributes of a ruler holding a scepter and globe
198 Spengler and Sayles argue that Timurtash’s coin is reminiscent of Julian II’s bronze coins. Lowick also
uses a bronze coin of Julian II minted in Nicomedia between 360-363. Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman
Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 75. Lowick, “Les Premières Monnaies
Artuqides: Une Exhumation Tardive,” 96.
199 María Pilar García Ruiz, “Julian's Self-Representation in Coins and Texts,” in Imagining Emperors in
the Later Roman Empire, ed. Diederik W. P. Burgersdijk and Alan J. Ross (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 205, 211,
214.
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crowned by the Victory (Figure 1.3).200 Uykur argues that Husam al-Din
Timurtash’s coin has the look of a Roman coin but has no other distinctive features.
Whelan (d. 1997) disputes Lowick’s attribution of the coin to Timurtash, dates it to the
second half of the thirteenth century, to the Artuqids of Mardin under Mongol suzerainty.
The same author further suggests another specimen for the coin’s iconography, Philip I’s
medallion struck in Cilicia, as an alternative.201
The surviving copies of Timurtash’s coin are heavily worn, making it difficult to
study the details of this coin type. However, Timurtash’s coin is not a complete copy of
Roman original, but rather an adaptation of it. Julian’s coin has more defined edges and
the paludamentum is more clearly defined. High relief is more outwardly directed and the
drapery folds are looking evident. In contrast, the Artuqid coin’s cloak and fibula are less
detailed and sharp. Julian’s beard and hair has a straighter shape. While in the case of
Artuqid copy, the beard is curly and eye, nose and mouth details also seem to be rendered
more ambiguously.
As a result of his deep philosophy training and, in particular, and his fondness for
Neoplatonism, Julian II, who was raised as a Christian but later converted to paganism,
was also called “Julian the Philosopher” due to his philosophical treatises.202 Before
becoming emperor, he traveled to Ephesus and was very impressed by the theosophist
and miracle-worker Maximus of Ephesus (d. 370), whose teachings combined
Neoplatonism with occult rites in 351. He was also following the writings of the
Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus (d. 325), who discussed the use of pagan rituals for
purifying one’s soul.203 Julian II was a self-conscious character who defined himself first
as a philosophy lover and later as a philosopher. Julian II clearly prefers the philosophical
state system based on virtue over the military one based only on courage, in accordance
with Platonic ideas.204 As explained in the previous pages, the “philosopher-king” is the
one who governs with virtue and knowledge, as Julian II wished to become.
200 Seth William Stevenson and Frederic Madden, A Dictionary of Roman Coins, Republican and Imperial,
Commenced by the Late Seth William Stevenson; Revised, in Part, by C. Roach Smith; and Completed by
Frederic W. Madden (London: George Bell and Sons, 1889), 872.
201 Uykur, Madenden Yansıyan Tarih: Artuklu Sikkeleri, 225. Whelan, The Public Figure: Political
Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia, 77.
202 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 75.
203 Henry Chadwick, The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2001), 296. Hinson further argues that Maximus of Ephesus combined divination and
theurgy. E. Glenn Hinson, The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity Up to 1300, (Macon: Mercer
University Press, 1995), 160.
204 García Ruiz, “Julian’s Self-Representation in Coins and Texts,” 217.
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Juxtaposing the iconography of Julian II, a self-represented “philosopher king,”
with that of Timurtash, who was defined as a “philosopher-king” by al-ʿAntari and was
widely regarded as a philosopher, both interested in the occult sciences, is not a mere
coincidence, but rather the consequence of conscious involvement. When I reviewed all
of the scholarly publications on Timurtash’s first coin, I saw that the self-image that
Husam al-Din Timurtash constructed by him as a “philosopher,” a scholar, and an
administrator interested in learning was overlooked in their analyses. Lowick clearly
agrees with William Marsden’s argument about the Artuqids being the “imitators”
revealing an orientalist view. He further questions how the ruler or his “monetary
advisers” could acquire Julian’s coin. Lowick also claims that Julian’s resemblance to
Timurtash could be the reason for this design, and Timurtash could not have known of
Julian II and his anti-Christian behavior.205
After criticizing Lowick’s views, Spengler and Sayles suggest that die-engravers
had collections of coins, including ancient coins, in their workshops for use as “models”
for their designs. They further argue that this portrait could have been chosen intentionally
despite not knowing why.206 It is not possible to determine whether Timurtash was aware
of Julian II except new written records are discovered. However, Timurtash was
surrounded by very sophisticated thinkers and scientists with extensive knowledge of
ancient sciences, for instance philosophy. He might also have a chance to hear about
Julian II and his life. Regarding the reason behind this coin’s design, I believe that the
influence of Timurtash’s and Julian II’s reputation as philosophers should not be
underestimated.
Even after a century had passed since his death, Husam al-Din Timurtash’s
reputation as a “philosopher” continued to be remembered and recorded. Syrian physician
Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa (d. 1270) introduces Husam al-Din Timurtash as a man “of merit, a
sage, and a philosopher” in his ʿUyūn al-Anbāʾ fī Ṭabaqāt al-Aṭibbāʾ (The Best Accounts
of the Classes of Physicians).207 Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa further recounts that the Timurtash
endowed philosophy books to the shrine he established.208 The Artuqid lord is known to
205 Marsden, 145. Lowick, “Les Premières Monnaies Artuqides: Une Exhumation Tardive,” 99. Nicholas
Lowick, “The Religious, The Royal and The Popular in The Figural Coinage of the Jazira,” in The Art of
Syria and the Jazira 1100-1200, ed. J. Raby (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1985),
206 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 75.
207 Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.75 Fakhr al-Dīn al-Māridīnī,” in The Best Accounts of the
Classes of Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, trans. Alasdair
Watson and Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020), https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/
reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:10.75/.
208 Ibid.
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have a deep interest in the sciences, but no details about his private library have been
revealed. Perhaps the ruler’s personal library supplied the philosophical works he donated
to the shrine in Mardin.
Chronicler Ibn al-Azraq provides detailed information about this shrine’s
construction process. Husam al-Din moved the graves of his father Najm al-Din Ilghazi,
and his brother Shams al-Dawla Sulayman, buried in Masjid al-Amir in Mayyafariqin, to
the shrine of Khidr Mosque in the citadel of Mardin. He buried them in the Khidr Mosque
after his takeover of Mayyafariqin in 1124. After a while, Husam al-Din established a
mashhad209 outside the Mardin citadel located right below the rabaḍ (suburb).210 A turba
(tomb) was built. Timurtash completed his project by spending a lot of money and
establishing a waqf (endowment) to ensure its survival. He also moved the graves of all
people buried in the Mardin citadel during Najm al-Din Ilghazi’s reign, including the
graves of his father and brother, to the mashhad. Timurtash decorated the building with
rugs, curtains, and instruments. Within the structure, he collected a library (khizānat
kutub)211 and had many books added to it. Al-Azraq mentions that the books were still in
the library while he was writing his book.212 The dimensions of Husam al-Din’s library
are unknown. According to Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa and Ibn al-Azraq, the books gathered by
Husam al-Din Timurtash were transferred into the structure that formed the shrine.
Moreover, this mashhad can be described as a multifunctional space. Ibn al-Azraq says
that al-Muhadhdhab al-Baghdadi,213 the scribe (kātib) of mashhad, was appointed by
209 The term mashhad is derived from the Arabic verb shahida (to witness, to see) and stands for more than
one meaning including a place of martyrdom, a religious shrine, mausoleum, meeting place, and scenery.
Clifford Edmund Bosworth, “Mas̲h̲had,” in Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition, Online Version. Art
historian Oleg Grabar shares the following comments on the term: “(…) the term mashhad, either as it is
used today for certain buildings or as it was used in the past, implies different things; whenever it is possible,
each instance merits a special analysis and suggests a different explanation, but it seems that, in early times,
mashhad was most commonly used for any sacred place and does not always mean a specific construction
over it, while as the centuries went by, many a small building with obvious religious features, such as a
mihrab, acquired the name of mashhad.” Oleg Grabar, “The Earliest Islamic Commemorative Structures,
Notes and Documents,” Ars Orientalis 6 (1966): 11.
210 In her footnote number 24, Carole Hillenbrand mentions that chronicler Ibn al-Adim saw the mashhad
in Mardin and located it to the west of the city. Carole Hillenbrand also argues that the mashhad was built
between 1124 and 1135 because when Ibn al-Azraq visited Mardin in 1135 (529 H), he witnessed the arrival
of Dubais ibn Sadaqa’s coffin and his burial in the mashhad. Folio 167b, and 171a, Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī,
A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 82, 110, 175, 187.
211 In the medieval Islamic libraries, the word khizānat (pl. khazāʾin) generally refers to the bookcase where
the books were stored. The books were to be placed horizontally on the shelves generally. The libraries
were usually reserved as a specific room. See Doris Behrens-Abouseif, The Book in Mamluk Egypt and
Syria (1250-1517) Scribes, Libraries and Market (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 52. Hirschler, Medieval Damascus:
Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library: The Ashrafiya Library, 70-1, 86-88.
212 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 76. Folio 171a, Ibn al-Azraq
al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 110-1, 187-8.
213 His fullname was Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Iraqi.
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Timurtash as new deputy vizier in 1144 (538 H).214 Prior to his new position, the scribe
al-Muhadhdhab, might have worked in copying manuscripts at the mashhad library.
Al-ʿAntari and the Artuqid lord have not established a long-term patronage
relationship. Husam al-Din, who seems to be impressed by his letter or his encounter with
al-ʿAntari in Mardin, had invited al-ʿAntari to visit him through ʿIzz al-Din al-Faylasūf
(the Philosopher). Al-ʿAntari, who copied the poem he wrote in his undated reply to his
Diwan, refused the offer and told them to look for someone else.215 The poet’s response
to the letter introduces one of Timurtash’s contacts: a philosopher named ʿIzz al-Din.216
Unfortunately, the details of Husam al-Din Timurtash and ʿIzz al-Din’s relationship
remain a mystery. It is unknown whether it was a patronage relationship or more
comparable to the Artuqid ruler’s companionship with sheikh al-Alawi. Al-ʿAntari’s
response might also demonstrate that he did not write the eulogies for Timurtash with the
intention of gaining the Artuqid ruler’s long-term patronage but rather to find favor in
Timurtash’s eyes. Al-ʿAntari’s arrival in Mardin, his meeting with Timurtash, and his
response to ʿIzz al-Din are all intertwined, for this reason, making an exact timeline of
them challenging. The correspondence may have occurred after their first meeting in
Mardin, and Timurtash may have been interested in working with al-ʿAntari. An
invitation may have been sent to establish a patron-client relationship through ʿIzz al-Din
the Philosopher. Nevertheless, this narrative does not go beyond the assumption. In the
future, new written sources may help put this relationship web into a more precise
chronological order.
Other scientists, unlike al-ʿAntari, accepted Timurtash’s invitation to come and
work for him in Mardin. One of the scholars who came to serve Husam al-Din Timurtash
was Ibn al-Salah (d. 1154), also known as Najm al-Din Abu’l-Futuh Ahmad ibn
Muhammad ibn al-Sari. Ibn al-Salah was born in either Hamedan or Sumaysat (today
Samsat in Turkey) but settled in Baghdad to study.217 Al-Salah began his career in
214 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 76. Folio 171a, Ibn al-Azraq
al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 110, 187.
215 In the beginning of Poem 644, al-ʿAntari says “Inform Timurtash that God has decreed for me a
sustenance, so I do not need anyone. So, seek other than me, for as long as I live, I serve no one but my
God, the One, the Eternal.” See, Al-ʻAntarī, 25, 484.
216 Thanks to al-ʿAntari, I have discovered this scholar, whose name is not mentioned in the chronicles
providing information about the Artuqid dynasty.
217 In his book titled Tarīkh al-Hukamā (History of Philosophers), Egyptian historian and biographer Ibn
al-Qifti (d. 1248), records that Ibn al-Salah was born in Sumaysat and died at the end of the year 1154 (548
H). Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa (d. 1270) mentions his death date as 1145 (540 H) or a little later. He also reports that
Ibn al-Salah was born in Hamedan and was of Persian origin. His birth date is unknown. See, Ömer Mahir
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Baghdad before moving to Mardin at an unknown date to work at the Artuqid court.
Maragha was also among the places where al-Salah resided at an unknown time.218 Ibn
Abi Usaybiʿa describes Ibn al-Salah as a “learned sheikh” who was a distinguished expert
in philosophical sciences (al-ʿulūm al-ḥikmiyya). He was an eloquent writer who could
articulate his thoughts precisely and write sophisticatedly. Ibn al-Salah was an
outstanding physician of his time. Husam al-Din Timurtash treated him with great respect.
After a period spent as a friend of the Artuqid ruler, Ibn al-Salah eventually made his way
to Damascus, where he remained until the day he died.219
Ibn al-Salah was a prominent example of a true polymath. He had a wide range of
academic expertise beyond medicine, including philosophy, astronomy, mathematics,
and logic.220 Ibn al-Salah was a scholar with the capacity and competence to develop
Timurtash’s intellectual interests. The fact that he was summoned to the Artuqid court
demonstrates the scope of scientific endeavor in Mardin. Ibn al-Salah’s activities are
partially documented in the historical record. Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa reports that al-Salah was
the philosophy tutor of Fakhr al-Din al-Mardini (d. 1198), a scientist born in Mardin.221
Unfortunately, the biographer does not mention where Ibn al-Salah and al-Mardini
studied or if there were other students of him. Ibn al-Salah is said to have been appointed
to serve as his court physician by Husam al-Din Timurtash.222 Another argument asserts
that he probably founded the library in the mashhad while working as a physician at the
Artuqid court.223 Given al-Salah’s medical expertise, his appointment would not be
Alper, “İbnü’s-Salâh, Ebü’l-Fütûh,” in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi, vol. 21 (Ankara: İSAM
- İslam Araştırmaları Merkezi, 2000), 197-8. Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim, “15.17 Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ,”
in The Best Accounts of the Classes of Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan
van Gelder, trans. N. Peter Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020),
https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-en
g1:15.17/. Johannes Thomann argues that The Kitāb fī al-ashkāl al-kurrīyah, is an Arabic translation of
Menelaus of Alexandria’s work on spherical trigonometry (British Library Or.13127) copied from the Ibn
al-Salah’s book in ‘Monday 4 Rabīʿ II 548’ (29 June 1153). The scribe, Ismael, might be a student of Ibn
al-Salah and records that Ibn al-Salah was alive in 1153. Thus, the copyist confirms the date of death given
by Ibn al-Qifti. See Johannes Thomann, “The Oldest Translation of the Almagest Made for Al-Maʾmūn by
Al-Ḥasan Ibn Quraysh: A Text Fragment in Ibn Al-Ṣalāḥ’s Critique on Al-Fārābī’s Commentary,” in
Ptolemy's Science of the Stars in the Middle Ages, ed. David Juste et al. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols,
2020), 118.
218 Paul Hullmeine, “Correcting Ptolemy and Aristotle: Ibn Al-Ṣalāḥ on Mistakes in the Almagest, On the
Heavens, and Posterior Analytics,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 32, no. 2 (2022): 202.
219 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “15.17 Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ.”
220 Alper, “İbnü’s-Salâh, Ebü’l-Fütûh,” 197.
221 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.75 Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Māridīnī.”
222 Carl Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 1, trans. Joep Lameer
(Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2017), 891. Alper, 197.
223 Alper, 197.
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unexpected. Nevertheless, no written evidence confirms that he held this position and
established the library in Mardin.
Commentaries that Ibn al-Salah wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy, and
logic are some of the author’s works that have been preserved.224 However, none of his
medical works have remained to the present day.225 Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa further mentions
that “Ibn al-Salah excelled in philosophy and had a good knowledge of it and was expert
in its intricacies and secrets and authored books on the subject.”226 Moreover, he devoted
his life to reevaluating and criticizing the conclusions reached by Greek and earlier Arab
authorities.227 Ibn al-Salah’s critique of the errors in the transmission of coordinates in
Ptolemy’s (d. ca. 168) famous catalogue of the fixed stars, the Almagest (Kitāb al-
Majisṭī),228 brought him widespread recognition. While writing his review, he consulted
four Arabic and one Syriac version of the Almagest, directly translated from Greek.229
Ibn al-Salah also criticized Al-Biruni’s al-Qānūn al-Masʿūdī and Al-Sufi’s (d. 986) Kitāb
Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita (Book of Fixed Stars) for failing to correct existing errors
in Ptolemy’s Almagest.230 It is unknown when al-Salah’s treatise was written, but thanks
to Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, it has survived to the present day.
1.2 An Artuqid Copy of Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita (Book of the Fixed
Stars)
Ibn al-Salah’s use of significant manuscripts and translations for his critiques
might indicate that the author had access to sophisticated libraries, or his library was
extensive enough. Ibn al-Salah does not specify which al-Sufi manuscript copy he used
in his analysis. However, an al-Sufi manuscript was copied in Mardin during Husam al-
224 Mubahat Türker Küyel, “İbn uş-Salah comme exemple à la rencontre des cultures,” Araştırma, 9 (1971),
1-2. For a list of Ibn al-Salah’s commentaries, See, Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition
Supplement Volume 1, 197. According to Paul Hullmeine, seventeen works by Ibn al-Salah have been
discovered so far, and it is very likely that more works by al-Salah will be discovered in the future. See,
Hullmeine, “Correcting Ptolemy and Aristotle: Ibn Al-Ṣalāḥ on Mistakes in the Almagest, On the Heavens,
and Posterior Analytics,” 202.
225 N. Peter Joosse, “Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, Najm al-Dīn,” in Encyclopaedia of Islam Third Edition, Online Version.
226 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.75 Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Māridīnī.”
227 Sezgin, Wissenschaft und Technik im Islam, 35.
228 The name of the treatise is “On the Reason for the Mistakes and Misspellings Occurring in the Tables
of Book VII and VIII of the Almagest and on the Correction of What can be Corrected of Them.” See,
Hullmeine, 204.
229 Joosse, “Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, Najm al-Dīn.” Existing manuscripts contain a shortened copy of al-Salah’s
commentary by the Persian astronomer Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (d.1311). MS. Ahmet III 3455 f. 82v-86v
and 76r-v, Topkapı Palace Library. See, Hullmeine, 205.
230 Hullmeine, 210-1. Moya Carey, “Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A Thirteenth-Century Copy
of al-Sūfī’s Treatise on the Fixed Stars: British Library Or. 5323,” Ph.D. diss., (SOAS University of
London, 2001), 82-3.
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Din Timurtash’s reign, which might have coincided with Ibn al-Salah’s stay in Mardin.
The book of Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita (Book of Fixed Stars) was copied in the
fortress of Mardin in 1135/6 (529 H) by the scribe named ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbar
ibn al-Rahim ibn Sadaqa ibn ʿAli ibn Yusuf ibn Nassam al-Jabali (Figure 1.4).231 The
manuscript is written in naskhi script and consists of 227 folios. MS. Fatih 3422 features
eighty illustrations depicting the constellations in the sky and on the earth, similar to how
they appear on the celestial globes.232
Figure 1.4. Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, f.227r, MS. Fatih 3422, Süleymaniye
Library, Istanbul.
231 Abū l-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b.ʿUmar al-Ṣūfī, Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, Istanbul
Süleymaniye Library, MS Fatih 3422, f..227r.
232 Nezihe Seyhan, “Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi'ndeki Minyatürlü Yazma Eserlerin Kataloğu” (MA Thesis,
Boğaziçi University, 1991), 436. The illustrations facing left depict their appearance on the celestial globe,
whereas the illustrations facing right depict their appearance in the sky.
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The commissioner or the users of this al-Sufi manuscript are unknown. There is
no indication whether it was commissioned by Husam al-Din Timurtash or another
member of the Artuqid royal family. Since the book production took place in the castle
of Mardin, the copyist might be a state official, or the book might have been prepared for
the court astronomers. There are ideas regarding the source of inspiration for the artist or
astronomer who designed these constellation illustrations. Art historian Wellesz argues
that the Mardin copy’s illustrations are less detailed than those in other al-Sufi
manuscripts, which she calls Group A. Wellesz locates MS. Fatih 3422 in the Group B.
Simple contours are utilized in MS. Fatih 3422. The clothing of constellations is formed
with a few basic lines. In some of its sections, this manuscript exhibits iconographic
variation as well. For instance, it depicts the constellation Virgo with wings, similar to how
it was shown in antiquity (Figure 1.5).233
Figure 1.5. Constellation of Virgo (al-ʻadhrāʼ in Arabic), Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-
Thābita, f.131r, and f.131v, MS. Fatih 3422, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
233 Emmy Wellesz, “An Early Al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic
Constellation Images,” Ars Orientalis 3 (1959): 22. Another copy of al-Sufi’s Book of the Fixed Stars located at
the Doha Museum of Islamic Art [MS.2.1998] is dated 1125 (519 H). The Virgo is also depicted with wings.
See Emilie Savage-Smith, “The Most Authoritative Copy of ʿAbd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi’s Tenth-Century
Guide to the Constellations,” in God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture,
ed. Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 125, 150-1.
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Figure 1.6. Constellation of Virgo, Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, MS. Marsh 144,
f.223 and f.224, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Figure 1.7. Constellation of Serpent Bearer (Serpentarius or Ophiuchus, al-ḥawwa wa’l-
ḥayya in Arabic), Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, f.74r, and f.74v, MS. Fatih 3422,
Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
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The oldest surviving copy of the Book of Fixed Stars (MS. Marsh 144) in the Bodleian
Library, dated 1009/10 (400 H), was presumably copied and illustrated by the author’s son,
Abu ʿAli Husayn ibn al-Sufi.234 Al-Sufi follows Ptolemy’s depiction in his text’s Virgo-related
parts. Still, in the illustration, the fifth star is located on the hunched shoulder, which Ptolemy
placed at the top left of the wing (Figure 1.6).235 The classical iconography is deliberately
altered here, probably by the son, Ibn al-Sufi. Since the author al-Sufi emphasizes that Virgo
should have wings while reporting a celestial globe made by ʿAli ibn Isa al-Harrani.236
Nonetheless, al-Sufi and his son both follow the classical and Hellenistic “Serpent-Bearer
iconography, in which “the serpent turns its head away from the man.”237 As can be seen, the
Serpent-Bearer constellation in MS. Fatih 3422 is also loyal to this ancient tradition (Figure
1.7).
The origins of constellation and zodiac depictions, seen in illustrations in some of Al-
Sufi’s manuscripts and textually transmitted in Ptolemy’s Almagest and Handy Tables, can be
historically traced back to the ancient Greek and Roman times via surviving artistic and literary
sources.238 The Greek poet Aratus of Soli (c. 315-245 BCE)’s Phaenomena, the Latin poet
Hyginus’s (c. 1st century CE)’s De Astronomica, and the Roman poet Manilius (c. 1st century
CE)’s Astronomica are influential literary sources that provided detailed information on
constellations, zodiac, and weather signs. The celestial globes are another source that
transmitted the classical and Hellenistic tradition. Among the surviving examples are the
Kugel Globe (c. 300-100 BCE), the Mainz Globe (c. 2nd century CE) and the Farnese Atlas (c.
2nd century CE).239 The Farnese Atlas is believed to be a Roman copy of a Hellenistic sculpture
234 Moya Carey, “Al-Sufi and Son: Ibn Al-Sufi’s Poem on the Stars and Its Prose Parent,” Muqarnas 26
(2009), 189.
235 Wellesz, “An Early Al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic Constellation
Images,” 10.
236 Moya Carey, “Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A Thirteenth-Century Copy of al-Sūfī’s
Treatise on the Fixed Stars: British Library Or. 5323,” PhD diss., (SOAS University of London, 2001), 71.
237 Wellesz, 9.
238 Although there is no known surviving illustrated version of Almagest today, the Vatican Library houses MS.
Vat. gr. 1291, the earliest surviving illustrated copy of Handy Tables, an expansion of Ptolemy’s Almagest, which
is thought to have been produced during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–755). This
manuscript also reflects the representations of signs of zodiac, the sun god Helios and constellations derived from
the classical past. For instance, Virgo is depicted with two wings. For its comparison with al-Jazari’s zodiac wheel,
See Pages 122-3 and Figure 3.3. See David H. Wright, “The Date of the Vatican Illuminated Handy Tables
of Ptolemy and of its Early Additions,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 78 (1985), 355-62.
239 Marion Dolan, Astronomical Knowledge Transmission through Illustrated Aratea Manuscripts (Cham,
Switzerland: Springer Verlag, 2017). Milan S. Dimitrijević and Aleksandra Bajić, “Mythological Origin of
Constellations and Their Description: Aratus, Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Hyginus,” in Proceedings of the XII Serbian-
Bulgarian Astronomical Conference (XII SBAC) Sokobanja, Serbia, September 25-29, 2020 , ed. L. Č. Popović et
al. (Serbia: Publications of the Astronomical Society “Rudjer Boskovic” , 2020), 129-138. Another marble
celestial sphere is dated 1st century CE. This globe has a band of twelve signs of zodiac and scattered stars
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of Atlas bending on his knees and holding a celestial globe on his back (Figure 1.8).240
Ophiuchus (Serpent bearer) and Virgo are depicted backwards in the Farnese Atlas, the
Virgo still carries wings and the serpent turns his head away from Ophiuchus. In MS.
Fatih 3422 and other al-Sufi manuscripts, the classical iconography, for instance nude
and muscular representations, is altered and adapted to a new context. These
constellations are wearing Eastern style clothing. However, some important
distinguishing features, such as wings of Virgo, have been preserved.
Figure 1.8. ORBIS CAELESTIS Tabula (Table of the Celestial Orbs) showing the Statue of
Atlas (Farnese Atlas) holding the celestial sphere on his back in the middle and its
depictions of constellations and twelve signs, originally dated 2nd century CE and in
National Archaeological Museum of Naples, Inv. 6374, Italy (from Marcus Manilius’s
Astronomica, 30-40 CE, edited and published by Richard Bentley in 1739, London).
Wellesz further remarks that MS. Fatih 3422 “follows classical usage more closely”
and “is intimately connected with the iconography of the celestial globes.”241 Indeed, the scribe
of the Mardin copy, al-Jabali, might have used the celestial globes as the source of this style.
He could have access to former illustrated astronomical manuscripts based on Ptolemy’s
on his surface. It is located at the Vatican Museum (Inv.784) today. For the zodiac representations of
Byzantium and Carolingian Empire, See Ivana Lemcool, “The Zodiac in Early Medieval Art: Migration of a
Classical Motif Through Time and Space,” in Migrations in Visual Art, ed. Jelena Erdeljan et al. (Belgrade: Faculty
of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, 2018), 55-68.
240 For details about the three-dimensional replicas of the Farnese Atlas’s globe and Bentley’s engraving,
See Kristen Lippincott, “A Chapter in the ‘Nachleben’ of the Farnese Atlas: Martin Folkes’s Globe,”
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 74 (2011): 281-99.
241 Ibid, 23.
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Almagest, which celestial globe makers frequently utilized. However, these manuscripts were
criticized by al-Sufi for their inaccurate coordinates in his book. He further reports that he has
seen many Harran-made “decorated globes” and condemned them for not showing “true star
positions or magnitudes.”242 Al-Sufi mentions that the existing celestial globes reflect
“different iconographical versions of figures.”243 One of the surviving celestial globes,
closer to the date of MS. Fatih 3422, was designed in 1144 by Yunus ibn Husayn al-
Asturlabi (the Astrolabe-maker) and is housed in the Louvre Museum today (Figure 1.9).
On this globe’s legend, confirming what al-Sufi said, al-Asturlabi notes that Ptolemy’s
star catalogue is used to determine the coordinates of the stars.244
Figure 1.9. Celestial globe, 1144 (540 H), by Yunus ibn Husayn al-Asturlabi, possibly
from Iran, cast brass, inlaid with silver, engraved, Inv. MAO 824, Louvre Museum, Paris.
The earliest bronze celestial globes that have survived display a reasonably simple
design. Only the outlines of the constellations are engraved on the object, but their fundamental
242 Emilie Savage-Smith, Islamicate Celestial Globes Their History, Construction, and Use (Washington,
D.C: Smithsonian Institution, 1985), 23.
243 Carey, “Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A Thirteenth-Century Copy of al-Sūfī’s Treatise on
the Fixed Stars: British Library Or. 5323,” 75.
244 Savage-Smith, Islamicate Celestial Globes Their History, Construction, and Use, 25. Full inscription
reads: “This globe includes all the stars mentioned in the book of the Almagest after modifying them in
proportion with the interval between the calculations of Ptolemy and the year [A.H.] 540, i.e. 15°18’. [It is
t]he work of (san‘at) Yunis b. al-Husayn al-Asturlabi [in the] year 539.” See, Sheila R. Canby et al., Court
and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 196.
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aspects, which may be recognized instantly, are shown. Some manuscripts of al-Sufi’s Book
of Fixed Stars, such as MS. Fatih 3422, display this relatively straightforward iconographic
style seen in early celestial globes.245 It is possible that copyist al-Jabali, whose profession is
unknown,246 could access celestial globes, but no Artuqid example has been discovered. Given
the proximity of Harran, the famous production center of celestial globes, it would be easy to
find a celestial globe in Mardin, whose Artuqid lord Husam al-Din Timurtash wholeheartedly
supported scientific activities and scientists.
Furthermore, it cannot be said certain which al-Sufi copy al-Jabali used as a reference
while preparing MS. Fatih 3422. The Topkapı Palace Library houses an incomplete copy of
Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita registered as MS. Ahmet III 3493.247 This manuscript
was copied by the scribe Wathiq ibn ʿAli ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Husayn, also known as Abu’l-
Shawqi, between 14 December 1130 and 12 January 1131 (10 Muharram and 10 Safar 525
H). Some scholars believe Ahmet III 3493 was prepared in the Artuqid city of Mayyafariqin.
According to its colophon, the scribe utilized a copy that initially belonged to the scholar Abu
Tahir ibn ʿAbd al-Baqi ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah, also known as Ibn Qatramiz, who
was from Mayyafariqin in the eleventh century.248 Over the years, this manuscript passed
through some different hands. Salah ibn Yunus ibn Aziz made a copy of this manuscript in
August 1149 (Rabiʿ II 544 H), and at the time, it belonged to the library of Masʿud ibn ʿAbd
al-Malik, a physician from Mosul.249 In contrast to Fatih 3422, it possesses distinctive
iconographic characteristics. I believe it is improbable that Ahmet III 3493 inspired the Mardin
copy. Emmy Wellesz places Ahmet III 3493 in Group A, highlighting its similarities to the
Marsh 144. Like the illustration of Virgo in Marsh 144, this one has a hunched shoulder and
245 Wellesz, “An Early Al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic Constellation
Images,” 25.
246 I question whether he was an astronomer, astrolabe-maker or globe-maker. Unfortunately, no further
details about his life are available.
247 It is made of 148 folios, and some constellations are missing from this manuscript.
248 Anna Contadini, “Ayyubid Illustrated Manuscripts and Their North Jaziran and ʿAbbasid Neighbours,”
in Ayyubid Jerusalem: The Holy City in Context 1187-1250, ed. Robert Hillenbrand and Sylvia Auld
(London: Altajir Trust, 2009), 187-8. See Carey, “Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A Thirteenth-
Century Copy of al-Sūfī’s Treatise on the Fixed Stars: British Library Or. 5323,” 251. Biographer Ibn Abi
Usaybiʿa mentions about Ibn Qatramiz in the bibliography of the eleventh-century Syriac doctor ʿUbayd
Allah ibn Jibril ibn ʿUbayd Allah ibn Bukhtishu (d. around 1058 -1066) who lived in Mayyafariqin during
the reign the Marwanid dynasty (983-1085). Ibn Jibril wrote a letter to Ibn Qatramiz to “answer to his
question on ritual ablution and why it is necessary.” See Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “8.6
ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Jibrīl” In the Best Accounts of the Classes of Physicians, edited by Emilie Savage-Smith,
Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, translated by Bruce Inksetter, Emilie Savage-Smith, and Geert
Jan van Gelder. Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020. https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:
0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:8.6.
249 Carey, “Painting the Stars in a Century of Change: A Thirteenth-Century Copy of al-Sūfī’s Treatise on
the Fixed Stars: British Library Or. 5323,” 251.
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carries no wings (Figure 1.10).250
Figure 1.10. Constellation of Virgo, Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābita, Ahmet III 3493,
f.79r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database).
There is material evidence that al-Sufi’s book impacted the design of celestial
globes made in the Islamic world after his death, with some artisans even claiming in
inscriptions that they used the Book of the Fixed Stars as the source of constellation
coordinates.251 The presence of al-Sufi’s book could have been of great assistance to
craftsmen who worked on the production of celestial globes, even though it is currently
unknown whether globe production takes place in the Artuqid capital. The fact that such
a significant work like the Book of the Fixed Stars was copied in the city of Mardin
suggests that there were scientific endeavors related to astronomy. The celestial globes
250 Wellesz, “An Early Al-Ṣūfī Manuscript in the Bodleian Library in Oxford: A Study in Islamic Constellation
Images,” 20, 23. There are iconographic differences of other constellations as well, but further comparisons
are beyond the scope of this thesis.
251 Savage-Smith, Islamicate Celestial Globes Their History, Construction, and Use, 23.
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may have been used in education, astronomical measurements, and as a possible
inspiration for Artuqid artists. MS. Fatih 3422 can be considered to be material evidence
of the support given to the scientific activities, scientists, and skilled artisans that the
abovementioned written sources earlier reported in their discussions of the reign of
Husam al-Din Timurtash in Mardin.
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, the Artuqid ruler of Hisn Kayfa and Timurtash’s
cousin, has allegedly claimed to be the commissioner of Urjūza fī suwar al-thābita (the
Poem on the Stars) written by certain Abu ʿAli Husayn ibn al-Sufi.252 The poem is
dedicated to a ruler using the title “shāhanshāh (king of kings) Abū l-Maʿālī Fakhr Dīn
Allāh.” Brockelmann and Kunitzsch believe that this person could be Fakhr al-Din Qara
Arslan. Although the poet introduces himself as al-Sufi’s son in his poem, they further
claim there is no way the poet could be al-Sufi’s son.253 However, Carey’s recent study
demonstrates that the patron was not Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan but the last Buyid ruler of
Rayy, Abu Kalijar Fanna Khusrau (d. after 1047), the son of Majd al-Dawla (d. after
1029).254 The earliest version of this poem is preserved in the copy of Al-Sufi’s Book of
Fixed Stars dated 1125 (519) in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.255 It is unknown
whether Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan commissioned an al-Sufi manuscript. Qara Arslan, like
Husam al-Din Timurtash, supported scientists and had manuscripts prepared in ancient
sciences.
Al-Sufi’s Book of Fixed Stars is considered the “most important treatise on
constellation iconography to be produced in the Islamic world – and one that later was to
have a great influence in Latin Europe.”256 The Book of the Fixed Stars was created as a
result of royal interest in star constellations and astronomy. Buyid ruler ʿAdud al-Dawla
(r. 949-83) commissioned astronomer ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Sufi to compose a book on the
subject. The Buyid ruler received al-Sufi’s book combining the classical tradition (e.g.
Ptolemy’s Almagest) with the Bedouin celestial system called al-anwāʾ around 964 (353
H).257 There are other significant al-Sufi manuscripts with royal patronage ties. The
Bodleian Library possesses the first royal example, which bears the date 1170/1 (566 H).
252 Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 1, 898. Paul Kunitzsch,
“ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al- Ṣūfī,” in Encyclopaedia of Islam Third Edition, Online Version.
253 Brockelmann, 898. Kunitzsch, “ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al- Ṣūfī.”
254 Carey, “Al-Sufi and Son: Ibn Al-Sufi’s Poem on the Stars and Its Prose Parent,” 181-2, 187-9.
255 The manuscript is registered as MS. MI-02-98-90. Carey, “Al-Sufi and Son: Ibn Al-Sufi’s Poem on the
Stars and Its Prose Parent,” 182.
