Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish Icons.
Najm ad-Din Ayyub, Saladin’s father and Shirkuh’s brother, served at Tikrit, Baalbek and Damascus before joining his son in Cairo. The Ayyubid dynasty took its name from him.
Read article →Asad al-Din Shirkuh led Nur al-Din’s Egyptian campaigns in 1164, 1167 and 1168–1169. Saladin’s uncle became Fatimid vizier shortly before his death in March 1169.
Read article →Sultan ibn Mahmud (r. 1174–c.1199 CE) was the last ruler of the Kurdish Shaddadid dynasty, closing 248 years of Kurdish governance in Transcaucasia. Discover the final chapter.
Read article →Shahanshah ibn Mahmud (1164–1174 CE) was a Shaddadid Kurdish emir whose name — 'King of Kings' — echoed ancient Iranian imperial tradition. Discover his place in Kurdish history.
Read article →Fadl ibn Mahmud governed Ani in the mid-twelfth century. His record centres on a change of ruler in 1155, local opposition and Georgian intervention in 1161. The evidence is more specific about these conflicts than about his private life or patronage.
Read article →Fakr al-Din Shaddad (1131–1155 CE) was the longest-reigning Shaddadid Kurdish ruler after the loss of Ani, governing 24 years as a Seljuk vassal in the Caucasus.
Read article →Fadl, also called Fadlun III or IV, recovered Ani after Georgian rule in the 1120s. Armenian narrative, modern scholarship and the cathedral’s surviving fabric illuminate a brief reign that ended around 1130.
Read article →Abu'l-Aswar Shavur II (1118–1124 CE) was the last Shaddadid Kurdish ruler of Ani before the Georgians took the city. Discover the final Ani chapter of this great Kurdish dynasty.
Read article →Manuchihr ibn Shavur ruled Ani during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Inscriptions, political histories and the mosque associated with his name illuminate Shaddadid patronage within a city shaped by Armenian and Islamic architectural traditions.
Read article →Fadlun ibn Fadl, usually numbered Fadl III, ruled Ganja in 1073–1075. His overthrow ended the Shaddadid emirate there; the family’s separate rule at Ani followed a different chronology.
Read article →Anushirvan inherited Ganja as a minor in 1049, but his chamberlain’s proposed frontier concessions provoked a revolt. The surviving narrative explains a two-month reign through the actions of officials and urban notables.
Read article →Ashot ibn Shavur (1068–1069 CE) was a brief rival claimant to Shaddadid Kurdish power in Ganja during the contested post-Shavur I succession.
Read article →Fadl II ruled Ganja in 1067–1073, with an interruption during his captivity. Chronicles, a coin of his brother Ashot and a surviving gate clarify his place between Shaddadid family rule and Seljuk supremacy.
Read article →Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ruled Dvin before taking power in Ganja in 1049. His reign, ending in 1067, can be studied through chronicles and a dated inscription from Ganja's gates.
Read article →Lashkari II ibn Musa (1034–1049 CE) ruled the Shaddadid Kurdish dynasty of Ganja for 15 years before Abu'l-Aswar Shavur I's celebrated reign. Discover his place in Kurdish history.
Read article →Musa ibn Fadl ruled the Shaddadid principality from Ganja in 1031–1034. The sparse record includes conflict involving the Rus and a violent succession, rather than a documented peaceful transition.
Read article →Fadl I ibn Muhammad (985–1031 CE) ruled the Shaddadid Kurdish dynasty for 46 years, building Ganja into a major city and establishing the dynasty's enduring power in Transcaucasia.
Read article →Hilal ibn Badr was a ruler of the Kurdish Hasanwayhid dynasty, son of the celebrated Badr ibn Hasanwayh. Discover his place in Kurdish medieval Zagros history.
Read article →Zahir ibn Hilal ibn Badr (r. 1013 CE) was a ruler of the Kurdish Hasanwayhid dynasty in the Zagros Mountains, son of Hilal ibn Badr. Discover his place in Kurdish medieval history.
Read article →Mansur ibn Nasr was the last principal ruler of the Kurdish Marwanid dynasty in Diyar Bakr. His career includes a contested court, the Seljuk conquest of 1085, a short restoration in 1093 and evidence of patronage preserved in inscriptions.
Read article →Nizam al-Din Nasr, also known as Nizam al-Dawla, ruled the Kurdish Marwanid principality after 1061. Inscriptions, chronicles and manuscript research document his court and public works.
Read article →Nasr al-Dawla Ahmad (1011–1061 CE) was the greatest Marwanid Kurdish king, reigning 50 years from Diyarbakır while masterfully balancing Byzantine, Fatimid, and Buyid pressures. Discover his extraordinary reign.
Read article →The third Marwanid ruler governed from Mayyafariqin after 997. His Byzantine diplomacy, a dated building inscription and the coins of his assassin provide a more concrete account of his reign than general claims about a dynastic golden age.
Read article →Abu Ali al-Hasan succeeded Badh around 990 and ruled in Diyar Bakr until his assassination. A dedicated biography and surviving material evidence clarify his place in early Marwanid history.
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