Meadows Of Gold

Masudi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136145308
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Anthropologie

First published in 1989. Mas'udi was born in Baghdad about 896 AD, during the Caliphate of Mu'tadid and died in Egypt sometime around the year 956, eleven years after the Buwaihids, a Shi'a dynasty of Iranian origin, had occupied Baghdad and taken control of the Caliphate. His full name was Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husain ibn Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Mas'udi and he was notable as a Muslim historian. His two major works were Meadows of Gold (Muruj al-Dhahab) and the Book of Notification (Kitab al-Tanbih).

INDEX

This index is topical rather than anomastic and the names of some minor characters and places have been omitted. Most identifiable place names are located on the map, the plan of Baghdad, or in the notes.

ABBADA, mother of Ja'far al-Barmaki: connives at his seduction, 116; her poverty relieved, 126

ABBAS AL-ALAWI: dissuades Ma'mun from shedding blood, 214–15

ABBASA, sister of Rashid: married to Ja'far al-Barmaki, 115; tricks Ja'far into consumating their marriage, 116; sends their son to Mecca, 116–17; and to Yemen, 117

ABD ALLAH IBN MALIK AL-KHUZA'I: Rashid's chief of police, 74

ABD AL-MALIK: criticized by Mansur, 23

ABU AL-ATAHIYA: his love for Utba, 43–5; one of his poems moves Harun al-Rashid, 99; cheers Ma'mun, 190; becomes a Sufi, 216; his death, 216; poems, 216; on the death of Alexander, 236

ABU AL-AYNA: and Ibn al-Jassas, 332; saved from drowning, 332; his wit, 332; praises the Barmakids, 333; reasons for not drinking, 333

ABU AL-BAIDA: a good story-teller, 286–7

ABU BAKR IBN AYYASH: prophecies death of Harun al-Rashid, 71

ABU FADL IBN ABI TAHIR: his book A History of Authors, 275; tells a love story, 275–6; anecdote of debauches at Mecca, 279–80

ABU FUTRUS, battle of, 58

ABU ISHAQ, see IBRAHIM AL-HARBI

ABU KHALIFA AL-JUMAHI, grammarian: delegate to Mu'tadid, 339; an amusing anecdote, 339–40

ABU NUWAS, poet: poem on flowers, 421–2

ABU ZAKKAR, singer, 118

ABYSSINIANS, 74

ACONITE: used to poison Mu'tamid, 327

ADANA: fortified by Harun al-Rashid, 389

AFRA: love for Urwa, 285–6; dies at his tomb, 286

AGHLABIDS, 380

AGRICULTURE: Mu'tasim's love of, 223; excellent at Samarra, 229

AHMAD IBN AL-KHASIB: viciousness as vizier, 270; reproves Muntasir's imprudence, 271

AHMAD IBN SALLAM: describes Amin's last hours, 170–71

AHMAR, the grammarian: instructed on education of Amin, 83

AHNAF IBN QAIS: his ugliness and wit, compares Basra to Kufa, 61

A'ISHA, wife of the Prophet, 113, 174

ALCHEMY, 358–9

ALEMBICS, 358

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: aphorisms on his death, 236

ALI IBN ABI TALIB: his place of death in Kufa, 71; dream of, 365; appears to Mu'tadid, 366

ALI IBN ABI TALIB, see BLIND POET ALI IBN ISA IBN MAHAN: verses on the gate of his castle, 121; appointed by Amin to lead army into Khurasan, 135; contempt for Tahir, 135; killed in battle against Tahir, his body thrown down a well, 136; educated Amin's son Musa, 146

ALIDS: reasons why favoured by Mu'tadid, 366

ALOE, 138

AMBERGRIS, 105; 205; candles of, 390

AMIN: as a child recites a poem for Kisa'i, 81; educated by Ahmar, the grammarian, 82; dispraised by Umani, 83; favoured by the House of Hashim and placed first in the succession, 84–5; Zubaida pleads for him, 86; agreement concerning his succession hung in th...