Alp-Tigin (Ghazna)

Alp-Tigin or Alp-Tegin ( Turkish for “brave prince”; mostly with Arabic-Persian lettersألبتكينwritten; † approx. 963 ) was a Turkish-born military slave ( Ghulam ) who initiated the establishment of the Ghaznavid dynasty.

The exact date of Alp-Tigin's birth is unknown. Alp-Tigin was a military slave who initially belonged to the Samanid emir Ahmad b. Ismail owned and served in his bodyguard. He was then taken over by Nasr b. Ahmad released. In the bodyguard, he rose to become the commander of the bodyguard (Arabic hadjib al-huddschab ) and exercised actual power instead of the young ruler Abd al-Malik I. Alp-Tigin owed his appointment to the vizier Abu Ali al-Balami and did not dare to intervene. In order to remove him from the capital, ALP TIGIN obtained the post of governor of in 961 Khorasan . Later he was given this office by Mansur b. Nuh, against whose enthronement Alp-Tigin had opposed. Alp-Tigin withdrew to Balch , a city in the north of what is now Afghanistan . In 962 he defeated an army that the Samanid ruler had sent against him. He marched to Ghazna , deposed the local dynasty there and founded his own empire with Ghazna as the capital. The sources give contradicting information about the date of his death.

literature

W. Barthold in: Encyclopaedia of Islam , keyword ALP TAKIN