Akhsitan III was the 29th ruler of

Shirvan Shirvan (from fa, شروان, translit=Shirvān; az, Şirvan; Tat: ''Şirvan''), also spelled as Sharvān, Shirwan, Shervan, Sherwan and Šervān, is a historical Iranian region in the eastern Caucasus, known by this name in both pre-Islam ...

, now part of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. He is thought to be the son of

Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II Farrukhzad II was the 28th ruler of Shirvan. He was only a nominal king, therefore there is not much information about him.Taвaккyл ибн Бaззaз. Caфвaт ac-caфa. Pyкoпиcь ЛГПБ, Kaтaлoг Б. Д o p н a, №300 References ...

Life

No numismatic source mentions his name. His existence is proposed on the details of a legend in ''

Safvat as-safa The ''Safvat as-safa'' ( fa, صفوة الصفا), also spelled ''Safvat al-safa'' or ''Safwat al-safa'', is a hagiography of the Sufi shaykh Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334), founder of the Safaviya Sufi order. Author The ''Safvat as-safa ...

, a'' work by Ibn Bazzaz who mentions Akhsitan as ruler of

. According to legend, Shah wanted to marry his daughter to

Safavid Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...

sheikh

Safi-ad-din Ardabili Safi-ad-din Ardabili ( fa, شیخ صفی‌الدین اردبیلی ''Ṣāfī ad-Dīn Isḥāq Ardabīlī''; 1252/3 – 1334) was a poet, mystic, teacher and Sufi master. He was the son-in-law and spiritual heir of the Sufi master Zahed Gilan ...

with a dowry of 14,000

dinar The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...

and a water canal, to which Safi al-Din reporedly replied "''How can I reply to that? Shirvanshah is the ruler, and I am just a

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...

''". Since Safi-ad-din Ardabili was born in 1252, he couldn't have married a daughter of

Akhsitan II Jalaladdin Akhsitan was the 27th Shirvanshah. He was executed by the order of Hulagu Hulagu Khan, also known as Hülegü or Hulegu ( mn, Хүлэгү/ , lit=Surplus, translit=Hu’legu’/Qülegü; chg, ; Arabic: fa, هولاکو خان ...

, about whom after 1260, there is no details. Therefore, it was proposed that there should be another, a third Akhsitan. According to the legend, seeing Safiaddin's tutor and future father-in-law

Zahed Gilani Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani (or Sinjani; Persian:تاج الدين ابراهيم كردی سنجانی)‎ (1218 – 1301), titled Sheikh Zahed (or Zahid) Gilani, was an Iranian Grandmaster (murshid-i kamil) of the f ...

's influence over Shirvani people Akhsitan began to oppose religious Sufi orders, saying religious people are not working in fields. Another reasoning given for his existence is an inscription dated June 1294 on

Pir Huseyn Khanqah The Pir Huseyn Khanqah and Mausoleum lies along the left bank of Pirsaat River (Pirsaatçay), 126 kilometers to the southwest of Baku. The inscription plaque over the portal, read by V. Kratchkovskaya in 1952, announces that the khanqah (dervish ...

, which mentions "''Keykavus b. Akhsitan''".

Death

In ''

'', it is also reported that Akhsitan died of mental illness in Gushtasfi, while his son Siamerk was executed on the orders of

Arghun Khan Arghun Khan (Mongolian Cyrillic: ''Аргун хан''; Traditional Mongolian: ; c. 1258 – 10 March 1291) was the fourth ruler of the Mongol empire's Ilkhanate, from 1284 to 1291. He was the son of Abaqa Khan, and like his father, was a dev ...

on the instigation of Akhsitan himself. He was probably succeeded by his other son - Keykavus.

References

1294 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century Iranian people {{Iran-royal-stub