256 Savage-Smith, “The Most Authoritative Copy of ʿAbd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi’s Tenth-Century Guide to
the Constellations,” 125.
257 Richard Ettinghausen, Arab Painting (New York: Rizzoli, 1977), 50. See, Sheila R. Canby et al., 197.
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It is registered under the name MS. Huntington 212. The commissioner is believed to be
the Zengid ruler of Mosul, Sayf al-Din Ghazi II (r. 1170-80).258 He was the son of Zengid
ruler of Mosul, Qutb al-Din Mawdud (r. 1149-70), and Zumurrud (Zümrüd) Khatun, the
daughter of Husam al-Din Timurtash.259
Another al-Sufi manuscript comes from the Kingdom of Castile in Spain. The
King of Castile, Alfonso X (r. 1252-84), had an adapted version of al-Sufi’s work
translated into Castilian in 1256. This book, titled Libro de Las Figuras de las Estrellas
Fixas (Book of the Figures of the Fixed Stars), only contains the views of constellations
on the globe, and its iconography is closer to that of the Al-Sufi manuscripts following
the classical tradition, just as in MS. Fatih 3422. In addition, Alfonso X is also said to
have at least one celestial globe in his library.260 Al-Sufi’s Book of Fixed Stars was widely
used in various geographies, courts, and educational institutions because it was not only
limited to mathematical astronomy calculations and could be used practically in star
identification with the help of its constellation depictions.261
1.3 The Fondness for Astrology in the Jazira Region and Its Reflection on the
Artistic Production
Sayf al-Din Ghazi II’s fascination with the celestial world extended beyond the
copy al-Sufi manuscript. Qutb al-Din Mawdud and his son Sayf al-Din Ghazi II issued
coins depicting astrological themes. Sayf al-Din’s coin representing “the solar
personification” or Helios, is minted in 1171/2 (567 H). It copies the iconography of his
father’s first figurative Zengid coin, but shows his name and genealogy on the reverse
(Figure 1.11).262 A male bust portrait displaying Turkish facial characteristics,
particularly the eyes, is depicted on the coin’s obverse side. The figure with the long hair
is positioned to look to the left, and there are two winged creatures, most likely victories,
258 Contadini, “Ayyubid Illustrated Manuscripts and Their North Jaziran and ʿAbbasid Neighbours,” 188.
The dedication inscription is partially legible.
259 In 1149 (544), Zumurrud Khatun was engaged to Sayf al-Din Ghazi, the brother of Qutb al-Din Mawdud;
however, Sayf al-Din fell ill, and their marriage was not consummated. Mawdud ascended to the throne
after his brother’s death and married Timurtash’s daughter Zumurrud (Zümrüd) Khatun in 1149. ʻIzz al-
Dīn Abu al-Hassan Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil
Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part 2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 16, 27-8.
260 Laura Fernández, “Arab Stars in the Castilian Sky: Al-Sūfī’s Book of Fixed Stars amongst the
Manuscripts of Alfonso X,” in The Stars in the Classical and Medieval Traditions, ed. Hadravová Alena,
Petr Hadrava, and Kristen Lippincott (Prague: Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of
Sciences, 2019), 93-114.
261 Savage-Smith, “The Most Authoritative Copy of ʿAbd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi’s Tenth-Century Guide to
the Constellations,” 153.
262 See S/S Types 59 (Mawdud), and 60 (Sayf al-Din). Spengler and Wayne G. Sayles, Turkoman Figural
Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol II: The Zengids, 4-11.
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perched directly above the portrait.263 Its iconography is similar to the coin of Fakhr al-
Din Qara Arslan, showing the clean-shaven personification of sun god Helios mentioned
in Chapter 2 (Figure 2.5).
Figure 1.11. Coin of Sayf al-Din Ghazi II (r. 1170-80), 1171/2 (567 H), copper dirham,
29 mm, 12 gr, 29 h, minted in Mosul, Inv. 1917.215.1003, American Numismatic Society,
New York.
The celestial iconography, which appears on the coins of both Qutb al-Din
Mawdud and his son Sayf al-Din, was not unique to the Zengid coinage; in fact, other
Jaziran dynasties, particularly the Artuqids, began to design their coins with these themes
as well. Spengler and Sayles argue that the similar iconography, styles, and techniques
used in the Artuqid and Zengid coinage indicate that the designers and die-engravers were
most likely from the same school of design that was active in the twelfth century.264 Both
authors propose that there was a “centralized school of die-engravers,” and evidence from
1994 of a mule coin featuring designs from both the Artuqid and Zengid dies to support
their theory.265 Its obverse replicates the die of Qara Arslan’s coin, which was minted in
Hisn Kayfa in 1167 (562 H) (See Figure 2.8b in Chapter 2). Meanwhile, its reverse copies
the reverse side of a coin minted between 1160 and 1970 (555-65 H) by Qutb al-Din
263 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol II: The Zengids, 4.
Estelle J. Whelan, The Public Figure: Political Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia (London:
Melisende, 2006), 204.
264 Ibid, 8.
265 A mule coin is a coin that was struck from a pair of dies designed for different coins. Spengler and
Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol II: The Zengids, 8.
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Mawdud. Since there is no evidence of a central mint, the authors speculate that this mule
coin could result from a die-engraver’s mistake.266
There is currently no other written source reporting the interest of Artuqid rulers
and their family members in the occult sciences (alchemy, astrology, magic, numerology,
etc.), beyond the brief information provided by the chronicler Ibn al-Azraq and physician
al- ʿAntari about Timurtash’s interest in alchemy and historical astrology, mentioned in
the first part of Chapter 1.267 Three branches of the Artuqid dynasty utilized celestial
imagery, especially planet and zodiac representations, in a variety of artworks, including
coins, courtly objects, and other types of metalwork, as well as architectural works, such
as fortifications and bridges. The discussions about the design of bridges and
fortifications will be covered in Chapter 3.
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan ibn Dawud and Najm al-Din Alpi ibn Timurtash
introduced astrological and celestial depictions into Artuqid figural coins around the midtwelfth
century.268 Following Alpi and Qara Arslan, the following Artuqid lords preferred
the horoscopes (al-burūj), planets (al-kawāakib), and other celestial bodies (al-ʾajrām alsamāwiyya)
as designs on their coins. The Artuqid coins depict planets Mars (al-Mirrīkh)
and Mercury (ʻUṭāriḍ or al-Kātib), zodiac symbols of Gemini (al-jawzāʼ), Sagittarius (alqaws),
the Sun and Lion (Shir u khurshid in Persian) representing the horoscope Leo (alasad),
and lastly the Sun (al-Shams) and the Moon (al-Qamar) as other celestial bodies.269
Figure 1.12. Coin of Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan (r. 1184-1201), 596 H (1199-1200),
copper dirham, 31 mm, 14.58 gr, Inv. C 297, The David Collections, Copenhagen.
266 Ibid, 8.
267 See Pages 38-40.
268 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol II: The Zengids, 7.
269 Uykur, Madenden Yansıyan Tarih: Artuklu Sikkeleri, 255-77.
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The Artuqid ruler of Mardin, Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan ibn Qutb al-Din Ilghazi
II (r. 1184-1201) minted a coin dated 596 H (1199-1200) with an apparent celestial
reference (Figure 1.12). The obverse of his pearl-circled coin depicts a cross-legged
seated warrior wearing orientalized helmet and garments. The warrior figure horizontally
holds a sword in his right hand behind his head and grasps the plume of a helmeted
decapitated head in his left hand.270 This iconography represents the astrological depiction
of the planet Mars and is widely used in Islamic artworks, particularly metalworks.271
Moreover, the inscription on the obverse gives the name of Nur al-Din Atabeg, the Zengid
Atabeg of Mosul (r. 1193-1210), meanwhile the reverse calls Yülük Arslan as the “Malik
Diyar Bakr” and further mentions the name of Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir (r. 1180-1225),
the Ayyubid lord and son of Salah al-Din, al-Malik al-Afdal ʿAli (r. 1193-96 in Damascus,
r.1200-25 in Sumaysat and Suruj, modern Samsat and Suruç) and his brother Ayyubid
ruler of Aleppo al-Malik al-Zahir (r. 1186-1216) to whom he pays homage.272
Figure 1.13a-b. Left: Obverse side of ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr (r. 1185-1204)’s coin, 582
H (1186-7), copper dirham, 27.5 mm, 8.65 g, Inv. C 483; Right: Obverse side of Nasir al-
Din Artuq Arslan (r. 1201-39)’s coin, 599 H (1202-3), copper dirham, 28.5 mm, 13.73
gr, minted in Mardin, Inv. C 191, The David Collections, Copenhagen.
270 Lane-Poole, The International Numismata Orientalia: Coins of the Urtuki, Turkumans, 31. Whelan, The
Public Figure: Political Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia, 103-4.
271 Whelan 105. Lane-Poole, 44. Lane-Poole refers as “Mars in Aries.”
272 S&S Type 36, Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The
Artuqids, 111-113.
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Two other Artuqid coins also feature direct references to the celestial and
astrological themes. The first example is the coin of ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr from the
Artuqids of Kharput (Figure 1.13a). Its obverse shows a male figure who is straddling a
dragon. His right arm is wrapping around the dragon’s neck. His left arm holds the
dragon’s tail, and his right leg is around the dragon’s chest. The dragon is opening his
mouth wide toward the left while its tail is twisted and knotted on the right border.273
Spengler and Sayles argue that Abu Bakr’s coin follows the iconography of the Serpent
Bearer (Serpentarius or Ophiuchus) constellation depicted in al-Sufi’s Kitāb Ṣuwar al-
Kawākib al-Thābita (Book of the Fixed Stars). In the second part of Chapter 1, the
Süleymaniye copy, MS. Fatih 3422, also represents a similar scene (See Figure 1.7).
There are two other interpretations of this coin. The first is the “dragon-universe conflict”
put forward by Uykur, and the second is the “dragon-master” iconography proposed by
Whelan.274
Furthermore, the second coin, dated 599 H (1202-3), belongs to the younger
brother and successor of Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan, Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan from the
Mardin branch (Figure 1.13b). A centaur archer wearing a helmet or a crown is shown on
the left side of the obverse. The archer, whose head faces left, stretches his right hand,
and his arrow targets at the gaping maw of the dragon. Dragon is at the very tip of the
centaur archer’s tail.275 The centaur-archer symbolizes the Sagittarius zodiac sign when
it is depicted alone. However, if the centaur-archer Sagittarius, is depicted aiming to shoot
an arrow at a separate dragon or the dragon-headed tail which is connected to itself, this
iconography points to “the dragon (al-jawzahr) in the particular exaltation of the “tail of
dragon,” which is identified with the descending node of the lunar orbit.”276 Dragon’s
head and the dragon’s tail are the points where the Moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic or
the path of the Sun.277 Spengler and Sayles argue that one year before the strike of Artuq
273 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 61.
Lane-Poole calls it “serpent” rather than dragon. See Lane-Poole, 23.
274 Whelan, 189-98. Ramazan Uykur, “Artuklu Meliki İmâdeddîn Ebu Bekr’in Sikkesinde Ejder/Evren İle
Mücadele İkonografisi,” in XIII. Ortaçağ ve Türk Dönemi Kazıları Ve Sanat Tarihi Araştırmaları
Sempozyumu Bildirileri: 14-16 Ekim 2009 = Proceedings of the XIIIth Symposium of Medieval and Turkish
Period Excavations and Art Historical Researches: 14-16 October 2009, ed. Pektaş Kadir et al (Istanbul:
Ege Yayınları, 2010), 647-52.
275 Lane-Poole, 33. Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I:
The Artuqids, 122.
276 Maria Vittoria Fontana, “The Iconographic Transformation of the ‘Tail of the Dragon of the Eclipse’
into the ‘Hunting Cheetah’”, in Mantua Humanistic Studies III, ed. by E. Scarpanti (Mantova: Universitas
Studiorum, 2018), 59-60. “Al-Jawzahr, an invisible pseudo-planet thought to cause eclipses by devouring
the sun and the moon.” Sheila R. Canby et al., Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 239.
277 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 125.
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Arslan’s coin, there was a “solar eclipse of 598 H [1201] occurred with the descending
lunar node (the dragon’s tail) in Sagittarius.”278 They speculate on what might have
inspired Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan’s coin design. Lastly, an example of the depiction with
an individual dragon comes from the twelfth century Zengid Bridge located in Jazirat ibn
ʿUmar (Figure 1.14).
Figure 1.14. Relief showing the eclipse dragon from the Tigris Bridge of Jazirat ibn
ʿUmar (Cizre/ʿAin Diwar, today in the borders of Syria), photo by Joachim Gierlichs,
Spring 1993, the Archive Das Bild des Orients, Berlin.
Another Artuqid object, with astrological and magical references, is a bronze-cast
mirror belonging to Nur al-Din Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr (r. 1225-34), the last Artuqid
lord of Kharput (Figure 1.15). When it was first published in 1811, the mirror of Artuq
Shah was in the private collection of Abbé Tarsan; by 1823, it was in the private collection
of Duc de Blacas. Later the mirror entered the possession of Prince Carl zu Öttingen-
Wallenstein. It was sold at an auction in London in 1996 and purchased by the David
Collections in Copenhagen, where it is still housed today.279
The mirror of Artuq Shah, which resembles the bronze Chinese mirrors, is
polished on one side and decorated in low relief on the other. Artuq Shah’s mirror, which
measures 24 cm in diameter and weighs 2.3 kilograms, is significantly larger than the
278 Ibid, 126.
279 “Magic Mirror of Abu-l-Fadl Artuq Shah (r. 1225?–34),” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/642230.
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other bronze mirrors that have survived to the present day.280 In the center of its decorated
face, a relief of a bird of prey, most likely a heraldic eagle symbolizing the ruler or
kingship, is depicted. Three concentric bands surround it. Around the eagle, the
personifications of the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon are
located. There are astrological and mystical terms interspersed among these planetary
busts.281 Spengler and Sayles interpret the busts wearing the knotted garments in
Byzantine style; meanwhile, Korn sees them in more classical and Hellenistic style.282
Figure 1.15. The Mirror of Nur al-Din Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr (r. 1225-34), ca.1220-30s,
bronze cast, diam. 24 cm, Inv. 4/1996, The David Collections, Copenhagen.
280 Lane-Poole, 44. Sheila R. Canby et al., 57. Martina Müller-Wiener, ““Spiegel Des Alexander Und
Weltenbecher” – Der Spiegel Des Artuq Shah Und Die Attribute des Idealen Herrschers,” in Von Gibraltar
Bis Zum Ganges: Studien Zur Islamischen Kunstgeschichte in Memoriam Christian Ewert, ed. Marion
Frenger and Martina Müller-Wiener (Berlin: EB-Verlag, 2010), 174.
281 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 120.
Sheila R. Canby et al., 57.
282 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 121.
Korn, “Art and Architecture of the Artuqid Courts” in Court Cultures in the Muslim World: Seventh to
Nineteenth Centuries, 401.
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The bust portraits depict various profile views, despite the the facial details are
extremely faded. For instance, there is a right, left, or three-quarter profile, which
indicates a tradition found on the classical, Hellenistic, and Byzantine coins. By
comparing Artuq Shah’s mirror to existing Artuqid coins, it is possible to contend that
the artisans who created the mirror also benefited from the coins’ iconography as well.
Spengler and Sayles also highlights the artisans’ possible source of inspiration as Roman
and Byzantine coins.283 It is also worth noting that at the time the mirror was made,
Islamicate communities already had an established visual depiction style of the planets
and zodiac in their metalwork, ceramics, manuscripts and other medium. However, Artuq
Shah’s mirrors are not following with this tradition. An example of this Islamicized style
representations can be found in an enameled bowl at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
(Figure 1.16). The sun is in the center and it is surrounded by the planets in clockwise
order: Mars, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Saturn, and Jupiter represented in Islamicized
garments.284
Figure 1.16. Mina’i Bowl showing the representations of planets and celestial bodies, late
12th- early 13th century, Central or Northern Iran, Inv. 57.36.4, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
283 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 121.
284 Sheila R. Canby et al., 206.
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In the outer band, twelve zodiac signs are depicted around their ruling planets
(domicile).285 This band contains the dedicatory inscription. The mirror’s Arabic
inscriptions, written in naskhi script, read:
Outer band: Glory to our Lord, the wise Sultan, the just, the God-aided, the victorious, the
honored king, Nur al-Dunya wa al-Din (Light of the World and Religion) Abu’l-Fadl
(Father of Virtue) Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Bakr ibn Qara Arslan ibn
Dawud ibn Sökmen ibn Artuq Nasir (Helper), the Commander of the Faithful.
Inner band: In the Name of God, the Most Supreme, (this) magic (mirror) was endowed
(for) every person (who would) look (at it) […abracadabra?] as an astronomical plate and
horoscope.286
The outer inscription reflects the dynastic genealogy of Artuq Shah and his ambitious
titles. However, the inner band contains contentious sections that cannot be deciphered
or read. I here use the translation of the Court and Cosmos exhibition catalogue. But the
earliest study conducted by Jacob von Hammer-Purgstall on the mirror reads the first
debated part in the inner band’s inscription as “sittīn sittu mīʾa – 660” and argues that this
mirror was produced in the year 1261/2 (660 H). His arguments are accepted by later
scholars frequently. The David Collection’s catalogue further suggests either the year 600
H (1203/4) or 660 H (1261/2).287 However, Nur al-Din Artuq Shah must be very young
in the year 600 H since his father was enthroned the same year. It is also not possible to
talk about the Artuqids of Kharput in 1261/2 (660 H) because the dynasty was ended by
the Rum Seljuk sultan ʿAla al-Din Kayqubad (r. 1220-37) in August 1234.288
After this date, the chronicles provide varying details about Artuq Shah’s life.
According to some, Kayqubad, after taking over Kharput and seven other fortresses
connected to it, gave the city of Akşehir (in modern Konya) and other places to Artuq
Shah as fief (iqṭāʿ) and kept them with him until Artuq Shah’s death.289 According to Bar
Hebraeus, after the conquest of Kharput, Kayqubad sent Artuq Shah and his wives with
all their property to a city in the coastal region, where Artuq Shah allowed him to live for
285 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids,120.
Sheila R. Canby et al., 57.
286 Sheila R. Canby et al., 57.
287 Müller-Wiener, ““Spiegel Des Alexander Und Weltenbecher” – Der Spiegel Des Artuq Shah Und Die
Attribute des Idealen Herrschers,” 175.
288 Sheila R. Canby et al., 57, 312. See Appendix B for the reigning dates of the Artuqids of Kharput.
289 Yusuf Baluken, “Harput Artukluları = Artuqids of Harput,” in I. Uluslararası Artuklu Sempozyumu
Bildirileri, 25-27 Ekim 2007, Mardin, Vol 1, ed. İbrahim Özcoşar (Mardin: Mardin Valiliği Kültür
Yayınları, 2008), 232.
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three years before the Rum Seljuk sultan secretly poisoned him in 1237.290 The chronicler
Ibn Bibi tells that the Rum Seljuk court official Taj al-Din Parwana was to be slandered
for committing adultery with one of the concubines from the musicians and singers of the
“Malik of Kharput,” most likely Nur al-Din Artuq Shah, in Akşehir.291 Ibn Bibi’s account
might support the chroniclers’ reports mentioning Artuq Shah’s time past in Akşehir.292
The Mirror of Artuq Shah is an exclusive courtly object believed to be used for
“catoptromancy,” the divination by a mirror.293 Another suggestion proposed by Storm is
that the Artuqid mirror is used for magical purposes.294 The earliest example of magic
mirrors with the representations of seven planets, is dated 1153 (548 H) and found at the
Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo today.295 There was an increasing interest in astrology
and magic in the later twelfth century, and this was also visible in artistic production. The
magic mirrors, coins, and vessels, either ceramic or metal, are adorned with celestial
symbolism.296 Artuq Shah’s mirror also shares similar iconography with the coins of
Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan (Figure 13.b), and Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan (Figure 1.12)
analyzed above.
Moreover, The BnF is housing a curious plaster cast of the mirror of Artuq Shah
today (Figure 1.17). It exactly copies the Artuqid mirror in design but omits some
290 Ibid, 232. Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the Son of Aaron, the Hebrew
Physician, Commonly Known as Bar Hebraeus: Being the First Part of His Political History of the World,
400.
291 Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad Ibn Bībī, El Evamirü’l-Ala’iye Fi’l-Umuri’l-Ala’iye (Selçukname),
Vol 2, trans. Mürsel Öztürk (Ankara: T.C. Kültür Bakanlığı, 1996), 28.
292 Nureddin Ardıçoğlu, Harput Tarihi (İstanbul: Harput Turizm Derneği Yayınları, 1964), 58.
293 Sheila R. Canby et al., 57.
294 David Rice Storm, “A Seljuq Mirror,” in First International Congress of Turkish Arts: Ankara, 19th-
24th October, 1959: Communications Presented to the Congress (Ankara: Faculty of Theology of the
University of Ankara, Institute of History of Turkish and Islamic Arts, 1961), 288-9.
295 Storm published its inscription: “It was made in the ascendant of blessed augury, and it will serve,
inshallah, for curing the paralysis of the mouth, alleviate the pains of childbirth and also other pains and
sufferings, if Allah permit. This was achieved in the months of the year 548 . . . it was made of seven metals
(i. e . ) an alloy of seven metals) as the Sun passed through the sign of Aries.” Storm, “A Seljuq Mirror,”
288-9. Carboni emphasizes its talismanic and apotropaic attributes. See, Stefano Carboni, Following the
Stars: Images of the Zodiac in Islamic Art (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of art, 1997), 6.
296 Eva Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art (Albany: State Univ. of New York, 1983), 248. The
Victoria and Albert Museum houses a bronze-cast mirror showing a pair of addorsed sphinxes with scorpion
tails in relief (Inv.442-1887). It has a pierced knob similar to Chinese bronze mirrors. On the back surface,
the mirror has an engraved seated ruler, single words, an astrological triangle, and charts that possibly had
talismanic functions. It is dated to the 13th century and is attributed to the Khorasan region. This type of
magic mirror was widely used, and other examples with different types of engravings exist in different
museums as well (for instance, Inv. 2972 at the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum). They are attributed to
regions of Northern Mesopotamia (especially the Artuqid dynasty) and Iran frequently and are dated to the
12th and 13th centuries. However, most of the examples do not have a dynastic inscription or date. It is
impossible to be sure about their provenances. For two similar examples exhibited at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art’s Court and Cosmos Exhibition, See Sheila R. Canby et al., Court and Cosmos: The Great
Age of the Seljuqs, 246-8.
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genealogical information about Nur al-Din Artuq Shah. The dating of the object is not
certain; however the librarian E. Blocket from the BnF Department of Manuscripts
suggests that “it could be a fake Egyptian copy from the fifteenth century.”297 The
information about this replica is limited; however, it shows that the Mirror of Artuq Shah
might have been famous as a magic mirror, and its copy was deemed significant. Further
research could solve the mystery behind this copy.
Figure 1.17. Plaster Cast of the Mirror Nur al-Din Artuq Shah ibn al-Khidr (r. 1225 -34),
15th century (?) Egyptian copy, GE A 321 Inv Gén 36, Bibliothèque Nationale de France
(BnF), Paris.
Another object with astrological symbolism believed to originate from the Artuqid
context is a candlestick made of brass with gold and silver inlaid decoration housed in the
Benaki Museum in Athens (Figure 1.18). It was signed and dated 717 H (1317/8) by the
297 “Zodiaque Exécuté Pour Nour-Ed-Din Aboul Fazl Ortok Shah, Fils D’Alkhezr Fils D’Ibrahim Ibn Adi
Bekr Ibn Kara Arslan, Ben Dasud, Ben Sokman Ibn Ortok, Prince De Mésopotamie, (Hisn Kaïfa) De 1174
à 1185 [Document Cartographique],” BnF Catalogue Général, https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
cb40716006d.public.
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craftsman ʿAli ibn ʿUmar ibn Ibrahim al-Sankari al-Mawsili (from Mosul). This
candlestick features twelve signs of the zodiac, human figures, and pairs of birds. Its
cursive inscriptions only give the patron’s title, “al-Malik al-Salih” who is believed to be
the fourteenth-century Artuqid ruler of Mardin, Shams al-Din Mahmud ibn Ghazi II
(1312-1363).298 The next person to own the candlestick was Mirzan Aqa, the Mongol
governor of Baghdad. Sometime prior to 1374, Mirzan Aqa made an attempt to remove
the depictions of humans from the candlestick so that he could present it to the shrine of
the Prophet in Medina.299
Figure 1.18. Brass Candlestick with inlaid silver and gold decoration, possibly owned by
the Artuqid Sultan of Mardin, Al-Malik al-Salih Shams al-Din Mahmud ibn Ghazi II (r.
1312-63), dated 717 H (1317/8), made by ʿAli al-Mawsili, H. 0,53 m, diam. base 0,41 m,
Northern Iraq or Syria, Inv.13038, Benaki Museum, Athens.
298 Guide Du Musée Benaki (Athens: Imp. Elefthéroudakis, 1936), 82. Mouseio Benakē, Benaki Museum:
A Guide to the Museum of Islamic Art, ed. Anna Ballian, trans. John John Avgherinos (Athens: Benaki
Museum, 2006), 112-3.
299 Mouseio Benakē, Benaki Museum: A Guide to the Museum of Islamic Art, 113.
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Shams al-Din Mahmud was enthroned after his brother al-Malik al-ʿAdil ʿImad
al-Din ʿAli Alpi ibn Ghazi II (r. 1312)’s sudden death.300 In his famous traveler’s account,
Berber traveler Ibn Battuta records that Shams al-Din Mahmud was considered the most
generous ruler living in the regions of Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Andalusian poet al-Hawwari
al-Andalusi (d. 1378) visited Mardin and wrote a panegyric for Mahmud, and the ruler
rewarded him with twenty-thousand dirhams. Shams al-Din was further involved in
philanthropic activities, for instance, the establishment of colleges (madrasas), charities,
and hospices for food distribution.301
Al-Malik al-Salih loved poetry and supported poets. He continued to employ his
father’s courtier (nadim) and court poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli (d. 1349), at his court in
Mardin.302 Hilli composed poems called Artuqiyyāt for praising the Artuqid lords.303
Another poet of Andalusian origin, al-Ruʿayni (d. 1377), also wrote a eulogy titled al-
Lāmiyya for praising him and the other rulers from the Artuqid dynasty.304 Like his father
Najm al-Din Ghazi II (r. 1294-1312) and grandfather Muzaffar Qara Arslan (r. 1260-92),
Shams al-Din Mahmud was also under the Ilkhanid suzerainty.305 Mahmud used the title
“sultan” on his coins, and preferred astrological iconography, for instance, the Sun and
Lion (Shir u khurshid) on his coin minted in 1346 (747 H).306 Ibn Khaldun, whose
classifications of science are discussed in the introduction section of this thesis, placed
“music” within the realm of the “ancient sciences.” For the Artuqid lord Shams al-Din
Mahmud, a treatise on music titled Risāla fī taʿrīf al-ʿulūm was written by Shams al-Din
Muhammad b. ʿAli al-Khatib al-Irbili in 1337 (737 H).307 Mahmud seems to be interested
in diverse fields, including poetry, astrology, and music.
300 Aḥmad ibn Luṭf Allāh Munajjim Bāshī, Câmiu’d-Düvel: Selçuklular Tarihi, Vol 2, trans. Ali Öngül
(İstanbul: Kabalcı Yayıncılık, 2017), 168-9.
301 Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354. Vol. II, ed. Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb
(Cambridge: University Press for the Hakluyt Society, 1959), 353-4.
302 Wolfhart P. Heinrichs, “Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Sarāyā al-Ḥillī,” Encyclopaedia of Islam Second
Edition, Online Version.
303 Wahab Alansari, An Anthology of Arabic Poetry (Seattle: Academy of Languages, 2009), 235.
304 İsmail Durmuş, “Ruaynî,” in Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi 35 (İstanbul: İSAM - İslam
Araştırmaları Merkezi, 2008), 176.
305 Mahmud’s sister, Dunya Khatun was married to the Ilkhanid ruler Öljeitu (r. 1304-16). See Clifford
Edmund Bosworth, “Chapter Five: Safi d-Din Al-Hilli and His Qasida Sasaniyya,” In The Mediaeval
Islamic Underworld the Banū Sāsān in Arabic Society and Literature (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1976), 135.
306 S&S Type 52, Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The
Artuqids, 164.
307 Carl Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 2 , trans. Joep Lameer
(Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2017), 226.
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Chapter 2:
PATRONAGE OF SCIENTIFIC TEXTS AND SCIENTISTS AT THE
ARTUQID COURTS
2.1 Two Artuqid Cousins: Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67) and Najm al-
Din Alpi (r. 1154-76)
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan took over as the head of the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa
when his father, Rukn al-Dawla Dawud ibn Sökmen died on July 22, 1144 (19 Muharram
539 H). Dawud’s body was first taken from the city of Hani to Mayyafariqin and placed
in the Muhaddatha Mosque for the public to visit him. The following day, he was taken
to Hisn Kayfa and buried there. Qara Arslan seized control of Hisn Kayfa, Kharput, and
Balu (Palu), while his brother Arslan Toghmish took over the fortress of Mizgard (today
Mazgirt).308 Moreover, the Zengid ruler of Mosul, ʿImad al-Din Zengi, Dawud’s regional
rival, refused to recognize Qara Arslan’s authority and captured lands that belonged to
Dawud, including Hani, Isʿird (today Siirt), Jabal Jur (today Bingöl), and other places.309
Timurtash was Zengi’s vassal and acted against Dawud, then his son Qara Arslan,
and the lord of Amid whom he and Zengi surrounded in 1133.310 However, Zengi’s
capture of Dawud’s lands after his death intimidated Husam al-Din Timurtash. Still, when
Imad al-Din died in 1146, both Qara Arslan and Timurtash were relieved and could
reclaim some of their lost territories. Timurtash even conquered former places of Dawud,
such as Hani and Siwan.311 Timurtash and Qara Arslan had an uneasy relationship. Before
the Zengi’s death, Qara Arslan was defeated by Timurtash at the citadel of Baghin,
located northwest of Mayyafariqin, in 1145/50 (540).312 Timurtash also besieged Isʿird
for days and took it, but he returned it to Qara Arslan after a while.313
308 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 214. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular
Kısmı, 73-4. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State,
105-6. In footnote 117, Hillenbrand mentions that this mosque was built by the Marwanid ruler Nasir al-
Dawla in Mayyafariqin in 1031/2 (423 H).
309 Michael the Great, 214. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 74. Ibn
al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 107-8.
310 Claude Cahen, “Artuḳids,” Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, Online Version.
311 Carole Hillenbrand, “The Establishment of Artuqid Power in Diyar Bakr in the Twelfth Century,” Studia
Islamica, no. 54 (1981): 145-6. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early
Artuqid State, 119.
312 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 111. Ibn al-
Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 77.
313 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 83.
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Husam al-Din Timurtash died in Mardin on January 19, 1154 (2 Dhu’l-Qaʿda
548), and his son Najm al-Din Alpi took over the administration.314 Three years later, a
disagreement emerged between him and Qara Arslan. After marching into each other’s
territory, the two dispersed peacefully and eventually made peace.315 Based on the limited
written evidence, Qara Arslan’s relationship with Najm al-Din Alpi was generally
friendly. A marriage alliance has been formed to strengthen their relationship. The
marriage of Qara Arslan’s daughter and Najm al-Din Alpi’s son Qutb al-Din Ilghazi was
agreed upon in October 1164, and it took place in December.316 The surviving chronicles
contain extensive information about political and military events that occurred during the
reigns of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and Najm al-Din Alpi. Unfortunately, information
about both their characters and patronage movements in the fields of science and culture
is scarce. Although Ibn al-Azraq mentions some of the structures they built, the details of
their scholarly interests can be learned from existing manuscripts commissioned by them
and the lives of scientists and thinkers employed in their courts. This section seeks to
bring together small pieces of information about both Artuqid lords to shed light on their
intellectual interests, reading habits, and coinage designs.
2.1.1 Najm al-Din Alpi’s Interest in the Aristotelian Cosmology
The early royal commissions of the scientific manuscripts in the Artuqid palaces
started in the reign of Najm al-Din Alpi. A revised Arabic translation of Aristotle’s famed
book De Caelo (On the Heavens) was presented to Najm al-Din Alpi in 1158 (553 H).
The book, whose Arabic translation is named Kitāb al-Samāʾ wa-l-ʿālam (Book on the
Heaven and the World), was prepared by a Christian physician Mihran ibn Mansur ibn
Mihran al-Masihi.317 The original manuscript has not survived, but an example copied
314 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 141. Ibn al-
Athir reports the date as 1152/53 (547 H). Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading
Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part 2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and
Saladin, 167.
315 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 121.
316 Hüseyin Kayhan, “Fahreddîn Kara Arslan Devri Artuklu Tarihi,” Belleten 72, (2008): 59. Al-ʿAntari’s
Poem 157 also talks about this marriage alliance. He was with Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan when they moved
from Kharput to Hisn Kayfa, they disambarked at Hani for a while. Al-ʿAntari describes that the wedding
took place in Hisn Kayfa and the kings of Diyar Bakr, the country of Romans and Akhlat (probably means
the Asia Minor), and Mosul gathered around Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan. See Al-ʻAntarī, 192.
317 The nisba “al-Masīḥī” stands for “the Christian.” Gerhard Endress, “‘One-Volume Libraries’ and the
Traditions of Learning in Medieval Arabic Islamic Culture,” in One-Volume Libraries: Composite and
Multiple-Text Manuscripts, ed. Michael Friedrich and Cosima Schwarke (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016), 202.
Alan C. Bowen and Christian Wildberg, New Perspectives on Aristotle’s De Caelo, (Leiden; Boston: Brill,
2009), 289.
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from the book of Najm al-Din Alpi is preserved today in the Astan Quds Razavi Library
in Mashhad, Iran (Figure 2.1).318 Mihran utilizes the early ninth-century Syriac translation
of Yahya (Yuhanna) ibn al-Bitriq (d. 806). The exemplar of Mashhad 149 contains the
complete work of Aristotle’s original text consisting of four books. The colophon, which
includes information about Mihran ibn Mansur and the Artuqid copy, is located at the end
of Book IV, the last section.319 Mihran ibn Mansur corrects and clarifies parts of al-
Bitriq’s translation in his revision of De Caelo’s Book I, Chapters 1-6. The high quality
of Mihran’s revision is thought to be a result of his access to the Greek original or the
possible use of “commentaries and glosses available in Greek or Syriac” about De
Caelo.320 Mihran’s translation reflects how he took an active role in transmitting the
ancient legacy into a new context by revising the mistakes of former actors.
Figure 2.1. MS. Mašhad, Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī 149, dated 1055 H (1645/6) Astan Quds
Razavi Library, Mashhad (Endress, 2006).
318 Registered as MS. Mašhad, Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī 149. Gerhard Endress, “Reading Avicenna in the
Madrasa. Intellectual Genealogies and Chains of Transmission of Philosophy and the Sciences in the
Islamic East,” in Arabic Theology, Arabic Philosophy: From the Many to the One: Essays in Celebration
of Richard M. Frank, ed. James E. Montgomery (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), 381.
319 I am grateful to Professor Gerhard Endress for sharing these details with me.
320 Gerhard Endress, “Ibn Al-Ṭayyib’s Arabic Version and Commentary of Aristotle’s De Caelo,” Studia
Graeco-Arabica 7 (2017): 222-3.
