The Famous Sons of Ancient and Medieval AZERBAIJAN Chingiz QAJAR 1 Shirvanshah Firidun ibn-Firiburz. 2 Contents PREFACE So was Spoken about Zarathustra. ZOROASTER (ZARDUSHT) The King of Manne, a State that Became the Cradle of Animal Style in Art. ULLUSUNU The Amazon Who Defeated King Cyrus the Great. TOMYRIS The Man Who Created Azerbaijan 2,300 Years Ago. ATROPATES The King of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Father of Antony and Cleopatra's Daughter-in-law. ARTHAVAZD FROM ATROPATENE The Ruler of a Country that Professed Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam. JAVANSHIR Mavali-Arabic Language Poet from Azerbaijan. MUSA IBN-BASHSHAR SHAHAVAT Twenty Years Face to Face with the Caliphate. BABEK AL-KHURAMI The First Azerbaijani Poet to Become Known in the Middle East. QATRAN AZERBAIJANI ( TABRIZI) The Holy Shirazian From Shirvan. BABA KUKHI BAKUVI The Outstanding Disciple of Ibn Sina. BAHMANYAR AL-AZERBAIJANI The Leader of the Arabian Scientists. KHATIB TABRIZI The Great Atabey. SHAMS AD-DIN IL -DENIZ The Founder of the Sufi Brotherhood, One of the Most Authoritative In the Islamic World. SHIKHAB AD-DIN OMAR SUHRAVARDI The Philosopher - a Martyr SHIKHAB AD-DIN SUHRAVARDI The King of Poets. ABUL-ALA GANJAVI The Khakan of Poetry . KHAGANI SHIRVANI The Creator of Unique Balms. OMAR IBN-OSMAN KAFI AD-DIN The Zenith of the Islamic Renaissance. SHEIKH NIZAMI GANJAVI (GANJALI) The Great Lady of the Sufi Realm. MEHSET1 GANJAVI The Sheikh of Engineers. AJAMI NAKHCHIVANI The King Renowned for His Herculean Strength. JAHAN PEHLEVAN The Sultan of Azerbaijan. GIZIL ARSLAN The King of The Kingdom of Science. NASIR AD-DIN TUSI The Greatest of the Grand Viziers. FAZLULLAH RASHID AD-DIN The Founder of the Gizilbash Mystic Path. SAFI AD-DIN ISKHAK ARDEBILI The Sun that Will Never Set Again. SHAMS TABRIZI The Head of the Musical System School. SAFI AD-DIN URMAVI The Interpreter of Sufi Mysteries. MAHMUD SHABUSTARI The Author of an Outstanding 13th Century Medical Science Book. MAHMUD SHIRVANI 3 The Medieval Physician Who Treated Stress. ABDUL MEJID TABIB The Author of the First Persian-Azerbaijani Dictionary. FAHR AD-DIN HINDUSHAH NAKHCHIVANI The Encyclopaedia of the Economic and Political Life of Azerbaijan in the Epoch of II Khans. MAHAMMED IBN HINDUSHAH NAKHCHIVANI The Inventor of a Divine Script. MIR ALI TABRIZI The Philosopher who was Executed and Buried in Nakhchivan. FAZLULLAH NAIMI The Man Who Spent His Life Looking for Monuments and Miracles of the World. ABDRASHID SALEH IBN-NURI AL-BAKUVI The Great Poet, Theorist and Propagandist of Khurufism. IMAD AD-DIN NASIMI Unique in his Time, Unequalled in Musical Art. ABDULGADIR MARAGHI An Outstanding Physician from Lenkoran. RAMAZAN IBN SHEIKH ALI LENKORANI A Medieval Linguist from Garabagh. SADALLAKH AL-BARDAI The Shah of the Great Shirvan. SHIRVANSHAH IBRAHIM I The Power and Glory. SHIRVANSHAH KHALILULLAH I The President of the First Chess Club. HAJI ALI TABRIZI AL-SHATRANJI A Shah and Poet. MUZAFFAR AD-DIN JAHAN SHAH (HAGIGI) The Creator of a Unique Bronze Couldron. ABD AL-AZIZ TABRIZI A Prominent Medieval Calligrapher of Azerbaijan. JAFAR TABRIZI The Emperor and Empire. HASAN BEY BAYANDUR-UZUN HASAN The World Famous Sufi from Baku. SEYID YAHYA BAKUVI The Great Sheikh, Distinguished General, Eminent Statesman and Notable Poet. SHAH ISMAIL Son of the Great Shah Ismail and Father of Shah Abbas the Great. SHAH TAHMASIB I Like the Light of the Sun. USTAD SULTAN MAHAMMED The Cavalier Lifting Clouds of Dust. QARAPIRI BEY QAJAR The Titan of all Turkic Poetry. MAHAMMED FIZULI The Author of a Medical Treatise Written in Verse. YUSIF MAHAMMAD IBN YUSIF TABIB The Author of the Best Histories. HASAN BEY RUMLU The Leading Architect of the Great Moguls. AGHA MTJREK MIRZA GHIYAS The Faithful Son of Three Countries. MIR SEYID ALI A Prominent King of Garabagh. SULTAN IMAM GULU QAJAR The Greatest Among The Greats. SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT A Star of Great Magnitude in the Constellation of Talents. SADIQ BEY AFSHAR The Sheikh of Calligraphers. ALI RIZA TABRIZI Azerbaijani Don Juan at the Spanish Royal Court. DON JUAN PERSIAN 4 A Famous Doctor and Poet RUQN AD-DIN MASUD MASIHI (DOCTOR RUQNA) The Last Great Classical Poet of Iran and Azerbaijan. SAIB TABRIZI The Shah of Persia Elected by the Great Azeri-Turkic Gurultay (Cungress). NADIR SHAH AFSHAR The Courageous Freedom Fighter. HAJI CHELEBI The Great Khan of the Garabagh Khanate. PAN AHALI BEY JAVANSHIR The One Who Restored Azeri Iran AGHA MAHAMMED SHAH QAJAR The Life Sacrificed for Azerbaijan ABBAS MIRZA SON OF FATALI SHAH QAJAR One Struggle More, and I am Free. JAVAD KHAN ZIYAD-OGHLU QAJAR A Life Spent in Piligrimage. ZEYNAL AB-DIN SHIRVANI The Master of Love Poetry. MOLLA PANAH VAGIF The Key to Wisdom. MIRZA SHAFI One of the Last Medieval Encyclopaedists of Azerbaijan. MIR MOHSUN NAVVAB GARABAGI A Virtuoso Tar Player and the Inventor of the Azerbaijani Tar. SADIQJAN GARABAGLI A Great Master of Qajar Painting. ALLAHVERDI AFSHAR 5 FOREWORD For over 2,000 years, the territory of historical Azerbaijan, stretching from the Caucasus Mountains to the Sefid-rud River