Inscription

Verso: Text of Hulagu Khan giving a feast and dispensing favor upon the amirs and princes Persian text in nasta‘liq script: [cont. from recto] in the Land of Sham [Syria], [that] would surrender if he [Khurshah] gave the word; otherwise, it would have taken years before they could be overrun. So he [Hulagu] kept him for a while, and he was treated with respect and dignity. And then he dispatched him to the service of the Great Khan [Mongke]. And regarding his [Khurshah’s] death, there are different versions. The truth is that when news reached the Great Khan that Khurshah was on his way, he said: “Why are they bringing him [here] and tiring the packhorses to no purpose?” And he [Mongke] dispatched envoys who did away with him en route. And at this end, after Khurshah had been sent off on the road, they murdered his entire family and household on the road between Abhar and Qazvin, including men, women, and infants still in their cradles, so that not a trace of them was left. And the duration of the rule of the Ismailis in these regions is around one hundred and seventy-seven years, starting from the year four hundred and seventy-seven [AD 1084], and the word “Alamut” is its chronogram. It ended on the first of Dh’ul Qa’da 654 [20 November 1256]. And the number of their rulers is seven, in this manner and sequence: first, Hasan son of Ali son of Muhammad al-Sabbah al-Hamayri; second, Kiya Buzug Ummid, and he and Hasan [the first ruler listed] were both Ismaili missionaries; third, Muhammad Hasan Buzurg Ummid, who is known as ‘Ala dhhkirhi’l-Salam; fourth, Hasan son of Muhammad Buzurg Ummid; fifth, Muhammad Jalal al-Din son of Hasan and they call him Hasan the New Musulman; sixth, ‘Ala al-Din son of Muhammad son of al-Hasan son of Muhammad; seventh, Rukn al-Din Khurshah son of ‘Ala al-Din, in whose time the dynasty fell. And the conquest of those fortresses and edifices is finite proof of the plenitude of the good fortune of Mongke Khan and his brother Hulagu Khan, who managed to accomplish such a momentous task in such a short span of time with such ease and facility; for had it not been for that good fortune, the conquered domains would have been ruined, faced with the difficulties of providing and transporting provisions and drink. These are the events and accounts of the conquest of the lands of the Ismaili heretics, as mentioned above. Finis. The narrative of Hulagu Khan turning toward Kohistan after the capture of the heretics’ fortresses and receiving Bayju Noyan from Anatolia and his interrogation by Hulagu Khan and his dispatch again to Anatolia to complete the conquest Hulagu Khan, when he had completed the conquest of the citadels and lands of the [Ismaili] heretics, in Rabi‘ al-awwal of the year 655 [AD 1257] from the region of Qazvin, proceeded toward Hamadan. And Bayju Noyan arrived from the direction of Azerbaijan. Hulagu Khan was upset with him and shouted at him saying, “Since the passing of Churmaghun Noyan, what have you done in the Land of Iran, and which army have you defeated, and which rebel have you managed to bring into obedience, aside from instilling fear into the Mongol army with accounts of the caliph’s might and grandeur?” He [Bayju] knelt down and said: “I committed no wrong, but did what I could as presented to you. I have subjugated the land from the gates of Rayy to the borders of Anatolia and Syria, all save the matter of Baghdad. It is difficult to take the army there given the difficult roads ahead, the heavy population, and their vast army and arms. It is for the mighty ruler [padshah] to decide and I will obey whatever he decrees.” These words alleviated his [Hulagu’s] anger and he decreed thus: “You must go and conquer lands as far as the shores of the western sea from the hands of the sons of Efrins and Lanktar.” Bayju returned at once and took an army to Anatolia; and at that time the sultan of Anatolia, Ghiyath al-Din Kai-Khusrau son of ‘Ala al-Din, met Bayju Noyan in battle at Kusa Dagh and was defeated. And Bayju conquered the whole of Anatolia and indulged in plunder. And Hulagu Khan accompanied by princes Ghuli and Balagha and Tutar and chief commanders Buqa Timur and Qudusun and Qata and Sunjaq and Kuka Ilgai, camped in the Hamadan plain near Hatimabad, which is a meadow with tamarisk trees, and began to prepare and arrange the troops. Finis. The emergence of tumult in Baghdad and the discord between the chief secretary and the vizier and the beginning of the caliph of Baghdad’s demise In the year 654 [AD 1256] at the end of the summer, a great flood came down and inundated the city of Baghdad in such a way that the lower part of the buildings there were submerged in water and disappeared, and for fifty days the flood was on the rise, and then it began to subside, and half of the habitations in Iraq were destroyed, and to date the Musta‘sami Flood is remembered as a byword [for a damaging flood] among the people of Baghdad. And in the midst of this catastrophic event, the rabble, ruffians, and misfits embarked on looting and gained the upper hand and every day killed a lot of people. And Mujahid al-Din Aybek, the chief secretary, gathered the rabble and the misfits around himself and in a short space of time built up a power base, and when he felt empowered and saw that Caliph Musta‘sam was indecisive and naive in judgment, he consulted with some of the notables in order to oust him from his position and place another Abbasid in his place, and vizier . . .