List of Khorezm Shahs

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The following list gives an overview of all those rulers of Khorezm who carried the title "Khorezm-Shah" . A total of 4 dynasties are distinguished.

The dynasty of the Siyavuschiden or Afrighiden

The mostly independently ruling Shahs are known from ancient written sources and (from the turn of the century) from coins. The following list is sketchy.

  • Siyavusch ( Iranian hero known from Shahname , who, according to legend, came to Khorezmia in 1292 BC and founded the first Khorezmian ruling dynasty 92 years later with the installation of his son Kai-Chusrau as Shah )
  • Kai-Chosrau (son of Siyavusch, who, according to legend, inherited the rule of Khorezm in 1200 BC)
  • Vishtaspa around 588 BC Chr.
  • Farasman / Pharasmanes (around 328 BC; contemporary of Alexander the Great , to whom he confidently offered an alliance in Samarkand )
  • Artav (approx. 50-100 AD)
  • Artramusch (around 200)
  • Vasamar (around 250; Khoresm possibly liberated from Cushan rule )
  • Bivarsary I. (approx. 300-350)
  • Bivarsar II (approx. 300-350)
  • Kawi or Rawi (around 350)
  • Sanabar (around 450)
  • Rast (around 450)
  • Sijawsparsch (around 450)
  • King Wik or We (around 450)
  • Ramik (around 500)
  • Tutuchas (around 500)
  • Brawik (around 620)
  • Schram (around 650)
  • Askatvar (around 712)
  • Kanik (around 725)
  • Shavoschfar [n] (around 751; documented by coins; asked the Chinese , in whose sources it appears as "Shao-she-fien", for help against the Arabs )
  • Azkaswar II (around 775)
  • Abdallah b. Aschkam (around 943/44; rebelled against the Samanids , under whose rule Choresm has been since the early 10th century)

Ruler from the Afrighid dynasty after al-Biruni

Very few of these 22 Shahs have so far been documented with certainty by contemporary monuments.

  • Afrigh (founded the younger line of the Siyavushids named after him in 305 and relocated the Khorezmian capital (from Toprak-Kala ?) To Kath , where he had a large castle built called "al-Fir" or "al-Fil")
  • Baghra
  • Sachassak
  • Askadschamuk I.
  • Askajavar I (evidenced by coins)
  • Sachr I.
  • Savosch
  • Chamgri
  • Buskar
  • Arthamuch (contemporary of the Prophet Mohammed )
  • Sachr II.
  • Sabri
  • Askajavar II
  • Askadschamuk II. (Around 712, i.e. during the conquest of Khorezm by the Arabs )
  • Shavoschfar [n] (around 751; documented by coins; asked the Chinese , in whose sources it appears as "Shao-she-fien", for help against the Arabs )
  • Torkasbatha
  • Abdullah ibn Torkasbatha (early 9th century; first Khorezm Shah with an Islamic name = first Muslim Khorezm Shah?)
  • Mansur ibn Abdullah
  • Iraq ibn Mansur (r. 898)
  • Muhammad ibn Iraq (r. 921)
  • Abu Said Ahmad ibn Muhammad (r. 967; evidenced by coins)
  • Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad (died 995; evidenced by coins)

(→ Fall by the Mamunids of Gurgandsch )

The Mamunid dynasty (Khorezm Shahs in Gurganj )

  • Abu Ali Mamun (I.) ibn Muhammad, or Maʾmūn ibn Muḥammad for short (ruled 995–997 under the suzerainty of the Samanids )
  • Abu ʼl-Hasan Ali ibn Mamun, ʿAlī ibn Maʾmūn for short (ruled 997–1008 / 9, initially under the rule of the Samanids, then de facto independent; evidenced by coins)
  • Abu ʼl-Abbas Mamun (II.) Ibn Mamun, short Maʾmūn ibn Maʾmūn (r. 1008 / 9-1017)
  • Abu ʼl-Harith Muhammad ibn Ali (r. 1017)

(→ Overthrow by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna )

The dynasty of the Altuntaschids

  • Abu Said Altun-Tash (ruled 1017-1032, Turkish military slave who served the Ghaznavids as governor in Khorezm and was allowed to hold the title of Khorezm Shah)
  • Harun ibn Altun-Tasch (ruled 1032-1035, rebelled against the supremacy of the Ghasnavids in 1034 and made himself independent by accepting the Khorezm Shah title, which they did not grant him - nominally, Sultan Masud's son Said led him independently)
  • Ismail Chandan ibn Altun-Tasch (ruled 1035-1041 as an independent Khorezm Shah)

(→ Overthrow of the dynasty and conquest of Khorezm by the Oghuz ruler (Yabghu) Shah-Malik , who took over the Khorezm-Shah title, but had to give way to the Seljuks in 1042/43 , who incorporated Khorezm into their empire)

The Anushteginid dynasty

(→ Conquest of Khorezm by the Mongols under Genghis-Khan in 1221)

Sources, literature and web links

  • Stanley Lane-Poole : The Mohammadan Dynasties. Chronological and Genealogical Tables with Historical Intoductions , London 1893 (pp. 176–178)
  • Ferdinand Justi : Iranian Name Book , Marburg 1895 (p. 428)
  • Eduard Sachau : A directory of Mohammedan dynasties in: Treatises of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Phil.-histor. Class (Berlin 1923), No. 1
  • Eduard von Zambaur : Manuel de généalogie et de chronologie pour l'historie de l'Islam , Hanover 1927 (pp. 208–209)
  • Clifford Edmund Bosworth: The new Islamic dynasties. A chronological and genealogical manuel , Edinburgh University 2004 (pp. 178–180)
  • ZENO.RU Oriental Coins Database