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It is also challenging to identify what piqued Najm al-Din Alpi’s interest in
Aristotelian cosmology. However, there is a potential source of influence: scholar Ibn al-
Salah. One of the commentaries written by Ibn al-Salah focuses on an argument in
Aristotle’s De Caelo’s Book III. Al-Salah discovered the flaw in Aristotle’s argument
while reading Yahya ibn al-Bitriq’s Arabic translation. Assuming that the translator
caused this error, he compared it to two other Arabic translations prepared from the Syriac
translation of the book by Ibn Zurʿa (d. 1008) and Ibn al-Tayyip (d. 1043). Ibn al-Salah
also examined commentaries of ancient thinkers Themistius and Alexander of
Aphrodisias about De Caelo.321 He eventually realized that the problem emerged from
Aristotle’s original text in Greek.322 It is not known when Ibn al-Salah’s commentary was
completed. Still, Hullmeine argues that al-Salah probably worked on it before moving to
Mardin. Al-Salah also mentions that he had a text of al-Farabi’s comments brought from
Damascus to Baghdad because he could not access it for his analysis.323
Ibn al-Salah might have shared his expertise on the study of De Caelo with his
students in Mardin. It is possible that Ibn al-Salah trained Artuqid family members, for
instance, “philosopher ruler” Timurtash and his sons, particularly Najm al-Din Alpi, and
possibly scientists Fakhr al-Din Mardini and Mihran ibn Mansur. It was mentioned in the
first section of Chapter 1 that Fakhr al-Din al-Mardini learned philosophy from al-Salah.
Al-Mardini’s life provides hints to speculate on al-Salah’s possible arrival date and
duration of his stay. Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa reports that Fakhr al-Din Mardini was eighty-twoyear-
old when he died on October 24, 1198 (21 Dhu’l-Hijja 594 H).324 Based on this
information, al-Mardini was born in 1118 (512 H). Timurtash’s reign started in 1122.
Even if he invited al-Salah to his court then, it is improbable that al-Mardini could begin
learning philosophy at the age of four. Al-Salah should have stayed longer or arrived later.
Furthermore, Ibn al-Azraq says that Alpi was born in 1126/7 (520 H).325 If Najm al-Din
Alpi had been trained at the court by Ibn al-Salah, it could have happened after the 1135s.
321 Hullmeine, 219. Endress, “Ibn Al-Ṭayyib’s Arabic Version and Commentary of Aristotle’s De Caelo,”
215-6.
322 Hullmeine, 221.
323 Hullmeine, 220.
324 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.75 Fakhr al-Dīn al-Māridīnī.”
325 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 40. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A
Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 50.
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2.1.2 Two Artuqid Translations of De Materia Medica
Najm al-Din Alpi enhanced his knowledge of ancient cosmology with his De
Caelo copy, meanwhile, his cousin Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan had De Materia Medica
(On Medical Matters), the classical world’s foremost text on botany and pharmacology,
translated into Arabic. The book was originally written in Ancient Greek by Dioscurides
of Anazarbos (d. 90). Its Arabic translations are called Kitāb al-ḥashāʾish fī hayūlā ʿilāj
al-ṭibb (Book of Simples, on the Substances Used for Medical Treatment). Qara Arslan
appointed Abu Salim al-Malati (from Melitene, modern Malatya) for this project. Al-
Malati used the Syriac translation prepared by Nestorian physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d.
873).326 An event happened to prove that both Artuqid courts had not only political and
domestic relations, but also cultural and scientific interactions. A copy of De Materia
Medica arrived at Najm al-Din Alpi’s court in Mardin. It is unclear whether Qara Arslan
sent this sample as a gift or Najm al-Din Alpi requested that Qara Arslan send him a
personal copy to review. However, Alpi and his courtiers considered al-Malati’s
translation incomplete and problematic. Alpi further decided to have a new translation
done. The second translation of De Materia Medica was completed in 1164 (560 H) by
Mihran ibn Mansur, the former translator of De Caelo for Alpi. Mihran also utilized the
Syriac translation of Hunayn ibn Ishaq for this new Arabic version.327
In his introductory text, Mihran ibn Mansur shares invaluable details about Qara
Arslan and Alpi’s intellectual level, their courts, and the patronage process of this
manuscript. Mihran refers to Qara Arslan as both Alpi’s “brother and cousin” and “the
learned and great man of justice” when describing the events that occurred before the
preparation of his translation.328 His description of Qara Arslan reveals a reasonably close
relationship between Alpi and him. When Qara Arslan decided to have De Materia
Medica translated, he began looking for a scholar who knew both Syriac and Arabic, and
al-Malati was suggested for the task. After the book reached the palace in Mardin, Najm
al-Din carefully read it and realized that “the Arabic words were not clear and precise,
and the translation still contained the Syriac idioms of al-Mal(a)ti as he learned Arabic
326 Dimitri Gutas, “The Arabic Transmission of Dioskurides: Philology Triumphant,” Journal of the
American Oriental Society 132, no. 3 (2012): 458. Hunayn ibn Ishaq was working as the chief physician of
Abbasid Caliph al-Muwakkil (r. 847-861).
327 A. Süheyl Ünver, Selçuk Tababeti XI-XIV üncü Asırlar: Büyük Selçuk İmparatorluğu ve Orta Zamanda
Anadolu Türk Devletleri Tababeti Tarihine Dair (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1940), 20.
328 Mahmoud Mohamed Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides (Québec: Les Éditions du
Sphinx, 1983), 38.
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only late in age.”329 Abu Salim al-Malati’s insufficient Arabic proficiency may reveal
information about his identity. Given his proficiency in Syriac and his birthplace,
Melitene, he was most likely of Syriac-Christian descent.330
Najm al-Din ordered the youngest of his courtiers, consisting of slaves and
servants, to translate this book into Arabic.331 Mihran ibn Mansur provides essential
details about the composition of Alpi’s court: it consists of “slaves,” most likely
ghulām332 origin, and “servants.” Mihran also defined himself as the youngest servant
since he took responsibility for the translation project.333 Regarding Najm al-Din’s
education level, Mihran remarks that “with his great knowledge – may it be forever great
(Najm al-Din) knew about the benefits of such an important book, a great scientific work
such as never previously had been written.”334 In the second part of his text, Mihran ibn
Mansur emphasizes Alpi’s high intellectual level after praising him in the first part of his
text and listing his accomplishments and titles. In the eyes of Mihran ibn Mansur, Alpi
was “a sage dressed in wisdom and a king robed in kingmanship.”335 Recalling that his
father, Husam al-Din Timurtash, was also known as a “philosopher and sage,” as the first
part of Chapter 1 shows, Alpi’s genuine interest in ancient sciences, like his father, is a
reflection of the self-image he formed.
It is crucial to underline that Mihran may have a positive bias, like chronicler Ibn
al-Azraq towards the Artuqid lords he served. When his text is evaluated with Alpi’s
patronage activities, a more nuanced and objective profile of the Artuqid lord can be
identified. Furthermore, Alpi was not alone in realizing the significance of this famous
botanical book. His cousin, Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, should also be aware of the book’s
medical value. Unfortunately, because Mihran is Alpi’s slave/servant, he does not provide
much information about Qara Arslan in his introductory text.
The two surviving Arabic manuscripts of De Materia Medica are linked to the
original copies prepared for Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and Najm al-Din Alpi. First, Abu
Salim Malati’s translation is believed to have survived in MS. Arabe 4947 at the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. MS. Arabe 4947, which has the
distinction of being the only Arabic translation written on parchment and is made up of
329 Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides, 39.
330 Ibid, 11.
331 Ibid, 39.
332 Young male slave. The term literally means young boy/man in Arabic.
333 Ibid, 38.
334 Ibid, 38.
335 Ibid, 37.
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124 folios. The incomplete text includes specific fragments from all five books of De
Materia Medica.336 It has no colophon and contains 160 illustrations depicting trees,
plants, and some animals (Figure 2.2). Unfortunately, this manuscript is in bad condition
“with pieces of blank parchment cut out, many losses, and the order disturbed.337
According to Sadek, MS. Arabe 4947 is the genuine copy al-Malati created for Fakhr al-
Din Qara Arslan. He further argues that other factors support his position. First, the text
was dated to the twelfth century by art historian Kurt Weitzmann due to its “profuse use
of diacritical marks.”338 The use of parchment also was widespread in the Diyar Bakr
region.339
The handwritten note on folio 19v names the scribe Behnam ibn Musa ibn Yusuf
al-Mawsili who copied the book.340 This identical copy of MS. Arabe 4947 is dated 1229
(626 H) and is thought to be MS. Ahmet III 2127 in Topkapı Palace Library (Figure
2.3).341 MS. Ahmet III 2127’s Arabic level is also inadequate, strengthening its
relationship to MS. Arabe 4947. Furthermore, Sadek suggests that the Mosul-born
Christian scribe al-Mawsili could have visited the library Qara Arslan in the cities of
Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid and copied the book.342 There is another scenario that
could be possible. Given that al-Malati’s translation reached Najm al-Din Alpi’s court,
al-Mawsili may have accessed the book in Husam al-Din Timurtash’s library in the
mashhad of Mardin.
336 Ernst J. Grube, “Materialien Zum Dioskurides Arabicus,” in Aus Der Welt Der Islamischen Kunst:
Festschrift Für Ernst Kühnel Zum 75. Geburtstag Am 26. 10. 1957, ed. Richard Ettinghausen (Berlin: Gebr.
Mann, 1959), 170.
337 Minta Collins, Medieval Herbals: The Illustrative Traditions (London: British Library, 2000), 124.
338 Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides, 11.
339 Ibid, 11.
340 Al-Mawsili’s manuscript is scriber of one of the De Materia Medica copies having author portraits of
Dioscorides. The author portraits were frequently included in the illustrations in Islamicate socities. The
producers of these manuscripts were inspired by the classical style author portraits from late antique and
Byzantine scientific manuscripts. In a way, these legacy was transmitted to the Islamicate context in the
thirteenth century. The authors portraits can be used as useful examples for discussing the issue of
“translation” through art history.
Based on the qualitiy and iconography of depictions, Hoffman argues that the artist might have access to
the late antique copies of Dioscorides’s work. See Eva R. Hoffman,“The Author Portrait in Thirteenth-
Century Arabic Manuscripts: A New Islamic Context for a Late-Antique Tradition,” Muqarnas 10 (1993):
6-20.
341 Sadek, 10, 17. See, Ünver, Selçuk Tababeti XI-XIV üncü Asırlar: Büyük Selçuk İmparatorluğu ve Orta
Zamanda Anadolu Türk Devletleri Tababeti Tarihine Dair, 20-1. Ünver claims that Najm al-Din Alpi also
commissioned the first copy of De Materia Medica, but this contradicts Mihran’s introductory text. He
might not have personally studied the manuscript.
342 Sadek, 11.
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Figure 2.2. Depictions of seahorse and shellfish (f.20v) and lavender (f.53r), De Materia
Medica, MS. Arabe 4947, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
Figure 2.3. Depiction of Persea and the handwritten note of al-Mawsili, De Materia
Medica, MS. Arabe 4947, f.19v, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.
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Mihran ibn Mansur’s translation of De Materia Medica is believed to be held in
Imam Reza Shrine Library in Mashhad, Iran.343 This manuscript, registered as MS. Riḍā
5079 ṭibb 490, is composed of 284 folios, with depictions of 677 plants and 284
animals.344 The complete text has five books of De Materia Medica. The illustrations are
depicted in large sizes. The book has features indicating that it is an expensive copy of
De Materia Medica, similar to the MS. Arabe 4947 in Paris. The quality of the book and
the richness of its illustrations thus reinforce its possible royal ties with Najm al-Din Alpi
and his court.345 Sadek considers Mihran ibn Mansur’s translation “as the best that has
come down to us.”346 Mihran writes the names of some plants with red ink in the Syriac
language; thus, it implies that the translator did not know their Arabic versions. For
practical reasons, physicians who could use this manuscript needed to be fluent in Arabic
and Syriac.347 Moreover, the Topkapı Palace Library houses a manuscript with Persian
and Arabic translations of the book. The Arabic translation dated 1461 (866 H) in MS.
Ahmet III 2147 is a copy of Mihran’s translation in Mashhad. In the Persian translation,
most illustrations are depicted in the same way as the Mashhad copy.348 The most
important feature of the Topkapı exemplar is the introductory text written by Mihran ibn
Mansur. Because the Mashhad copy lacks a colophon, and its date is confirmed by Ahmet
III 2147.349
Few illustrations from the Mashhad manuscript have been published until today,
and the book, contrary to Arabe 4947 in Paris, is not digitally accessible. It is difficult to
say whether Arabe 4947 had figures because not all of Arabe 4947 has survived, but
figurative depictions engaged in the extraction and preparation of medicines are shown
in the Mashhad copy.350 One of the four figurative illustrations in the Mashhad copy
shows two men extracting sap from a balsam tree (Figure 2.4). Day argues that the man
on the right is wearing a twelfth-century Muslim garment with tiraz (embroidery) bands.
The older man on the left is depicted with long hair and a halo. He wears clothing with
advanced folds of drapery reminiscent of early Syriac manuscripts and Eastern Christian
343 Ibid, 16-7.
344 Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums, Band III: Medizin-Pharmazie, Zoologie-
Tierheilkunde. Bis ca. 430 H (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1996), 60. Collins, Medieval Herbals: The
Illustrative Traditions, 126. Grube, “Materialien Zum Dioskurides Arabicus,” 171.
345 Collins, 126.
346 Sadek, 203.
347 Grube, “Materialien Zum Dioskurides Arabicus,” 171. Collins, 126.
348 Sadek, 16.
349 Sadek, 10, 16. Florence E. Day, “Mesopotamian Manuscripts of Dioscorides,” The Metropolitan
Museum of Art Bulletin 8, no. 9 (1950): 274.
350 Grube, “Materialien Zum Dioskurides Arabicus,” 185.
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iconography. Mihran ibn Mansur also utilizes the Estrangelo or Jacobite script in Syriac
titles, which was commonly used in the Jazira region.351 A note in Book IV of the
Mashhad manuscript reveals that both the scribe and the painter were involved in the
production process. The scribe criticizes the painter (al-musawwir) for placing the plant
illustrations in the wrong order.352 This artist, whose background is unknown, might also
significantly contribute to these iconographic details.
Figure 2.4. Depiction of two men extracting sap from a balsam tree, De Materia Medica,
MS. Riḍā 5079 ṭibb 490, Imam Reza Shrine Library, Mashhad (Day, “Mesopotamian
Manuscripts of Dioscorides,” 276).
The Syriac De Materia Medica, which Mihran used, may have served as a model
not only for the text but also for the illustrations. Mihran, who did not specify where his
351 Day, “Mesopotamian Manuscripts of Dioscorides,” 275.
352 Ibid, 278-9.
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Syriac copy was made, may have obtained it from a nearby center specializing in
producing Syriac scientific manuscripts. The strong connection with the Syriac
iconography might have resulted from Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) and Nestorian
manuscript production in the northern Jazira region, especially Tur Abdin in Mardin.353
The date of Mihran’s translation coincides with the so-called “Syriac renaissance” used
to define the increasing Syriac literary productivity between the eleventh and thirteenth
centuries. Apart from translating De Materia Medica, it is possible that Mihran ibn
Mansur, who has advanced medical and botanical knowledge, might have worked as a
court physician for Najm al-Din Alpi. Mihran’s position as physician-translator in
transmitting Greek legacy into the Artuqid context is reminiscent of his predecessors in
the Abbasid Caliphate, who acted as carriers of Greek knowledge into the Arabic
world.354 In this context, Qara Arslan’s and Najm al-Din Alpi’s initiatives in the
translation project can manifest their crucial support for scientific study in the Artuqid
realms.
2.1.3 The Relations with the non-Muslim Population
The patronage of Abu Salim al-Malati and Mihran ibn Mansur by Qara Arslan
and Alpi represents the state of their relationship with the non-Muslim population in the
Artuqid cities. The chronicles contain limited information about Artuqid lords’ attitudes
toward non-Muslims generally. The Syriac patriarch Michael the Syrian (d. 1199) shares
specific details about the treatment of the non-Muslim population. In his chronicle,
Michael the Syrian remarks that Najm al-Din Alpi was kind and generous to the people
he ruled, especially towards the Christians, and churches and monasteries flourished
during his reign.355 Indeed, Michael the Syrian’s statement coincides with the large-scale
renovations and restorations of decayed Syriac Orthodox monasteries and churches in the
region carried out by metropolitan Mor Yuhannon (John) of Mardin between 1125 and
1165.356 He re-founded the Monastery of Mor Hananyo (Dayr al-Zaʿfarān) in Mardin and
353 Collins, Medieval Herbals: The Illustrative Traditions, 127.
354 For an overview about the Syriac physicians involved in the translation movement in the Abbasid
Caliphate, See Grigory Kessel, “Syriac Medicine,” in The Syriac World, ed. Daniel King (New York:
Routledge, 2019), 438-459.
355 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 382. Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great):
A Universal History from the Creation, trans. Matti Moosa (Teaneck, NJ: Beth Antioch Press, 2014), 711.
356 William Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (London: Adam and Charles, 1894), 244-5.
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revived the monastic life.357 Mor Yuhannon was an expert in scriptures and ancient
sciences and was known to be a “land surveyor and practical engineer.”358 The rulers of
his time acknowledged and appreciated his success in diverting rivers and tributaries in
Mesopotamia.359
Mor Yuhannon most likely received support and attention from the Artuqid lords,
especially the lovers of science Husam al-Din Timurtash and his son Najm al-Din Alpi.
It is not a coincidence that Mihran was among the servants of Alpi and was close to him
since it was compatible with Alpi’s positive attitude towards his Christian subjects.
Husam al-Din Timurtash’s relations with Christians were reported to be hostile, even
though Mor Yuhannon could do much active work for the Christian community during
his reign.360 According to the only surviving Syriac copy of Michael the Syrian’s
chronicle, the Edessa Codex, translated into French by Jean-Baptiste Chabot, Timurtash
did not treat Christians well during his reign but advised his sons to treat them at the time
of his death.361 Carole Hillenbrand, who drew attention to Michael the Syrian’s testimony,
emphasizes that Michael the Syrian, like Ibn al-Azraq, may have a potential bias, and it
would be difficult to draw broad conclusions about Timurtash from a single statement.362
Two recent English translations based on the Edessa Codex do not include this
testimony about Timurtash’s anti-Christian behavior. Matti Moosa argues that Jean-
Baptiste Chabot completed all of the missing parts he saw in the Edessa Codex from the
chronicle of Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286).363 Indeed, this testimony about Timurtash was
written by Bar Hebraeus.364 As if the chronicler said it, Chabot incorporated it into
Michael the Syrian’s translation. Bar Hebraeus does not specify his source. However, Bar
Hebraeus might have taken Michael the Syrian’s testimony as a reference stating that
357 Sebastian P. Brock, “Yuḥanon of Mardin,” Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage:
Electronic Edition (Beth Mardutho, The Syriac Institute/Gorgias Press, 2018), https://gedsh.bethmar
dutho.org/Yuhanon-of-Mardin.
358 Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature, 245. Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael
Rabo (the Great): A Universal History from the Creation, 666.
359 Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great): A Universal History from the
Creation, 666.
360 Based on Syriac sources, Mor Yuhannon is believed to be involved in rebuilding and renovation of fifty
monasteries and churches affiliated to the Metropolitan of Mardin . See Gabriyel Akyüz, “Süryanilerin
Artuklularla İlişkileri,” in Artuklular, ed. Özcoşar İbrahim (Mardin: Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi Yayınları,
2020), 316.
361 Michel le Syrien, Chronique De Michel le Syrien Patriarche Jacobite D’Antioche: 1166-1199, vol.3.,
trans. Jean-Baptiste Chabot (Paris: E. Leroux, 1905), 311.
362 Hillenbrand, “The Establishment of Artuqid Power in Diyar Bakr in the Twelfth Century,” 151.
363 Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great): A Universal History from the
Creation, 27.
364 Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the Son of Aaron, the Hebrew Physician,
Commonly Known as Bar Hebraeus: Being the First Part of His Political History of the World, 282.
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many people died in the ambush in Edessa, which the Turks carried out with Husam al-
Din Timurtash in 1138. The survivors, such as deacon, philosopher, and physician Abu
Sa’ad from Sumaysat (today Samsat in Adıyaman) were enslaved.365
In the two abridged Armenian versions of Michael the Great’s chronicle, an
interesting anecdote about Timurtash was incorporated into Michael the Syrian’s
chronicle. It is not found in the Syriac Edessa Codex, and the accuracy and source of the
story are questionable. According to this thirteenth-century Armenian addition, Artuqid
lord Husam al-Din Timurtash was a “good, philo-Christian man” who carried out the
rebuilding of churches. While the doctors lost all hope after he contracted a deadly
disease, Timurtash placed his hope of salvation on the prayers of the Christians living in
his land. Christians brought the relic of the saint’s right hand from the Monastery of Mor
Abai to the house of Timurtash, where the Artuqid lord saw a vision of the saint and
talked to him. The saint cured him. “There was great comfort for the Christians and the
churches throughout his reign at Mardin, Nisibis, Mayyafariqin, Rasala, Tara, and many
other places under his sway.”366 It is unknown whether Bar Hebraeus had access to these
two Armenian adaptations mentioning this story. Still, he remarks in his book that Saint
Abai appeared in a vision of Husam al-Din Timurtash, confirming the Armenian version
of the story.367 The same testimony also appears in the translation of Chabot.368
A curious connection between the Artuqid family and the Mor Abai Monastery
needs to be emphasized. In addition to the vision associated with Timurtash, another
Artuqid lord was also interested in the Mor Abai Monastery. The great-grandson of
Timurtash, al-Saʿid Najm al-Din Ghazi I (r. 1239-60), played an active role in the
rebuilding of Mor Abai Monastery near the Qelleth (today Dereiçi) village in Savur
365 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 190.
366 The full anecdote says: Timurtash “was an Artukid, a good and philo-Christian man who, as a result,
[re]built many churches. Now [Timurtash] grew ill with a fatal illness, [so dangerous] that the doctors
abandoned hope and left [off treating him] and departed. Timurtash] placed his hopes on the prayers of
Christians and sent to the monastery of Mor Aba [Iba], and they brought [the relic of the saint’s] right hand.
When they had entered [Timurtash’s] home, they saw a fiery man who went and took [Timurtash’s] hand.
And [Timurtash] asked: “Who are you, lord?” [The saint] replied: “The Christians sent me [here] so that
you would not die.” [The saint] restored him, and then [Timurtash] sat and glorified God and was made
well again. There was great comfort for the Christians and the churches throughout his reign at Mardin,
Nisibis, Mup’arkin (Mayyafariqin), Rasala, Tara, and many other places under his sway. Similarly, after
his death, his sons displayed the same solicitousness for Christians as he had bid them.” See Michael the
Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great, Patriarch of the Syrians, trans. Robert Bedrosian (New Jersey:
Long Branch, 2013), 178.
367 Bar Hebraeus, The Chronography of Gregory Abû'l Faraj, the Son of Aaron, the Hebrew Physician,
Commonly Known as Bar Hebraeus: Being the First Part of His Political History of the World, 282.
368 Michel le Syrien, Chronique De Michel le Syrien Patriarche Jacobite D’Antioche: 1166-1199, vol.3.,
311.
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district of Mardin.369 Two existing inscriptions attest to Najm al-Din Ghazi’s involvement
and support in the reconstruction project. Moreover, the building was connected with the
Monastery of Mor Hananyo (Dayr al-Zaʿfarān) during bishop Mor Yuhannon’s tenure.
The bishop was also believed to contribute to the structure’s restoration and enlargement
in the twelfth century.370 Existing material and written sources cannot fully explain the
origin and accuracy of Timurtash’s vision of Saint Abai and his relation to the monastery
in the Armenian adaptation of Michael the Syrian. With the example of Mor Yuhannon
in mind, however, it is helpful to evaluate the possibility that this narrative might have
created for explaining the nature of relations between Timurtash, the Artuqid lords who
followed him, and their Syriac subjects.
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan’s interactions with Christians are the subject of a few
anecdotes as well. The first testimony is related to the Gargar event. Michael the Syrian
narrates that after the Franks’ defeat in 1149, Qara Arslan sent an army to conquer Babula
(today Geçitli village) in Adıyaman. Gargar (today Gerger) residents took refuge at the
Syriac Monastery of Barsawmo located on the mount of Mor Barsawmo in Melitene
(today Malatya). Qara Arslan’s troops demolished the houses, wine presses, and vineyard
hedges around the monastery because it did not surrender Gargar’s women, children, and
men. The troops took sheep, oxen, and prisoners. The monks met with Qara Arslan in
Hisn Ziyad (Kharput). Through saint (Mor) Barsawmo’s prayers, the Artuqid lord felt
God’s mercy in his heart and returned the people, property, and livestock. There was
happiness all around.371
The second anecdote tells that an Armenian priest named Joseph built a church in
the village of Bargish located in Enzite (today Doğankuş village of Elazığ) in 1152. Qara
Arslan was angry to see the church shining. Some Turks hating the priest told him,
“Whenever a new church is built, the local ruler dies.” Qara Arslan’s orders destroyed the
church and imprisoned the priest. The priest was executed even though the inhabitants of
Hisn Ziyad (Kharput) tried to intercede. From then on, no new churches or renovations
were allowed in all lands of Beth-nahrin (Mesopotamia in Syriac). The Christians
suffered until Qara Arslan’s death. During the reign of his son, Christians in his dominion
369 Banu Pekol, “Mor Abay Monastery,” in Syriac Architectural Heritage at Risk, ed. Elif Keser-Kayaalp
(Istanbul: Kültürel Mirası Koruma Derneği, 2022), 18-22.
370 Ibid, 18-9.
371 Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great): A Universal History from the
Creation, 682. Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex)
Books XV-XXI from the Year 1050 to 1195, 276-8.
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offered him an excessive amount of gold, which would have allowed them to renovate
every old church in his realm. This command gave Christians everywhere relief.372
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan is depicted as a very different person in the two
testimonies written by Michael the Syrian. In the first story, it is possible to say that Qara
Arslan possesses a more approachable and understandable ruler profile. In the second
story, he is portrayed as someone with very fanatic religious views and makes ruthless
decisions, which contrasts with the first story. When considering the sentence attributed
to the Turks who despised the priest, Qara Arslan may have favored superstition if he
believed it and thought it might be true. It is necessary to consider chronicler Michael the
Syrian’s potential prejudice to address the problems in two stories. First of all, the rule
that claimed to prohibit the construction and renovation of the new churches in
Mesopotamia has a discourse that contradicts Mor Yuhannon’s work on rebuilding and
renovating monasteries and churches in Mardin. However, there is not enough written
evidence to prove whether Qara Arslan carried out this prohibition in his territories.
More information is available regarding the religious views of Fakhr al-Din Qara
Arslan in contrast to Timurtash and Alpi. In 1164, Qara Arslan, who did not take a very
enthusiastic stance against Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn ʿImad al-Din Zengi’s (r. 1146-74)
call for holy war, reluctantly supported the war. He personally participated because of the
fear of his subjects as well as possible political and military pressures from Nur al-Din
Mahmud due to his vassal status. His cousin Najm al-Din Alpi also sent troops to this
expedition.373 One year later, the name of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustanjid Billah (r.
1160-70) and the Islamic profession of faith (kalimat al-shahāda) appeared for the first
time on an Artuqid coin minted by Qara Arslan in 1165.374
These two Kufic inscriptions can be found in the portrait’s upper right and left
corners. The relief portrait is a three-quarter view facing toward the left within a beaded
circle (Figure 2.5).375 The long-haired, almond-eyed figure’s facial details are reminiscent
of the abovementioned Sayf al-Din Ghazi II’s coin (Figure 1.10). Yalman argues that the
portrait on the obverse was “meant to represent the sun (personified as Helios or
372 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 308. Michael the Great, The Syriac Chronicle of Michael Rabo (the Great):
A Universal History from the Creation, 691.
373 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part
2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 147.
374 S&S Type 6. Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The
Artuqids, 19.
375 Whelan, The Public Figure: Political Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia, 151.
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Apollo).”376 The author also emphasizes that the iconography of a wreathed, clean-shaven
bust reminds of the coin of Constantine the Great, where the emperor is depicted
alongside the Roman official sun god, Sol Invictus.377 It is intriguing to see how Qara
Arslan combines solar symbolism with overtly religious connotations and messages in
his coin design. Since there are deliberate changes in the iconography, this contradicts the
dominant “copying” argument in the Orientalist scholarship.
Figure 2.5. Coin of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67), 1165 (560 H), copper dirham,
29 mm, 12.15 gr, Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Inv.15884, Istanbul (Şentürk,
What the Coins Tell Us, 41).
2.1.4 The Time of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and His Constructed Identity
Based on his situation with Nur al-Din Mahmud, it can be underlined that Fakhr
al-Din Qara Arslan was not a fanatic Sunni Orthodox leader who would eagerly
participate in the holy war against the Crusaders. However, he presents himself as a
deeply religious sovereign in his self-constructed identity. An undated coin of Qara
Arslan depicts the enthroned Christ with a nimbus and holding a codex on the obverse
within a double-beaded circle (Figure 2.6). Its Christian iconography is based on the
Bronze folles of Byzantium.378 Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan’s epithet is written in vertical
Kufic script to the right and left of the throne.379 Qara Arslan’s titalature is “the Helper of
376 Yalman, “‘Ala Al-Din Kayqubad Illuminated: A Rum Seljuq Sultan as Cosmic Ruler,” 159.
377 Ibid, 160.
378 S&S Type 2. Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The
Artuqids, 7-9.
379 Whelan, The Public Figure: Political Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia, 157.
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the Commander of the Faithful” (muʿīn amīr al-muʾminīn), which appears only on this
coin. Using this bold Islamic title, Qara Arslan introduces himself as the helper of the
Abbasid Caliph.
Figure 2.6. Coin of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan (r. 1144-67), undated, copper dirham, 25
mm, 6.40 gr, Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Artuk 1202, Istanbul (Whelan, 2006, 157).
Aside from this undated coin, Qara Arslan uses this assertive titalature “the
Helper of the Commander of the Faithful” in another context.380 The dedicatory
inscription on a manuscript kept as part of Qara Arslan’s treasure illustrates that the
Artuqid ruler was politically and religiously very ambitious. The copy of Bustān al-
ʿĀrifīn (The Garden of the Gnostics), written by Hanafi theologian and ascetic Abu al-
Layth al-Samarqandi (d. 983), produced for Qara Arslan in 1162 (557 H). This manuscript
focuses on ethics, piety, and Islamic law and is registered as MS. Ayasofya 1686 at the
Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul.381 The inscription reads:
For the treasury of our king, the scholar, the just, the supported, the victorious, the helped,
the reviver of justice, the pride of religion, the beauty of Islam, the supporter of the imam,
the shelter of all creatures, the supporter of state, the glimmer of religion, the dignity of
380 Whelan also draws attention to the use of this titalature. See Whelan, 157.
381 A. Süheyl Ünver, “Artıklılar Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” in III. Türk Tarih Kongresi
(Ankara 15-20 Kasım 1943), Kongreye Sunulan Tebliğler (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1948),
222. See Joseph Schacht, “Abu’l-Layt̲h̲ al-Samarḳandī” Encyclopedia of Islam Second Edition, Online
Version.
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ummah (Muslim community), the majesty of kings, the sun of the sultans, the killer of
infidels and polytheists, the crusher of atheism and rebels, the orbit of highness, the pride
of the caliphate, the master of the princes of the East and the West, al-Harith (the Great
Lion) Qara Arslan ibn Dawud ibn Sökmen ibn Artuq, the helper of the commander of the
faithful, may God perpetuate his kingdom (Figure 2.7).382
Figure 2.7. The dedicatory inscription of Bustān al-ʿĀrifīn (The Garden of the
Gnostics) prepared for Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, 1162 (557 H), f.1r, MS. Ayasofya
1686, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.
382 Translation by the thesis author. See Naṣr ibn Muḥammad Abū al-Layth al-Samarqandī, Bustān al-
ʿĀrifīn, Istanbul, Süleymaniye Library, MS Ayasofya 1686, f.1r. Süheyl Ünver published the inscription in
Arabic for the first time. See Ünver, “Artıklılar Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” 222.
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In this manuscript, which proves the existence of Qara Arslan’s private library,
one encounters a much more detailed and confident ruler profile than seen on his coins.
Due to the vassal status of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and other Artuqid rulers, as well as
their relations with stronger states in the Jaziran and Anatolian regions, the depiction of
Qara Arslan in the dedicatory inscription can be seen as somewhat exaggerated and
formulated. It is unknown if the Artuqid lord had any input into the content inscribed
here. The scribe who copied the manuscript for Qara Arslan may have written it, and it
would have been prepared to win the ruler’s favor. Moreover, the manuscript’s content
reveals that Qara Arslan was also interested in reading religious manuals and learning
details about the Hanafi branch of Sunni Islamic law, which might demonstrate his Hanafi
background.383 It is unknown whether a “public library” was founded by Fakhr al-Din
Qara Arslan, like his cousin Husam al-Din Timurtash. However, Qara Arslan, who
demonstrated his interest in ancient sciences and learning by initiating the De Materia
Medica translation project, most probably established a private library, too.
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan was also involved in scholarly patronage activities. The
Artuqid court became an esteemed location to work and live during his reign. The Syrian
poet, diplomat, and knight Usama Ibn Munqidh (d. 1188) spent ten years at the Artuqid
court in Hisn Kayfa. In 1164, he first joined the service of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan.
Then his presence continued under the Qara Arslan’s son, Nur al-Din Muhammad starting
in 1167. Then, he was invited to work at the court of Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din (r. 1171-
93) in Damascus in 1174.384 During his stay at Hisn Kayfa, Munqidh composed his books.
He also wrote his book titled Kitāb al-ʿAsā (Book of the Staff), which includes his
memoirs, anecdotes, encounters with the Crusaders, and information about the court of
rulers of his time.385
While hunting at Hisn Kayfa with Qara Arslan, Munqidh documented his
experiences. Munqidh portrays Qara Arslan as a medieval ruler who enjoys hunting.386
Throughout medieval art, the “hunting scenes” recur as a common motif representing the
princely cycle. Even though he was not a contemporary of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan,
383 Another Artuqid ruler from Mardin branch, al-Muzaffar Qara Arslan (r. 1260-92) received a copy of
Mafāṭīḥ al-G̲ h̲ayb (The Keys to the Unknown) or Kitāb al-Tafsīr al-kabīr (The Great Commentary) written
by theologian Fakhr al-Din Razi (d.1210). The manuscript is registered as MS. Sultan Ahmet I 52 at the
Süleymaniye Library. It was produced in 669 H (1270/1) in Basra, Iraq. See Ünver, “Artıklılar
Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” 222-3.
384 Usama ibn Munqidh, The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades, trans. Paul Michael Cobb
(London: Penguin, 2008), XXIX.
