Istakhri's map, from theBook of Roads and KingdomsMap ofFarsA map of thePersian Gulf by Istakhri
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farisi al-Istakhri (آبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن محمد الفارسي الإصطخري) (alsoEstakhri,Persian:استخری, i.e. from the Iranian city ofIstakhr, b. – d. 346 AH/AD 957)[2] was a 10th-century travel author andIslamic geographer who wrote valuable accounts inArabic of the many Muslim territories he visited during theAbbasid era of theIslamic Golden Age. There is no consensus regarding his origin. Some sources describe him asPersian,[1] while others state he wasArab.[3][4] TheEncyclopedia Iranica states: "Biographical data are very meager. From hisnesbas (attributive names) he appears to have been a native of Eṣṭaḵr in Fārs, but it is not known whether he was Persian".[5]
Istakhri's account ofwindmills is the earliest known. Istakhri met the celebrated traveller-geographerIbn Hawqal, while travelling, andIbn Hawqal incorporated the work of Istakhri in his bookKitab al-Surat al-Ard.[4][5]
Masālik al-Mamālik (مسالك الممالك,Routes of the Realms), orKitab al-masalik wa-l-mamalik (كتاب المسالك والممالكBook of Roads and Kingdoms), a contribution to the "Book of Roads and Kingdoms" tradition. This combines maps with descriptive text to describe the geography of Iran and surrounding kingdoms. It is based mainly onlists of stations of postal routes, and seems intended to help commit those lists to memory rather than to guide travellers through the territory. There is no consistency between themap projections. An illuminated manuscript (MS Or. 3101) datedAH 589 (AD 1193) is held byLeiden University Libraries and is digitally available.[6] Another illuminated manuscript datedAH 706 (AD 1306–07) now resides in theKhalili Collection of Islamic Art. It contains many maps, though some mentioned in the text are missing.[7]
Ṣuwar al-ʿAqālīm (صور الاقاليم,Pictures of the Regions).
An 8-volume edition of works by medieval Arab geographers, edited by the Dutch orientalistMichael Jan de Goeje in a series titledBibliotheca geographorum Arabicorum was published by Brill, Lugduni-Batavora (Leiden) in the 1870s. An edition of Istakhri's MS text was produced for the first volume under the Latin titleViae Regnorum descriptio ditionis Moslemicae – "Description of Roads of the Kingdoms in Muslim territories". In 1927, the editorTheodore Noldeke produced a second edition.
In 1845, the German orientalistA. D. Mordtmann published a translation in Hamburg with the titleDas Buch der Länder von Schech Ebu Ishak el Farsi el Isztachri, with a foreword by C. Ritter. (Schriften der Akademie von Ham Bd. 1, Abth. 2).
^Mojtahed-Zadeh, Pirous. "The Persian Gulf in the Geographical Views of the Ancient World" InCartographie Historique du Golfe Persique. Edited by M. Taleghani, D. Silva Couto, & J.-L. Bacque-Grammont. Louvain, Belgium: Diffusion, 2006. 17.
^abMiquel, André (1954–2005)."Iṣṭakhrī, Abū Isḥāḳ Ibrāhīm". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J. (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill. IV:222b-223b.
^abBolshakov, O. G. (1998)."Eṣṭaḵrī, Abū Esḥāq Ebrāhīm". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation, Inc. VIII(6):646-647 (I have used the updated online version).
^Rogers, J. M. (2008).The arts of Islam : treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili collection (Revised and expanded ed.). Abu Dhabi: Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC). p. 167.OCLC455121277.
Media related toEstakhri at Wikimedia Commons