Ibn Athīr is the family name of three brothers, all famous in

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

, born at Jazīrat ibn Umar (today's ''Cizre'' nowadays in south-eastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) in upper

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. The ibn al-Athir brothers belonged to the Shayban lineage of the large and influential Arab tribe

Banu Bakr The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( ar, بنو بكر بن وائل '), or simply Banu Bakr, were an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah branch of Adnanite tribes, which also included Abd al-Qays, Anazzah, Taghlib. The tribe is reputed to hav ...

, who lived across upper

, and gave their name to the city of Diyar Bakr.

Brothers

Majd ad-Dīn

The eldest brother, known as Majd ad-Dīn (1149–1210), was long in the service of the amir of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...

, and was an earnest student of tradition and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. His dictionary of traditions (Kitāb an-Ni/zdya) was published at

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

(1893), and his dictionary of family names (''Kitāb ul-Murassa'') has been edited by Ferdinand Seybold (Weimar, 1896).

Diyā' ad-Dīn

The youngest brother ، ضياء الدين ، Diyā' ad-Dīn (1163–1239), served under

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

from 1191 and his son al-Malik al-Afdal who succeeded him, served in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

Samosata Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Aleppo,

and

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

. He was one of the most famous aesthetic and stylistic critics of Arabian literature. His works include: * "Book of Analysis" or ''Kitab at-Tahlil'' (كتاب التحليل) published by

Bulaq Press The Amiri Press or Amiria Press ( ar, المطبعة الأميرية, المطابع الأميرية) (''Al-Matba'a al-Amiriya'') (also known as the Bulaq Press () due to its original location in Bulaq) is a printing press, and one of the main ...

in 1865 (cf. ''Journal of the German Oriental Society'', xxxv. 148, and Ignaz Goldziher's ''Abhandlungen'', i. 161 sqq.). This contains very independent criticism of ancient and modern Arabic verse. *''al-Washy al-marḳūm'' (Beirut 1298). *''al-Jāmiʿ al-kabīr'', ed. by Muṣṭafā D̲j̲awād and D̲j̲amil Saʿīd (Bag̲h̲dād 1375, 1956). *''al-Mathal al-sāʾir'' ( ar, المثل السائر) ** ed. by Muḥammad Muḥy al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd, 2 vols (Cairo 1939). **
al-Maṯal al-sāʾir fī ʾadab wa-l-šāʿir
' (Cairo: Dār Nahḍat Maṣr lil-Tabʿ wa-n-Našr, o date *''al-Istidrāk fi ’l-akhdh ʿala ’l-Māʾākhidh al-Kindiyya'' (Cairo 1958) *One of the collections of his ''Rasāʾil'', ed. by Anīs al-Maḳdisī (Beirut 1959) (based on the manuscript Topkapisaray Ahmed III, 2630) * A selection of his letters published by David Samuel Margoliouth are available under the title ''On the Royal Correspondence of Diyā' ad-Dīn al-Jazarī'' in the ''Actes du dixieme congrès international des orientalistes'', sect. 3, pp. 7–21.

Ali ibn al-Athir

The most famous brother was

Ali ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad- Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian ...

(May 13, 1160 – 1233), who devoted himself to the study of history and Islamic tradition. At the age of twenty-one he settled with his father in Mosul and continued his studies there. In the service of the amir for many years, he visited Baghdad and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and later Aleppo and Damascus. He died in Mosul. His world history, the al-Kāmil fi t-tarīkhURL: https://archive.org/details/Alkamil_Fi_Tarikh (''The Complete History''), extends to the year 1231. It has been edited by Carl Tornberg, ''Ibn al-Athīr Chronicon quod perfectissinum inscribitur'' (14 vols., Leiden, 1851–1876). The first part of this work up to A.H. 310 (A.D. 923) is an abbreviation of the work of Tabari with minor additions. Ibn Athīr also wrote a history of the

Atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was with ...

s of Mosul ''at-Tarīkh al-atabakīya'', published in the '' Recueil des historiens des croisades'' (vol. ii., Paris); a work (''Usd al-Ghdba'') giving an account of 7,500 companions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (5 vols., Cairo, 1863), and a compendium (the ''Lubāb'') of Samani's Kitāb ui-A n.~db (cf.

Ferdinand Wüstenfeld Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (31 July 1808 – 8 February 1899) was a German orientalist, known as a literary historian of Arabic literature, born at Münden, Hanover. He studied theology and oriental languages at Göttingen and Berlin. He ...

's ''Specimen el-Lobabi'', Göttingen, 1835).

References

{{Reflist Arabic-language writers Arab writers