385 Ibn Munqidh, The Book of Contemplation: Islam and the Crusades, XXIX.
386 Ibid, 206.
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Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (r. 1212-50) was also renowned for
his falconry and hunting interests. Before 1250, Frederick II even wrote a treatise on
falconry and ornithology entitled De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (On the Art of Hunting
with Birds) in Latin.387
After his contact with Husam al-Din Timurtash, philosopher and physician Ibn al-
Saʾigh al-ʿAntari’s reputation probably reached the Artuqid court at Hisn Kayfa. Al-
ʿAntari was already known to the Artuqids of Mardin. Najm al-Din Alpi most likely met
al-ʿAntari because Alpi was twelve years old when al-ʿAntari visited Timurtash’s court
in 1138/9, and he had written a poem to Alpi after Timurtash’s death in 1154.388 In the
year 1163 (558 H), when Qara Arslan was conducting the siege of Amid (today
Diyarbakır), he summoned al-ʿAntari to serve him in Melitene (today Malatya).389
Meanwhile, Qara Arslan’s father-in-law, Danishmendid ruler Nizam al-Din Yaghi-Basan
(r. 1142-64), attacked Kharput and Çemişgezek in present-day Tunceli. Qara Arslan had
to leave the siege to protect his lands.390 Al-ʿAntari went to Kharput with Qara Arslan
and waited until his correspondence and peace with Yaghi-Basan were finalized.391
Afterward, Qara Arslan joined the expedition in Syria, where he reluctantly
assisted Nur al-Din Mahmud in 1164 (559 H). Before his departure to Syria, Qara Arslan
ordered his vizier Jamal al-Din al-Khidr ibn Muhammad to look after al-ʿAntari.392 On
the other hand, Jamal al-Din abandoned him and went elsewhere. In his poem, al-ʿAntari
reproaches Qara Arslan for being left alone.393 It seems that the physician al-ʿAntari
desperately needed the Artuqid lord’s patronage in light of his reproach and
disappointment in his poem. Later, al-ʿAntari was appointed as director of Hisn Kayfa’s
hospital (bīmāristān) in 1166, and he expressed that Qara Arslan treated him kindly.394
Al-ʿAntari was preparing medicine recipes for some ministers and rulers he served.395
Qara Arslan was also requesting al-ʿAntari to dispense him with special medical
387 See Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, The Art of Falconry: Being the De Arte Venandi Cum Avibus of
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, trans. Florence Marjorie Fyfe and Casey Albert Wood (Stanford University:
Stanford University Press, 1943).
388 Poem 180, See Al-ʻAntarī, 226.
389 Al-ʿAntari wrote his prose introduction numbered 150 in 1164 (559 H), See Al-ʻAntarī, 180-1.
390 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 135.
391 Poem 152, See Al-ʻAntarī, 183.
392 Poem 152, See Al-ʻAntarī, 17, 183.
393 Poem 152, See Al-ʻAntarī, 184.
394 Poem 162 and Poem 241, See Al-ʻAntarī, 202, 272.
395 Al-ʻAntarī, 14.
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recipes.396 Although it has not survived, al-ʿAntari was the author of the book Kitāb al-
Aqrābādhīn (Book of the Medical Formulary). He discusses compound medicines and
medical formulas, indicating his competence in this field.397
Al-ʿAntari refers to his colleagues working at the hospital in Hisn Kayfa in his
Diwan. After the death of his companion Abu al-Hasan ibn Abi Yasser al-Dabbasi, who
lived for seventy-odd years, al-ʿAntari composed a lamentation for him. Al-Dabbasi was
a kind, qualified physician treating the sick compassionately. He loved helping patients
and only used medicines when necessary. He did not use medications that he believed
were not perfectly prepared, so al-ʿAntari preferred to let the patient care for al-Dabbasi.
At the same time, al-ʿAntari dealt with medicine composition after receiving his diagnosis
and confirmation.398 Besides, al-ʿAntari satirized the supervising physician named ʿAbd
Allah in a hospital, which he did not specify but most likely was the hospital of Hisn
Kayfa, for rebuking the patients and expelling them.399
Ibn al-Saʾigh al-ʿAntari is a significant eyewitness to Qara Arslan’s reign since he
informs about important events and their dates in his prose introductions to the poems.
Evidence from his Diwan indicates that al-ʿAntari developed a close relationship with
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan during his stay at Hisn Kayfa. He wrote eulogies for Qara
Arslan called “the Honoraries” (al-fakhriyyat).400 The physician also wrote two poems in
a row for Qara Arslan, who celebrated the Feast of the Sacrifice (ʿEīd al-Aḍḥā) in
November 1164 and October 1165.401 Even his son al-Muʾayyad contacted and paid a
visit to Najm al-Din Alpi in Mardin and Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan in Hisn Kayfa.402
Moreover, al-ʿAntari continued to live under the protection of the vizier Jamal al-Din al-
396 The note at the end of Poem 160 presents interesting details about their patronage relationship and Qara
Arslan’s personal life. It reports: “He said: Prince Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan endowed his monthly salary in
the state. Fakhr al-Din was famous for his fondness for coitus, which had exhausted him and weakened his
power. Deep boils had appeared on the inside of his thighs and his testicles. He [Qara Arslan] asked him
[al-ʿAntari] to prepare pastes and oils to be more sexually potent and help erectile dysfunction, but he [al-
ʿAntari] did not. He [Qara Arslan] got angry with him and stopped his dīwān (council of state).” Al-ʻAntarī,
200. I am grateful to Ahmet Faruk Okatan for translating this note from Arabic to Turkish.
397Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.69 al-ʿAntarī” In The Best Accounts of the Classes of
Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, trans. Alasdair Watson and
Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020. https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:
arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:10.69/.
398 Poem 789, See Al-ʻAntarī, 585-6.
399 Poem 257, See Al-ʻAntarī, 281.
400 Al-ʻAntarī, 19.
401 Poem 158 (559 H), and Poem 166 (560 H), See Al-ʻAntarī, 193, 209.
402 Poem 182 and Poem 192, See Al-ʻAntarī, 12, 227, 239.
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Khidr ibn Muhammad after the death of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan.403 After the vizier’s
death, al-ʿAntari wrote a lamentation for his new patron in 1169/70 (565 H).404
Figure 2.8.a-b. Coins of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan, obverse sides, left dated 570 H
(1174/5), right dated 562 H (1166/7), copper dirhams, Inv. 1917.215.963 and Inv.
1919.143.1, American Numismatic Society, New York.
Al-ʿAntari’s elegy, composed after Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan’s death, clarifies the
existing confusion in the scholarship concerning his death date. Ibn al-Azraq, an
eyewitness of the time who served in various government positions for Husam al-Din
Timurtash and Najm al-Din Alpi in the Mardin branch, and other chroniclers record Qara
Arslan’s death as 1167 (562 H).405 While Ibn al-Athir only gives the year 562 H, Ibn al-
Azraq records the full date as 18 July 1167 (28 Ramadan 562 H) and Bar Hebraeus as 17
July 1167.406 It has been proposed in scholarship that Qara Arslan’s reign may have been
extended to the year 1174/5 due to the discovery of the last coin of Qara Arslan by
orientalist-numismatist Stanley Lane Poole in 1875 (Figure 2.8a).407 The coin minted in
403 Poem 786, See Al-ʻAntarī, 577.
404 Poem 792, See Al-ʻAntarī, 587.
405 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 151.
406 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 151. See Ibn al-Athīr, The
Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part 2: The Years 541–
589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 167. See Bar Hebraeus, 292.
407 Type IV, See Lane-Poole, The International Numismata Orientalia: Coins of the Urtuki, Turkumans,
16. Carole Hillenbrand, “Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad,” Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition, Online Version.
Type IV, See Artuk and Artuk, Artukoğulları Sikkeleri, 77. İbrahim Artuk and Cevriye Artuk , İstanbul
Arkeoloji Müzeleri Teşhirdeki İslami Sikkeler Kataloğu, vol. 1 (İstanbul: Milli Eğitim Basımevi, 1970),
390-1. Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou’ Atabeqyéh Et Meliks
Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, 28. Lane-Poole’s argument is also accepted by İbrahim Artuk, Cevriye Artuk,
and İsmail Galib Edhem, who extend Qara Arslan’s reign until 1174/5 (570 H).
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94
570 H depicts a bust portrait of a long-haired figure in frontal view set in a beaded circle,
which is similar to that of the coin minted in 562 H but incorporates a small, winged
figure, presumably representing victory on the right side (Figure 2.8b).408 Both coins give
the name of Qara Arslan and the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustanjid Billah (r. 1160-70). Whelan
and Uykur argue that Nur al-Din Muhammad was on the throne during this time, and he
minted this coin with the current date without changing his father’s former inscription on
the reverse. On the other hand, Spengler and Sayles interpret the name of the Caliph al-
Mustanjid, who had died five years earlier, as Qara Arslan’s refusal to recognize the new
Caliph al-Mustadi (r. 1170-80).409
Ibn al-Saʾigh al-ʿAntari’s prose introduction to his poem eliminates any
uncertainty regarding Qara Arslan’s death date and is consistent with the abovementioned
written evidence. After Qara Arslan passed away, he composed this poem in the presence
of the vizier Jamal al-Din al-Khidr ibn Muhammad. It is a combination of an elegy for
Qara Arslan and a celebration of accession to the throne of his son, Nur al-Din
Muhammad. In this note, al-ʿAntari records the date of his death as 17 July 1167, agreeing
with Bar Hebraeus.410 Ibn al-Azraq may have assigned the date one day later because he
heard the news later. According to his book, Qara Arslan died in Kharput, but his body
was transported to Hisn Kayfa via Mayyafariqin and buried in the tomb he constructed
there.411
Kayhan argues that Ibn al-Azraq’s testimony about Qara Arslan’s death in 562 H
contradicts his account of seeing him and his soldiers in 1175 (570 H).412 Although
Kayhan refers to Ahmet Savran’s Turkish translation containing the testimony, there is a
problem with Savran’s translation casting doubt on Ibn al-Azraq’s statement.413 Based on
a close reading of the facsimile of Ibn al-Azraq, the chronicle writes the following
408S&S Types 7 and 8, Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol
I: The Artuqids, 21.
409 As an interesting detail, both Whelan and Uykur place Nur al-Din Muhammad’s regnal years between
1174 and 1185, contradicting their arguments. See Whelan, 170. See Uykur, Madenden Yansıyan Tarih:
Artuklu Sikkeleri, 167-8. Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography,
Vol I: The Artuqids, 24.
410 Poem 785, Al-ʻAntarī, 576. The vizier Jamal al-Din al-Khidr died three years after Qara Arslan. The
fact that the vizier was still alive when the composition was done further proves the reliability of the year
562 H. See Footnote 403.
411 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 151. Ibn al-Azraq provides
another clue about Qara Arslan’s death. When discussing the death of his eldest son, al-Saʿid Nasr al-Din,
in June in 1164 (Rajab 559 H), he mentions that Qara Arslan died shortly after his son. See Ibid, 136-7. Al-
ʿAntari also wrote an undated elegy for al-Saʿid Nasr al-Din. Poem 780, See Al-ʻAntarī, 581.
412 Kayhan, “Fahreddîn Kara Arslan Devri Artuklu Tarihi,” 67.
413 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 178-9.
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information before seeing Fakhr al-Din and his army: “In the month of Dhu’l-Qaʿda (June
1175), Nur al-Din Muhammad ibn Qara Arslan decided to pass from Hisn Kayfa fortress
to Kharput. The town of Amid was frightened by him, and there is no one left in the
villages and fields.”414 Nur al-Din Muhammad is not mentioned in Savran’s translation.
Al-Azraq may have seen Nur al-Din Muhammad and his troops, but he wrote, “Fakr al-
Din and his soldiers.” In this case, a scribal error must be considered. Since there are other
pieces of evidence that Nur al-Din Muhammad was on the throne at the time.415
2.2 The Descendants of Qara Arslan and Alpi
Nur al-Din Muhammad, who succeeded his father on the throne in 1167, reigned
until 1185. According to Ibn al-Athir, Qara Arslan wrote to Nur al-Din Mahmud ibn
Zengi on his deathbed, asking him to look after his son after he died.416 Nur al-Din
Muhammad, who remained loyal to Nur al-Din Mahmud on the battlefield, allied with
Salah al-Din, ruler of the Ayyubids, after the Zengid ruler’s death in 1174, and his vassal
status continued.417 Nur al-Din Muhammad was rewarded by the Ayyubid sultan with
ownership of Amid, conquered in 1183, for his support of Salah al-Din’s expeditions in
Syria.418 The previous ruling dynasty, the Inalids (r. 1095-1183), established Amid as an
important cultural center and place of learning. According to the Syriac chronicler Bar
Hebraeus, Amid said to have a library with nearly 1,400,000 books at the time, but Salah
al-Din’s vizier Qadi al-Fadil (d. 1200) took all the books from the city.419 In another
account, Shiʿite historian and poet Ibn Abi Tayyiʾ (d. 1228) reports that al-Fadil selected
seventy loads of books from Amid for his library.420 Nur al-Din Muhammad and the
414 Ibn al-Azraq’s book has survived to this day incompletely. It only consists of 200 folios. This event,
which occurred in 1175, is described by the chronicler on the folio 198 of the existing manuscripts. See
Ahmad ibn Yūsuf Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Tārikh Mayyāfāriqīn, ed. Karim Farouk El-Kholy and Yusuf
Baluken (İstanbul: Nubihar Yayınları, 2014), 659.
415 According to Ibn al-Athir, Qara Arslan’s son Nur al-Din Muhammad militarily assisted Nur al-Din
Mahmud ibn Zengi in conquering Sinjar on September 1170. Al-ʿAntari also wrote praise for Nur al-Din
Muhammad in 1172 (567 H), where al-ʿAntari mentions “the majlis of Nur al-Din” and describes him as
the “auspicious king (malik)” in Poem 177. Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading
Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part 2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and
Saladin, 192. See Al-ʻAntarī, 215-220.
416 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part
2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 167.
417 Hillenbrand, “Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad.”
418 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part
2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 284.
419 Alex Mallet, “Īnālids,” Encyclopaedia of Islam Third Edition, Online Version. See Bar Hebraeus, 315.
420 Şeşen, Selahaddin Devrinde Eyyübiler Devleti (Hicri 569-589 / Miladi 1174-1193, 269. Konrad
Hirschler argues that this number is very unlikely reflecting the reality. He underlines that the narrative
sources sometimes exaggerate the number of books in the medieval libraries. See Hirschler, Medieval
Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library: The Ashrafiya Library Catalogue, 4.
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96
Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa appear to have taken over a significant center, prompting their
interest in science and scholarly patronage.
While in Hisn Kayfa, Nur al-Din Muhammad had a medical book written for him
before moving his court to Amid in 1183. Its author, physician, and mathematician al-
Samawʾal ibn Yahya al-Maghribi (d. 1174?) was of Jewish origin but converted to Islam
on November 8, 1163 (558 H) in Maragha.421 After completing his religious education at
the age of thirteen, al-Maghribi pursued further education in medicine and mathematical
sciences (including algebra, geometry, and arithmetic) in Baghdad. He eventually moved
to Maragha.422 After settling in Diyar Bakr and Mosul for a while, al-Maghribi returned
to his home in Maragha, where he would remain until his death.423 He was a well-known
physician who treated rulers in his time.424 Myrne believes that al-Maghribi was probably
staying in Diyar Bakr around 1167, where his path crossed with the Artuqid ruler of Hisn
Kayfa and Hisn Ziyad.425
Al-Samawʾal’s only surviving medical work, entitled Nuzhat al-Aṣḥāb fī
Muʿāsharat al-Aḥbāb fī ʿIlm al-Bāh (Pleasure Park for Friends on Intimate Relations
with Their Beloveds) was dedicated to Nur al-Din Muhammad at an unknown date.426 The
book is “essentially a treatise on sexology and a collection of erotic stories.”427 The
421 Brockelmann, History of the Arabic Written Tradition Supplement Volume 1, 563. Brockelmann tells
that there are disagreements about his death date. He gives the year 1174, but others believe al-Maghribi
died as late as 576 or even 598.
422 Ilias Fernini, A Bibliography of Scholars in Medieval Islam: 150-1000 A.H. (750-1600 A.D.) (Abu
Dhabi: Cultural Foundation, 1998), 370.
423 Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “11.21 al-Samawʾal,” in The Best Accounts of the Classes of
Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, trans. Alasdair Watson, N.
Peter Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020), https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/
reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:11.21/?q=alSamaw%CA%BEa
l&qk=form.
424 Fernini, 371.
425 Myrne, Pernilla. “Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the
Twelfth Centuries,” Journal of Global Slavery 4, no. 2 (2019): 201.
426 Extant copies are preserved in Istanbul MS Ayasofya 2129, Gotha MS 2045, Paris MS 3054, Escorial
MS 1830, and Berlin MS 6381. The commonly used English title of the book is the Companions’
Promenade in the Garden of Love. Nükhet Varlık also suggests an alternative translation for the title:
“Enjoyment of Friends: On the Intimacy of Lovers.” See Nükhet Varlık, “Books on Medicine: Medical
Knowledge at Work,” in Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3-
1503/4), ed. Necipoğlu Gülru, Cemal Kafadar, and Cornell H. Fleischer (Leiden: Brill, 2019), 544. Theʿilm
al-bāh literally means “science of coitus.”
427 See, Fernini, 371. The book’s first section describes diseases and sexual deficiencies. The virile debility,
uterine diseases, and their treatment are topics of the second section. This part also reflects Al-Magribi’s
interest in the psychological aspects of illnesses. The author vividly portrays falling in love without noticing
or even recognizing it. Warm baths, running water and vegetation, music, and well-lit houses are also
recommended for the distressed and melancholic. For the section of al-Samawʾal’s book in which he
explains why women tend to tribadism, See Pernilla Myrne, Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic
World Gender and Sex in Arabic Literature (London: I.B. Tauris, 2020), 163-4.
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Pleasure Park is divided into science/theory (ʿilm) and practice (ʿamal) parts.428 In the
preface to his book, al-Samawʾal emphasizes that his book appeals to everyone, from
kings who are reluctant to consult physicians to commoners obsessed with sexual
relationships. Moreover, the author offers a section about the purchase of slaves, aiming
to provide the necessary information.429 The dedication of this intriguing book to Nur al-
Din Muhammad, which shows both his curiosity in sexology and parallels to his personal
life, further demonstrates his support for the research of ancient sciences, especially
medicine.
It’s challenging to establish whether his father Qara Arslan’s intimate life in al-
ʿAntari’s anecdote also applies to Nur al-Din Muhammad’s life.430 However, a personal
life detail has piqued the interest of chroniclers. Ibn al-Athir states that Nur al-Din
Muhammad was married to the daughter of Rum Seljuk sultan Qilij Arslan II, Seljuqa
Khatun. But he fell in love with a female singer (muġanniya), eventually married, and
favored her above his wife in 1180/81 (576 H). He neglected Seljuqa Khatun, and his new
wife took control of the authority. After hearing the news, Qilij Arslan decided to launch
an invasion against the Artuqid territories to reclaim the castles that had been presented
to them as part of his daughter’s dowry. For protection against the Rum Seljuk sultan,
Nur al-Din appealed to Ayyubid sultan Salah ad-Din. The issue was settled between Qilij
Arslan II and Salah ad-Din, and Nur al-Din was asked to “dismiss the singing girl” in a
year. After dismissal, she traveled to Baghdad and remained there until her death.431
Furthermore, Salah al-Din’s chancellor, ʿImad al-Din al-Isfahani (d. 1201),
mentions that Nur al-Din liked singer-women. Despite his love for his wife, his passion
for singers was taking over. He never left Seljuqa Khatun, but he preferred an older
muġanniya over his young wife.432 Michael the Syrian defines the incident as “the satanic
428 “He wrote this book for Muhammad al-Erbaqi [sic] ibn Abu’l-Fath Qara Arslan and divided it into two
parts: science/theory (ʿilm) and practice (ʿamal).” It appears that “al-Erbaqi” was misspelled. Al-Artuqi
was supposed to be used. Usually, the Arabic word naẓar stands for theory, but the word ʿilm was utilized
in this context. See Al-Samawʾal ibn Yaḥya al-Maghribī, Nuzhat Al-Aṣḥāb Fī Mu‘Āsharat Al-Aḥbāb, Kitāb
Fī Al-Mu‘Āsharah Al-Zawjīyah Wa-Ādābihā Wa-Muta‘Alliqātihā, ed. Sayyed Kisrawi Hassan (Beirut: Dār
al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyah, 2008), 19.
429 Pernilla. “Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth
Centuries,” 201-2.
430 See Footnote 396.
431 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part
2: The Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 271-2. After the death of Nur al-
Din Muhammad, Seljuqa Khatun married Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir (r. 1158-1225). She passed away in 584
H (1188-89). The caliph, who was deeply attached to his wife, had the mausoleum and hospice constructed
on West Bank in Baghdad after her passing. See Ibid, 358.
432 Ramazan Şeşen, “İmad Al-Din Al-Katib Al-İsfahani'nin Eserlerindeki Anadolu Tarihiyle İlgili
Bahisler,” Selçuklu Araştırmaları Dergisi III, 1971, 268.
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98
Figure 2.9. Female slave musicians from al-Jazari’s musical boat automata, al-Jāmi‘ bayn
al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.98, Topkapı
Palace Library, Istanbul (Balafrej, 2022, 749).
love of a prostitute,” expressing his discomfort.433 It cannot be determined with
confidence whether the woman in question was a slave or a free person. Nur al-Din’s case
shows how medieval singers participated in the entertainment business at the courts. The
production of the sexology manual was probably not a coincidence but a result of Nur al-
Din Muhammad’s interest in female slaves and singers. Another piece of evidence also
points to the presence of slaves in the Artuqid palace. Qutb al-Din Sökmen II (r. 1185-
1201), the heir to the throne after Nur al-Din’s death in 1185 (581 H), was the child of a
slave woman/concubine.434 There are also four female slave musicians on al-Jazari’s
musical boat automata built for Nasir al-Din Mahmud (r. 1201-22), the son of Nur al-Din
433 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 426.
434 Ibid, 436. On the same account, Michael the Syrian says that the son of Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II and the
lord of Mardin Artuqids, Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan (r. 1184-1201) was also born to a slave
woman/concubine. Ibn al-Azraq says that Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II had a son born to a concubine in 1168 (564
H). Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 155. However, this son must
be someone else, because Ibn al-Athir tells that Husam al-Din was an infant when his father died. Ibn al-
Athīr, The Chronicle of ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi’l-Ta’Rikh. Part 2: The
Years 541–589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 302.
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99
Muhammad, consisting of a harpist, a flute player, and two tambourine players,
visualizing the presence of slaves at the Artuqid court in Amid (Figure 2.9).435
Two significant scientists, Fakhr al-Din al-Mardini (d. 1198) and Sadid al-Din ibn
Raqiqa (d. 1238) conducted research in the town of Hani in Diyarbakır, controlled by the
Artuqids of Mardin. The town’s governor was Jamal al-Din ibn Timurtash (b. 1127),
appointed by his elder brother Najm al-Din Alpi in 1154.436 Physician and philosopher
Fakhr al-din al-Mardini was born in 1118 in Mardin. His grandfather was relocated from
Jerusalem to Mardin at the request of Najm al-Din Ilghazi. During Husam al-Din
Timurtash’s reign, he studied philosophy with Ibn al-Salah. He learned medicine from
Ibn al-Tilmidh, the famous chief physician of al-ʿAdudi Hospital in Bagdad. After
completing his education, he settled in Hani.437 Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa reports that al-Mardini
endowed his books to the shrine (possibly the mashhad library) of Husam al-Din
Timurtash in Mardin. “The books endowed by the shaykh Fakhr al-Din are among the
best of books and are his own copies, most of which he had studied with his teachers and
produced fair copies of and went to great lengths in correcting and perfecting.”438 Al-
Mardini was well-versed in philosophical sciences. The biographer mentions that he
served for “Najm al-Din ibn Artuq” most likely Najm al-Din Alpi, the Artuqid lord of
Mardin.439
Al-Mardini’s student and companion, Sadid al-Din ibn Raqiqa, was born in Hani
in 1168 (564 H). He studied medicine and other philosophical sciences with al-Mardini.
Besides, Ibn Raqiqa dedicated himself to the study of astronomy. He also studied hadith,
grammar, and lexicography. He was a talented physician in ophthalmology and surgical
operations, including the removal of cataracts.440 Fakhr al-Din Mardini started treating
435 This boat is designed for floating on the pool at a drinking party. Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl
ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna
Al-ʻilm Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], trans. Sevim Tekeli, Melek Dosay, and Yavuz Unat
(Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu , 2002), 127-8.
436 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 40, 106, 108. Ibn al-Azraq al-
Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 147. Jamal al-Din also became
the governor of Hisn Qalb (today Kulp in Diyarbakır) and al-Siwan. Another brother, Samsam al-Din
Bahram received the administration of Dara in Mardin.
437 His full name is Imam Fakhr al-Din Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Salam ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman
ibn ʿAbd al-Satir al-Ansari. Ibn Abi Uṣaibiʿa notes that al-Mardini’s student Ibn Raqiqa also calls him
“sheikh.” See Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “10.75 Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Māridīnī.”
438 Ibid.
439 Ibid.
440 Aḥmad Ibn-al-Qāsim Ibn-Abī-Uṣaibiʿa, “15.46 Sadīd al-Dīn ibn Raqīqah,” in The Best Accounts of the
Classes of Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, trans. N. Peter
Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020), https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/
urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:15.46?.
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the eye condition of Najm al-Din Alpi’s nephew, Nur al-Din ibn Jamal al-Din ibn Artuq,
the governor of the city of Hani.441 However, when al-Mardini had to leave the city, he
suggested Nur al-Din to consult his pupil Ibn Raqiqa for further medical assistance. Ibn
Raqiqa treated him quickly, and the ruler rewarded him with a stipend and an allowance
for Ibn Raqiqa’s medical treatment and his full recovery. Ibn Abi Usaibiʿa, who was
personally acquainted with the physician, remarks that Ibn Raqiqa was not even twenty
years old when he gave all this service.442 It would appear that the physician became
associated with Nur al-Din ibn Jamal al-Din, a member of the Artuqids of Mardin, before
1186 (582 H). The fact that minor Artuqid rulers such as Nur al-Din supported scientists
shows that these networks were not exclusive to the highest rulers in the Artuqid realms.
After serving for Nur al-Din ibn Jamal al-Din in Hani, Sadid al-Din ibn Raqiqa was
employed by a number of different Ayyubid rulers and members of the royal family. He
spent the rest of his life in Damascus until he died in 1238 (635 H).443
Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II (r.1176-84), son of Alpi and heir to the throne in 1176, had
a close friendship with a famous Christian scholar. Baghdadi librarian and historian ʿAli
ibn Anjab Ibn al-Saʿi (d. 1275) provides a biography of this scholar named Abu Saʿid al-
Hasan ibn Khalid ibn al-Mubarak ibn Mahdar al-Nasrani al-Mardini, nicknamed al-
Wahid (the Only One, the Unique).444 He was born in 1152 (547 H), only three years after
Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II, who was born on May 22, 1149 (12 Muharram 544 H).445 Ibn al-
Saʿi reports that Abu Saʿid was constantly occupied with science in his youth, and he
learned the wisdom of the previous ones, ancient sciences (ʿulūm al-awāʾil), very well
and came forward. He then refused to deal with the sciences. He was also very talented
441 It’s most likely that after 1176, Nur al-Din ibn Jamal al-Din took over as governor of Hani. Because his
father was controlling the city at that time. As a result of the accession of Najm al-Din Alpi’s son Qutb al-
Din Ilghazi II to the throne in 1176, a dispute arose between him and his two uncles, Jamal al-Din and
Samsam al-Din Bahram. He antagonized them until they submitted to him. The problem was solved thanks
to the efforts of Sayf al-Din Ghazi II, amir (lord) of Mosul, and Nur al-Din Muhammad ibn Qara Arslan,
amir (lord) of Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa. See Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the
Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XV-XXI from the Year 1050 to 1195, 384.
442 Ibn-Abī-Uṣaibiʿa, “15.46 Sadīd al-Dīn ibn Raqīqah.”
443 List of Ibn Raqiqa’s Ayyubid patrons: Ayyubid ruler of Hama, al-Malik al-Mansur Muhammad ibn Taqi
al-Din ʿUmar (r. 1179-91), Salah al-Din in Muhammad Yaghi Siyan and the wife of al-Malik al-Awhad in
Akhlat during the reign of Ayyubid ruler of Diyar Bakr al-Malik al-Awhad Najm al-Din Ayyub (r. 1200-
10) until 18 August 1212, Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi ibn al-Malik al-Nasir Salah
al-Din (r. 1172-1216) and Ayyubid ruler of Damascus Al-Ashraf Musa Abu’l-Fath al-Muzaffar al-Din (r.
1229-37) in Mayyafariqin. See Ibn-Abī-Uṣaibiʿa, “15.46 Sadīd al-Dīn ibn Raqīqah.”
444 ʿAlī ibn Anjab Ibn al-Sāʿī, Al-Jāmi ̕al-mukhtaṣar fī ʻunwān Al-tawārīkh Wa-ʻuyūn Al-Siyar (Baghdād:
al-Maṭbaʻah al-Siryānīyah al-Kāthūlīkīyah, 1934), 141. I am indebted to Elif Yumru for her help in
accessing the source. I am also grateful to Ahmet Faruk Okatan for translating this excerpt from Arabic to
Turkish.
445 Ibn al-Sāʿī, Al-Jāmi ̕al-mukhtaṣar fī ʻunwān Al-tawārīkh Wa-ʻuyūn Al-Siyar, 142. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī,
Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 90.
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in writing poetry. There was a friendship, which they had developed since their childhood,
between him and Qutb al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq, the king of Diyar Bakr. The ruler would
condemn Abu Saʿid for having cut himself off from Qutb al-Din, constantly calling and
encouraging him until Abu Saʿid accepted the ruler’s offer and advanced alongside Qutb
al-Din, becoming a respected and elevated figure in the Artuqid court of Mardin.446
Abu Saʿid was involved in the event that could validate both his reputation at the
time and the relations between the courts of the Artuqids and the Seljuks of Rum.
“Yarıkshah [sic] ibn Qilij” summoned Abu Saʿid al-Hasan to become his minister and
work for him; Abu Saʿid refused the offer and went to Baghdad and lived there for a
while. Then al-Hasan returned to his homeland Mardin and died there in 1204 (600 H).447
I believe the ruler in question here is Nasir al-Din Berkyarukshah ibn Qilij Arslan II, the
Rum Seljuk ruler of Niksar and its surroundings.448 Osman Turan was the one who first
brought this source to the attention of the scholarship. However, Turan does not mention
this curious Berkyarukshah connection or Abu Saʿid’s interest in the ancient sciences in
his book. Instead, he states that Qutb al-Din and Saʿid discussed “good manners,” which
was not mentioned in the text. Turan also neglects that Abu Saʿid and Qutb al-Din have
known each other since they were children, but he only emphasizes their close
friendship.449 His closeness with Qutb al-Din may also point to a network of relationships
between the court staff and the Artuqid royal family.
While comparing with other primary sources, I realized that Abu Saʿid al-Hasan’s
grandfather and father also worked for the Artuqids of Mardin. Ibn al-Azraq notes the
grandfather’s name as al-Muʾayyid al-Mustaufi al-Dawla Abu’l Hasan al-Mubarak ibn
Mukhtar when reporting his death in 1147 (542 H). He was working as mutawallī aldiwān
(chief of the council of state) for Husam al-Din Timurtash.450 Before this position,
Ibn Mukhtar started working at diwān al-istifa’ (the tax office) in Mayyafariqin in 1116/7
446 Ibn al-Sāʿī, 141.
447 Ibid, 141-2.
448 Ibn Bibi mentions that Nasir al-Din Berkyarukshah was the ruler of Niksar and Koyluhisar. See
Muhammad Ibn Bībī, El Evamirü’l-Ala’iye Fi’l-Umuri’l-Ala’iye (Selçukname), Vol 1, 41.
449 Turan, Doğu Anadolu Türk Devletleri Tarihi: Saltuklular, Mengücikler, Sökmenliler, Dilmaç Oğulları
ve Artukluların Siyası̂ Tarih ve Medeniyetleri, 238. Turan also refers to the incorrect page (p.140), rather
than pages 141 and 142 in the printed book of Ibn al-Saʿi.
450 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 83. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A
Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 122.
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(510 H).451 “Ibn Mukhtar, was buried in Mardin in the mausoleum which he had built.”452
The question of whether or not Ibn Mukhtar was a Christian has sparked scholarly
debates. Hillenbrand emphasizes the “possibility,” while Cahen is sure about it.453 The
nisba “al-Nasrani” in Abu Saʿid’s name stands for “the Christian,” thus further proving
his grandfather Ibn Mukhtar’s disputed Christian identity. Moreover, Ibn al-Saʿi utilizes
the name Mahdar مح ض )ر ), while Ibn Azraq uses Mukhtar مختا)ر ) for the name of Abu
Saʿid’s great-grandfather. This difference might result from a scribal mistake or Ibn al-
Saʿi’s lack of knowledge. Ibn al-Azraq, like Ibn Mukhtar, worked for Timurtash’s court,
and it is crucial that he is a significant eyewitness and records Ibn Mukhtar’s name and
status. It’s also possible that Ibn al-Azraq had personal acquaintance with Ibn Mukhtar.
The father of Abu Saʿid al-Hasan was al-Ajall Karim al-Dawla Abu Mansur
Khalid. Still, he adopted his father’s title al-Muʾayyid al-Dawla (the Helper of the State).
After Ibn Mukhtar, his son continued to work in the same position. He has reached a
successful and effective level in state affairs.454 Khalid’s fame likely spread to the
Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and to the physician al-ʿAntari. Al-ʿAntari wrote two poems for
him where he mentions Khalid’s name as “Muʾayyid al-Dawla Khalid ibn Mukhtar” and
“Muʾayyid al-Malik Khalid ibn Abu al-Hasan ibn Mukhtar.”455 In his prose introduction,
al-ʿAntari reports Khalid’s visit to Kharput and their encounter.456 The services of Abu
Saʿid and his family to the Artuqid rulers demonstrate the existence of Christian subjects
in the court in Mardin, like the employment of Mihran ibn Mansur by Alpi and the close
relations established between the highest court members and the royal family. Khalid’s
son Abu Saʿid could spend his childhood with the crown prince Qutb al-Din Ilghazi II,
revealing important information about Artuqid court life.
2.3 The Artuqids of Kharput
Kharput, or Hisn Ziyad in Arabic at the time, was a significant city ruled by the
Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa. It appears that it was frequently used for residence, particularly
451 See Hillenbrand’s Footnote 88. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The
Early Artuqid State, 121-2. The head of the tax office is called mustawfi (the chief accountant). Ibn Mukhtar
was apparently residing in Mayyafariqin because Ibn al-Azraq mentions that the vizier and qadi of the
Akhlatshah dynasty stayed at his house in the same year, in 1147 (542 H).
452 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 122.
453 Hillenbrand, “The Establishment of Artuqid Power in Diyar Bakr in the Twelfth Century,” 151. Claude
Cahen, “Le Diyar Bakr Au Temps Des Premiers Urtukides,” Journal Asiatique 227 (1935): 268.
454 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 122-3. Ibn
al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 83.
455 Poem 153, and Poem 193, See Al-ʻAntarī, 184, 241.
456 Poem 153, See Al-ʻAntarī, 184.
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by Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan. As mentioned above, Qara Arslan also died in Kharput.457
Syriac patriarch Michael the Syrian often refers to Fakhr al-Din as the “Lord of Hisn
Ziyad.”458 However, the Kharput branch of the Artuqids was established by his younger
son ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr (r. 1185-1204) in 1185 (581 H). The same year, Nur al-Din
Muhammad could not join Salah al-Din in the siege of Mosul due to his illness. Instead,
he dispatched an Artuqid force led by his brother ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr. Then, Nur al-
Din Muhammad died in 1185 (580/1 H), and his young son Quth al-Din Sökmen II
succeeded him. Nur al-Din’s vizier Qiwam al-Din ibn Samaqa al-Isʿardi was in charge of
state affairs. After hearing Nur al-Din’s death, ʿImad al-Din wanted to seize power, but it
was too late for him since he was still with Salah al-Din in Mosul. Instead, he captured
Kharput and established his dynasty, which lasted until its conquest by the Rum Seljuk
sultan ʿAla al-Din Kayqubad (r. 1220-37) in 1234 (631 H).459
2.3.1 Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi al-Maqtul and His Connections to the Artuqid
Dynasty and the Rum Seljuks
The research on the Artuqids of Kharput is very limited. Only the dates of the
dynasty’s founding and end—as well as the political relationships they established with
the Ayyubids and the Rum Seljuks, to whom they were vassals—are documented in the
historical sources.460 There is a lack of information about the patronage activities of the
Artuqids of Kharput in the field of ancient sciences. However, the founder of the
philosophical school of Illuminationism (Ishrāqiyyun) and philosopher Shihab al-Din
Yahya ibn Habash al-Suhrawardi (d. 1191), also known as al-Maqtul (the Slain), was
commissioned by ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr to write a book. Al-Alwāḥ al-ʿImādiyya
(The Tablets of ʿImad al-Din) is a book written in the genre of mirror for princes.461 The
457 See Footnote 411.
458 Michael the Great, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 274, 312.
459 Al-Isfahani records Nur al-Din Muhammad’s death date as 15 May 1185 (14 Rabiʿ I 581). See Şeşen,
“İmad Al-Din Al-Katib Al-İsfahani'nin Eserlerindeki Anadolu Tarihiyle İlgili Bahisler,” 337. Ibn al-Athīr,
The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fil-Tarikh:Part 2 The Years 541–
589/1146–1193: The Age of Nur Al-Din and Saladin, 306-7.
460 For an overview of their political history and the buildings they constructed, See Nureddin Ardıçoğlu,
“Harput Artuk Oğulları’na Ait Kitabeler,” Türkiyat Mecmuası 6 (1939): 41-48. Ardıçoğlu, Harput Tarihi,
37-60. Baluken, “Harput Artukluları = Artuqids of Harput,” 221-234.
461 Suhrawardi also called as “Shaykh al-Ishraqi” (Master of Illumination). Reza Pourjavady, “Shihāb Al-
Dīn Suhrawardī’s ‘Postscript’ to His Tablets of ʿImād Al-Dīn and Najm Dīn Nayrīzī’s Commentary on It,”
in Illuminationist Texts and Textual Studies: Essays in Memory of Hossein Ziai, ed. Ahmed Alwishah, Ali
Gheissari, and John Walbridge (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 179. For the list of extant copies, See Ibid, 183-4.
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book is composed of an introduction and four tablets.462 In its introduction, al-Suhrawardi
says that the Kharput ruler and Suhrawardi corresponded via letters, and Abu Bakr asked
him to write this book. Abu Bakr wished to receive a work concisely and precisely
explaining what needs to be known and the views of notable philosophers and scholars
on the Islamic philosophical concept of the origin/beginning and return (al-mabdaʾ wa’lma
ʿād).463 This concept is concerned with the universe’s start and end. Moreover, the
content of al-Suhrawardi’s book is related to physics, metaphysics, cosmology, and many
topics about humans.464 There are many references to the Qur’an in the text, especially
toward the end. The book also talks at length about the spirituality and manners of the
mythical Iranian rulers Afridun (also called Firiydun) and Kay Khusraw to give advice to
Abu Bakr.465
The exact date of The Tablets of ʿImad al-Din is unknown. In this work, al-
Suhrawardi references his famous book Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq (the Wisdom of Illumination),
which establishes the fundamentals of the Illuminationist philosophy. According to the
Ishraqi philosopher and physician al-Shahrazuri (d. between 1288 and 1304), al-
Suhrawardi completed Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq around mid-September in 1186 (Jumada II, 582
H). Thus, the Tablets of ʿImad al-Din might have been written during or after this date
since ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr established his dynasty in 1185.466 Al-Suhrawardi mentions
that the scholars before him wrote some concise works for the past rulers, but he has heard
that the rulers could not benefit from these works. He believes the authors’ careless
attention to the quality of instruction and the style of expression is to blame for this
problem. They fail to modify and simplify the confusing closed terms and ignore the
universal benefit in favor of the particular benefit. Al-Suhrawardi further argues that he
has revealed some subtleties and unique information. He does not think that a similar to
462 The subjects of the tablets are listed: “Tablet One: on proofs for the finitude of dimensions, on the
boundaries of the sky and the world, on the simplicity of the elements and what originates from them;
Tablet Two: on the soul with reference to its faculties; Tablet Three: on the proofs for the existence of the
Necessary Existent and on His attributes of greatness and perfection; and Tablet Four: on the order of the
world, the destiny and eternity of souls and their happiness and wretchedness, pain and pleasure and the
influences of souls.” See Pourjavady, “Shihāb Al-Dīn Suhrawardī’s ‘Postscript’ to His Tablets of ʿImād
Al-Dīn and Najm Dīn Nayrīzī’s Commentary on It,” 180.
463 Ibn Sina/Aviecanna also has a book titled Al-mabdaʾ wa’l-maʿād (Provenance and Destination).
Pourjavady, 179. Ebü'l-Fütûh Şihâbüddîn Yahyâ b. Habeş Es-Sühreverdî, El-Elvâhu’l-İmâdiyye = Hikmet
Levhaları: (Metin-Çeviri), trans. Cihan Ahmet Kâmil, Salih Yalın, and Arsan Taher (Istanbul: Türkiye
Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı, 2017), 36-38.
464 Es-Sühreverdî, El-Elvâhu’l-İmâdiyye = Hikmet Levhaları: (Metin-Çeviri), 19.
465 Pourjavady,180. Es-Sühreverdî, 38.
466 Es-Sühreverdî, 19.
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his work has been written before.467
The dedicatory text of al-Suhrawardi provides essential information about the
Artuqid ruler and the philosopher’s possible ties to the Artuqids. The text shows the
intellectual curiosity of ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr, despite the lack of written sources, and
how he got closer to the scholars of his time, similar to the Artuqid ruler of Mardin,
Husam al-Din Timurtash, and al-ʿAntari’s correspondence. Like the previous rulers al-
Suhrawardi mentioned, Abu Bakr’s desire to learn about the philosophical discussions
about the beginning and end of the universe may be a reflection of his interest in
philosophy and cosmological questions. In his book, al-Suhrawardi discusses key
elements of both the Illuminationist and Islamic Peripatetic (masha’i) philosophy.468 It is
impossible to know how familiar Abu Bakr was with the traditions described in the book,
but the ruler might have received additional training to understand the philosophy of
Peripatetic school, which blended Aristotelian teachings with Islam, and the
Illuminationist philosophy pioneered by al-Suhrawardi.
The philosopher, mystic al-Suhrawardi was born in the village of Suhraward,
close to Zanjan in northern Iran, in 1154 (549 H). He later traveled to Maragha to study
philosophy and theology. Following that, al-Suhrawardi visited Anatolia and Diyar Bakr
time to time where he might have aimed to find patrons and courts to attach himself.469
During this period, al-Suhrawardi appears to have established “a reputation as a Sufi
mystic and rising philosopher.”470 Al-Suhrawardi developed companionship with
philosopher and physician Fakhr al-Din Mardini, who was living in Hani under the
control of the Artuqids of Mardin. According to Sadid al-Din ibn Raqiqa, al-Suhrawardi
visited al-Mardini on occasion, and al-Mardini used to tell them about al-Suhrawardi:
“How intelligent and how eloquent this youth is! I have never found anyone like him in
my generation, but I fear that his great carelessness, his recklessness, and his lack of
467 Ibid, 38-9.
468 Ibid, 19.
469 Yaḥyā Ibn Ḥabaš Suhrawardī, The Philosophy of Illumination: A New Critical Edition of the Text of
Ḥikmat Al-Ishrāq, ed. and trans. John Walbridge and Hossein Ziai (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University
Press, 1999), XV.
470 Suhrawardī, The Philosophy of Illumination: A New Critical Edition of the Text of Ḥikmat Al-Ishrāq,
XV.
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restraint will be the cause of his downfall.”471 Al-Suhrawardi became friends with Ibn
Raqiqa, and they even went for a walk together in the mosque of Mayyafariqin.472
Yalman draws attention to al-Suhrawardi’s legacy in the regions of Anatolia and
Jazira. The author goes into great detail about the impact of Illuminationism and al-
Suhrawardi’s ideas on artistic production, particularly architecture and coinage, among
the Seljuks of Rum and Artuqids.473 Al-Suhrawardi maintained contacts with the Rum
Seljuks in addition to his network with ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr and the Harput branch of
the Artuqids. He is believed to have visited the Rum Seljuk court in Konya during the
reign of Qilij Arslan II. The Seljuk prince of Niksar and Koyluhisar, Berkyarukshah ibn
Qilij Arslan II, is believed to have ties to the Ishraqi shaykh al-Suhrawardi. Ibn Bibi
reports that the philosopher dedicated his book Partawnāma (The Book of Radiance) to
Berkyarukshah, who was well-versed in sciences and poetry.474 However, al-Suhrawardi
only reveals that he wrote his book “in compliance with the command of one of the ‘lovers
of virtue’” in the introduction.475 Because of the ambiguous phrases of Ibn Bibi and al-
Suhrawardi, the dedicatee of the Partawnāma is highly debated.476 This Persian
philosophical treatise combines various topics, such as metaphysics, physics, and logic.477
Its dedicatee, who was interested in philosophy, must have known Persian well.
471 Aḥmad Ibn al-Qāsim Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “15.18 Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī,” in The Best Accounts of
the Classes of Physicians, ed. Emilie Savage-Smith, Simon Swain, and Geert Jan van Gelder, trans. N.
Peter Joosse and Geert Jan van Gelder (Brill Scholarly Editions, 2020), https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com
/reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:15.18?q=15.18&qk=form.
472 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “15.18 Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī.”
473 Yalman, “‘Ala Al-Din Kayqubad Illuminated: A Rum Seljuq Sultan as Cosmic Ruler,” 151-186.
Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural
Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237).”
474 Ibn Bībī, 41. Andrew Peacock recently discovered a Persian manuscript titled Rawḍat al-Nāẓir lil-Malik
al-Nāṣir (The Garden of the Victorious for the Victorious King) written by Kamal al-Din ibn Said. This
manuscript focuses on the topic of heresy and is dedicated to the Rum Seljuk amir Berkyarukshah ibn Qilij
Arslan II. It was composed in 1161 (558 H). Andrew C. S. Peacock, “Court Culture and Intellectual Life in
Seljuk Anatolia,” (Webinar, Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED),
Istanbul, May 11, 2022). According to Ibn Bibi, Berkyarukshah wrote a masnawi called “Hurzad u Parizad”
in Persian. Today, the masnawi is lost, but Ibn Bibi copied some parts of Berkyarukshah’s masnawi in his
chronicle. See Ibn Bībī, El Evamirü’l-Ala’iye Fi’l-Umuri’l-Ala’iye (Selçukname), Vol 1, 41-44.
475 Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabaš Suhrawardī, The Book of Radiance = Partaw’nāmah: A Parallel English-Persian
Text, trans. Hossein Ziai (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 1998), 2.
476 Existing arguments propose different individuals as the owner, including the sons of Qilij Arslan II,
Rukn al-Din Sulaymanshah (r. 1196-1204), Ghiyth ad-Din Kayhusraw (r. 1192–6 and 1205–11), and an
unidentifiable personality. See Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and
Mysticism in the Architectural Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237),” 386. Suhrawardī, The
Book of Radiance = Partaw’nāmah: A Parallel English-Persian Text, XIV.
477 Suhrawardī, The Book of Radiance = Partaw’nāmah: A Parallel English-Persian Text, XIV.
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Yörükan argues that al-Suhrawardi probably came to Anatolia after 570 H
(1174/5), considering his birth date.478 According to Ibn Raqiqa, once al-Suhrawardi left
them, he traveled to Aleppo.479 He arrived there in 1183.480 His active years in the regions
of Anatolia and Diyar Bakr could be dated between 1174/5 and 1183. Since he
corresponded with ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr by letter, al-Suhrawardi could have been in
Aleppo at the time. During his active years in Aleppo, al-Suhrawardi’s talent, knowledge,
and competence in intellectual debates attracted the attention of the Ayyubid ruler of
Aleppo and the son of Salah al-Din Ayyubi, al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi (r. 1172-1216). Ibn
Raqiqa reports that al-Suhrawardi’s rivals got together because he was close to al-Malik
al-Zahir and had risen quickly in rank. They sent accusations to the Ayyubid ruler Salah
al-Din, stating that al-Suhrawardi was an “infidel” and that if he remained with his son,
he would “corrupt his faith,” and if he was released, he would corrupt the faith of the
people wherever he went. Saladin wrote to his son that al-Malik al-Zahir had no choice
but to kill Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi because he could not be sent anywhere or stay
where he was. Al-Suhrawardi was executed when he was thirty-six years old, at the end
of the year 586 H (January 1191). Upon hearing the news of his death, Fakhr al-Din al-
Mardini said: “Did I not tell you so before, did I not fear for him?”481
2.3.2 Two Curious Manuscripts from the Artuqids of Kharput
The Sotheby’s auction house sold a collection of texts (majmuʿa) in Arabic and
Persian from 1286 (685 H) on October 19, 2016, which was reportedly owned by al-
Muzaffar Qara Arslan (r. 1260-92), a ruler of the Mardin branch of the Artuqid dynasty
(Figure 2.10). This majmuʿa consists of eleven different texts on astronomy, logic,
arithmetic, philosophy, algebra, inheritance, proverbs, and medicine.482 Based on the
preface of the majmuʿa (f.1v), the owner is identified as “Abu’l-Harith ibn Ibrahim ibn
478 Yusuf Ziya Yörükan, Şihabeddin Sühreverdî ve Nur Heykelleri, trans. A. Kamil Cihan (İstanbul: İnsan
Yayınları, 1998), 47. Yalman argues that “his activity in Rum has to have been towards the end of Qilij
Arslan’s reign, while the princes were already in their provincial centers.” Yalman, “Building the Sultanate
of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r.
1220–1237),” 386.
479 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “15.18 Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī.”
480 Suhrawardī, The Philosophy of Illumination: A New Critical Edition of the Text of Ḥikmat Al-Ishrāq,
XVI.
481 Ibn Abī Uṣaibiʿa, “15.18 Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī.”
482 “Majmu’a, a Scientific, Astronomical and Mathematical Compendium of Eleven Works, dedicated to
the Artuqid Ruler Abu’l-Harith Ibn Qara Arsalan Ibn Artuq, Mardin, Anatolia, Dated 685 AH/1286 AD,”
Sotheby’s, n.d., https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/arts-of-the-islamic-world-l16223/
lot.104.html.
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108
Abi [sic] Bakr ibn Qara Arsalan [sic] ibn Dawud ibn Sakman [sic] ibn Artuq” in the
auction catalogue.483 Due to the manuscript’s date, the experts who prepared the catalogue
text incorrectly and attributed it to al-Muzaffar Qara Arslan from the Artuqids of
Mardin.484 The book, however, belongs to the grandson of the founder of the Kharput
branch, ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr, as proven by the owner’s name and genealogy. Abu’l-
Harith’s father is Nizam al-Din Ibrahim (r. 1204-23), who ascended the throne after Abu
Bakr.485
Although the auction house has not disclosed the identity of its new owner, I
believe this scientific text collection, which includes the works of anonymous and known
writers, might have ended up in a private collection. Therefore, the manuscript could not
be studied.486 However, there are two different witnesses who saw and briefly examined
it. The first one is the Ottoman numismatist İsmail Ghalib Edhem (d. 1895) who records
the full dedicatory inscription in his coinage catalogue as:
“Our Lord/Master/Ruler/Prince, the Just, the Victorious, the Reviver of Justice, the Glory
of the World and Religion (Mawlana Malik, al-ʿAdil, al-Muẓaffar, Muhyi al-ʿAdl, ʿIzz al-
Dunya wa’l-Din), Abu’l-Harith Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi [Abu] Bakr ibn Qara Arslan
ibn Dawud ibn Sakman [Sökmen] ibn Artuq – the Helper (Nasir) of the Commander of the
Faithful (Amir al-Muʾminin – the Caliph).”487
483 Ibid. The corrected version needs to be: Abu’l-Harith ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Bakr ibn Qara Arslan ibn
Dawud ibn Sökmen ibn Artuq.
484 The Sotheby’s auction house previously sold two other Artuqid objects. An Artuqid brass basin prepared
for al-Muzaffar Qara Arslan ibn Ghazi I was sold on April 24, 2012. It consists of three dedicatory
inscriptions giving the name of three Artuqid rulers from Mardin branch. First inscription gives the full title
of al-Muzaffar Qara Arslan; the other two names are Amir (Prince) Dawud ibn al-Malik al-Salih Shams al-
Din Mahmud (r. 1368-76), and his son al-Malik al-Zahir Majd al-Din Isa ibn Dawud II (r. 1376-1407). The
Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha bought this Artuqid dynastic basin, and it was exhibited in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2016. The second Artuqid object, a silver and gold-inlaid bronze jug
dedicated to al-Malik al-Zahir Majd al-Din Isa ibn Dawud II (r. 1376-1407) was sold on 27 April 1995 (lot
58) by the Sotheby’s. See Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani, “Le Basin du Sultan Qarā Arslān Ibn ĪlĠāzī,”
Revue des Études Islamiques 36, no.2 (1968), 263-78. See “An Artuqid Silver-Inlaid Brass Basin
Made for Sultan Qara Arslan Ibn Il Ghazi, Mardin, Anatolia, Second Half 13th Century,” Sotheby’s,
https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/arts-of-the-islamic-world/lot.538.html. See Sheila
R. Canby et al., Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 58.
485 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part 3
The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace, 84.
486 My analysis is based on the existing publications and information to which I have access.
487 Translation by the thesis author. İsmail Ghalib only includes the Arabic inscription in the text. Edhem,
Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou' Atabeqyéh Et Meliks Eyoubites De
Meiyafarikin, 25. Edhem, Müze-i Hümâyûn Meskûkât-ı İslâmiyye Kısmından Meskûkât-ı Türkmâniyye
Kataloğu, 23.
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109
Figure 2.10. Majmuʿa consisting of eleven scientific texts from the library of Artuqid
Malik Abu’l-Harith ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Bakr ibn Qara Arslan ibn Dawud ibn Sökmen
ibn Artuq, dated 1286 (685 H), presumably Private Collection (Sotheby’s, Arts of the
Islamic World, Lot 140, 19 October 2016).
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110
Ghalib argues that the manuscript is reliable because it provides genealogy in the
correct order in the section devoted to the Artuqids of Kharput.488 He refers to the
dedicatee as “Abu’l-Harith Ahmad” after counting his honorific titles. According to
Ghalib, the dedicatory inscription is written in the preface of the work titled Kitāb al-
Tanqīḥāt, and dated the beginning of month of Safar 685 (between March and April
1286). Only in his Ottoman Turkish catalogue, this text’s subject is noted as “ilm-i hesab”
which stands for mathematics and arithmetic in Ottoman Turkish.489 It’s not clear why
this sentence was omitted in the French version.
In the Sotheby’s catalogue, the names of the different texts in this manuscript are
listed in order. The anonymously written Kitāb al-Tanqīhāt is first on the list, but the
subject is identified as metaphysics, logic, and physics. This catalogue further argues that
the author is most likely Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi al-Maqtul (d. 1191) even though it
is not written.490 There is no known book by al-Suhrawardi with this title. However, the
Jewish physician and philosopher Ibn Kamnuna (d. 1284) wrote a book with a very
similar title in 1268 (667 H) called Al-Tanqīḥāt fī Sharḥ al-Talwīḥāt (Refinement and
Commentary on Suhrawardi’s Intimations), which is based on al-Suhrawardi’s Ishraqi
philosophy and his book titled the Intimations (al-Talwīḥāt).491 It is difficult to say
without personally inspecting the manuscript, but this first work could be a copy of Ibn
Kamnuna’s work. The Sotheby’s catalogue has overlooked this possibility.
The author of the preface defines Malik Ahmad, the owner of the manuscript, as
“a prince who loved the arts and sciences.”492 There is no other information available
about Ahmad, but based on the abovementioned manuscript, researcher-lawyer Nureddin
Ardıçoğlu, who extensively published on the Artuqids of Kharput, claims that he
ascended the throne after his father Nizam al-Din Ibrahim.493 Despite this, Ibn al-Athir
mentions that ʿIzz al-Din Khidr, the son of Nizam al-Din Ibrahim, died in 1225 (622 H)
488 Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou’ Atabeqyéh Et Meliks
Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, 24. Edhem, Müze-i Hümâyûn Meskûkât-ı İslâmiyye Kısmından Meskûkât-ı
Türkmâniyye Kataloğu, 22.
489 Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou’ Atabeqyéh Et Meliks
Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, 24. Edhem, Müze-i Hümâyûn Meskûkât-ı İslâmiyye Kısmından Meskûkât-ı
Türkmâniyye Kataloğu, 22.
490 “Majmu’a, a Scientific, Astronomical and Mathematical Compendium of Eleven Works, dedicated to
the Artuqid Ruler Abu’l-Harith Ibn Qara Arsalan Ibn Artuq, Mardin, Anatolia, Dated 685 AH/1286 AD.”
491 Ibn-Kammūna Saʿd Ibn-Manṣūr, Ahmed Alwishah, and Hossein Ziai, Al-Tanqīḥāt fī Sharḥ Al-Talwīḥāt:
Refinement and Commentary on Suhrawardī’s Intimations, A Thirteenth Century Text on Natural
Philosophy and Psychology (Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publications, 2002).
492 Edhem, Catalogue Des Monnaies Turcomanes: Beni Ortok, Beni Zengui, Frou’ Atabeqyéh Et Meliks
Eyoubites De Meiyafarikin, 25.
493 Ardıçoğlu, Harput Tarihi, 52-3.
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and was succeeded by his son, Nur al-Din Artuq Shah (r. 1225-34).494 Baluken, referring
to both Ardıçoğlu and Ghalib, claims that ʿIzz al-Din Ahmad and ʿIzz al-Din Khidr are
the same person, and that the Artuqids of Kharput did not exist in 1286 since the Rum
Seljuks previously ended it in 1234. The same author also argues that this majmuʿa might
also have been copied from the original copy prepared for ʿIzz al-Din Khidr.495 More
written evidence is required to establish that Ahmad and Khidr are the same person.
Artuqid prince Ahmad could have been Nizam al-Din Ibrahim’s “throneless son” and he
could have lived until 1286. The important point to emphasize here is that Abu’l-Harith
Ahmad has his private library and is well-educated enough to read a wide range of
scientific texts. If Ibn Kamnuna’s commentary on al-Suhrawardi’s philosophy is included
in Ahmad’s book, it is a manifestation of their family’s interest in philosophy, particularly
the al-Suhrawardi connection, beginning with his grandfather ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr ibn
Qara Arslan. I believe this majmuʿa’s rigorous and careful research will help us answer
these details in the future. I hope the new owner will make it available to scholars so that
it can be analyzed thoroughly.
İsmail Ghalib does not mention where he saw the book or who owned Abu’l-
Harith’s manuscript. However, the physician and medical historian Süheyl Ünver was
fortunate enough to see and investigate it in the library of the lawyer Halil Ethem Arda.496
Ünver reveals that an Arabic work on logic (al-manṭiq) entitled Kitāb al-Qawāʾid al-
Hikamīyya (Book of the Philosophical Principles) was written for “ʿIzz ad-Dunya wa’l-
Din Abu’l-Harith ibn Ibrahim ibn Abi [Abu] Bakr ibn Qara Arslan ibn Dawud ibn
Soqman [Sökmen] ibn Artouq [Artuq]” in 1286 (685 H). Ünver mentions the name of the
author as al-Imam Dhiya’ al-Din Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Ni’matallah al-Jirani.
Besides, he adds that the book contains a collection of article with the same date, which
has not been mentioned by the Sotheby’s auction catalogue and İsmail Ghalib. He does
not specify where other dates are located. 497
There is conflicting data about this manuscript in all three sources. First, only
Ghalib copies the full inscription, and he includes the name Ahmad in his coinage
494 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta’rikh. Part 3
The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace, 254.
495 Baluken, “Harput Artukluları = Artuqids of Harput,” 230.
496 A. Süheyl Ünver, “Quelques Nouveaux Exemples du Service Rendu Par Les Artoukides de L’Empire
Seldjuk à L’Histoire des Sciences,” Extrait des Archives Internationales d’Histoire Des Sciences, no 4
(Paris: J. Peyronnet, 1948), 587.
497 Ünver, “Quelques Nouveaux Exemples du Service Rendu Par Les Artoukides de L’Empire Seldjuk à
L’Histoire des Sciences,” 587.
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catalogue, whereas neither Sotheby’s nor Ünver do. The second issue is the current
location of the dedicatory inscription. The Sotheby’s catalogue disproves İsmail Ghalib’s
claim that the Kitāb al-Tanqīhāt is a work of arithmetic/mathematics, despite Ghalib’s
definition of the book as such. The fact that the inscription is said to be on the folio 1v in
the auction catalogue, Ünver’s article makes reference to al-Jirani’s work which was
listed as the second text in the Sotheby’s catalogue. A suggestion can be made as to the
location of the dedicatory inscription that when Ünver examined the book in the library
of Halil Ethem Arda, the first and second texts might not have been ordered properly.
Nevertheless, in the light of all these uncertainties about the majmuʿa, there is a need for
detailed study of it otherwise all these discussions will remain hypothetical.
The lawyer Halil Ethem Arda, from Thessaloniki, had an impressive collection of
manuscripts and calligraphy. He decorated his famous mansion number 41, located in
İlyas Bey Çıkmaz of Şifa Sokak, in Kadıköy district of Istanbul, with the special works
in his collection.498 Following his death in 1966, a part of his collection was sold, while
the remainder, 140 works, was donated to the Topkapı Palace Museum by his daughters
and wife between 1968 and 1972.499 Malik Ahmad’s majmuʿa never entered the collection
of the Topkapı Palace, and most probably changed hands until it’s latest sale by the
Sotheby’s auction house in 2016.500
Süheyl Ünver discovered another manuscript that reflects the fondness of Artuqid
dynasty family members for philosophy and the existence of their private libraries. This
Arabic manuscript is located in the Süleymaniye Library today and registered as MS.
Ayasofya 2456. The copyists did not include a date, but Ünver places it in the thirteenth
century.501 Researcher Teymour Morel, recently examined the same manuscript. Morel
distinguishes two codicological units, the first of which consists of four different texts
498 Zeynep Atbaş, “Koleksiyoner Halil Ethem Arda'nın Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi'ndeki
Koleksiyonu,” in Zeren Tanındı Armağanı. İslam Dünyasında Kitap Sanatı Ve Kültürü = Zeren Tanındı
Festschrift. Art and Culture of Books in the Islamic World, ed. Aslıhan Erkmen and Şebnem Tamcan
Parladır (Istanbul: Lale Yayıncılık, 2022), 79. For the description of his mansion and Quran collection, See
Müfid Ekdal, Bizans Metropolünde İlk Türk Köyü: Kadıköy (İstanbul: Kadıköy Belediyesi, 1996), 279-80.
Müfid Ekdal, Kapalı Hayat Kutusu: Kadıköy Konakları (İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2014), 88-9.
499 Atbaş, “Koleksiyoner Halil Ethem Arda'nın Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi’ndeki Koleksiyonu,”
79.
500 I would like to thank Zeynep Atbaş for sharing this information with me. When I first heard that the
books of Halil Ethem Arda had been donated to the Topkapı Palace, I wondered if Abu’l-Harith Ahmad’s
manuscript was also on this list. The fact that it was sold abroad raised my doubts whether it was exposed
to the smuggling of historical artifacts. However, the book was most likely sold after the collector’s death.
Unfortunately, I could not find any information about the manuscript’s later owners.
501 Ünver, “Quelques Nouveaux Exemples du Service Rendu Par Les Artoukides de L’Empire Seldjuk à
L’Histoire des Sciences,” 587. Ünver, “Artıklılar Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” 223.
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Figure 2.11. The dedicatory inscription written at the top-middle of MS. Ayasofya 2456,
f.IVr, Süleymaniye Library, Istanbul.502
502 The inscription was first published by Süheyl Ünver in 1948 in two articles, later Teymour Morel republished
and analyzed it recently. See, Ünver, “Artıklılar Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” 223.
Ünver, “Quelques Nouveaux Exemples du Service Rendu Par Les Artoukides de L’Empire Seldjuk à
L’Histoire des Sciences,” 587. Morel, “An Unknown Artuqid Emir?,” 417.
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written by Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (d. 1037) and a commentary by his pupil Ibn Zayla (d.
1048), while the second part possesses “a pseudo-correspondence between Aristotle and
Alexander the Great as well as various texts and passages of gnomological nature.”503
The author identifies two different copyists; however, the first one who copied the Risālat
Ḥayy b. Yaqẓān (Epistle of Ḥayy b. Yaqẓān), and its commentary by Ibn Zayla, also
prepared the dedicatory inscription of this manuscript (Figure 2.11).504
The scribe reports that the texts of Ibn Sina were prepared for the “library of the
most honorable and most generous emir, the benefactor, the master, the light of this world
and Religion, the glory of Islam and Muslims, Muḥammad b. Ismā‘īl [b.] Abī Bakr Ibn
[A]rtuq.”505 Ünver argues that this amir, Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Abu Bakr ibn Artuq
was from the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid.506 In contrast, Morel eliminates two
candidates: Nur al-Din Muhammad, son of Qara Arslan from the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa
and Amid or Nur al-Din Muhammad, son of al-Malik al-Saʿid Shams al-Din Dawud I (r.
1292-94) from the Artuqids of Mardin.507
Indeed, the genealogy of the owner clearly shows that this amir was either, the
grandson or great-grandson of ʿImad al-Din Abu Bakr, ibn Qara Arslan from the Kharput
branch or the son of Abu Bakr ibn ʿAli al-Harami ibn Alptash ibn Artuq who was a
member of the Artuqid family. The second possible candidate was recorded by the
chronicler Ibn al-Azraq in his book where he reports that ʿAli al-Harami died while he
was serving for Husam al-Din Timurtash from the Mardin branch, and his son Abu Bakr
was a Sufi and faqih who lived long and served for the sons of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan
in Hisn Kayfa.508 There is no other Abu Bakr recorded among the Artuqid family
members. Like Abu’l-Harith Ahmad ibn Ibrahim ibn Abu Bakr, no historical sources
focusing on the Artuqid dynasty mention Muhammad ibn Ismail ibn Abu Bakr too. I
believe this manuscript belonged to an Artuqid amir who never ascended to the throne
thus the chroniclers did not pay attention to him. The possible candidate could be a prince
from the Artuqids of Kharput, yet further written evidence about him is needed. The
503 I am grateful to Dr. Teymour Morel for sharing his article with me. See Teymour Morel, “An Unknown
Artuqid Emir?,” Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph, no. 66 (2015- 2016): 415. Morel lists the names
of Ibn Sina’s texts as following: “Risālat Ḥayy b. Yaqẓān (Epistle of Ḥayy b. Yaqẓān) (fol. IVv-5v); Risālat
al-Ṭayr (Epistle of the Bird) (fol. 29r-31v); Fī al-Aǧrām al-‘Ulwiyya (On the Supernal Bodies) (fol. 31v-
41r); Asbāb Ḥudūṯ al-Ḥurūf (On the Causes of the Production of the Letters) (fol. 41r-49r).” Ibid, 415.
504 Morel, “An Unknown Artuqid Emir?,” 416.
505 Ibid, 416.
506 Ünver, “Quelques Nouveaux Exemples du Service Rendu Par Les Artoukides de L’Empire Seldjuk à
L’Histoire des Sciences,” 587. Ünver, “Artıklılar Kütüphaneleri Hakkında Yeni Tetkikler,” 223.
507 Morel, 416-7.
508 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 224.
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overall content of the manuscript as well as his interest in Ibn Sina’s works might indicate
that this prince, like his grandfather or great-grandfather Artuqid ruler ʿImad al-Din Abu
Bakr, enjoyed reading and learning philosophy. The members of the Kharput branch left
behind these significant manuscripts demonstrating their interests in the ancient sciences,
particularly philosophy, as well as the manuscript production for their personal libraries.
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Chapter 3:
ʿILM AND ʿAMAL: MATERIAL EVIDENCE OF SCIENTIFIC
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ARTUQID REALMS
3.1 Artuqid ruler Nasir al-Din Mahmud ibn Muhammad (r. 1201-22) and al-
Jazari’s Automata
The Artuqid ruler of Hisn Kayfa and Amid, Qutb al-Din Sökmen II (r. 1185-
1201), died after falling from the roof of a pleasure pavilion (al-jawsaq) he possessed
outside of Hisn Kayfa.509 The Dunaysir-born scribe and poet ʿUmar Ibn Ibrahim (d. 1209)
wrote an elegy after his pass telling the cause of his death: “Surely Sökmen was
honorable; Those aged drinks, which are very destructive, destroyed him.”510 Before his
death, Sökmen II selected his slave (ghulām) Ayas as his heir, who was married to
Sökmen’s sister. Moreover, Sökmen II disliked his brother, Nasir al-Din Mahmud (r.
1201-22). He banished him to Hisn Mansur (modern Adıyaman Castle) and kept him in
a remote part of their realm. Ayas took over the state after Sökmen II died in 1201. The
Artuqid viziers, however, desired to replace him and dispatched Nasir al-Din Mahmud to
seize power. Ayas was imprisoned and then released at the request of the Rum Seljuk
sultan. Ayas then migrated to Anatolia and was employed as a state amir of the Rum
Seljuks.511
After fleeing to the Rum Seljuks, Ayas became involved in architectural projects.
509 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta’rikh. Part 3
The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace, 60. The fifteenthcentury
Ayyubid bureaucrat al-Munshi al-Hisni (d. after 1420) reports that Sökmen II fell from a roof of a
jawsaq approving Ibn al-Athir. See Al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim al-Munshi al-Hisni, Tarikh Hisn Kayfa, ed. Yusuf
Baluken (Istanbul: Nubihar Yayınları, 2019), 68.
510 For the full Arabic elegy in Arabic and Aslan’s translation, See Ahmet Aslan, “Artuklular Zamanında
Düneysir (Kızıltepe’de) Arap Edebiyatı Çevresi,” Harran Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 13, no.
20 (2008): 271. I would like to thank Ahmet Faruk Okatan for his help for retranslation of this verse.
511 Ibn al-Athir writes his name “Iyas,” but he is commonly referred as “Ayas” or “Ayaz” in the scholarship.
Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta’rikh. Part 3
The Years 589–629/1193–1231: The Ayyubids after Saladin and the Mongol Menace, 60-1. On footnote
10, translator Donald S. Richards notes the Rum Seljuk sultan as Rukn al-Din Sulaymanshah ibn Qilij
Arslan II (r.1196-1204), but Yalman argues that Rukn al-Din’s brother, Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw (r.
1992-6 and 1205-11) was on exile and stayed at the Artuqid court in Amid around this time. The Seljuk
sultan in question was most probably him. Yalman, “‘Ala Al-Din Kayqubad Illuminated: A Rum Seljuq
Sultan as Cosmic Ruler,” 169, 183-4. Ibn Bibi reports the full name of Ayas, who loyally served for both
Seljuk sultans, Kaykhusraw, and his son Kayqubad, as Asad al-Din Ayas with the titles of “constable”
(kundastabl), or “crazy Ayas” (Ayas-i majnun). See Ibn Bībī, El Evamirü’l-Ala’iye Fi’l-Umuri’l-Ala’iye
(Selçukname), Vol 1, 254, 311.
