Atabeg, Atabek,
or Atabey is a hereditary title of
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...
of
Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
and charged with raising the
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...
. The first instance of the title's use was with early
Seljuk Turks who bestowed it on the Persian vizier
Nizam al-Mulk[ It was later used in the ]Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...
, first within the Armeno
Armeno (Piedmontese and Lombard: ''Armagn'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Novara.
Armeno borders the following municipalit ...
-Georgian family of Mkhargrdzeli as a military title and then within the house of Jaqeli as princes of Samtskhe.
Title origins and meanings
The word ''atabeg'' is a compound of the Turkic word ''ata'', "ancestor", or "father"[ and the word ''beg'' or ''bey'', "lord, leader, prince". ''Beg'' is stated in some sources as being of Iranian origin (as in the compound ]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 Ctesiphon ...
from ''bag/beg'' and ''dad'', "lord" given). However, according to Gerhard Doerfer, the word ''beg'' may have possibly been of Turkic origin – the origin of the word still remains disputed to this day.
The title ''Atabeg'' was common during the Seljuk rule of the Near East starting in the 12th century. It was also common in 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 ...
(Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
). When a Seljuk prince died, leaving minor heirs, a guardian would be appointed to protect and guide the young princes. These guardians would often marry their wards' widowed mothers, thus assuming a sort of surrogate fatherhood. Amongst the Turkmen tribes, as in Persia, the rank was senior to a khan
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
.
The title ''Atabeg'' was also in use for officers in Mamluk Egypt; some of them were proclaimed sultan before the incorporation into the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
. After the end of Seljuk rule, the title was used only intermittently.
When describing the Atabegs of Azerbaijan
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 wit ...
, the Ildeniz (Ildegoz) dynasty, the title ''Atabeg-e-Azam'' (Great Atabeg) was used, to denote their superior standing, power and influence on the Seljuk sultans.
In Persian, the style ''Atabek-e-Azam'' was occasionally used as an alternative title for the Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
's Vazir-e-Azam (''Grand Vizier''), notably in 1834–35 for Mirza Abolghasem Farahani, Gha'em Magham, in 1848–51 for Mirza Mohammed Taghi Khan, Amir-e Kabir, in 1906–07 for Mirza Ali Asghar Khan, Amin-ol Soltan, and finally in 1916 for a Qajar prince, Major-General Shahzadeh Sultan 'Abdu'l Majid Mirza, Eyn-ol Douleh.
List of Atabeg dynasties and other dynasties who used the title
*Ahmadilis
The AhmadilisClifford Edmund Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual'', Columbia University, 1996. pp 198:"The Ahmadilis" ( fa, احمدیلی), also known as the Atabegs of Maragheh (''Atābakān-e Marāghe' ...
(Atabegs of Maragha) (of Turkic origin)
* Eldiguzids (Atabegs 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 ...
) (of Kypchaq Turkic origin)
* Salghurids (Atabegs of Fars) (of Turkmen origin)
* Hazaraspids (Atabegs of Luristan) (of Iranian origin)
* Atabegs of Yazd (of Iranian origin)
* Zengids (Atabegs 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 larg ...
) (of Turkmen origin)
Atabeg dynasties
In the Near East
Beginning in the twelfth century the atabegs formed a number of dynasties, and displaced the descendants of the Seljukid
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
s in their various principalities. These dynasties were founded by emancipated Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
s, who had held high office at court and in camp under powerful emirs. When the emirs died, they first became stadtholders for the emirs' descendants, and then usurped the throne of their masters. There was an atabeg dynasty in Damascus founded by Toghtekin (1103–1128).
Other atabeg "kingdoms" sprang up to the north east, founded by Sokman (Sökmen), who established himself at Kaifa in Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.
Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...
about 1101, and by his brother Ilghazi. The city 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 larg ...
was under Mawdud ibn Altuntash
Mawdud ibn Altuntash ( ar, شرف الدولة المودود) (also spelled Maudud or Sharaf al-Dawla Mawdûd) (died October 2, 1113) was a Turkic military leader who was atabeg of Mosul from 1109 to 1113. He organized several expeditions to reco ...
, and was later ruled by atabegs such as Aksunkur and Zengi. Zengi became Atabeg 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 larg ...
in 1128 and soon established himself as an independent ruler of much of northern 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 ...
and Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
(including Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize =
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).
The northern part of Luristan, formerly known as Lurikuchik ('Little Luristan'), was governed by independent princes of the Khurshidi dynasty, styled atabegs, from the beginning of the 17th century when the last atabeg, Shah Verdi Khan, was removed by Persian Shah Abbas I and the government of the province given to Husain Khan, the chief of a rival tribe. Husain, however, was given the gubernatorial title of vali instead of atabeg. The descendants of Husain Khan retained the title.
Great Luristan, in the southern part of Luristan, was an independent state under the Fazlevieh atabegs from 1160 until 1424. Its capital was Idaj, now only represented by mounds and ruins at Malamir.
In the Caucasus
In the Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...
, atabeg ( ka, ათაბაგი, tr) was one of the highest court titles created by Queen Tamar of Georgia in 1212 for her powerful subjects of the Mkhargrdzeli family. The atabeg of Georgia was a vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
and a Lord High Tutor to Heir Apparent. Not infrequently, the office of atabeg was combined with that of amirspasalar (commander-in-chief). In 1334, the title became hereditary in the Jaqeli family who ruled the Principality of Samtskhe. Therefore, this entity came to be denominated as Samtskhe-Saatabago, the latter element meaning "of the atabags".[ Toumanoff, Cyril (1967). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 438, n. 1. Georgetown University Press.]
Notes
{{Reflist
References
*. ''Crusades Through Arab Eyes'', 1984
ÏNĀNČ ḴĀTUN, Encyclopædia Iranica
ATĀBAK, Encyclopædia Iranica
ATĀBAKĀN-E ĀḎARBĀYJĀN, Encyclopædia Iranica
* https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151014/http://www.selcuklular.com/?
Heads of government in Asia
Muslim rulers
Executive ministers
Gubernatorial titles
.
Kingdom of Georgia
Noble titles
Noble titles of Georgia (country)