Ibn Athīr is the family name of three brothers, all famous in

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

, born at Jazīrat ibn Umar (today's ''Cizre'' nowadays in south-eastern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) in upper

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. The ibn al-Athir brothers belonged to the Shayban lineage of the large and influential Arab tribe

Banu Bakr The Banu Bakr bin Wa'il ( '), or simply Banu Bakr, today known as Bani Bakr is an Arabian tribe belonging to the large Rabi'ah, a branch of Adnanite tribe. It is registered as one of the oldest and most ancient Arab gatherings. The tribe is rep ...

, who lived across upper

, and gave their name to the city of

Diyar Bakr Diyar Bakr () is the medieval Arabic name of the northernmost of the three provinces of the Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), the other two being Diyar Mudar and Diyar Rabi'a. According to the medieval geographer al-Baladhuri, all three provinces were ...

Brothers

Majd ad-Dīn

The eldest brother, known as Majd ad-Dīn (1149–1210), was long in the service of the amir of

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

, and was an earnest student of tradition and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

. His

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

of traditions (Kitāb an-Ni/zdya) was published at

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

(1893), and his dictionary of family names (''Kitāb ul-Murassa'') has been edited by Ferdinand Seybold (Weimar, 1896).

Diyā' ad-Dīn

The youngest brother ، ضياء الدين ، Diyā' ad-Dīn (1163–1239), served under

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

from 1191 and his son al-Malik al-Afdal who succeeded him, served in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Samosata Samsat (, Ottoman Turkish صمصاد ''Semisat''), formerly Samosata () is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

and

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. He was one of the most famous aesthetic and stylistic critics of Arabian literature. His works include: * "Book of Analysis" or ''Kitab at-Tahlil'' (كتاب التحليل) published by Bulaq Press in

1865 Events January * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Fort Fisher – Unio ...

(cf. ''Journal of the German Oriental Society'', xxxv. 148, and Ignaz Goldziher's ''Abhandlungen'', i. 161 sqq.). This contains very independent criticism of ancient and modern Arabic verse. *''al-Washy al-marḳūm'' (Beirut 1298). *''al-Jāmiʿ al-kabīr'', ed. by Muṣṭafā D̲j̲awād and D̲j̲amil Saʿīd (Bag̲h̲dād 1375, 1956). *''al-Mathal al-sāʾir'' () ** ed. by Muḥammad Muḥy al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd, 2 vols (Cairo 1939). **
al-Maṯal al-sāʾir fī ʾadab wa-l-šāʿir
' (Cairo: Dār Nahḍat Maṣr lil-Tabʿ wa-n-Našr, o date *''al-Istidrāk fi ’l-akhdh ʿala ’l-Māʾākhidh al-Kindiyya'' (Cairo 1958) *One of the collections of his ''Rasāʾil'', ed. by Anīs al-Maḳdisī (Beirut 1959) (based on the manuscript at Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi, cat. no. III. Ahmed 2630) * A selection of his letters published by David Samuel Margoliouth are available under the title ''On the Royal Correspondence of Diyā' ad-Dīn al-Jazarī'' in the ''Actes du dixieme congrès international des orientalistes'', sect. 3, pp. 7–21.

Ali ibn al-Athir

The most famous brother was Ali ibn al-Athir (May 13, 1160 – 1233), who devoted himself to the study of history and Islamic tradition. At the age of twenty-one he settled with his father in Mosul and continued his studies there. In the service of the amir for many years, he visited Baghdad and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and later

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

and

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. He died in Mosul. His world history, the al-Kāmil fi t-tarīkhURL: https://archive.org/details/Alkamil_Fi_Tarikh (''The Complete History''), extends to the year 1231. It has been edited by Carl Tornberg, ''Ibn al-Athīr Chronicon quod perfectissinum inscribitur'' (14 vols., Leiden, 1851–1876). The first part of this work up to A.H. 310 (A.D. 923) is an abbreviation of the work of

Tabari Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present-day ...

with minor additions. Ibn Athīr also wrote a history of the

Atabeg Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic language, Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the ti ...

s of Mosul ''at-Tarīkh al-atabakīya'', published in the '' Recueil des historiens des croisades'' (vol. ii., Paris); a work (''Usd al-Ghdba'') giving an account of 7,500 companions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (5 vols., Cairo, 1863), and a compendium (the ''Lubāb'') of Samani's Kitāb ui-A n.~db (cf.

Ferdinand Wüstenfeld Heinrich Ferdinand Wüstenfeld (31 July 1808 – 8 February 1899) was a German orientalist, known as a literary historian of Arabic literature, born at Münden, Hanover. He studied theology and oriental languages at Göttingen and Berlin. He ...

's ''Specimen el-Lobabi'', Göttingen, 1835).

References

{{Reflist Arabic-language writers Arab writers