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The 'Samanids' (819–999)^[1] ( ''Sāmāniyān'') were a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan, named after its founder Saman Khuda who converted to Islam despite being from Zoroastrian theocratic nobility. It was among the first native Iranian dynasties in Greater Iran and Central Asia after the Arab conquest and the collapse of the Sassanid Persian empire.

The Samanid period is considered the beginning of the Tajik nation . Their rule lasted for 180 years, and their territory encompassed Khorasan, Ray, Transoxiania, Tabaristan, Kerman, Gorgan, and the area west of these provinces up to Isfahan. To legitimize the dynasty, the Samanids claimed to be descendants of the Sassanid spahbod and Emperor Bahram Chobin, and thus descendants of the royal Mihran Clan, one of the ancient Seven Parthian Clans who governed mainland Iran for centuries. Their capitals were Bukhara, Samarqand and Herat .

They not only revived Persian culture but they also determinedly propagated Islam. The Samanid state became a staunch patron of Islamic architecture and spread the Islamo-Persian culture deep into the heart of Central Asia. The population within its areas began firmly accepting Islam in significant numbers, notably in Taraz, now in modern day Kazakhstan. According to historians, through the zealous missionary work of Samanid rulers, as many as 200,000 tents of Turks came to profess Islam.^[2] The mass conversion of the Turks to Islam eventually led to a growing influence of the Ghaznavids, who would later rule the region. Another lasting contribution of the Samanids to the history of Islamic art is the pottery known as Samanid Epigraphic Ware: plates, bowls, and pitchers fired in a white slip and decorated only with calligraphy, often elegantly and rhythmically written. The Arabic phrases used in this calligraphy are generally more or less generic well wishes, or Islamic admonitions to good table manners.
In 999 their realm was conquered by the Karakhanids.
Under Ghaznavid rule, the Shahnameh, was completed. In commending the Samanids, the epic Persian poet Ferdowsi says of them:
کجا آن بزرگان ساسانیان

زبهرامیان تا بسامانیان
"Where have all the great Sassanids gone?

From the Bahrāmids to the Samanids"

Contents

Samanid Amirs

See also

External links

References and footnotes

Samanid Amirs

★ Saman Khuda

★ Asad ibn Saman

★ Yahya ibn Asad (819-855)

★ Nasr I (864 - 892) (Effectively independent 875)

★ Ismail (892 - 907)

★ Ahmad II (907 - 914)

★ Nasr II (914 - 943)

★ Hamid Nuh I (943 - 954)

★ Abdul Malik I (954 - 961)

★ Mansur I (961 - 976)

★ Nuh II (976 - 997)

★ Mansur II (997 - 999)

★ 'Abd al-Malik II (999)

See also

★ Full list of Iranian Kingdoms

★ History of Arabs in Afghanistan

External links

★ To the Question of the Origin of the Samanids by Shamsiddin S. Kamoliddin, in ''Transoxiana'' 10, July 2005.

★ M. Ismail Marcinkowski, ''Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India and Early Ottoman Turkey, with a foreword by Professor Clifford Edmund Bosworth'', member of the British Academy, Singapore: Pustaka Nasional, 2003, ISBN 9971-77-488-7.They were overthrown by the Ghaznavid Empire. And THE former Foreign Minister, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali is a descendant of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi.

References and footnotes

1. Encyclopedia Britannica, Online Edition, 2007, ''Samanid Dynasty'', LINK
2. Ibn Athir, volume 8, pg. 396.