3 - Contexts and Authorship

Summary

Chapter Three addresses the authorship and contexts of the production of the five main texts analyzed in this study: Tārīkh-i Bukhārā, Tārīkh-i Bayhaq, Tārīkh-i Qum, Tārīkh-Sīstān, and Tārīkh-i Tabaristān. These contexts include: events that occurred during the texts’ production at the level of the caliphate; events that occurred in the local area; and what we know about the author or translator, including whether the text was commissioned or written for a patron. Chapter Three also outlines the demographic, religious, and political changes that occurred in medieval Persia during the 10th – early 15th centuries, paying close attention to the development of historical writing and the range of materials considered under the broad term “local history.” Revolt, localism, transition, and political instability characterize the social, political, and military contexts of the composition of the five main texts. This chapter also outlines the massive if gradual shift that occurred in Persian identity in the centuries after the initial Arab conquests in the mid-7th century, during which a hybrid Persian-Muslim identity with many distinct local iterations developed.