The high Kurdish country between the Shahrazur plain and the Lake Urmia basin on the west and the Hamadan plain on the east: the uplands of Saqqez and Baneh, the Marivan lake basin, the plateaus round the later Sanandaj (the medieval Sisar country) and Bijar, and the Takab upland with the ruined fire temple of Shiz.
Its tribes live under their own chiefs, move between summer pastures on the Zagros crests and winter grazing in the valleys, and answer to no ruler that can be named that winter. They pay tribute when a strong master sits at Hamadan or Maragha, hire out as horsemen, and take tolls on the tracks between Shahrazur, Maragha and Hamadan.
Who holds it
- Name
- not named for 1199-1200
- Title
- Tribal chiefs (amirs) of separate tribes and valleys
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No chief of this zone is named in the sources read for the 1190s.
Overlord
None effective; whoever is strong at Hamadan or Maragha takes what tribute he can
What it holds
- Summer and winter pastures of the upland tribes
- The tracks between Shahrazur, Maragha and Hamadan
How things stand that morning
Self-governing; no town or castle known in a chief's hands. Neighbours: Gokbori of Irbil in Shahrazur (Latin East map), the Eldiguzid atabeg and the Ahmadilis of Maragha south of Lake Urmia (Anatolia map), the Jibal towns under the Khwarazmian order.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Shape from the geographers and the later history of the Ardalan country; nothing dated to 1199-1200.
On the map: A tribal country with no fixed border; the line against the Hamadan plain is rough.
Primary sources for Zagros Kurds
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.