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In the construction projects he supervised, Ayas frequently used artists and architects
particularly from Aleppo. Scholars argue that Ayas might have used his previous
networks in the Artuqid territories, and this mirrored the Artuqid contribution to the Rum
Seljuk architecture. For instance, Ayas collaborated on the Konya Great Mosque project
with Syrian architect Muhammad ibn Khawlan al-Dimasqi, as waqf administrator
(mutawallī) during the reign of Kayqubad.512 Prior to his service for Kayqubad, Ayas
worked for Rum Seljuk sultan ʿIzz ad-Din Kaykawus ibn Kaykhusraw (r. 1211-20). An
inscription from the northern façade of the Sinop citadel names Asad al-Din Ayas, as the
governor of Honaz and the personal slave (al-ghālibi, meaning belonging to the
triumphant) of Kaykawus. Moreover, two sultanic inscriptions of Lonca Gate of the Sinop
citadel further mention the name of Syrian military architect Abu ʿAli ibn al-Kattani al-
Halabi. He was later mentioned on the inscription of the Red Tower constructed during
the reign of Kayqubad in Alanya.513
People, ideas, and goods were constantly moving back and forth between Jazira,
Syria, and Anatolia during the medieval period. The agency of Ayas, the presence of
artists from Aleppo and other cities in Anatolia and Artuqid realms, the migration of
scientists and thinkers who worked for the Artuqids to Anatolia and Syria, such as al-
Suhrawardi al-Maqtul, or the departure of physicians such as Fakhr al-Din Mardini and
his student Ibn Raqiqa to work with the Ayyubids were reflection of active networks
established between these regions. For the broader context of Mediterranean in the twelfth
century, Hoffman argues that there was an “international court culture that superseded
geographic regional affiliations.”514 This period was characterized by cultural exchange
between minor independent states in various regions, including Mesopotamia, Anatolia,
Sicily, Syria, Spain, Byzantium, and the Caucasus.515 The Artuqid dynasty, with its three
branches, was also a part of this cultural milieu as well.
Historical records show that Nasir al-Din Mahmud, the Artuqid lord of Amid and
Hisn Kayfa, shared an interest in the ancient sciences, as did Husam al-Din Timurtash.
512 Yalman, 169, 184.
513 See Scott Redford, Legends of Authority: The 1215 Seljuk Inscriptions of Sinop Citadel, Turkey
(Istanbul: Koç University Press, 2014), 87, 170-92, 228-230. Also See Scott Redford, “Mamālik and
Mamālīk: Anatolian Seljuk Citadels and Their Decorative and Inscriptional Programs,” in Cities and
Citadels in Turkey: From the Iron Age to the Seljuks, ed. Scott Redford and Nina Ergin (Leuven: Peeters,
2013), 305-346.
514 Eva R. Hoffman, “Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the
Twelfth Century,” Art History 24, no. 1 (2001): 25.
515 Hoffman, “Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the Twelfth
Century,” 25.
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As stated in the introduction to this thesis, Arab historian Ibn al-Athir describes Nasir al-
Din Mahmud as a tyrant who mistreated his subjects. He believed in philosophers’
teachings and their ideas about the denial of bodily resurrection.516 What al-Athir
emphasizes here is crucial. In the medieval period, Muslim philosophers following the
Aristotelian and Neoplatonist schools denied the bodily resurrection. Their ideas
contradicted Islamic norms asserting the certainty of bodily resurrection.517 It is clear that
Ibn al-Athir has prejudices against philosophers, but one can learn about Nasir al-Din
Mahmud’s interests. He was well-versed in philosophy.
A notable polymath, court engineer (al-muhandis), and inventor (al-mubtakir),
widely known for his contributions to the development of technology and mechanical
devices, served at least twenty-five years at the court of Nur al-Din Muhammad started
in 570 H (1174/5) and continued during the rule of his sons, Qutb al-Din Sökmen II and
Nasir al-Din Mahmud. His full name is Badiʿ al-Zaman Abu’l-ʿIzz Ismaʿil al-Razzaz al-
Jazari (d. 1206).518 The nisba “al-Jazari” reveals that he was originally from the Jazira
region and actively worked in the Diyar Bakr territory. His honorary title Badiʿ al-Zaman
means “prodigy of the age” and his honorific Abu’l-ʿIzz stands for “father of the wellrespected.”
519 The only information available about al-Jazari, whose life story and himself
are not recorded in any historical source, is contained in the book he authored. Sezgin
mentions that the colophons of some manuscript copies indicate that al-Jazari finished his
work two years after Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s accession to the throne. In an earlier study,
Riefstahl argues that the book was definitely written after 597 H (1200/1), but he
disagrees with the studies claiming that the book was completed in 1206.520
Al-Jazari presented his book titled Al-Jāmi‘ Bayn Al-‘Ilm Wa Al-‘Amal Al-Nāfi‘
Fī Ṣinā‘At Al-Ḥiyal (Compendium on the Theory And Useful Practice of The Mechanical
Arts) to Nasir al-Din Mahmud. The Artuqid lord was interested not only in philosophy
but also in science and engineering. Al-Jazari reports that his book project started after
the request of Nasir al-Din Mahmud, who enjoyed observing and discussing his
516 See Page 34.
517 Imtiaz Yusuf, “Discussion Between Al-Ghazzālī and Ibn Rushd About The Nature Of Resurrection,”
Islamic Studies 25, no. 2 (1986): 182.
518 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], XV–XVII, 2.
519 Gerhard Jaritz, “al-Jazarī, Badīʿ al-Zamān,” Encyclopaedia of Islam Third Edition, Online Version.
520 Ibn Ar-Razzāz al-Jazarī, Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts = Al-Jami'
Bain Al-'Ilm Wa-l-'Amal an-Nafi' Fi Sina'at Al-Hiyal, ed. Fuat Sezgin (Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the
History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 2002), VI-VII. Rudolf M. Riefstahl, “The Date and Provenance of the
Automata Miniatures,” The Art Bulletin 11, no. 2 (1929): 210.
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mechanical devices. Nasir al-Din wanted al-Jazari to compile his selected fantastic
devices and automata in an illustrated book.521 As a court engineer, toolmaker, and
craftsman, he emphasizes that he never constructed a device without first consulting with
Nasir al-Din Mahmud. The ruler was also involved in the creation and design processes.
He further shared his opinions and was highly active in the patronage process of this
manuscript. Moreover, al-Jazari mentions that he witnessed the interests of philosophers
and the Artuqid rulers of his time, which encouraged him to continue his scientific
studies.522 Although these details give the impression of a close and fascinating
relationship between the Artuqid patron and his artist/court engineer, al-Jazari makes sure
to mention that he has submitted himself before Mahmud. The court engineer states in his
introductory text that he had to follow the pattern the ruler suggested to him, because he
had no other choice but to obey.523 It explains the nature of their patronage relationship.
Saliba argues that al-Jazari wrote his book in the Aristotelian tradition of
Mechanical Problems, which aims to actualize the potential principles of nature into
reality. This phenomenon was materialized through machines (al-ḥiyal). Al-Jazari
combines both theory (ʿilm) and practice (ʿamal) while he is talking about the mechanical
arts in this book.524 Saliba further underlines that Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s statement as
recorded by al-Jazari, repeats the Aristotelian terminology: “You have made peerless
models and brought them forth from potentiality into actuality.”525 Al-Jazari embraces
the Aristotelian philosophical doctrines wholeheartedly. In a recent publication, Balafrej
analyzes the “automated slaves” in the al-Jazari’s book and further suggests that even
though al-Jazari did not include in his book, there is a close link between Aristotle’s
definition of slave as “animate equipment” and his ideas about how the automated labor
and slavery are connected.526
Al-Jazari’s work has survived in fifteen copies to the present day. The oldest
existing manuscripts are found in two copies, first one dated 1206 (602 H) and the second
either dated (?) 1273 or 1206 (672 H or 602 H) in the Topkapı Palace and third copy dated
521 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 1-2.
522 Ibid, 1-2.
523 Ibid, 2.
524 George Saliba, “The Function of Mechanical Devices in Medieval Islamic Society,” Annals of the New
York Academy of Sciences 441 (1985): 142-3.
525 Ibid, 143.
526 Lamia Balafrej, “Automated Slaves, Ambivalent Images, and Noneffective Machines in Al-Jazari’s
Compendium of the Mechanical Arts, 1206,” 21: Inquiries Into Art, History, and the Visual, no. 4 (2022):
748.
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1315 (715 H) in a private collection.527 The oldest known manuscript was copied from a
reproduction based on al-Jazari’s original work and registered as MS. Ahmet III 3472 at
the Topkapı Palace Library.528 According to Oxford Bodleian copy, al-Jazari completed
his work on 4th of Jumada II, 602 H (January 16, 1206). The colophon of MS. Ahmet III
3472 reflects that this copy was finished by the end of Shaʿban 602 H (April 10, 1206).
It was copied in naskhi script by Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn ʿUthman al-Hiskafi who was
coming from Hisn Kayfa. The scribe reveals that al-Jazari was not alive when he
completed this copy.
Three copies were produced in 1206, two of them are in the Topkapı Palace, and
the third one was used as a model to produce the Oxford Bodleian copy.529 Ward argues
that this copy was produced in the Artuqid court since the nisba of the scribe, signals the
first Artuqid capital, Hisn Kayfa. All three copies carry ciphers which were also
commonly used on the Artuqid coins. They also have the same testimony (shahāda) and
the colophon at the end of the text. The common details might signal that there was a
manuscript studio at the Artuqid palace that copied and illustrated the work of al-Jazari.530
The fifty devices in al-Jazari’s book are organized into six distinct categories.
Each device is numbered by the letters of the Arabic alphabet from 1 to 50. He intended
to simplify complex machinery. So, al-Jazari provided detailed drawings to show
different components and their subassemblies. There are 174 illustrations total, depicting
various designs for clocks, locks, vessels for drinking parties, pumps, locks, door,
doorknobs, locks and fountains with moving figures, for instance dancing slave girls,
musicians, slave servants, and animals (elephants, peacocks, dragons, eagles, monkeys,
etc.). Some of his devices are meant to be practical such as fountains, perpetual flutes,
and machines for raising water.531 Furthermore, the Artuqid court was entertained by a
527 Registered as respectively: MS. Ahmet III 3472 and MS. Hazine 414. The dating of MS. Hazine 414 is
debated. Ahmad Yusuf al-Hassan argues that previous studies misread the date 602 as 672 thus he
designates the manuscript is one of the oldest copies. See Ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī, Al-Jāmiʻ Bain Al-ʻilm
Wal-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Sināʻat Al-Hiyal, ed. Ahmad Yusuf al-Hassan (Institute for the History of Arabic
Science, 1979), 13. Third copy was sold at the Sotheby’s auction in 1978, and Hill could access the blackand-
white photocopy of the manuscript and published it. See Donald Routledge Hill, “XVI Notice of an
Important Al-Jazara Manuscript,” in Studies in Medieval Islamic Technology: From Philo to Al-Jazarī -
from Alexandria to Diyār Bakr, ed. Donald Routledge Hill and David A. King (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998),
291.
528 Ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī, Al-Jāmiʻ Bain Al-ʻilm Wal-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Sināʻat Al-Hiyal, 9.
529 Oxford copy is registered as MS. Graves 27. Rachel Ward, “Evidence for a School of Painting at the
Artuqid Court,” in The Art of Syria and the Jazira, 1100–1250, ed. Julian Raby (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1985), 69-74.
530 Ward, “Evidence for a School of Painting at the Artuqid Court,” 76, 80.
531 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 1-328.
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variety of unique automata, such as a boat full of female slave musicians performing for
the royal audience or tricky drinking vessels.532
Figure 3.1. Castle Water Clock, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-
ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.5r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The
Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition], 1990).
The mechanical devices created by al-Jazari demonstrate the high progress of
technology and engineering in his environment. Both al-Jazari and Nasir al-Din Mahmud
had a close affinity with the ancient sciences, and some of al-Jazari’s devices further
prove this fact. The first mechanical device of the book is the Castle Water Clock (Figure
3.1). It is a monumental water clock (binkām) designed to display solar hours. The day
and night are divided into twelve hours. Every hour, a door opens, and a human figure
532 Jaritz, “al-Jazarī, Badīʿ al-Zamān.”
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emerges from this watch on the upper door niches. The watch is powered by the
movement of water from its reservoir. The door directly beneath this human figure reads
“God, the Owner of Dominion/the King” (Allah, al-Mālik) in Kufic script. This door turns
on its axis simultaneously with the human figure and changes its color (Figure 3.2).533
The falcons with open wings come forward drop bronze ball from their mouths into the
vases underneath every hour, and the glass lamps on the arch alternately light up to show
the position of the Sun during the day. The musicians in the middle of the floor play
drums, cymbals, and zurna at various times of the day, such as during the night, day, and
prayer hours.534 All of these elements together creates a ceremonial and theatrical setting
at the court.
The castle-like structure is topped with a semicircular astronomical dial which
shows six of the twelve zodiac signs that are currently visible on the horizon line. The
astronomical dial is designed as a circle, with the bottom half representing the other six
zodiac signs below the horizon (Figure 3.3). It also depicts the Sun’s and Moon’s orbits
and positions them in the sky during the day.535 The astronomical dial visualizes how
geocentric universe model developed by Ptolemy in his book Almagest, was still
influential in the time of al-Jazari. In addition, astronomical and astrological
representations seem to be significant part of the Artuqid court culture in Amid and were
openly used in this context. Another significant issue is al-Jazari’s and the Artuqid ruler’s
interest in the concept of time and its management here.
The iconography of al-Jazari’s astronomical dial reflects the traces of ancient
legacy transmitted through time. A drawing similar to Jazari’s dial is found in the oldest
extant illustrated codex of Ptolemy’s Handy Tables (Procheiroi Kanones) which is a
practical handbook for calculating the movements of celestial bodies (Figure 3.4). This
lavishly designed copy is believed to be prepared during the reign of Byzantine Emperor
Constantine V (r. 741-75) who was also an admirer of alchemy.536 The sun god, Helios
533 It can be reference to the part of the Quranic verse (3:189) [sūrat āl ʿim’rān].
534 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 3-38. Also See Ismāʻīl ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī, The Book
of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, trans. Donald Routledge Hill (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1974),
18-41.
535 Ismāʻīl ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, trans. Donald
Hill (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1974), 18-41.
536 Mavroudi, “Translations from Greek into Latin and Arabic during the Middle Ages: Searching for the
Classical Tradition,” 46. Wright, “The Date of the Vatican Illuminated Handy Tables of Ptolemy and of its
Early Additions,” 355. However, the date of this codex is debated. For details, See Leslie Brubaker and
John F. Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, (Ca 680-850): An Annotated Survey (Routledge: London,
2016), 38-40.
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Figure 3.2. Door with the Kufic inscription, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘
fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.12r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul
(Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
Figure 3.3. Astronomical Dial of al-Jazari’s Castle Water Clock, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm
wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.27r, Topkapı Palace
Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices
[facsimile edition], 1990).
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or Sol Invictus on a quadriga is located at the center of the cosmos. He is surrounded by
the circles divided into twelve section each. The inner circle depicts twelve naked
personifications of hours in dark and light skin. The second circle has twelve clothed male
figures representing the personifications of months. Lastly, the outer circle shows the
Zodiac signs in classical iconography. The names of the months and the signs of the
zodiac are written in Greek on the intermediate rings.537 The zodiac signs on Al-Jazari’s
dial are comparable to those in Handy Tables, with the exception of Handy Tables’
winged Virgo, naked Gemini, and naked Libra holding the scales. For Virgo, al-Jazari
stays loyal to the Al-Sufi’s manuscripts’ hunched shoulder iconography. The absence of
naked depictions can also be interpreted as evidence of this ancient legacy’s societal
adaption in the Islamicate context.
Figure 3.4. Zodiac circle with Helios in the center, Ptolemy’s Handy Tables (Procheiroi
Kanones), ca. 9th century, Byzantium, MS. Vaticanus Graecus (Vat. gr.) 1291, f.9r.,
Vatican Library, Vatican.
537 Brubaker and Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, (Ca 680-850): An Annotated Survey, 37-8.
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Water clocks and other types of automata entered in diverse courtly and public
contexts in the medieval world. They were also sent as diplomatic gifts for foreign rulers.
It was possible to encounter automata in cities such as Cairo, Samarra, Baghdad,
Constantinople, Sicily, Karakorum and other Mongol capitals. Abbasid Caliph Harun al-
Rashid (r. 786-809) sent Frankish king Charlemagne a brass water clock as a diplomatic
gift in 807. One could witness singing “artificial birds,” “artificial trees,” and “musical
fountains” at the Abbasid Palace in Baghdad.538 The Italian diplomat and bishop
Liudprand of Cremona (d. 972) traveled to the court of Byzantine Emperor Constantine
VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913-59) in 949 where he saw the emperor’s gilded bronze
automata titled the “Throne of Solomon” accompanied by roaring lions and singing
birds.539 In 1142, Norman King Roger II (r. 1130-54) constructed a water clock, has not
survived, with trilingual inscriptions in Latin, Greek and Arabic on the wall next to the
Capella Palatina in Sicily.540 Traveler Ibn Jubayr came across with the water clock located
on the Damascus Mosque’s east door in 1184. Every hour, two bronze falcons would lean
forward and drop two brass balls each into the brass cups below them. Perhaps the falcon
design of al-Jazari’s Castle Water Clock was inspired by this clock.541
The Norman King Roger II was known for his cosmopolitan court culture and
artistic production reflecting shared themes of the medieval courtly life in the twelfth
century. His famous coronation robe, the “Mantle of Roger” is made of red silk and
embroidered with gold threads. Its triumph of lion over camel scene is decorated with red
dots which could possibly evoke “their original ancient association with stars and
constellations.”542 While adorning his coronation mantle with astrological and
cosmological symbolism, Roger II was not alone. Prior to him, the Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II (r. 973-1024) received “the Star Mantle,” originally made of dark violet silk,
which carries embroidered heavenly bodies and thirty-two constellations (including
538 Elly Rachel Truitt, Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2017), 20-1.
539 Truitt, Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art, 22-3.
540 See Hubert Houben, Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West, trans. G. A. Loud and Diane
Milburn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 104. For the details of the trilingual inscription,
See Jeremy Johns, “Lastra con iscrizione trilingue dalla clessidra di re Ruggero II : Trilingual inscription
from the clepsydra of King Roger,” in Nobiles Officinae: perle, filigrane e trame di seta dal Palazzo Reale
di Palermo, ed. Maria Andaloro (Catania: Giuseppe Maimone, 2006), 772-3.
541 Abū al-Ḥusayn Muḥammad Ibn Aḥmad Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr: A Medieval Journey
from Cordoba to Jerusalem, trans. Ronald J. C. Broadhurst (London: I.B. Tauris, 2020), 300-1. This clock
is also called “Jayrun Water Clock” and constructed by muwaqqit and clockmaker Muhammad al-Saʿati
during the reign of Zengid ruler Nur al-Din Zengi (r. 1154-74).
542 Hoffman, “Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the Twelfth
Century,” 32.
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Zodiac signs) in octagonal star-shaped frames (Figure 3.5).543
Figure 3. 5. The Star Mantle of Henry II, between 1014-24, Inv.2728/3-6,
Diözesanmuseum Bamberg, Germany (Coatsworth and Owen-Crocker 2018, 74).
Roger II’s painted wooden nave ceiling of Cappella Palatina also features
octagonal star decorations framed by the Kufic inscriptions on the octagonal coffers
(Figure 3.6). Twenty octagonal stars are lined in two longitudinal lines and this central
part was connected to the walls through transitionary wooden muqarnas frame.544 The use
of muqarnas ceilings in palatial contexts was a widespread practice in the medieval
Mediterranean Islamicate courts. The pavilions or kiosks with muqarnas ceilings also
constructed by the Christian dynasties, for instance the twelfth-century palace of the
Mouchroutas in Constantinople can be an example of it. The pictorial cycles of Cappella
Palatina also follows Islamic courtly entertainment scenes with dancing girls and
musicians, animal representations, servants and so on.545
543 Elizabeth Coatsworth and Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early
Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 75-6.
544 Fabrizio Agnello, “The Painted Ceiling of the Nave of The Cappella Palatina in Palermo: An Essay On
Its Geometric And Constructive Features,” Muqarnas 27 (2010): 414
545 For a detailed comparison of the Capella Palatina and Mouchroutas, See Jeremy Johns, “A Tale of Two
Ceilings. The Cappella Palatina in Palermo and the Mouchroutas in Constantinople,” in Art, Trade, and
Culture in the Islamic World and Beyond: From the Fatimids to the Mongols. Studies presented to Doris
Behrens-Abouseif, ed. Alison Ohta et al. (London: Ginko Library, 2016), 58-73. For further details about
the muqarnas pavilions/kiosks, See Eva R. Hoffman and Scott Redford, “Transculturation in the Eastern
Mediterranean,” in A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture, ed. Finbarr Barry Flood and Gülru
Necipoğlu (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2017), 412-4.
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Figure 3.6. The Wooden Nave Ceiling of Capella Palatina, Sicily (Museums With No
Frontiers).
Figure 3.7. Al-Jazari’s door design for the Artuqid Palace in Amid, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm
wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘ fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.165r and f166v,
Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul (Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious
Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition], 1990).
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The wooden ceiling of Cappella Palatina includes consciously written Kufic and
pseudo-Kufic inscriptions along with foliate and geometric designs.546 Greek monk
Philagathos Kerameos, who gave a sermon in the Cappella Palatina during the reign of
Roger II, depicts the wooden ceiling as it “imitates the heavens when, through the clear
air, the host of stars shines everywhere.”547 Roger II is believed to be interested in
astrology and astronomy. Hoffman argues that the octagonal star decorations could carry
possible connections with cosmic imagery but it is not certain.548 The juxtaposition of
Kufic inscriptions with octagonal stars also recall al-Jazari’s monumental door design
with two wings for the Artuqid Palace in Amid (Figure 3.7). Al-Jazari’s cast metalwork
door is composed of “a grid network of hexagonal and octagonal stars joined by
rhomboidal filler units.”549 Al-Jazari utilizes a script reminiscent of foliated Kufic for the
inscription band that he defines in his words as “Kufic script with intertwined letters, and
between the letters are intertwined leaves.”550
Among al-Jazari’s mechanical devices, the bloodletting (fasād) measuring
devices are practical tools that might have been used for medical purposes by the Artuqid
court physicians. Al-Jazari designed four bloodletting devices called the monk basin, two
scribes, the basin of the reckoner and the basin of the castle. First one, the Monk Basin
consists of three parts: the tower at the bottom, and a figure of a monk holding a staff on
the top of tower (Figure 3.8). The basin is located between them. As al-Jazari emphasizes
his identity, the “Christian” monk wears a hooded cloak. The way this automata works is
this: the blood from the patient is poured into the basin. When the blood reaches the
reservoir at the bottom of the tower, the machine starts to work. Thanks to the pulley and
weight system inside, the tip of the monk’s staff shows the amount of blood collected in
546 Jeremy Johns, “Arabic Inscriptions in the Cappella Palatina: Performativity, Audience, Legibility and
Illegibility,” in Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval Mediterranean, ed. Antony
Eastmond (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 136, 140.
547 Johns, “Arabic Inscriptions in the Cappella Palatina: Performativity, Audience, Legibility and
Illegibility,” 140-1. Crusader Lord of Beirut, John of Ibelin (r. 1205-36)’s audience hall with a marble “sea
pavement and the astrological ceiling” was witnessed by German imperial ambassador Wilbrand of
Oldenburg in 1212. Ibelin’s hall had a painted ceiling with the the sun in the center recalling the use of
cosmic imagery and astrological symbolism in the medieval palatial contexts. See, Lucy-Anne Hunt, “John
of Ibelin’s Audience Hall in Beirut: A Crusader palace building between Byzantine and Islamic Art in its
Mediterranean Context,” In The Emperor’s House: Palaces from Augustus to the Age of Absolutism, ed. by
Michael Featherstone, and et al. (Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015), 257, 262, 266, 269.
548 Hoffman, “Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the Twelfth
Century,” 32, 47.
549 Necipoğlu and Al-Asad, The Topkapı Scroll Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture: Topkapı
Palace Museum Library MS H. 1956, 150.
550 Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, 192.
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129
numbers written on the basin’s ridge.551
Figure 3.8. The Monk Basin for Bloodletting, Al-Jāmi‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa al-‘amal al-nāfi‘
fī ṣinā‘at al-ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.125v, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul
(Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
Bloodletting was first used as a medical treatment method in ancient Greece and
the rest of the Hellenistic world. It eventually made its way to the scientific circles of
medieval Islam thanks to the writings of Hippocrates (d. 370 BC) and Galen (d. 216).
However, al-Jazari is the first known inventor who has designed bloodletting measuring
devices. His choice of a Christian monk as the figure might refer to the activities of the
551 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 169-182. Also See Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of
Ingenious Mechanical Devices, 137-148.
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Christian physicians.552 In the Jazira region, the Syriac physicians and monasteries around
Mardin and Amid were very active. As discussed in Chapter 2, the employment of Mihran
ibn Mansur and Abu Salim al-Malati as Christian scholars, who were most likely
physicians, can be a parallel example. Historical resources partially document their
existence and activities, as translators and physicians, at the Artuqid courts.
The automata of al-Jazari can be viewed as a reflection of the Artuqid court’s
interest in ancient knowledge. Because the scope of al-Jazari’s designs and the concept
of automata were not novel in the scientific circles of the thirteenth century. Al-Jazari, as
he mentions at the beginning of his work, read and studied the works of ancient scholars
and later craftsmen, focusing on sun clocks, water-operated mechanisms, pneumatic
(movements), and water machines for clocks.553 In one section of his text, he mentions
the names of important scientists and scholars he has read about, for example, he says “I
came across a well-known paper by Apollonius, the Indian carpenter: he made a wheel
which turns slowly and opens water outlets upon the completion of half a rotation.”554
Furthermore, the scholars who worked on al-Jazari’s manuscript identified that he
was influenced by the scientific research conducted in Greek and Arabic languages by
Heron of Alexandria, Philon of Byzantium, Apollonius of Perga, Archimedes, the Banu
Musa brothers, and others.555 Throughout the presentation of the many designs in his
book, al-Jazari emphasizes his own unique contributions and does not hesitate about
showing how he has solved the problems that existed in the books and treatises he read.
It would be inaccurate to say that al-Jazari and other medieval scientists like him merely
consumed and internalized the ancient scientific heritage. After studying many works that
drew from the past for inspiration, they were finally ready to publish their own original
creations. In this setting, they were no longer passive bearers of past scientific knowledge
into their environments.
552 Durmuș Çalışkan, Cezeri’nin Olağanüstü Makineleri: Herkes için Cezeri, ed. Mehmet Ali Çalışkan
(Istanbul: Babil Kitap, 2019), 217.
553 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 1. A sundial can also be found in the garden of the Great
Mosque of Diyarbakır (Amid) today. Although it is widely assumed that al-Jazari created the watch, its
accuracy is highly doubtful.
554 Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, 170.
555 Constantin Canavas, “Al-Jazarī’s Compendium of Ingenious Devices: A Model of Representing and
Communicating Technical Knowledge in a Medieval Islamicate Context,” Le Livre Technique Avant Le
XXe Siècle (2017), 76-79. For examples of Greek and Latin primary source translations, See Andrew N.
Sherwood et al., Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook of Translated Greek and Roman Texts
(Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020).
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Another person who “learned to make unusual things” by studying Banu Musa
brothers’ Kitāb al-Ḥiyāl (Book of Ingenious Devices) was the physician and
contemporary of al-Jazari, Sadid al-Din ibn Raqiqa, who served the Artuqids of Mardin
and later the Ayyubids.556 Although no communication was recorded between them in
the written evidence, al-Jazari’s abovementioned statement about his encounter with the
interest of scholars of his time, particularly philosophers, should be kept in mind. Al-
Jazari might have also met Ibn Raqiqa and exchanged ideas; however further evidence is
needed.
Nasir al-Din Mahmud was also interested in the mathematical sciences (ʿulūm alta
ʿālīm) besides engineering and mechanical devices. First example is an arithmetic (ʿilm
al-ḥisāb) treatise titled Kitāb al-Lubāb fī al-Ḥisāb (The Book for Minds on Arithmetic)
was dedicated to Nasir al-Din Mahmud. It contains an arithmetic table as a practical work.
The treatise is registered as MS. Marsh 663 (f.308-337) in the Bodleian Library. The
author is Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ibrahim al-Isʿirdi al-ʿAttar who is believed to be
active in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His first nisba “al-Isʿirdi” indicates that he
was born in Isʿird (today Siirt), while the second al-ʿAttar denotes that he came from a
family of perfumers. The date of the work is not written in the catalogues.557 It is unknown
whether he worked at the palace like al-Jazari or he was a visitor scholar who sought a
patronage relationship.
The second example is also practical and designed by al-Jazari. He explains the
reason behind producing this tool associated with spherical geometry. Some people found
it unconvincing when al-Jazari asserted that any three points on a sphere lie on a single
circle, and they asked al-Jazari to demonstrate this with a compass. A brass ruler forms
the basis of this measuring instrument, which also has an additional section that is
mounted vertically from the ruler’s center (Figure 3.9). This vertical moving piece is
attached to the semicircular projection located in the brass ruler’s middle part. These two
distinct pieces are marked with the numbers.
556 Ibn Raqiqa even wrote a poem for a tricky wine cup similar to what al-Jazari designed for the court. Ibn-
Abī-Uṣaibiʿa, “15.46 Sadīd al-Dīn ibn Raqīqah.”
557 Boris Abramovich Rozenfeld and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu, Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other
Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and Their Works (7th-19th c.) (Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic
History, Art, and Culture, 2003), 199. Fuat Sezgin, Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums, Band VII:
Astrologie-Meteorologie Und Verwandtes. Bis Ca. 430 H (Leiden: Brill, 1979), 411. “Ms. Marsh 663
(Bodleian Library, Oxford University),” Fihrist, https://www.fihrist.org.uk/catalog/manuscript_1195.
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This measuring device can be used on both a sphere and a flat plane to determine
the center of three non-collinear points.558 Al-Jazari’s instrument is based on the
proposition of Euclidian geometry proposing that “through any three noncollinear points
there passes a circle.”559 Despite the fact that al-Jazari does not specify with whom he
engaged in intellectual debate on this topic, it is necessary not to rule out the possibility
that he might also discussed the design of this object with the Artuqid lord. As he stated
in his abovementioned introductory text that al-Jazari had conversations with Mahmud
prior to constructing his tools. It appears that both mathematical and technical topics were
debated in the court of Nasir al-Din Mahmud, with the Artuqid ruler actively participating
in these discussions. Al-Jazari’s book provides crucial information about Mahmud’s field
of interests in the ancient sciences.
Figure 3.9. Measuring Instrument, Al-Jāmi‘ Bayn Al-‘Ilm Wa Al-‘Amal Al-Nāfi‘ Fī
Ṣinā‘At Al-Ḥiyal, 1206, MS. Ahmet III 3472, f.170r, Topkapı Palace Library, Istanbul
(Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices [facsimile edition],
1990).
558 Al-Jazarī, El-Câmiʻ Beyne’l-ʻilm Ve’l-ʻamel En-Nâfiʻ fı̂ Eṣ-Ṣınaâʻti’l-Ḥiyel = [Al-Jāmiʻ Bayna Al-ʻilm
Wa-Al-ʻamal Al-Nāfiʻ Fī Al-Ṣināʻat Al-Ḥiyal], 234-7. Also See Al-Jazarī, The Book of Knowledge of
Ingenious Mechanical Devices, 196-8.
559 David Gans, An Introduction to Non-Euclidean Geometry (New York: Academic Press, 1973), 78.
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Another example demonstrating the nature of the patronage relationship between
the Artuqid rulers and the scientists happened during the reign of Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s
son, Al-Malik al-Masʿud Rukn al-Din Mawdud b. Mahmud (1222-1232). Arab dervish
and alchemist al-Jawbari was from Damascus and traveled around Egypt, Amid, Konya,
Harran, Antioch, and other places. Then he visited the court of Mawdud. Al-Jawbari
studied many texts on alchemy, other occult sciences, and other ancient sciences in the
first half of the thirteenth century. He wrote treatises on occult sciences especially
geomancy and astrology.560
Al-Jawbari tells us that while he and Mawdud were discussing “the exposés of the
masters of the crafts and sciences” in Ibn Shuhayd al-Maghribi’s book titled Deceit
Disrobed and Doubt Dispelled at the court salon, Mawdud was curious and asked
questions to al-Jawbari about the writer and the book.561 The Artuqid ruler told al-Jawbari
to “Put together a book that follows his method and takes the same approach but make it
shorter and easier to understand.”562 Afterward, al-Jawbari completed his book Kitāb al-
Mukhtār fī Kashf al-Asrār (The Book Containing a Selection Concerning the Exposure of
Secrets) and offered to Mawdud. The book focuses on charlatans and aims to expose the
inner workings of their deceptions. False prophets, false mystic sheiks, dishonest Jewish
and Christian mystics, fraudulent alchemists, physicians and pharmacists, jugglers, and
cunning ladies noted for their traps are among the sorts al-Jawbari deals with in this
book.563
Al-Jawbari reveals that he asked Mawdud to excuse him, but Mawdud would not
let him off. 564 Like al-Jazari, al-Jawbari had to comply with the Artuqid lord’s wishes.
Both examples demonstrate the power dynamics at work in patronage relationships
between rulers and scientists, scholars, and inventors. Gerard Väth cites chroniclers that
report Rukn al-Din Mawdud as an “alchemist” and “heretic” interestingly.565 It is not
known whether this information was a result of Mawdud’s closeness with al-Jawbari, but
his interest in ancient sciences like his father Nasir al-Din Mahmud, and perhaps his
philosophical beliefs, may have prompted these discourses about him to emerge.
560 Stefan Wild, “Al-Djawbarī, ʿAbd al-Raḥīm,” Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition, Online Version.
561 Jamāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm al-Jawbarī, The Book of Charlatans, ed. Manuela Dengler, trans.
Humphrey Davies (New York: New York University Press, 2021), 9.
562 Al-Jawbarī, The Book of Charlatans, 7.
563 Ibid, 9-11.
564 Ibid, 7.
565 Unfortunately, I could not access two sources he is referring. Väth, Die Geschichte Der Artuqidischen
fürstentümer in Syrien Und Der Ǧazīraʼl-Furātīya (496-812/1002-1409), 185.
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3.2 The Construction Projects
The Artuqid cities were located at significant trade routes coming from Bagdad to
Mosul then to Jazirat ibn ʿUmar (Cizre). Caravans traveling from the Jazirat ibn ʿUmar
crossroads would either entered into the territories of Artuqids of Mardin or would
proceed on to two other Artuqid cities, first Hisn Kayfa and then Amid in the twelfth
century.566 The Artuqid cities were renowned for their bustling marketplaces, and
commerce played a significant role in the economy of the region. Mayyafariqin, Erzen,
Hisn Kayfa, Mardin, Dunaysir, and Sur (Diyarbakır’s center today) were some of the
cities that fell under this category.567 Ibn Jubayr (d. 1217) traveled through Dunaysir
(Kızıltepe) on 22 June 1184 (580 H). He described Dunaysir as a flat, unwalled city filled
with caravans, four-day-a-week markets, a recently constructed madrasa with a bath, and
gardens irrigated by waterwheels.568 When he was young, geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi
(d. 1229) saw Dunaysir as a large village, but he came back years later in 1225 (632 H)
and saw a big city filled with large markets.569
Mardin was a significant exporter of crystals to Anatolia and Iraq, in contrast to
the city of Hani, which was exporting copper and iron mines. Black basalt was widely
utilized, as evidenced by its presence in the construction of the city walls of Amid.
Various resources were already present underground, including lignite and hard coal.570
The convenience of transportation was essential for the continuity of trade.
Geographically, the presence of large rivers (Euphrates and Tigris), and their associated
streams and big mountains required the regulation of transportation. Bridges were built
and repaired in different cities and locations in order to facilitate access by the different
Artuqid branches.571
The Malabadi Bridge in Mayyafariqin (Silvan) is an Artuqid bridge whose
construction process is described in written evidence, and has the earliest dated
inscription. It is located on the Batman River (Sātīdamā, bloody in Arabic), a tributary of
566 Thomas Sinclair, Eastern Trade and the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages: Pegolotti’s Ayas-Tabriz
Itinerary and Its Commercial Context (London: Routledge, 2020), 50.
567 Väth, Die Geschichte Der Artuqidischen fürstentümer in Syrien Und Der Ǧazīraʼl-Furātīya (496-
812/1002-1409), 200.
