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 transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

) 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 ...

. 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 have e ...

, 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 larg ...

, 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 city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

(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 Medit ...

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 Ctesiphon. I ...

. 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 in 1865 (cf. ''Journal of the German Oriental Society'', xxxv. 148, and

Ignaz Goldziher Ignaz is a male given name, related to the name Ignatius. Notable people with this name include: * Franz Ignaz Beck (1734–1807), German musician * Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704), Bohemian-Austrian musician * Ignaz Brüll (1846–1907), ...

's ''Abhandlungen'', i. 161 sqq.). This contains very independent criticism of ancient and modern

Arabic verse Arabic poetry ( ar, الشعر العربي ''ash-shi‘ru al-‘Arabīyyu'') is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry ...

. *''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 O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

*''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 David Samuel Margoliouth, FBA (; 17 October 1858, in London – 22 March 1940, in London) was an English orientalist. He was briefly active as a priest in the Church of England. He was Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford ...

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 a ...

(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 ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

with minor additions. Ibn Athīr also wrote a history of the Atabegs of Mosul ''at-Tarīkh al-atabakīya'', published in the ''

Recueil des historiens des croisades {{italic title The ''Recueil des historiens des croisades'' (trans: ''Collection of the Historians of the Crusades'') is a major collection of several thousand medieval documents written during the Crusades. The documents were collected and publish ...

'' (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