in Iran, was populated by kindred peoples and tribes, who spoke a common language and were notable for their original habits, traditions and culture. More than 2,300 years ago, the ruler of Media Minor, Aderbad (Atropates in Greek), founded a powerful independent state: Aderbadagan (Atropatene). With the expansion of Arabs during the 8th and 9th Centuries, Aderbadagan, as a pail of a Caliphate and half-independent province, was called Azerbaijan (in the Arab manner) - a name that has been preserved since then. Azerbaijan is a land of plenty with a temperate climate and rich natural resources, located at the intersection of routes connecting Sumer, Greek, Roman, Iranian, Turkic, Indian, Chinese and other civilizations. All things considered, Azerbaijan has been notable since ancient times for its high level of manufacture, original culture and history. New religions, religious sects and orders, philosophical schools, medicine and sciences sprang up and flourished in the region. Prominent Oriental poets and painters created their immortal works there; the best samples of their artistic activities are kept in famous museums worldwide. 6 These works include remarkable miniatures, manuscripts, metalwork, and carpets and fabric, manufactured in the territory' of Azerbaijan in the past and present. The people of Azerbaijan profess Islam. Azerbaijan adopted the religion through its previous experience of preceding great beliefs. Azerbaijan is referred to as the birthplace of Zoroastrianism and the motherland of Zoroaster, founder of this faith, as medieval Muslim scholars believed. Azerbaijan transformed into one of the world's first countries to adopt Christianity and Judaism on its territory. Traces of these communities have survived in the northern parts of the country. It should be noted that statehood has long been typical for Azerbaijan. There were such ancient states as Manna, Aderbadagan, Caucasian Albania, Shirvan, and other state formations set up by conquerors from Assyria, Urartu, Greece and Rome. Following the establishment of Islam, there sprang up huge Turkic-Azeri Empires of Atabeys, Ilkhans, Agh Goyunlu, Gara Goyunlu and Safavids with capitals in Azerbaijan (Tabriz, Maragha and Nakhchivan). These states were headed by highly educated monarchs who were patrons of culture, science and art. Worthy of note was that patrons of art and literature were widely spread among nobility as well. Patrons of art and literature such as the senior vizier of Ilkhan ruler, Fazlullah Rashid, and the nephew of Shah Tahmasib I, Sultan Ibrahim Mirza, were famous for their enlightenment activities all over the Near East. These states and state formations left their ineffaceable imprint on the ethno genesis of Azerbaijani people. Furthermore, their culture and art created the necessary economic, legal and cultural prerequisites for men of distinction in all the areas of public life, culture and art. The life and creativity of these distinguished people proceeded in Baku, Ganja, Shemakha, Barda, Tabriz, Nakhchivan, Ardebil, Qazwin and other capital towns of Azerbaijan. There were schools and universities, private and public libraries, health houses - a sort of present-day clinic - pharmaceutical centres and pharmacies, observatories, paper, dye and ink shops, decorative design and copying works. Musical and poetic majlises (meetings) were held at palaces with the participation of famous poets, composers, musicians and singers. There were also sports teams of pehlevans (wrestlers), chovgan (polo) players, horsemen, bow- shooters and chess players, who competed with each other. Most palace arrangements, including sport competitions, were held to the accompaniment of music. Also, special buildings called Nagara Khana housed the so-called ceremonial orchestras. This book contains biographies of scholars, theologians, philosophers, literary critics, linguists, poets, painters, calligraphers, musicians, musicologists, composers, astronomers, engineers, architects, musicians, statesmen and commanders. The biographies are placed in chronological order to enable the reader to get an idea of the development of culture and arts in Azerbaijan from ancient times to the beginning of the 19th century. 7 So was Spoken about Zarathustra Zoroaster (Zardusht) For nearly 200 years, scientific debates have been under way regarding the birthplace of Zardusht (Zarathustra, Zoroaster), founder of the religion named in his honour - Zoroastrianism.The problem is far from being solved. The birthplace of the prophet has not yet been identified. Most medieval Muslim historians (Biruni, Balazuri, Qazwini, Yagut al-Hamavi, etc.), quoting later Zoroastrian sources, believe that Zoroaster was born in Azerbaijan. With its numerous fire temples, Azerbaijan played an essential role in the creation and dissemination of the canonized text of the Zend- Frieze fragment from the Avesta - the sacred writing of Zoroastrianism. It was a Baku Bay fortification. 13th place where Zoroastrianism was transformed into a century. world religion. One of the most revered fire temples in Persia, Adurhushnaps, was built in Shiz, now Takhti Suleyman (Solomon).