Perso-Islamic Universal History, 950–1700

Abstract

This chapter traces a form of universal historical writing with roots in pre-Islamic Iranian tradition that gained new life several centuries after the Arab conquest of Iran. The spread of this genre was linked to the re-emergence of Persian as a prestige language in eastern Iran and Central Asia in the tenth century. Rooted in Iranian cultural markers, Perso-Islamic universal history served as a tool for legitimizing non-Iranian dynasties, including those of the Seljuq Turks and the Mongols, within the cultural and political landscape of the region, and by the Early Modern period it had been exported as broadly as Ottoman Anatolia and Mughal India. This chapter introduces the features of Perso-Islamic universal history, and traces its evolution across seven centuries to show how it remained current as a genre and as a legitimating device.