568 Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr: A Medieval Journey from Cordoba to Jerusalem, 270-1.
569 Guy Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia, from the
Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur (Cambridge: University Press, 1905), 96.
570 Väth, 202.
571 The Tigris Bridge in Jazirat ibn ʿUmar, Sinek Çay Bridge and Dunaysir Bridge are also attributed to be
the Artuqid patronage based on the stylistic analyses, however these constructions do not carry building
inscriptions.
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135
Map 4. The Trade Routes of Anatolia, Upper Mesopotamia and Caucasia in the Eleventh
and Twelfth Centuries (Map by Martin Jan Månsson).
Map 5. A Section of ÇEKÜL’s Silk Road-Culture Road Map Showing the Locations of
Khans in Red and Bridges in Green at the Artuqid Territories (Elazığ, Diyarbakır,
Batman, Mardin) (ÇEKÜL, 2012).
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the Tigris River near Mayyafariqin. Local chronicler Ibn al-Azraq reports that the
Qaraman Bridge was destroyed in 1144/5 (539 H). The bridge, which is an early Islamic-
Arabic structure, was dated to 668/9 (48 H).572 Two years later, in 1146/7 (541 H), Husam
al-Din Timurtash began work to rebuild the Qaraman Bridge. Al-Zahid ibn al-Tawil took
office as supervisor, but the piles fixed on the left side of the bridge were dismantled and
demolished by the flood. Due to its defective construction, Ibn al-Tawil was discarded.
Timurtash appointed Amir Saif al-Din Shirbarik Mamdud ibn Ali ibn Alp-Yaruq ibn
Artuq. Saif al-Din started to build the bridge under the supervision of Abu’l-Khair al-
Fasul who utilized large timbers in the construction. Its construction continued until
1153/4 (548 H).573 The chronicler praised the bridge as “it is one of the marvels built in
this age and work continued on it.”574
Timurtash passed away before he could see his bridge was finished. His son, Najm
al-Din Alpi completed the remaining arches with small additions. In the year 1155 (550
H), al-Zahid ibn al-Tawil was appointed to reconstruct the collapsed mosque and the
domed bazaar in Mayyafariqin, and he also started to complete the Qaraman Bridge
during the reign of Najm al-Din Alpi.575 In the introductory text of De Materia Medica,
Mihran ibn Mansur emphasizes that Najm al-Din Alpi “spent a great deal of his treasure
in the service of God in order that God may be pleased with him, such as building the
bridge at Qaraman which is considered the greatest bridge of all time.”576 Supporting
Mihran ibn Mansur, Ibn al-Azraq defines the Malabadi Bridge as one-of-a-kind in the
world, and further mentions that Timurtash was the first person who constructed a bridge
in the Diyar Bakr region at that time. After him, his cousin Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan
constructed a bridge over Tigris at Hisn Kayfa, then another located under Isʿird (Siirt),
and a third one between Isʿird and Erzen. The bridges of Qara Arslan were modeled after
572 Amid was conquered by the Arabs in 639 (17 H).
573 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 111,113-115.
574 Ibid, 115.
575 Al-Zahid ibn al-Tawil was active during the reign of Najm al-Din Alpi. In the month of Ramadan 1166
(561 H), he started the construction of Dems Bridge’s base on the Tigris River. Two arches were left before
it was finished, and Ibn-Tawil arrived to complete the bridge. Before he could build most of the bridge and
tie his other two arches, he fell ill and went to the town. The Tigris River overflowed and destroyed the
three arches of the Dems bridge, and it collapsed. Ibn Tawil was buried in the madrasa in Mayyafariqin
after he died on October 19, 1174 (570 H) in Mayyafariqin. His son went to Mardin and was appointed to
his father’s position at the the overseer of foundations. After that, he went to the Dems Bridge, demolished
the remaining three bases, and went to the city. See Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi:
Artuklular Kısmı, 116, 149, 165-6. The domed bazaar was burned in 1149/50 (544 H). The Mosque of
Mayyafariqin was collapsed on June 27, 1152. See Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in
Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 131, 134.
576 Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides, 37.
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the Malabadi Bridge.577 The architect is unknown. The inscription on the south façade,
which is rather faint, says that Husam al-Din Timurtash had it built in 542 H (1147/8) by
paying for it from his personal wealth.578 In contrast, Ibn al-Azraq interestingly dates the
beginning of the project one year earlier.
Figure 3.10. The Malabadi Bridge, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34, AG20K003976,
Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage, France (POPPlateforme
Ouverte du Patrimoine).
The Malabadi Bridge demonstrates how advanced Artuqid architecture and
engineering were. The Malabadi Bridge, measuring in at an impressive 40.86 m in arch
span and 281.67 m in length, and 7.15 m in width, is the sole surviving example of a
bridge of its kind in the world (Figure 3.10). It is on the UNESCO Tentative List.579 The
bridge is made of ashlar, brick and rubble stones. In support of Ibn al-Azraq’s
observations, Tunçdağ argues that scaffolding marks on the bridge’s pointed arch are
577 Ibid, 109-110.
578 Gabriel and Sauvaget, Voyages Archéologiques Dans La Turquie Orientale, 345. Tunçdağ, “Artuk
Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” 101.
579 Permanent Delegation of Turkey to UNESCO, “The Malabadi Bridge,” UNESCO World Heritage
Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6113/.
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138
visible on both sides.580 Decorated with sun, and a debated elephant or lion (?) motif on
the southern façade and human figures on the northern façade, the Malabadi Bridge is
quite asymmetrical in structure. It was obviously built to adapt to its geography. The
bridge was restored in 1930 by the General Directorate of Highways. There are rooms
that can be reached by stairs when entering the bridge from the western part.581 According
to a record of Ibn al-Azraq, the Artuqid ruler Najm al-Din Alpi stopped at the bridge in
July 1164 (559 H) to spend the night on his way to Mardin. He might have stayed in one
of these rooms.582
The Hisn Kayfa Bridge is the second Artuqid bridge known to have been built
after the Malabadi Bridge, however it has not an inscription. Ibn al-Azraq, who gave clues
about its construction date, reports that Hisn Kayfa Bridge’s feet were displaced on April
2, 1165 (18 Jumada I 560 H), due to the water rise of the Tigris River.583 An anonymous
note found in Arab geographer Ibn Hawqal (d. after 978)’s book titled Kitāb Ṣūrat al-Arḍ
(The Book of the Shape of the World) highlights that Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan constructed
the Hisn Kayfa Bridge in 1116/7 (510 H). Hisn Kayfa also had a suburb (rabaḍ) under
the castle where several shops, baths (hammams), accommodations for guests, and houses
were located.584 However, at the time of the anonymous writer mentioned, Qara Arslan’s
father Rukn al-Dawla Davud (1108-1144) was on the throne. Gabriel, who has drawn
attention to this detail, still accepts the construction date of the bridge as 510 H.585 As a
traveling eyewitness of the time, Ibn al-Azraq’s testimony is crucial. The bridge should
be dated between the Malabadi’s construction date and 1165. Whelan also places the
bridge in the mid-twelfth century.586
The bridge was strategically significant in transportation because it connected the
city to the Mosul-Diyarbakır road and other roads leading north to Lake Van.587
According to travel books, the bridge was intact and used until the second half of the
sixteenth century, after which it was no longer used and was destroyed through time. 588
580 Tunçdağ, “Artuk Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” 100.
581 Altun, Anadoluʼda Artuklu Devri Türk Mimarisiʼnin Gelişmesi, 200-5. See Whelan, 396. Whelan argues
that it is an elephant, however other studies remarks that the figure below is a lion.
582 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 136.
583 Ibid, 148.
584 Ibn Havkal, 10. Asırda İslam Coğrafyası, trans. Ramazan Şeşen (İstanbul: Yeditepe Yayınları, 2014),
211.
585 Gabriel and Sauvaget, 77-8.
586 Whelan 406.
587 Michael Meinecke, Patterns of Stylistic Changes in Islamic Architecture: Local Traditions Versus
Migrating Artists (New York: New York University Press, 1996), 58.
588 Tunçdağ, “Artuk Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” 103.
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139
The Hisn Kayfa Bridge, which was in ruins during Albert Gabriel’s research in Eastern
Anatolia in the early twentieth century, was unfortunately flooded and destroyed by the
Ilısu Dam Project in 2020 (Figure 3.11). It is made of rubble stones, ashlar, and brick,
just like the Malabadi Bridge. Its pointed central arch’s span is approximately 40 meters,
and its length exceeds 100 meters, smaller than the Malabadi Bridge in dimensions
(Figure 3.12). 589
Figure 3.11. The Remains of the Hisn Kayfa Bridge, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34,
AG20K004188, Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage,
France (POP-Plateforme Ouverte du Patrimoine).
Figure 3.12. The Reconstruction of Hisn Kayfa Bridge by Albert Gabriel (Gabriel and
Sauvaget, 1940, 71).
589 Altun, Anadoluʼda Artuklu Devri Türk Mimarisiʼnin Gelişmesi, 194.
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140
Figure 3.13. A recent photo of reliefs of Hisn Kayfa Bridge after they were transported
to the Batman Museum in 2018 (DHA [Demirören News Agency], 12.02.2018).
Visitors and experts were intrigued by the human reliefs at the Hisn Kayfa
Bridge’s piers (Figure 3.13). In his writings, British Foreign Office officer and early
archaeologist John G. Taylor describes these as “male figures of Parthian workmanship,
about three feet high and in good relief, but unfortunately, owing to fluvial action, much
defaced.”590 Gabriel claims that he counted seven different human reliefs during his visit
to the site in the 1930s. There were actually only five of them that he documented in his
book. According to Gabriel, these figures represent the twelve zodiac signs.591 Whelan
claims that these depictions adhere to “an established iconography of prince and servants”
seen in manuscript illustrations and architectural decoration courtly ceremonies.592 She
further suggests that Qara Arslan could have used these figures of court pages to create
his own “sovereign iconography,” which was also part of his coin decoration plans.593
There are various academic interpretations of the carved reliefs of the Hisn Kayfa Bridge,
590 John George Taylor, “Travels in Kurdistan, with Notices of the Sources of the Eastern and Western
Tigris, and Ancient Ruins in Their Neighbourhood,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London
35 (1865): 33.
591 Gabriel and Sauvaget, 75-6.
592 Whelan, 406-11.
593 Estelle J. Whelan, “The Public Figure: Political Iconography in Medieval Mesopotamia,” Ph.D. diss.,
(New York University, 1979), 907-912.
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141
but the consensus is that these reliefs date from the Artuqid period, not the spolia. I also
believe that the existing pieces are not representing the “use of spolia” iconographically.
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, “classicizing” motifs were given new
interpretations in various forms of art such as architecture and coins in the medieval
dynasties of the Mediterranean region.594 These dynasties include Artuqids, Seljuks of
Rum, Zengids, Normans of Sicily, and Byzantines. Another trend was the use of
“Islamicizing” motifs. In Sicily and Byzantium, pseudo-Arabic Kufic script was used to
decorate architectural forms (mosaic, wall painting, brick) and portable objects. Some
examples were even more eclectic, combining elements of both classicizing and
Islamicizing styles. The San Marco Bowl, a Byzantine divinatory glass bowl dated to the
eleventh-twelfth century, is an excellent example with pseudo-Arabic inscriptions
imitating floriated Kufic and well-known Greco-Roman characters.595 These motifs were
consciously re-employed and gained new meanings in different contexts.
The use of classicizing motifs on different artistic forms, raises questions about
the possible employment of spolia usage by the Artuqids. In the introduction of the thesis,
two historical records of Michael the Syrian and Ibn Shaddad that provide insight into
Artuqid perspectives on spolia are mentioned.596 The Great Mosque of Harran and the
Great Mosque of Amid (Diyarbakır) are both located in the Jazira region and are
frequently cited as examples of the survival-revival debate due to their use of classicizing
motifs and spolia. Neither of these two buildings has direct connection to the Artuqid
dynasty, but the Great Mosque of Mayyafariqin (Silvan) does.
In 1152 (547 H), the Great Mosque of Mayyafariqin was collapsed during the
reign of Husam al-Din Timurtash. Later, his son Najm al-Din Alpi began rebuilding it in
1155 (550 H).597 Keser-Kayaalp emphasizes that the abovementioned mosques of Harran,
Amid, and Mayyafariqin contains “reused fragments as well as classical-looking newly
produced elements.”598 For instance, the cyma recta is designed with Islamic motifs in
the Great Mosque of Mayyafariqin.599 In a way, they incorporates “spolia in re” and
594 Hoffman and Redford, “Transculturation in the Eastern Mediterranean,” 410.
595 Alicia Walker, “Meaningful Mingling: Classicizing Imagery and Islamicizing Script in a Byzantine
Bowl,” The Art Bulletin 90, no. 1 (2008): 32-33, 35, 37, 46.
596 For the details of two records, See Page 17.
597 See Page 136 and footnote 575.
598 Keser-Kayaalp, “The Great Mosque of Diyarbakır in Light of Discussions on Spolia and Classicism,”
142-3.
599 Ibid, 143.
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“spolia in se” at the same time.600 The northern façade shows a frieze of blind arcade
(Figure 3.14a) which is topped by cyma recta. The spandrel of blind arcade is completed
with fishscale fills.601 Another two twelfth-century buildings from Mardin, the Hatuniye
Madrasa and the Jamiʿ al-Asfar (Yellow Mosque) or Najm al-Din Mosque have also
architectural decoration in classicizing style. In the Hatuniye Madrasa, mihrab niche has
two carved capitals with acanthus leaves, being only remaining example from the Artuqid
context (Figure 3.14b). Beyazit identifies that two architectural styles, Islamic and
antique, were used in the Artuqid buildings in Mardin.602
Figure 3.14a-b. Left: Detail of blind arcade on the northern façade, The Great Mosque of
Mayyafariqin (Archnet). Right: The mihrab capital with acanthus-leaf decoration,
Hatuniye (Sitti Radviyye) Madrasa, Mardin (Photo by the thesis author).
Women from the Artuqid dynasty, whose names are rarely mentioned in sources
about the Artuqids, are only mentioned due to news of marriage alliances, weddings, and
funerals. There is very little information available about their social status and
characteristics. Zubayda Khatun, daughter of Najm al-Din Alpi and sister of Qutb al-Din
600 Richard Brilliant coined the terms “spolia in re” and “spolia in se” in an article published in the Italian
journal Prospettiva in 1982. The term “spolia in se” refers to the reuse/transfer of physical materials into a
new context, whereas “spolia in re” refers to the reuse/appropriation of older styles, ideas, and images in
new productions, both physically and conceptually. See Richard Brilliant, “I Piedistalli Del Giardino di
Boboli: Spolia in Se, Spolia in Re.” Prospettiva, no. 31 (1982): 2–17. Richard Brilliant and Dale Kinney,
Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine
(London, England: Routledge, 2016), 2-8.
601 Keser-Kayaalp and Wheatley-Irving, “Late Antique Architectural Sculpture at the Mayyāfāriqīn
Mosque,” 130, 133.
602 Deniz Beyazit, “Architectural Decoration of the Artuqids of Mardin during the 12th and the 13th
Centuries: between Antique and Islamic Style,” Asiatische Studien: Zeitschrift Der Schweizerischen
Asiengesellschaft = Études Asiatiques: Revue De La Société Suisse-Asie 58, no. iv (2004): 1013-1030.
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Sökmen II, is one of the few female patrons from the Artuqid family who has left her
mark on the architectural evidence and whose work has survived to the present day.
Zubayda Khatun had the Haburman Bridge built in 1179 (575 H), located around the
village of Haburman on the outskirts of Çermik in Diyarbakır (Figure 3.15). The
Haburman Bridge is located on the Sinek Stream which pours into the Euphrates. It is
made of limestone ashlar, rubble stone and brick following the style of the Malabadi
Bridge but smaller in size. The bridge measures 107 m in length, 5.50 m in width. The
middle arch is 19.50 m in span, and 12.50 m in height. 603 The bridge has a building
inscription on the southern façade mentioning that Zubayda Khatun was involved in the
construction of this building. There is an Ottoman period repair inscription dated 1825/6
as well.604
Figure 3.15. Haburman Bridge in Çermik (SALT Archive).
Viennese traveler and ichthyologist Victor Pietschmann saw and photographed
the bridge in 1914 (Figure 3.16). Pietschmann shares an anecdote about the bridge: While
603 Ünal reads the date as 1198/9 (595 H). Rahmi Hüseyin Ünal, Diyarbakır İli’ndeki Bazı Türk-İslâm
Anıtları Üzerine Bir İnceleme (Erzurum: Atatürk Üniversitesi Basımevi, 1975), 165, 167. Tunçdağ, “Artuk
Oğulları Sanat Eserleri,” 114-6.
604 Ünal, Diyarbakır İli’ndeki Bazı Türk-İslâm Anıtları Üzerine Bir İnceleme, 167-7. Also See Altun, 206.
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walking around the city towards the river with his local guide, there was said to be a
large, old stone bridge with an inscription in the city, and people living in the town said
that this bridge is maybe two thousand or three thousand years old. While Victor was
expecting to see a Greek or Latin inscription, they came across an Arabic inscription. His
local guide read it for him and said, “from the time immediately after Muhammad and
placed by the builder of the bridge.”605 The observations of the locals regarding their
perceptions of medieval structures are quite interesting. However, the local guide appears
to have misread the inscription as well.
Figure 3.16. View of the Mountain of Çermik, and the Haburman Bridge on the right,
Photograph by Victor Pietschmann, 1914 (Pietschmann, 1940).
Different states that ruled in the medieval Anatolia preferred distinct titles for
various people working on architectural projects. The Seljuks of Rum utilized the title almi
ʿmār for the architects, and they named the state official who controlled big
architectural projects as amīr-i miʿmār. In the contexts of Mengüjekids and Saltukids, the
architects coming from Akhlat were mentioned as al-miʿmār in their inscriptions. In
contrast, Ibn al-Azraq reports that the Artuqids and Sökmenids or Akhlat-Shahs utilized
605 Victor Pietschmann, Durch Kurdische Berge Und Armenische Städte: Tagebuch Der Österreichischen
Armenienexpidition 1914 (Wien: Adolf Luser, 1940), 110-1.
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the word al-ḥisābi for architects and engineers.606 On the other hand, the Rum Seljuks
preferred al-muhandis for engineers. For instance, Ibn Bibi used the word bannāyān-i
muhandis to define construction engineers.607 As mentioned earlier, al-tarsīm was also
standing for the plan designer and drawer in the Artuqid building inscriptions. It should
be noted, however, that multiple titles may be used for employees performing the same
activity. New inscriptions that will be unearthed, as well as the information from newly
discovered historical sources, will add to our understanding of the function of titles in
different periods and geographies.
Figure 3.17. The Halilviran Bridge dated 1218/9 (615 H) (Diyarbakır Governorate).
The Halilviran Bridge, also known as Devegeçidi Bridge, is another Artuqid
structure discovered in 1970 and located on the Devegeçidi Stream, 20 kilometers north
of Diyarbakır center.608 For the building material, rubble filling is covered with black
basalt cut stone. The type of black basalt ashlar stone is similar to the one used for the
fortifications of Amid (Figure 3.17). The total length of the bridge with seven arches is
101.40 m. Nasir al-Din Mahmud of the Artuqid branch of Hisn Kayfa and Amid built this
606 Turan, Doğu Anadolu Türk Devletleri Tarihi: Saltuklular, Mengücikler, Sökmenliler, Dilmaç Oğulları
ve Artukluların Siyası̂ Tarih ve Medeniyetleri, 257-8. For instance, Ibn Bibi reports that the Seljuk amir Sad
al-din Köpek (Dog) had the title of al-miʿmār. See Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory,
Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237),” 212.
607 Yalman, “Building the Sultanate of Rum: Memory, Urbanism, and Mysticism in the Architectural
Patronage of ʿAla Al-Din Kaykubad (r. 1220–1237),” 377.
608 Metin Sözen, Diyarbakir’da Türk Mimarisi (İstanbul: Gün Matbaasi, 1971), 218.
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bridge in 1218/9 (615 H), as attested by its inscriptions.609 The first inscription can be
found between the first arch and the bridge’s coastal pillar, and the second can be found
on the second pillar’s pointed arch. Between the fifth and sixth arches of the bridge, the
third inscription can be found.
Figure 3.18. The Halilviran Bridge’s second inscription mentioning al-Malik al-Salih
Nasir al-Din Mahmud and Ja’far ibn Mahmud al-Halabi (Diyarbakır Governorate).
The first two inscriptions identify the bridge’s patron and architect, while the third
displays the 261st verse of the Quran’s al-Baqara (the Cow) verse.610 The name of alustadh
Ja’far ibn Mahmud al-Halabi (from Aleppo) is written on the first two inscriptions.
Same person uses the title of tarsīm al-ustadh in the Mesudiye Madrasa constructed by
Qutb al-Din Sökmen II in 1198. Al-Halabi’s name reappears on the two Amid wall
inscriptions dated 1236 (634 H) after the Ayyubid conquest, naming him “tarsīm” Shuja’
al-Din al-Mukaddam Ja’far ibn Mahmud al-Halabi. The title of tarsīm designates the
person who is responsible for the design and drawing in the Artuqid and Ayyubid
contexts.611 At the end of the second inscription (Figure 3.18), Nasir al-Din Mahmud also
noted as “tarsīm (the designer) al-Malik al-Salih.”612 Mahmud’s education and talents
609 Fügen İlter, Osmanlılara Kadar Anadolu Türk Köprüleri (Ankara: Karayolları Genel Müdürlüğü, 1978),
109.
610 İlter, Osmanlılara Kadar Anadolu Türk Köprüleri, 110.
611 Zafer Bayburtluoğlu, Anadolu'da Selçuklu Dönemi Yapı Sanatçıları (Erzurum: Atatürk Üniversitesi,
Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi, 1993), 189-192.
612 Hüseyin Karaçam, “Artuklu Kitabeleri (1102-1409),” 114-6.
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were very sophisticated, as he was interested in and learned about mathematical sciences
and mechanical devices. The word tarsīm could stand for Mahmud’s involvement in the
project in designing or drawing the bridge’s design. Until new evidence is discovered, it
is difficult to comment on the breadth of his technical knowledge of architecture.
Mahmud’s decision to represent himself in the inscription as the designer, rather than a
benefactor ruler, is noteworthy.
The Ambar Çay Bridge is another building project by the Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa
and Amid, although only its remains have survived to the present day. It is located on the
Diyarbakir-Silvan (Mayyafariqin) road and is made of limestone. İlter published an old,
undated photo of the bridge which has twenty arches and is similar to the flat and arched
design of the ten-arched Tigris Bridge of Amid (On Gözlü Köprü) constructed by the
Marwanid ruler in 1065 (Figure 3.19). The author mentioned that at the time she
published her work, only the foundations of the bridge were remaining.613
Figure 3.19. The Ambar Çay Bridge before it collapsed, unknown date (İlter, 1978, 165).
Konyar previously published the bridge’s building four-lined inscription found
between the ninth and tenth arches. Konyar, who could not read the entire inscription
clearly, claimed that the bridge was built during the reign of Al-Malik al-Masʿud Rukn
al-Din Mawdud b. Mahmud (1222-1232) and the builder’s name was Osman ibn Takak,
who was the apprentice of al-ustadh Ja’far ibn Mahmud al-Halabi. The date of the
613 İlter, Osmanlılara Kadar Anadolu Türk Köprüleri, 163. Cevdet Çulpan, Türk Taş Köprüleri:
Ortaçağdan Osmanlı Devri Sonuna Kadar (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2002), 54.
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148
inscription is 1223 July (Rajab 620 H).614 In the inscription, two titles al-bannāʾ
(mason/builder) and ghulam (slave) are used to define Osman ibn Takak. Çulpan and İlter
argue that Mawdud was the one who repaired the bridge. Thus the bridge was an earlier
structure, but its date could not be read.615 Bayburtluoğlu argues that the title of al-bannāʾ
was used to designate people responsible for the actual building activities. Another
person, who utilized the title of al-bannāʾ in the Artuqid context, was Masʿud who
worked on the construction of the Mesudiye Madrasa with al-ustadh Ja’far ibn Mahmud
al-Halabi. This might indicate the division of labor between them.616
Throughout his chronicle, Ibn al-Azraq describes how the Artuqids rebuilt and
repaired the destroyed fortifications in their cities. His first mention coincides with the
period of Husam al-Din Timurtash. In the year 1144/5 (539 H), the curtain wall (albadana)
of Mayyafariqin collapsed and was rebuilt again.617 Another case is the
demolishment of the Forty Tower (Burj al-Arbaʿīn) started by Al-Zahid ibn al-Tawil and
Qaraqush al-ḥisābi on January 29, 1164 (2 Rabiʿ I 559 H) in Mayyafariqin. The
dismantling process took one and half month. Its construction started on April 30, 1164
(Wednesday, 5 Jumada II 559 H) and it was completed on November 16, 1164 (Saturday,
28 Dhu’l-Hijja 559 H). The construction period took six months and three days. It was
the most aesthetically pleasing of the buildings of its time, said Ibn al-Azraq. The
responsible person was Yaqut al-ḥisābi who spent extraordinary effort with his technical
expertise.618
Another tower project began on February 13, 1165 (29 Rabiʿ I 560 H) in
Mayyafariqin. The Mirror Tower (Burj al-Mirʾāt), located on the Mayyafariqin
fortification and near the Palace Gate (Bāb al-Qasr), has begun to be demolished in
preparation for its reconstruction.619 The project was finished on August 4, 1165 (23
Ramadan 560 H) and its construction took three months and twenty-three days to
complete.620 The Mirror Tower is still standing and located on the east side of the city and
a part of inner-city walls today (Figure 3.13). The southern tower has a Kufic inscription
naming Artuqid ruler Najm al-Din Alpi as patron and mentions his titles. It is dated
614 Basri Konyar, Diyarbekir Kitabeleri: Cilt II (Ankara: Ulus Basımevi, 1936), 142-3.
615 İlter, Osmanlılara Kadar Anadolu Türk Köprüleri, 164.
616 Bayburtluoğlu, Anadolu'da Selçuklu Dönemi Yapı Sanatçıları, 154-7.
617 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, A Muslim Principality in Crusader Times: The Early Artuqid State, 111.
618 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 137. Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī,
Tārikh Mayyāfāriqīn, 627.
619 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 147.
620 Ibid, 149.
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149
1165/6 (561 H) (Figure 3.20).621
Figure 3.20. The Mirror Tower, Photo by Albert Gabriel, 1908-34, AG20K003984,
Albert Gabriel Fund INHA, Media Library of Architecture and Heritage, France (POP).
Above the inscription, there are lion figures on the left and right sides and a double
sphinx sharing a single head in the center. According to Gierlichs, the single-headed
double sphinx is a highly distinct depiction in both Artuqid and Seljuk contexts. However,
the David Collection’s 13th century architectural element, with inventory number 1/1990,
displays an iconography similar to the lions of the Mirror Tower. The author further
suggests that these figures may have apotropaic or astrological symbolism because
similar lion depictions can be found in some manuscripts of al-Sufi’s Book of the Fixed
Stars (Figure 3.21).622 The comparison of both examples show striking similarities and
highlights how diverse medieval sources of inspiration, either manuscripts or
architectural reliefs, could possibly influence another artistic medium. Moreover, Ibn al-
Azraq does not explain why it is called “Mirror Tower” in the Artuqid context. Still, a
621 Whelan, 401.
622 Joachim Gierlichs, Mittelalterliche Tierreliefs in Anatolien Und Nordmesopotamien: Untersuchungen
Zur Figürlichen Baudekoration Der Seldschuken, Artuqiden Und Ihrer Nachfolger Bis Ins 15. Jahrhundert
(Tübingen: Wasmuth, 1996), 210-1. For the architectural relief, See “Architectural Element, Limestone,”
Davids Samling, https://www.davidmus.dk/islamic-art/stone-and-stucco/item/1177?culture=en-us.
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closer example is found in his chronicle’s other section focusing on the Marwanid dynasty
(r. 990-1085). Ibn al-Azraq reports that the two small towers above Mayyafariqin inner
gate were built during the reign of Marwanid ruler Nizam al-Dawla Nasr (r. 1061-79),
and they had mirrors and binoculars apparently for security purposes.623
Figure 3.21.Left: Constellation of Leo, Al-Sufi’s K. Ṣuwar al-kawākib, Dhū ’l-Qa‘da 630
H (August/September 1233), Mosul, MS. Landberg 71, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek. Right:
The lion figure from the Mirror Tower in Mayyafariqin (Gierlichs, 1996).
Aside from the towers and fortification walls constructed for security in the
medieval cities, there were also towers constructed during military expeditions. During
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan’s Amid campaign, an example from the Artuqid context was
recorded. In 1163 (558 H), Qara Arslan came to Amid with a big army and set up military
headquarters. His cousin Najm al-Din Alpi also sent soldiers to help him. Qara Arslan
surrounded and pressed the city by erecting either tower or catapult built by a man coming
from Maghreb.624 Ibn al-Azraq does not give any further information about this builder,
but I think he might be a traveling craftsman. Michael the Syrian gives details about the
material used in this construction. The chronicler reports that Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan
“set up siege engines in array and established wooden tower(s) encrusted with iron.”625
Two chroniclers define different types of buildings as either a temporary tower or a
catapult, but the wood must have been preferred for practical and useful purposes. It can
be said that the Artuqids were also developed in the field of war technology.
The traces of fortification repairs and rebuilding carried out by the Artuqids can
be seen in various inscriptions. The excavation team at the Sumaysat Castle discovered
623 Ahmad ibn Yūsuf Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Mervani Kürtleri Tarihi, trans. Mehmed Emin Bozarslan
(İstanbul: Koral Yayınları, 1990), 184.
624 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı, 131.
625 Michael the Syrian, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 312.
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151
an undated building inscription mentioning the name of Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan and his
Persian and Turkish titles as “Shah [king] Diyar Bakr, Alp, İnanç, Kutluğ.”626 In 1152,
Husam al-Din Timurtash captured Sumaysat.627 The Sumaysat Castle was controlled by
his son Najm al-Din Alpi after him. Qara Arslan’s presence in the inscription, further
reveals that he and Alpi were involved in the reparation and reconstruction process of
fortifications together.628 Another Artuqid castle with repair inscription is Hisn Ziyad
(Kharput). Qara Arslan’s grandson, Nizam al-Din Ibrahim (r. 1204-23) conducted an
extensive reparation project at the Hisn Ziyad. The Artuqid repair inscriptions are on a
tower located at the end of the western wall of the castle. There are ten inscriptions, but
they have not come to the present in complete form.629
Figure 3.22. Nur al-Din Muhammad’s Inscription on the Urfa Gate (Karaçam 2012, 48).
626 Nimet Özgüç, “Sümeysat Definesi.” BELLETEN 49 (1985): 445. Also See Scott Redford et al., The
Archaeology of the Frontier in the Medieval Near East: Excavations at Gritille, Turkey (Philadelphia:
Published by University Museum Publications, University of Pennsylvania for Archaeological Institute of
America, 1998), 28.
627 Michael the Syrian, The Chronicle of Michael the Great (the Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex) Books XVXXI
from the Year 1050 to 1195, 390.
628 Redford et al., The Archaeology of the Frontier in the Medieval Near East: Excavations at Gritille,
Turkey, 28.
629 Ardıçoğlu, “Harput Artuk Oğulları’na Ait Kitabeler,” 45.
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Amid city walls and towers are marked with inscriptions from the Artuqid period.
The earliest example comes from the reign of Nur al-Din Muhammad, who received the
city in 1183 (Figure 3.22). After taking the town, Muhammad repaired and constructed
the Amid city wall sections. He placed a conquest epitaph dated 1183/4 (579) on the Urfa
Gate on Amid’s outer walls. Similar to his father’s titles, Muhammad uses al-Malik (the
king), “malik al-umara” (the king of princes), and also combines ancient Turkish titles
such as “İnanç Yabgu” and “Kutluğ Beg” along with Persian titles. This inscription is
significant because it symbolizes the Artuqid takeover of the city from the Inalids with
the help of the Ayyubid sultan Salah al-Din.
The thuluth inscription is decorated with a bird sitting on a bull, and there are
dragon reliefs around the lower inscription.630 Muhammad further puts a Quranic
reference: the thirteenth verse of surah as-Saff says: “Help is from Allah and victory is
near.” 631 His son Qutb al-Din Sökmen II also continued to repair the city walls. He has
an inscription dated 1198/9 (595 H) on the Gate of Deliverance (Bāb al-Faraj), calling
himself the “sultan of Diyar Bakr.” Sökmen II’s choice is quite assertive, since the
Artuqid lords generally claimed the title of “malik” highlighting their vassal status in the
Jazira region. The name of Isa Abu Dirham with the title al-bannāʾ (mason/builder) is
also written. Isa Abu Dirham also appears on the inscriptions of the Zinciriye Madrasa in
Amid.632
Nasir al-Din Mahmud, who previously involved in the construction of the
Halilviran Bridge, also did extensive work on the Amid’s city walls. The building
inscriptions reveals his part in the construction and renovation projects. Mahmud’s
earliest inscription was located on the Diyarbakır Prison’s door in the citadel. It is dated
1203/4 (600 H) and mentions the name of Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-Sarafi. The context where
it came from is unknown and the inscription was painted over and disappeared
afterward.633 The inner citadel gate made of basalt, which carries a limestone relief with
a lion and bull struggle scene, has a faint inscription, however it could be read earlier and
dated to 1206/7 (603 H) proving the repair and rebuilding activities of Mahmud in the
inner citadel (Figure 3.23a).634 The other two basalt stone reliefs depicting the same scene
630 Karaçam, “Artuklu Kitabeleri (1102-1409),” 47-50.
631 Ibid, 53.
632 The inhabitants of Diyarbakır generally call the Gate of Deliverance as “the Gate of Conquest” today.
Ibid, 66-8.
633 Karaçam, “Artuklu Kitabeleri (1102-1409),” 82-4.
634 Ibid, 84-6.
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are positioned at the entrance gate of the Great Mosque of Amid’s eastern courtyard
(Figure 3.23b).
Figure 3.23a-b. Left: Lion-bull struggle relief from the inner citadel gate, Amid (Karaçam
2012, 85). Right: Lion-bull struggle relief from the Great Mosque of Amid (Musuem
With No Frontiers).
The Artuqid lord actualized two extensive and sophisticated round tower projects
in Amid. First project, the Ulu Beden Tower, is dated 1208/9 (605 H). The Ulu Beden
Tower is located on the southwestern corner of the Amid fortifications. It is designed in
a circular plan and has a diameter of 25.5 meters (Figure 3.24). The tower is composed
of three horizontal levels where the upper part is designed with the muqarnas cornice.
Around the building inscription in naskhi script, the projecting reliefs of a bicephalic bird
(most likely an eagle), sphinxes, lions and griffins are positioned. Ibrahim ibn Ja’far is
mentioned with the title of al-bannā (mason/builder), however other workers are not
mentioned in the inscription.635
The decorative program of Ulu Beden Tower also includes the astrological motifs
and inscriptions in floriated Kufic (Figure 3.25). This section is located on the southeast
of the sloping surface surrounding the Ulu Beden Tower’s foot.636 Karaçam argues that
three meters of this inscription are approximately missing and some fragments were found
during excavations around the fortifications by the Diyarbakır Museum, but the
635 Whelan, 415-8.
636 Canan Parla, “Diyarbakır Surlarının Artuklu Dönemi Figürlü Kabartmaları,” The Journal of Academic
Social Sciences, no. 33 (November 2016): 9.
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Figure 3.24. The Detail of Ulu Beden Tower, Diyarbakır, 1984 (Archnet).
