Kholāsat al-tavārikh

Prince ʽAbbās enthroned, proclaimed Shah in Khorasan in 1581

Kholāsat al-tavārikh, also Ḫulāṣat at-tawārīḫ or Kholassat ot-Tavarikh (کتاب خلاصة التواریخ, "The Essence of Histories") is a history of the early Safavid Empire, written by Qāḍī Aḥmad Qummī. The last events recorded in the manuscript date to 1592 suggesting a completion date shortly after this date. The copy of the manuscript located in Berlin contains on 436 pages a history of the Safavids from their origins, especially from Shah Ismail I (1501-1524), up to the first years of the reign of Shah Abbas the Great (1587-1629).[1]

Copies

Various copies are known, including:

  • Manuscript B, located in Teheran, completed according to the colophon in 1640.[2]
  • Manuscript M, located in Teheran in the Kitäbhänä-yimilli-yi Malik.[2]
  • Manuscript N, located in Teheran, dated around 1651.[2]

Manuscript S (SSB 2202)

Located in the State Library in Berlin ("SSB"). Location number: 2202, new acquisition 1895. The name of the copyist and the date of the copy are not given. The cover size is 41.5 x 28 cm. The manuscript has 436 leaves and is paginated with black pencil numbers by a European hand. The volume contains a total of ten miniatures, mostly full-page, each precisely matching the content of the text. The tenth miniature, however, is located at the very end of the manuscript, which depicts a reception scene at the court of an Indian prince, unlike the other miniatures, has no connection with the existing text.[2] This manuscript is fully digitized and available online.[3]

References

  1. ^ Müller, Hans (1964). Die Chronik Ḫulāṣat at-tawārīḫ des Qāżī Aḥmad Qumī : der Abschnitt über Schah ʿAbbās I. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 1–14.
  2. ^ a b c d Müller, Hans (1964). Die Chronik Ḫulāṣat at-tawārīḫ des Qāżī Aḥmad Qumī : der Abschnitt über Schah ʿAbbās I. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 10–16.
  3. ^ "Digitalisierte Sammlungen der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin".