City · The Eldiguzid atabegs of Azerbaijan · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Ganja

Ganja is the great city of Arran, on the Ganja river below the Lesser Caucasus.

The earthquake of 1139 ruined it and King Demetrius I of Georgia carried its iron gates off to Gelati, where they still hang. Rebuilt, it is a Persian-speaking city of craftsmen and scholars: Nizami lives here, and the poetess Mahsati and the Armenian lawgiver Mkhitar Gosh came from it. In June 1195 the Georgians who beat Abu Bakr at Shamkor entered Ganja and David Soslan took the sultan's palace; the Georgian account gives Shamkor and its district to Abu Bakr's half-brother Amir Amiran as their vassal, while the TDV has Amir Amiran take Ganja itself.

Amir Amiran died soon after (poisoned on Abu Bakr's orders, in the Georgian account; killed by the townsmen once the Georgians left, in the TDV account) and Ganja went back to Abu Bakr.

Who holds it

Name
Nusrat al-Din Abu Bakr, through a governor (not named)
Title
Atabeg of Azerbaijan and Arran
Since
about 1195-96, after Amir Amiran's death
Confidence
medium

Lord in 1200

Atabeg Abu Bakr, through a governor; recovered after the brief Georgian occupation of 1195

How things stand that morning

Held by Abu Bakr; the Georgians claim an overlordship won in 1195 (Iranica places Ganja's formal acknowledgement of Georgian overlordship later, before 1203).

Charter

None: the towns of the atabegs have no charters; the governor (shihna or wali), the judge (qadi) and the market inspector (muhtasib) answer to the ruler.

Council

No sworn council; the notables (a'yan), the qadi and the heads of quarters speak for the town.

Communities

Persian-speaking Muslim townsmen; an Armenian Christian community (Kirakos and Vardan, both 'of Ganja', are later 13th-century writers).

Fairs and markets

Weekly and daily markets (suq) and caravanserais; no fair dates recorded.

Militia

Townsmen's young men's associations (ahdath, 'ayyarun) exist in the towns of the region; nothing specific is recorded for 1199-1200.

Walls and castle

Walled city with a citadel; its old gates are at Gelati since 1139.

Trade and crafts

Silk and cloth of Arran, the road along the Kura from Tbilisi to Barda and the Caspian.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. Before 1203 (not pinned; Iranica's 596-597 AH if its sequence holds)Ganja and Shamkor must acknowledge Georgian overlordship.Depends on: A Georgian victory over Abu Bakr Stopped by: Peace or an Eldiguzid victory

Where the sources disagree

  • The fate of Amir Amiran: poisoned by Abu Bakr (Georgian account, via Wikipedia 'Battle of Shamkor') or killed by the people of Ganja after the Georgians withdrew (TDV 'Ildenizliler').

Evidence: 1195 is well told; the governor in 1199-1200 is not named.

Primary sources for Eldiguzids

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 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
  • History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
  • The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
  • The Historical Compilation of Vardan Areveltsi, Vardan Areveltsi (about 1267 to 1271). A short universal history that for the 12th and 13th centuries follows Samuel of Ani, Michael the Syrian (which Vardan helped translate into Armenian in 1248) and Kirakos. 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
  • 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

  1. Wikipedia, 'Battle of Shamkor' (after Rayfield, Edge of Empires, and the Life of Tamar)
  2. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Ildenizliler'
  3. K. A. Luther, 'Atabakan-e Adarbayjan', Encyclopaedia Iranica
  4. Wikipedia, 'Ganja, Azerbaijan'

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