Frontier town · The Khwarazmshah's realm · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Dihistan

Dihistan, whose ruins are known as Mashhad-i Misriyan in the Misrian plain of south-western Turkmenistan, is the frontier town of the Gurgan region towards the Turkmen steppe and the road to Khwarazm: a caravan town with a Friday mosque, minarets (one of the early eleventh century) and caravanserais, fed by canals from the Atrek.

The surviving portal of its great mosque is attributed to the Khwarazmshah Muhammad (that building is later than 1200).

Who holds it

Title
Khwarazmian governor
Since
1174
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

Khwarazmian governor (not named)

How things stand that morning

Khwarazmian.

Charter

None known: towns under Turkish and Daylami princes had no charters; the governor, the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answer to the ruler.

Council

No sworn council: the notables (a'yan), the headman (ra'is), the qadi and the heads of the quarters speak for the town. Names for 1199-1200 are not in the sources read.

Communities

Persian and Turkish townsmen; Turkmen herdsmen around.

Fairs and markets

Daily markets (suq) and caravanserais; no fair days recorded.

Militia

Townsmen's young men's associations ('ayyarun) existed in the towns of Persia; nothing specific is recorded here for 1199-1200.

Walls and castle

Walled town (ruins).

Trade and crafts

Caravan trade between Gurgan and Khwarazm; irrigated farming; the horses and flocks of the steppe.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Archaeological and geographical evidence; nothing specific for 1200.

Primary sources for Khwarazm

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.

  • The Chronography of Bar Hebraeus, Gregory Bar Hebraeus (Abu'l-Faraj) (about 1275 to 1286). A later compilation that for 1200 relies on Michael the Syrian and Ibn al-Athir, but adds the Jacobite church's own memory of the Jazira, Mosul, Melitene and the Artuqid and Zangid courts, and carries Michael's story past 1195: the Seljuk brothers' war in Rum, the Khwarazmian and Ghurid wars in the east, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah, and the caliph al-Nasir. Read online
  • The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
  • Comfort of Hearts and Sign of Joy: a History of the Seljuks, Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rawandi (Ravandi) (1203 to 1204, dedicated to Kaykhusraw I of Rum). A history of the Great Seljuks from their origins to the death of the last sultan Toghril III in 1194, begun at Hamadan and finished for Kaykhusraw of Rum when the author moved to Anatolia. Read online
  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
  • The Life of Sultan Jalal al-Din Mankubirti, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi (about 1241, at Aleppo). A Khwarazmian secretary's life of the last Khwarazmshah. Read online
  • The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online

3 more in the sources library for Persia and the Eastern Islamic World.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, 'Dehistan/Mishrian' and (ru) 'Dekhistan'
  2. Wikipedia, 'Ala al-Din Tekish' (after Ibn al-Athir, trans. Richards, and Juvaini, trans. Boyle)
  3. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chs. on Tabaristan, Gilan, Jurjan, Qumis and Quhistan

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.