Hamzah al-Isfahani

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Hamzah al-Isfahani (also Hamzah ibn al-Hasan al-Isfahani) was a Persian geographer and historian of the 10th century.

The dates of his life cannot be exactly reconstructed, it is assumed that he was born around the year 270 AH or 884 AD. The latest work he received describes Persia in the year 961, the end of his life is assumed in the following ten years.

He wrote several historical, geographical and grammatical treatises, some of which also provide important information about the Parthians and Sassanids that has not been handed down . Of the presumed twelve works, four have survived to this day. He seems at least to have had access to Sassanid works that are now lost and also relied on Greek and Zoroastrian sources. He had contact with at-Tabarī and made several trips to Baghdad .

The exact political assignment of the scholar is partly controversial. Contemporary and later sources clearly name him a follower of the Shuʿūbīya movement and a Persian nationalist who despises Arabs and may also mourn the pre-Islamic period. In his homeland, the anti-Arab churramite movement was still anchored and in his youth, Isfahan fell under the control of the Saffarids , who rebelled against Baghdad. He is also said to have lived for a while under the protection of the Barmakid political family .

Works

  • al-Tanbīh 'alā ḥudūth al-taṣḥīf ( e.g. misspelling due to the Arabic letters , preserved)
  • Kitāb al-amthāl 'alā af'al (approximately: Book of Proverbs , preserved)
  • Sarḥ akhbār Abū Nuwās (roughly: Divan of Abu Nuwas , preserved)
  • Sinī Mulūk al-'arḍ w'al-Anbīya (for example: History of the past kings and prophets of the earth , preserved)
  • Al-muwāzana bayn al-'Arabiyya w'al-Fārisiyya (book on Persian lexicography and etymology, incomplete)
  • Ta'rīkh Isfahān (lost)
  • UM Daudpota (ed.): The Annals of Hamzah al-Isfahani . Translated from the Arabic with an introduction. Bombay: KR Cama Oriental Institute, 1932.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Parvaneh Pourshariati: Ḥamza al-Iṣfāhanī and Sāsānid historical geography of Sinī Mulūk al-'arḍ w'al-Anbīya. In: Res Orientales, Vol. XVII , 2007. pp. 111-140.
personal data
SURNAME Hamzah al-Isfahani
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian geographer and historian
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
DATE OF DEATH after 961