The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, (Mongolian: Судрын чуулган, Sudar-yn Chuulgan; Arabic: جامع التواريخ ; Persian: جامعالتواریخ ), ("Compendium of Chronicles") or Universal History is an Iranian work of literature and history written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century.
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Rashid-al-Din Hamadani was born in 1247 at Hamadan into a Jewish family. The son of an apothecary, he studied medicine and joined the court of the Il-Khan emperor Abaqa Khan in that capacity. He converted to Islam around the age of thirty. He rapidly gained political importance, and in 1304 became the vizir of Mahmud Ghazan. He retained his position until 1316, experiencing three successive reigns, but was finally executed on July 13, 1318.
He was responsible for setting up a stable social and economic system in Iran after the destruction of the Mongol invasions, and was an important artistic and architectural patron. He was also a prolific author, though few of his works have survived: only a few theological writings and a correspondence which is probably apocryphal are known today in addition to the Jami al-tawarikh. His immense wealth made it said of him that he was the best paid author in Iran.
The Jami al-tawarikh is the single most important historical source for the Il Khanate period, and for the Mongol empire as a whole.
The text was initially commissioned by khan Mahmud Ghazan, who was anxious for the Mongols to retain a memory of their nomadic roots, now that they had become settled, and adopted Persian costume. This text, which was intended only to set out the history of the Mongols and their predecessors on the steppes, took the name Ta’rikh-i Ghazani, and makes up one part of the Jami al-Tawarikh.
After the death of Ghazan in 1304, his successor Oljeitu asked Rashid al-Din to extend the work, and write a history of the whole of the known world. This text was finally completed in 1307.
To write the Jami al-tawarikh Rashid al-din based his work solely on written sources, some of which can be identified:
The Jami al-tawarikh consists of four main sections of different lengths:
1. The Ta'rikh-i Ghazani, the most extensive part, which includes:
2. The second part includes :
3. The Shu'ab-i panjganah ("5 genealogies, of the Arabs, Jews, Mongols, Franks, and Chinese"). This text exists in a manuscript in the library of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul (ms 2937), but has only been published on microfilm.
4. The Suwar al-akalim, a geographical compendium. Unfortunately, it has not survived in any known manuscript.
A number of questions remain about the writing of the Jami al-tawarikh, including even the authorship itself. Several others, such as Abu’l Qasim al-Kashani, claimed to have written the universal history. Rashid-al-Din Hamadani was of course a very busy man, with his public life, and would have employed assistants to handle the materials assembled and to write the first draft: Abu'l Qasim may have been one of them. Furthermore, not all of the work is original: for instance, the section on the period following the death of Genghis Khan in particular is directly borrowed from Juvayni. Other questions concern the objectivity of the author and his point of view: it is after all an official history, concerning events with which Rashid al-Din in his political capacity was often involved at first hand (for the history of the Il-Khanate in particular).
The Jami al-tawarikh was an immediate success, no doubt in part due to the political importance of its author. Many manuscripts were published, in Arabic and in Persian, often for teaching and ideological purposes. Their illustrations sometimes seem to refer to contemporary events.
It appears that only one manuscript in Arabic now exists, divided into two parts between the University of Edinburgh (151 folios) and the Khalili collection (59 folios), although some researchers argue for these being from two different editions.
The Edinburgh part measures 41.5 × 34.2 cm and contains 35 lines per page written in Naskhi calligraphy. There are some omissions: folios 1, 2, 70 to 170, and the end; but it contains a date: 1306-1307. The text comprises four parts: the history of Persia and pre-Islamic Arabia, the story of the Prophet and Caliphs, the history of the Ghaznavids, Seljuks and Atabeys, and the history of the sultans of Khwarezm.
Seventy rectangular miniatures adorn the manuscript, which reflect the cosmopolitan nature of Tabriz at the time of its production. In this capital, a crossroads of trade routes and influences, and a place of great religious tolerance, Christian, Chinese, Buddhist and other models of painting all arrived to feed the inspiration of the artists.
According to Rice, four major painters and two assistants can be distinguished:
Just as distinguishable are different racial and ethnic types, made manifest not just in the physical attributes of the characters, but also their clothes and their hats. One can thus distinguish a remarkably well observed group of Abyssinians, Western-style figures based on Syrian Christian manuscripts, Chinese, Mongols, Arabs, and so on.
The portion in the Khalili collection is dated 1314 and measures 43.5 × 30 cm (slightly different dimensions to the Edinburgh portion due to different models copied). It includes twenty illustrations, plus fifteen pages with portraits of the emperors of China. It clearly comes from the same scriptorium, and probably the same manuscript, as the other part. The text covers the history of Islam, the end of China's history, the history of India and a fragment from the history of the Jews. The work of the Painter of Luhrasp and Master of Alp Arslan is again evident. Some differences in style can be observed, but these can be attributed to the difference in date. A new painter appears for the portraits of Chinese leaders, which uses special techniques that seem to mimic those of Yuan mural painters (according to S. Blair): an attention to line and wash, and the use of black and bright red. This artist seems to be very familiar with China.
There are two copies in Persian kept in the Topkapi Palace library, Istanbul.