''Tarikh-i Bal'ami'' ( fa, تاریخ بلعمی, , History of Bal-ami) or ''Tārīkhnāmeh'' (, 'Book of History') is the earliest known extant prose book in the Persian language written by Muhammad Bal'ami, a vizier in

Samanid The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...

service. The 10th-century text is a universal history, spanning a period beginning with the dawn of creation through to the Islamic age. Having been translated into

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

and Arabic, the book remained in circulation for a thousand years, and it is among the most influential books of Islamic historical literature. While the author claims the book is a Persian translation of

al-Tabari ( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...

's ''

History of the Prophets and Kings The ''History of the Prophets and Kings'' ( ar, تاريخ الرسل والملوك ''Tārīkh al-Rusul wa al-Mulūk''), more commonly known as ''Tarikh al-Tabari'' () or ''Tarikh-i Tabari'' or ''The History of al-Tabari '' ( fa, تاریخ طب� ...

'', it is actually an independent work. The literary style deviates from that of earlier

Pahlavi Pahlavi may refer to: Iranian royalty *Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire *Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979 **Reza Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944 ...

and Middle Persian works composed in the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the History of Iran, last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th cen ...

. The ''Tarikhnama'' is considered the starting point of an influential Persian historiographical tradition that makes use of Arabic loanwords, and is based more on Arabic (and Islamic) models than earlier Sasanian ones. Bal'ami started translating the book on 352 AH (963 CE). Various manuscripts of this book are today available in the libraries of Iran, India, Turkey and Europe, but none of them are complete and error-free. The oldest surviving manuscript seems to be from 7th century AH. The book was translated into Persian language at the order of Mansur ibn Nuh, the Samanid amir. The book provides invaluable information about the Sasanian Persia and mythical history of Iran. Generally considered merely an abridged version of Tabari's work,

A. C. S. Peacock Andrew Charles Spencer Peacock FBA is a British historian and author. He specializes in the histories of the Seljuk Empire and Ottoman Empire. Life He was born and raised in Hampshire, England. He completed his PhD in Oriental Studies at the ...

demonstrated that Balami reshaped Tabari's work considerably, and that the differences between the two works are such that the ''Tārīkhnāma'' is essentially a new work.

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* {{cite book , last = Peacock , first = A. C. S. , authorlink = A. C. S. Peacock , title = Mediaeval Islamic Historiography and Political Legitimacy: Balʿamī's Tārīkhnāma , location = London and New York , publisher = Routledge , year = 2007 , isbn = 0-415-40025-2 Samanid Empire Iranian books 10th-century history books 963 Persian-language books

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