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Ulug Beġ und seine Zeit by Wilhelm Barthold; Herat unter Ḥusein Baiqara, dem Timuriden byWilhelm BartholdReview by: Donald N. WilberArs Islamica, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1940), pp. 118-119Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the Historyof Art, University of MichiganStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4515559 .

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BOOK REVIEWS

Ulug Beg und seine Zeit. By Wilhelm Barthold. Bearbeitung von Walther Hinz. Abhandl. f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, XXI (I935),

I.226 pp. RM. 7.50 (unbound).

Hlerat unter IHusein Baiqara, dem Timuriden. By Wilhelm Barthold. Deutsche Bearbei- tung von Walther Hinz. Abhandl. f. d. Kunde des Morgenlandes, XXII (I937), 8. X + 97 pp. RM. I.90 (unbound).

These two volumes represent current trans- lations from the Russian texts first published some twenty years ago; because their author, Wilhelm Barthold, is the pre-eminent authority on the history of the Middle East from the elev- enth through the fifteenth centuries they are welcome as trustworthy compilations of factual material. Encyclopedic in scope, they have little popular appeal, nor do they lend themselves to a casual reading. The translation is of great value not only because it presents the original text in accessible form but also because scores of the footnotes give some inkling of the great amount of material in Russian of primary importance which also merits translation. Both volumes are provided with full chronological tables, with val- uable indices, and with lengthy bibliographies of the source material used in the preparation of the texts.

The first of these volumes opens with an in- troduction dealing with the political conditions of the Timurid period, followed by an account of the activities of Ulugh Beg from his birth in I394

until his death in I449. The other book covers the career of Ali Shir Nawa'i, whose life spanned the years from I440 to I5OI. Hence, the inci- dents of well over a century are studied in ex- haustive detail. The names of hundreds of minor characters are strewn through the pages, and the courses of major and minor military campaigns

are traced out in a most thorough fashion. The pace of the text is pedestrian: crowded as it is with facts and dates one is given no sense of the atmosphere of the Timurid period. It is interest- ing to compare these volumes with another pub- lication which deals with the same period: "Essai sur la civilization timuride" by Lucien Bouvat, (Journ. asiatique, CCXVIII, I926), which gives scanty details as to politics and warfare, but which packs into a mere one hundred pages a comprehensive re-creation of the daily cultural and artistic life of the time.

The volume which deals with Ulugh Beg traces the life history of this well-known figure, eldest son of Shah Rukh and grandson of Tamer- lane. Records of raiding, skirmishes, and war- fare on a larger scale are interspersed with tales of lively and deadly intrigue between the differ- ent branches of the royal family. Ulugh Beg himself was the eventual victim of such a feud, for he was put to death after being defeated in battle by forces led by his own son. Family his- tory plays a predominate role in the story. There are lengthy catalogues of the names of the wives and the children of Ulugh Beg, but it is to be re- gretted that a detailed portrait of his mother, Gawhar Shad, the famous patron of architecture, whose buildings at Meshed and Herat still stand, is not given. Most of the description of actual buildings and places concerns the cities of Bo- khara and Samarkand; an interesting list of the madrasas and mosques erected by Ulugh Beg in these cities is given, and something is said about the splendid gardens and pavilions added at this time to the ring of pleasure grounds already drawn about Samarkand in the time of Tamer- lane. There are references to a study in Russian by V. L. Vjatkin, which is a modern attempt to establish the topography of ancient Samarkand.

Everyone knows that the ruling passion of

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BOOK REVIEWS II9

Ulugh Beg was astronomy and that his contribu- tions to this science were of lasting value. Tables of the observations made by his associates were published in Latin, English, and French, for pur- poses of consultation, at a much later period. Bar- thold names and discusses the members of his staff of astronomers and mathematicians and pre- sents all the recorded information about the num- ber and location of the observatories erected by Ulugh Beg; the position of the ruins of the one built at Samarkand in I428 has been established by the researches of Vjatkin.

The second of these volumes contains mate- rial of a decidedly less familiar nature. It con- tains a comprehensive account of the life of Ali Shir Nawa'i, the great exponent of turki litera- ture, and includes material describing his day by day activities, as well as his associations with other literary figures of the period, and places special stress on his relations with Sultan Husain Baikara.

The material was first published in Russian by Barthold in I928, on the five hundredth anniversary of Ali Shir's birth in I44o-an ap- parent inconsistency caused by varieties of chronology-under a title corresponding to "Mir 'All Shir und das politische Leben." This German version is more than a literal translation. Hinz credits himself, after omitting sections of the original which he considered least important, with having turned a dull text into readable Ger- man. He claims to have improved upon the orig- inal title, although I do not believe that his new title epitomizes the contents as well as does the original one.

An opening chapter traces the political for- tunes of the descendants of Tamerlane and stresses the increasing importance of Herat, as compared with the waning influence of Samar- kand.

Ali Shir was born at Herat of a noble family and held from birth the title of Emir (Mir). It is possible that he was a schoolmate of Husain

Baikara, but when the two men were about seven- teen their lives took divergent courses. Ali Shir turned to study and association with poets, whereas Husain devoted twelve years to intrigue and warfare, gradually increasing his power, un- til he ascended the throne at Herat in I469. The area which he controlled is shown in a good map. Ali Shir at once became second ranking lord in the realm and keeper of the privy seals. In spite of the political plots of certain rivals he held the almost continual favor of his devoted friend the sultan and was employed in military and political missions of major importance.

The closing pages have something to say about the literary activities and associates of the great writer, although this major aspect tends to be lost in the general catalogue of events. Of much interest to many readers will be a list of some of the buildings erected under the direction of Ali Shir, who proved himself to be a devoted patron of architecture. At Herat, on ground given to him by Sultan Husain, he built a series of ma- drasas and one notable project which included a mosque, where he was buried, a madrasa, hos- pital, and bath. The region of Khurasan was es- pecially favored. At Ribat 'Ashk, near Gurgan and Asterabad, he rebuilt a caravanserai of Kabuis ibn Washmglr for whom the great Gun- bad-i Kabuis had been constructed. South of Meshed he erected the Ribat Sangbast on the ruins of one built by Arslan Diadhib. Lines of foundation walls near the standing tomb of Ars- lan Djadhib may be the remains of this structure. At Khargird he ordered a tomb for the poet and mystic Kasim al-Anwar, and at Nishpur was erected a mausoleum for the poet Farld al-Din 'Attar and a building called the Ribat Dirabad.

Ali Shir died in I 50I, and the funeral services were conducted by Husain Baikara. The sultan survived him by only five years, and the kingdom which he had labored so strenuously to create fell apart almost at once.

DONALD N. WILBER

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