Figure 3.25. Roundel zodiac signs and floriated Kufic inscription from the Ulu Beden
Tower (Parla, 2016, 10).
inscriptions cannot be read.637 However, Parla was able to identify the roundel reliefs and
concluded that the existing six pieces are symbolizing the zodiac signs of Sagittarius, Leo,
Aquarius, Virgo, Cancer, and an undefined one. Parla argues that the round relief on the
Scorpion Tower, which carries a cross-legged human figure holding a scorpion in his
hand, might have been transferred from the Ulu Beden Tower (Figure 3.26). This roundel
relief symbolizes the zodiac sign Scorpion. This Tower is dated 1236/7 and constructed
637 Karaçam, 76.
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by the Ayyubids.638 It appears that Nasir al-Din Mahmud not only embellished his court
with the zodiac symbolism in the Castle Water Clock, but also, he incorporated celestial
references into his newly constructed defense structure in the city fortifications.
Figure 3.26. Roundel relief symbolizing the constellation Scorpion (Parla, 2016, 14).
The second building, the Seven Brothers (Yedi Kardeş) Tower, is located on
southern part of the city walls of Amid. The tower is made of basalt cut stone and has a
building inscription written in thuluth script in three rows. It is an undated round tower
with a diameter of 27.8 meters, larger than the Ulu Beden Tower. Yahya ibn Ibrahim al-
Sarafi is serving as the builder (al-bannāʾ).639 There is disagreement about the
pronunciation of an Arabic word in this inscription coming after Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s
title al-Malik al-Salih. While Max van Berchem reads the word as “bi-rasm” (for, with
the intention), Jean Sauvaget reads it as “tarsīm.” Karaçam argues that it is more correct
to read it as “bi-rasm” according to Arabic grammar rules, but the author does not
completely ignore the possibility of Mahmud’s role as designer in this project.640 Thus
the inscription either implies “Malik Salih tarsīm (designer)” or “Malik Salih bi-rasm (for
Malik Salih).”
Furthermore, the Artuqid lord decorates his tower with two lion reliefs positioned
on the left and right sides of the inscription. Above, a double-headed eagle is situated.641
638 Parla, “Diyarbakır Surlarının Artuklu Dönemi Figürlü Kabartmaları,” 13,
639 Whelan, 418-20.
640 Karaçam, 110-1.
641 Karaçam, “Artuklu Kitabeleri (1102-1409),” 103-8.
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Figure 3.27. The Seven Brothers Tower, undated, Diyarbakır (SALT Archive).
The decorative program of the Seven Brothers Tower and Ulu Beden Tower includes high
reliefs of double-headed eagles and lions, which symbolize power and authority of Nasir
al-Din Mahmud.642 Most likely that this was a conscious choice of the ruler. The
dimensions of the Seven Brothers Tower and its bold inscription naming Nasir al-Din
Mahmud as “malik al-umara, sultan Diyar Bakr wa al-Rum wa al-Arman (the king of
princes, sultan of Diyar Bakr, Rum and Armenia)” also strengthen this possibility (Figure
3.27). At that time, the Ayyubid princes ruled in various states in the Diyar Bakr region,
and Mahmud’s political independence was rather limited as Ayyubid vassal status.643
However, the Artuqid lord was not alone in claiming this title. In the twelfth and thirteenth
642 Gülsen Baş, Diyarbakırdaki İslâm Dönemi Mimari Yapılarında Süsleme (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu,
2013), 370. On the cross-cultural use of the double-headed eagle motif in medieval Anatolia, See Suna
Çağaptay, “On the Wings of the Double-Headed Eagle: Spolia In Re and Appropriation in Medieval
Anatolia and Beyond,” In Spolia Reincarnated: Second Life of Spaces, Materials, Objects in Anatolia from
Antiquity to the Ottoman Period, ed. Suzan Yalman and Ivana Jevtić (Koç University: Istanbul, 2018), 309-
338.
643 Karaçam, 109.
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centuries, first Danishmendids and then Rum Seljuks, finally Mengüjekids, around the
same time with Nasir al-Din Mahmud, claimed the title of malik al-Rum.644
Nasir al-Din Mahmud regularly utilized the motif of the double-headed eagle on
different contexts. The double-headed design was used on his coins minted in Hisn Kayfa
in 1213/4 (610 H), and three other types minted in Amid in 1217/8 (614 H), 1218/9 (615
H) and 1220 (617 H).645 Although the motif on his coins is the same, Nasir al-Din
Mahmud has changed the iconographic details in different types. The copper coin minted
in 615 H (1218/9) shows a double-headed eagle carrying stylized wings with swirl patter.
The eagle figure carries Artuqid dynastic stamp (tamgha) on its chest (Figure 3.28b).646
Another example comes from the Artuqid Palace in the inner citadel of Amid. A turquoise
glazed square tile plate with a black double-headed eagle was found in the castle area in
1946 (Figure 3.28a). Later, during excavations in the 1960s, similar fragments were
found. Based on the decorative program of the palace, it was dated to the period of Nasir
al-Din Mahmud.647
Figure 3.28-a.b. Right: Ceramic tile with the double-headed eagle motif from the Artuqid
Palace in Amid (Diyarbakır) (Parla 2016, 17). Left: Nasir al-Din Mahmud’s copper coin,
dated 615 H, minted in Hisn Kayfa, Inv. TK468, The Barber Institute Coin Collection
(Mıynat, 2017).
644 Ali Mıynat, “Cultural and Socio-Economic Relations Between the Turkmen States and the Byzantine
Empire and West with a Corpus of the Turkmen Coins in the Barber Institute Coin Collection,” PhD diss.,
(University of Birmingham, 2017), 129-30.
645 Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, Vol I: The Artuqids, 42-
9, 53-4. Mıynat, “Cultural and Socio-Economic Relations Between the Turkmen States and the Byzantine
Empire and West with a Corpus of the Turkmen Coins in the Barber Institute Coin Collection,” 290-2.
646 Mıynat, “Cultural and Socio-Economic Relations Between the Turkmen States and the Byzantine
Empire and West with a Corpus of the Turkmen Coins in the Barber Institute Coin Collection,” 290.
647 Rüçhan Arık, Selçuklu Sarayları ve Köşkleri (Ankara: Ankara Üniversitesi Yayınevi, 2017), 125-6.
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In the medieval context, the hospital (bīmāristān, māristān, dār al-shifā) was a
prominent place where theoretical (naẓarī) knowledge in medicine was put into practice
(ʿamal), just like the role that mathematical sciences and engineering played in
constructing various architectural structures and mechanical devices. In the Artuqid
context, it is unknown whether medical education is provided in madrasas or hospitals or
by what means. Artuqid hospitals, known to exist from written sources, have not survived
to the present day as material evidence. In the Chapter 2, the existence of Hisn Kayfa
hospital is established through the analysis of physician and philosopher Ibn al-Saʾigh al-
ʿAntari’s Diwan, who worked at the Hospital of Hisn Kayfa for around twenty years. The
Artuqid hospital in Hisn Kayfa employed not only al-ʿAntari, but also other doctors
mentioned in his poems. Al-ʿAntari did not provide information about the hospital’s
location or its architecture.
Another hospital learned from the written evidence was located in Mayyafariqin.
In his translation of De Materia Medica, Mihran ibn Mansur’s introductory text provides
significant information about the Hospital of Mayyafariqin in 1164 (560 H). While
praising of Najm al-Din Alpi’s philanthropic activities and generosity, Mihran says: “His
decree of charity is still in full force, such as the building of mosques in his kingdom –
God keep them prosperous. He also built the Maristan (hospital) in Mahrus Mifariqin
[Mayyafariqin] and supplied funds for its maintenance.”648 During the reign of Marwanid
ruler Nasr al-Dawla ibn Marwan (r. 1011-61), he constructed a hospital in Mayyafariqin
in 1031 (422 H). Ünver argues that Alpi’s hospital is a different establishment from Nasr
al-Dawla’s hospital, but he is also not sure whether Alpi’s hospital was built on the
previous hospital’s site or in a different place.649
Ardıçoğlu published an inscription found in five pieces on the tower at the
southern end of the western city walls of Kharput. The author claims that the inscription
dated 1128/9 (626 H) bearing the name of the last Artuqid ruler of Kharput Nur al-Din
Artuq Shah contains the word “marsan” as a version of “maristan.” Thus, he concludes
that there was a hospital in Kharput built by the Artuqid ruler. After the hospital, he
assumed was in the Kharput Castle, was destroyed, Ardıçoğlu believes the stones were
used to repair the castle.650 In his article, Danik published a re-reading and translation of
648 Sadek, The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides, 37.
649 Ünver, Selçuk Tababeti XI-XIV üncü Asırlar: Büyük Selçuk İmparatorluğu ve Orta Zamanda Anadolu
Türk Devletleri Tababeti Tarihine Dair, 22.
650 Ardıçoğlu, Harput Tarihi, 59-60.
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the inscription, and while “al-Marsan” is mentioned as the master’s name and the building
as a place of worship in this translation, he concludes that this inscription is still a hospital
inscription.651 Both Ardıçoğlu and Danık present evidence from Bar Hebraeus’s chronicle
about Mongol commander Baiju Noyan’s visit to Kharput for treatment in 1244 when he
was sick to show the existence of Kharput hospital.652 A hospital built by the Artuqids
could have existed in Kharput, but the inscription, which is claimed to belong to the
Hospital of Kharput, is problematic due to its incompleteness and reading difficulties.
Further evidence is also needed.
Figure 3. 29. The View of Emineddin Complex taken from the roof of the Jamiʿ al-Asfar
(Yellow Mosque in Arabic) or Najm al-Din Mosque, May 15, 2022 (Photo by the thesis
author).
The last Artuqid hospital, mentioned in historical sources but not preserved, was
built in Mardin. It was located at the southwest corner of the city, in the neighborhood of
Maristan. The Hospital of Mardin is believed to be a part of an Artuqid ensemble of
structures titled Emineddin (Amin al-Din in Arabic) Complex.653 The complex included
651 Ertuğrul Danık, “Harput Kalesi,” Vakıflar Dergisi, 26 (1997): 317, 319. For the photos of remaining
two pieces in the Kharput Museum, See Figures 3 and 4, Ibid, 321-2.
652 Ardıçoğlu, Harput Tarihi, 62-3. Danık, “Harput Kalesi,” Vakıflar Dergisi, 319.
653 Deniz Beyazit, Le Décor Architectural Artuqide En Pierre De Mardin Placé Dans Son Contexte
Régional: Contribution À L'histoire Du Décor Géométrique Et Végétal Du Proche-Orient Des Xiie-Xve
Siècles (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2017), 31.
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a bath, a madrasa, a hospital, and a mosque, but only the mosque, madrasa, and bath
survived as a result of the repairs.654 The Emineddin Complex is close to the Jamiʿ al-
Asfar (Yellow Mosque) or Najm al-Din Mosque. Its photo taken from the roof of the
Jamiʿ al-Asfar shows the complex from the southeast corner (Figure 3.29). The domed
bath is seen on the east side. Today, this bath is used as a private property and has a pool
in the garden. The mosque is on the southern side facing the open land (Figure 3.30). The
madrasa is located to the right of the staircase that descends from the north entrance door,
but is now used as imam lodging (Figure 3.31). The complex has a rectangular open
courtyard.
The Emineddin Complex in Mardin is believed to be the earliest dated structure
constructed by the Artuqid dynasty.655 The name of this building is neither mentioned in
Ibn al-Azraq (d. 1176)’s chronicle dated the twelfth century, nor The History of the
Mardin Artuqid Rulers written by Ottoman scribe Katip Ferdi in 1537.656 Najm al-Din
Ilgazi’s brother, Amin al-Din, is frequently mentioned in publications as the founder of
the Emineddin Complex. The Ottoman judge of Mardin, Abdüsselam (ʿAbd al-Salam in
Arabic) Efendi (d. 1843), argues in his book Umm al-ʿIber on Mardin’s history that Amin
al-Din Jabbar (d. 1092) started building the madrasa, but he died before finishing the
construction. Najm al-Din Ilghazi (r. 1114/5-1122) completed the project. Abdüsselam
Efendi argues that the Emineddin Mosque is called as “Bimaristan (hospital).”657
A revisionist work on the Emineddin Complex argues that Abdüsselam Efendi
was the first person to claim the founder as “Emineddin.” But the Mardin judge did not
provide any evidence to prove his argument. The later researchers, including Ali Emiri
Efendi, accepted this information without questioning. The author also emphasizes that
there is no person named Emineddin in the published Artuqid family trees.658 On the other
hand, another study claims that the title “Emineddin” was given to Najm al-Din Ilghazi’s
654 Ünver, Selçuk Tababeti XI-XIV üncü Asırlar: Büyük Selçuk İmparatorluğu ve Orta Zamanda Anadolu
Türk Devletleri Tababeti Tarihine Dair, 16.
655 Emine Dağtekin and Gül Asatekin, “Anadolu’da Bir Belge: Mardin Emineddin Külliyesi,” in I.
Uluslararası Artuklu Sempozyumu Bildirileri: 25-27 Ekim 2007- Mardin: Bildiriler, ed. İbrahim Özcoşar
(Mardin: Mardin Valiliği Kültür Yayınları, 2008), 257.
656 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı. Katip Ferdi, Mardin Artuklu
Melikleri Tarihi, ed. Ali Emiri, trans. Y. Metin. Yardımcı (İstanbul: Mardin Tarihi İhtisas Kütüphanesi,
2006). Ottoman intellectual Ali Emiri Efendi, who published Katip Ferdi’s book as edited volume, noted
the Emineddin Complex in his Footnote 14, referencing the work of Abdüsselam Efendi. Ibid, 8.
657 Abdüsselam Efendi, Mardin Tarihi, trans. H. H. Güneş (İstanbul: Mardin Tarihi İhtisas Kütüphanesi
Yayını, 2007), 43-4.
658 Birgül Açıkyıldız-Şengül, “Mardin Emineddin (Emînüddin) Külliyesi: Hami ve Mimari = Mardin
Emineddin (Emînuddin) Complex: Patronage and Architecture,” Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 34, no. 2
(December 2017): 16.
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Figure 3.30. The View of Emineddin Complex from the Southern Side, the Mosque on
the Left, the Open Praying Hall in the Middle and the Hamam on the Right Side, May
15, 2022 (Photo by the thesis author).
Figure 3.31. The Madrasa Section of the Emineddin Complex, May 15, 2022 (Photo by
the thesis author).
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brother Sökmen by the Caliph.659 However, authors’ primary references do not include
such information. Sökmen ibn Artuq (d. 1104) had another title frequently referred to as
Muʿin al-Din or Muʿin al-Dawla. Ibn al-Athir calls him as Muʿin al-Dawla in his
chronicle. He also mentions of another son ʿAbd al-Jabbar ibn Artuq, but he does not
provide further detail about him. ʿAbd al-Jabbar is known to be the father of Badr al-
Dawla Sulayman who was appointed as the governor of Aleppo by Najm al-Din
Ilghazi.660 Abdüsselam Efendi may have meant ʿAbd al-Jabbar, about whom little is
known, when he attributed Jabbar to the Artuqid dynasty, even though there is no one in
the family with the name Amin al-Din so far.
The identity of the patron is debated. Açıkyıldız-Şengül claims that the Emineddin
Complex was built in the name of a religious man called Sheikh Emineddin, based on the
endowment documents, waqf registers and cadastral registers dated 1518 in the Ottoman
archives. It is complicated to say the exact date of the building since there is no building
inscription, but based on its architectural features, it may have been built by the Artuqids
in the twelfth century.661 Ali Emiri reports that the hospital was in ruins in 1913.662 In the
Ottoman records, it is called “Sheikh Emineddin Hospital” and continued to function until
the beginning of the twentieth century.663 The title “sheikh” may have been added later
during the Ottoman period. The fact that Açkyıldız-Şengül attributes this title to the
builder, has the same flaws as Abdüsselam Efendi’s argument. As another example, Jamiʿ
al-Asfar or Najm al-Din Mosque is also named “Sheikh Najm al-Din Ghazi Mosque” in
the Ottoman archives. The medieval sources do not count the title “sheikh” among the
Najm al-Din Ilghazi’s titles. This title problem needs further investigation as well.664
The Jamiʿ al-Asfar or Najm al-Din Mosque is considered to be the only remaining
monument from the so-called “Necmeddin Complex.” Ali Emiri reports that Najm al-Din
Ilghazi was buried in the Jamiʿ al-Asfar opposite the Maristan (hospital).665 In Chapter 1,
the mashhad constructed by Husam al-Din Timurtash for the tombs of his father Najm al-
Din Ilghazi and his brother Sulayman was discussed at length. Ibn al-Azraq described the
659 Ayten Dirier and Cemil İnan, “Türkiye’de İlk Tıp Fakültesi’ni Mardin’de Artuklular Kurdu,” Journal
of Islamic Jerusalem Studies 20, no. 3 (2020): 342-43.
660 Ibn al-Athīr, The Chronicle of Ibn Al-Athir for the Crusading Period from Al-Kamil Fi'l-Ta'rikh. Part
1: The Years 491-541/1097-1146: The Coming of the Franks and the Muslim Response, 79, 231, 240.
661 Açıkyıldız-Şengül, “Mardin Emineddin (Emînüddin) Külliyesi: Hami ve Mimari, 17.
662 See the footnotes of Ali Emiri in Katip Ferdi, Mardin Artuklu Melikleri Tarihi, 8.
663 Alpay Bizbirlik, 16. Yüzyıl Ortalarında Diyarbekir Beylerbeyliği’nde Vakıflar: (972 Tahriri Işığında)
(Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2002), 310-1.
664 BOA, C.EV, 28/1390.
665 See Footnote 15 of Ali Emiri in Katip Ferdi, Mardin Artuklu Melikleri Tarihi, 10.
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building and what Timurtash established in it in his chronicle about the early period of
Artuqids of Mardin. Its location was described as the western side of Mardin, outside of
the walls and under the suburb area. The chronicler also mentioned the waqf established
for its maintenance and the library it included. Hillenbrand believes that the building was
constructed between the years 1124 and 1135.666 Husam al-Din Timurtash was buried in
the mashhad, according to Ibn al-Azraq, who also provided the date of his death as
January 19, 1154 (2 Dhu’l-Qaʿda 548).667
Figure 3.32. The missing inscription of the Jamiʿ al-Asfar (Yellow Mosque) in Mardin,
on the north façade, 19 April, 1911 - 21 April, 1911, Gertrude Bell, Inv. GB/3/1/18/1/157
(Gertrude Bell Archive Newcastle University).
666 See Footnotes 209-12.
667 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fāriqī, Meyyafarakin ve Amed Tarihi: Artuklular Kısmı. 96.
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Deniz Beyazit published the missing inscription above the entrance door of Jamiʿ
al-Asfar. This inscription, today is lost, is written in a circular medallion with zigzag
framing. It was photographed by Gertrude Bell in 1911 (Figure 3.32).668 A handwritten
note records the eight-line floriated Kufic inscription in the Max van Berchem Foundation
in Geneva. It gives the name of the patron at the end as: “Alp (hero) İnanç Kutlug (loyal
fortunate) Bey Abu [Saʿid Timurtash ibn Abi Ilghazi] ibn Artuq, may God glorify
him.”669 Floriated Kufic was first developed by the Fatimids in the eleventh century and
later spread to the other regions of Syria, southern Anatolia, Palestine, and western Iran.670
The floriated Kufic script also appears on the Artuqid buildings in the twelfth and
thirteenth century as well.671 Beyazıt argues that this mosque was a part of the Timurtash’s
mashhad area.672 This inscription further supports the location and the multifunctionality
of the mashhad as a complex in Mardin.
668 Beyazit, Le Décor Architectural Artuqide En Pierre De Mardin Placé Dans Son Contexte Régional:
Contribution À L'histoire Du Décor Géométrique Et Végétal Du Proche-Orient Des Xiie-Xve Siècles, 32.
669 Ibid, 35.
670 Tabbaa, The Transformation of Islamic Art during the Sunni Revival, 55. Also, See Adolf Grohmann,
“The Origin and Early Development of Floriated Kūfic,” Ars Orientalis 2 (1957): 183-213.
671 Among them, the lost inscription of Jamiʿ al-Asfar from the reign of Husam al-Din Timurtash (r. 1122-
54) in Mardin, one inscription dated 1193/4 (590 H) from the Mesudiye Madrasa from the reign of Qutb
al-Sökmen (r. 1185-1201) and verse inscriptions from the Great Mosque of Dunaysir dated 1204 (601 H)
from the reign of Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan (r. 1201-39) can be counted. See Karaçam, 60, 154-6, 229. The
mihrab niche of tomb in Hatuniye (Sitti Radviyye) Madrasa also has a floriated Kufic inscription band. See
Beyazit, Le Décor Architectural Artuqide En Pierre De Mardin Placé Dans Son Contexte Régional:
Contribution À L'histoire Du Décor Géométrique Et Végétal Du Proche-Orient Des Xiie-Xve Siècles, 38.
672 Beyazit, Le Décor Architectural Artuqide En Pierre De Mardin Placé Dans Son Contexte Régional:
Contribution À L'histoire Du Décor Géométrique Et Végétal Du Proche-Orient Des Xiie-Xve Siècles, 35.
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CONCLUSION
The fifteenth-century Mamluk envoy from Aleppo, Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-
Halabi Ibn Aja, spent days in the city of Amid on his way to Tabriz in 1472 and recorded
his feelings about the Artuqid monuments in his travel account: “The beholder who
contemplates these monuments and ruins recognizes their grandeur [of the Artuqids]
while recalling the words of the poet who said: ‘The winds blew over their homes as if
they were appointed there.’”673 The fact that the architectural works of the Artuqid
dynasty, whose traces were gradually erased from history and about which very little
information is available today, are also admired in the early modern period is quite
revealing regarding the aesthetics of artworks they left behind. Indeed, the Artuqid
dynasty is known for its artistic and architectural accomplishments and contributions to
scientific developments and education. The Artuqid rulers were great supporters of
scientists, thinkers, and artists of their time in the Jazira region.
This thesis presented the patronage activities of the Artuqid dynasty in the ancient
sciences between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. It aimed to read about the interest in
the ancient sciences and its reflection based on the patronized scientists, manuscript
production, private libraries, mechanical devices and architectural projects enhanced by
the technical developments. The Artuqid palaces were home to an advanced court culture
that became a prestigious hub for scholars and thinkers interested in scientific research
and ancient sciences. Some of the Artuqid rulers especially invited famous scholars to
their courts and wanted to establish patronage relationships or companionships with them.
Some scholars who already had patrons refused to work for them or left to serve for other
rulers or high officials in other medieval dynasties.
In Syria, Jazira, and Anatolia, networks were established with other medieval
dynasties, craftsmen, and scientists. It is known that some important figures associated
with the Artuqids traveled to these regions and entered into new patronage relationships.
Moreover, the patronage activities of the Ayyubid and Rum Seljuk sultans in the field of
ancient sciences set parallel examples to the Artuqids and further show that these
prestigious activities were part of a broader courtly life and supported by diverse royal
673 Doris Behrens-Abouseif, “Mamluk Perceptions of Foreign Arts,” in The Arts of the Mamluks in Egypt
and Syria: Evolution and Impact, ed. Doris Behrens-Abouseif and Stephan Conermann (Goettingen: V &
R Unipress, Bonn Univ. Press, 2012), 308.
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family members as well. The Artuqid rulers, who gave importance to science and
scientists, founded and supported educational institutions, and had various books
dedicated to their names, could be criticized for their areas of interest in the medieval
period. Historical sources offer us existing biases about them. Their intellectual interests
and beliefs were not appreciated sometimes.
The geographical location of the Artuqid dynasty also impacted their economy
and artistic output. Different trade routes and travelers from diverse cities were passing
by the Artuqid cities, bringing economic power and goods to the Artuqids that helped
them sustain lavish artistic production and employment of successful scholars and
artisans.674 There were ancient trade routes in the Jazira region where the Artuqid dynasty
ruled, and the Artuqids continued to use the roads and bridges from previous periods.
Additionally, new bridges were constructed on the sites of demolished bridges, and new
bridge projects were implemented in different locations.
Researchers often emphasize that the Artuqids, which realized large and
significant bridge projects fitting their geographical conditions, were highly advanced in
building technology and engineering. Meinecke considered the Hisn Kayfa Bridge as “an
engineering masterwork of daring design, rivaling its Classical predecessors not only in
the remarkable perfection of stone masonry but also with the human representations
incorporated into the architectural decoration.”675 The three branches of the Artuqid
dynasty ruled in areas where some of the bridges, city walls, and other types of buildings
constructed by the previous owners, especially Roman structures, were still standing.
These immobile structures, acting as “stationary sources of ancient knowledge,” might
have inspired the Artuqid dynasty in their construction projects.
Understanding the relationship of Artuqids with the past requires examination of
their support for ancient sciences and the themes associated with the past that they used
in various artistic mediums. In contrast to architecture, the transmission of ancient
knowledge could also be materialized through the circulation of portable objects, for
instance books, coins, ceramics, metalwork and automata at the courts. As explained in
the introduction, translation projects were a significant process for the transmission of
ancient science into the medieval period. These translators played an active role. The
674 Lorenz Korn, “Art and Architecture of the Artuqid Courts” in Court Cultures in the Muslim World:
Seventh to Nineteenth Centuries, edited by A. Fuess and J.P. Hartung (London; New York: Routledge,
2011), 402.
675 Meinecke, Patterns of Stylistic Changes in Islamic Architecture: Local Traditions Versus Migrating
Artists, 64.
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revised and up-to-date translation projects patronized by the Artuqid rulers Najm al-Din
Alpi and Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan can be considered an example of this fact. It is clear
that Artuqid rulers, whose scientific patronage activities can be traced back to historical
sources and manuscripts that have survived, played an active role as discussant of
intellectual debates, requestors of manuscript production and founders of libraries and
hospitals. The Artuqid coinage also shows the nature of their connections with the past
through deliberate changes in usage of symbols and iconography of Greek, Roman,
Hellenistic and Byzantine coinage.
I constructed this thesis as a microhistory project focusing on the Artuqid dynasty,
bringing together themes from history, the history of art, and the history of science. An
overview of historiography, especially art historiography, focusing on the Artuqid
dynasty has not previously been written in depth. I discuss, albeit briefly, how scholars
have perceived and discussed the Artuqids and their art and culture from the nineteenth
century to the present day. More comprehensive studies on the historiography and art
historiography of the Artuqid dynasty need to be conducted in the future. The three
chapters present research on the Artuqid reception of ancient sciences at the individual
and dynastic levels. In an effort to apply an interdisciplinary perspective, I attempted to
conduct my analysis by combining physical materials with all available written resources.
Furthermore, I have made a humble contribution to the scholarship as a result of
the small discoveries in my research journey. The first of these was the translation and
analysis of information about the Artuqid dynasty in the collection of poems of the
twelfth-century physician, poet, and philosopher Ibn al-Saʾigh al-ʿAntari that I discovered
at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul. The four surviving manuscript copies of his
Diwan in the world were published in an Arabic edited volume by Muhammad Yusuf
Ibrahim Banat in 2017, but I examined the sections related to the Artuqid dynasty for the
first time in my thesis. The information obtained from al-ʿAntari’s poems, as well as his
important observations, demonstrate that poetry, which is frequently overlooked by
historians, has a great potential for medievalists who are suffering from the lack of
primary resources in their research.
My second discovery was the tracking of the majmuʿa (collection of texts) sold at
the Sotheby’s in 2016. The auction house only provided brief information about the
physical condition and textual content of this majmuʿa, which contains eleven scientific
texts in Persian and Arabic, but did not give details about its previous owners and the last
owner who sold the manuscript. I was lucky to identify two witnesses, the Ottoman
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numismatist İsmail Ghalib Edhem and physician and medical historian Süheyl Ünver,
who saw and mentioned this manuscript associated with the Artuqids of Kharput. The
manuscript was located at the library of collector and lawyer Halil Ethem Arda in the first
half of the twentieth century. The study presented only available information about the
manuscript; however, a careful examination of this work needs to be done in the future.
The manuscripts, like objects, are freely circulating and changing owners. It is significant
to write about the “lost lives of manuscripts” and provide knowledge about whether they
are misinterpreted in different contexts.
This study presents a limited investigation into the diverse patronage activities of
the Artuqid dynasty in the field of ancient sciences due to the scarcity of available written
and material evidence. With a thorough examination of the manuscripts and objects sold
at auctions and or new primary sources to be discovered in the future, later researchers
can better explain the activities of the rulers and other family members of Artuqid dynasty
regarding the ancient sciences, and scientific research as well as their relationship with
the classical and Hellenistic tradition. Future research on Artuqids will be guided by the
diversification of the written source types to be examined, as well as a more cautious
study of manuscripts copies and objects entered in private collections and museum
collections. More interdisciplinary projects focusing on the ancient sciences can provide
greater insights for new research trajectories through the collaboration of historians of art,
historians of science, and historians.
169
169
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Appendix A: Family Tree of the Artuqids
(Claude Cahen, “Artuḳids,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Online Version)
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Appendix B: Dynastic Lineage of the Artuqids
I. The Artuqids of Mardin and Mayyafariqin (r. 1100-1409 / 494-812 H)
Name Reigning Years Birth, Death Dates,
and Other Details
Yaquti ibn Alp-Yaruk ibn
Artuq
1100/1-1103 (494-497
H)
ʿAli ibn Alp-Yaruk ibn Artuq
1103 (497 H)
Muʿin al-Din / Muʿin al-Dawla
Sökmen ibn Artuq
1104 (498 H)
Died on September
23, 1104 (1 Safar 498
H)
Ibrahim ibn Sökmen
1104-1108 (498-502 H)
Najm al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq
1114/5-1122 (507/8-
516 H)
Died on November
1122 (Shaban 516 H)
Al-Saʿid Husam al-Din
Timurtash ibn Ilghazi
1122-1154 (516-548 H)
Born in 1104/5
(494/5 H)
Died on January 19,
1154 (2 Dhu’l-Qaʿda
548)
Najm al-Din Alpi ibn
Timurtash
1154-1176 (548-572 H)
Born in 1126/7 (520
H)
Outb al-Din Ilghazi II ibn Alpi
1176-1184 (572-580 H)
Born on May 22,
1149 (12 Muharram
544 H)
Husam al-Din Yülük Arslan
ibn Ilghazi II,
1184-1201 (580-597 H)
Lost Mayyafariqin in
1185 (581 H)
Al-Malik al-Mansur Nasir al-
Din Artuq
Arslan ibn Ilghazi II
1201-1239 (597-637 H)
197
197
Al-Malik al-Saʿid Najm al- Din
Ghazi I ibn Artuk Arslan
1239-1260 (637-658 H)
Al-Malik al-Muzaffar Qara
Arslan ibn Ghazi I
1260-1292 (658-691 H)
Used the title of “al-
Sultan” on his coins
first time (1289/90 –
688 H)
Al-Malik al-Saʿid Shams al-
Din Dawud ibn Qara Arslan
1292-1294 (691-693 H)
Al-Malik al-Mansur Najm al-
Din Ghazi II ibn Qara Arslan
1294-1312 (693-712 H)
Died on Sunday, on
August 5 or August
6, 1312 (8 or 9 Rabiʿ
II 712 H)
Al-Malik al-ʿAdil ʿImad
al-Din ʿAli Alpi ibn Ghazi II
1312 (712 H)
ʿAli Alpi could only
rule for seventeen
days then he died
suddenly.676
Al-Malik al-Salih Shams al-
Din Mahmud ibn Ghazi II
1312-1363 (712-765 H)
Died on October 20,
1363 (12 Muharram
765 H)
Al-Malik al-Mansur Husam al-
Din Ahmad ibn Mahmud
1363-1368 (765-769 H)
Al-Malik al-Salih Saraf al-Din
Mahmud ibn Ahmad
1368 (769 H)
He was killed after
the enthronement.677
Al-Malik al-Muzaffar Fakhr al-
Din Dawud II ibn Shams al-
Din Mahmud
1368-1376 (769-778 H)
Reigned after his
nephew Saraf al-Din
Mahmud.
676 Munajjim Bāshī, Câmiu’d-Düvel: Selçuklular Tarihi, 168.
677 In his chronicle focusing on the history of Hisn Kayfa Ayyubids, the fifteenth-century Ayyubid
bureaucrat al-Munshi al-Hisni (d. after 1420) reports that a merchant from Mardin told him that Saraf al-
Din Mahmud poisoned his father Husam al-Din Ahmad to take the throne, however, his aunt Fatima Khatun
discovered the truth. Then, she poisoned her nephew Mahmud. There is another story about the cause of
death of Saraf al-Din. His uncle al-Muzaffar entered his room and choked him with a pillow while Mahmud
was sleeping. See al-Munshi al-Hisni, Tarikh Hisn Kayfa, 306. The real name of the book is called Nuzhat
al-naẓīr fī rāḥat al-khaṭīr. Its only extant copy is located in the Hofbibliothek, Vienna. Registered as Cod.
Mixt. 355. The whole book could not survive today and it ends with the year of 778 H (1376). Ibid, 330.
198
198
Al-Malik al-Zahir Majd al-Din
Isa ibn Dawud II
1376-1407 (778-809 H)
Killed in 1407 (809
H) by the Aq
Qoyunlu (White
Sheep) dynasty.
Al-Malik al-Salih Shihab al-
Din Ahmad ibn
1394-1396 (796-798 H)
1407-1409 (809-812 H)
Ruled Mardin when
al-Malik al-Zahir
was taken hostage
by Timur (r.1370-
1405).
Qara Qoyunlu (Black
Sheep) conquest of
Mardin, and the end
of the Artuqids.
II. The Artuqids of Kharput (r. 1185-1234 / 581-631 H)
Name Reigning Years Birth, Death Dates, and
Other Details
ʿImad al-Din Abu
Bakr ibn Qara Arslan
1185-1204 (581-600 H)
Established the dynasty
Nizam al-Din Ibrahim
ibn Abu Bakr
1204-1223 (600-620 H)
ʿIzz al-Din Khidr ibn
Ibrahim
1223-1225 (620-622 H)
Nur al-Din Artuq
Shah ibn
Khidr
1225-1234 (622-631 H)
Rum Seljuk conquest of
Kharput in 1234
199
199
III. The Artuqids of Hisn Kayfa and Amid (r. 1101-1232 / 495-629 H)
Name
Reigning Years Birth, Death Dates, and
Other Details
Muʿin al-Din Sökmen ibn
Artuq
1101-1104 (495-498 H)
Hisn Kayfa and Mardin
Died on September 23,
1104 (1 Safar 498 H)
Ibrahim ibn Sökmen
1104-1108 (498- 502 H) Mardin
Rukn al-Dawla Dawud ibn
Sökmen
1108-1144 (502-539 H)
Kharput, Hisn Kayfa and
other places.
Died on July 22, 1144
(19 Muharram 539 H).
Fakhr al-Din Qara Arslan
ibn Dawud
1144-1167 (539-562 H)
Kharput, Hisn Kayfa and
other places.
Died on 17 July 1167 (27
Ramadan 562 H)
Nur al-Din Muhammad ibn
Qara Arslan
1167-1185 (562-581 H)
Amid, Kharput, Hisn
Kayfa and other places.
Died on 15 May 1185
(14 Rabiʿ I 581 H).
Al-Malik al- Masʿud Qutb
al-Din Sökmen II ibn
Muhammad
1185-1201 (581-597 H)
Lost Kharput to his
uncle ʿImad al-Din Abu
Bakr. Ruled Amid, Hisn
Kayfa and other places.
Al-Malik al-Salih Nasir al-
Din Mahmud ibn
Muhammad
1201-1222 (597-619 H)
Al-Malik al-Masʿud Rukn
al-Din Mawdud ibn
Mahmud
1222-1232 (619-629 H)
Ayyubid conquest of
Hisn Kayfa and Amid in
1232.
End of the Artuqids of
Hisn Kayfa and Amid.
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