Akhsitan III was the 29th ruler of

Shirvan Shirvan (from ; ; Tat: ''Şirvan'') is a historical region in the eastern Caucasus, as known in both pre-Islamic Sasanian and Islamic times. Today, the region is an industrially and agriculturally developed part of the Republic of Azerbaijan ...

, now part of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. He is thought to be the son of Shirvanshah Farrukhzad II.

Life

No numismatic source mentions his name. His existence is proposed on the details of a legend in ''

Safvat as-safa The ''Safvat as-safa'' (), also spelled ''Safvat al-safa'' or ''Safwat al-safa'', is a Persian hagiography of the Sufi sheikh, shaykh Safi-ad-din Ardabili, Safi-ad-Din Ardabili (1252–1334), founder of the Safaviya (sufi order), Safaviya sufi ord ...

, a'' work by Ibn Bazzaz who mentions Akhsitan as ruler of

. According to legend, Shah wanted to marry his daughter to

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

sheikh

Safi-ad-din Ardabili Safi-ad-Din Ardabili ( ''Ṣāfī ad-Dīn Isḥāq Ardabīlī''; 1252/3 – 1334) was a poet, Mysticism, mystic, teacher and Sufism, Sufi master. He was the son-in-law and spiritual heir of the Sufi master Zahed Gilani, whose order—the Zahediye ...

with a dowry of 14,000

dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

and a water canal, to which Safi al-Din reportedly replied "''How can I reply to that? Shirvanshah is the ruler, and I am just a

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...

''". Since Safi-ad-din Ardabili was born in 1252, he couldn't have married a daughter of Akhsitan II, about whom after 1260, there is no details. Therefore, it was proposed that there should be another, a third Akhsitan. According to the legend, seeing Safiaddin's tutor and future father-in-law

Zahed Gilani Taj Al-Din Ebrahim ibn Rushan Amir Al-Kurdi Al-Sanjani (or Sinjani; Persian:تاج الدين ابراهيم كردی سنجانی)‎ (1218 – 1301), titled Sheikh Zahed (or Zahid) Gilani (Persian: شیخ زاهد گیلانی), was an Irani ...

's influence over Shirvani people Akhsitan began to oppose religious Sufi orders, saying religious people are not working in fields. Another reasoning given for his existence is an inscription dated June 1294 on Pir Huseyn Khanqah, which mentions "''Keykavus b. Akhsitan''".

Death

In ''

'', it is also reported that Akhsitan died of mental illness in Gushtasfi, while his son Siamerk was executed on the orders of Arghun Khan on the instigation of Akhsitan himself. He was probably succeeded by his other son - Keykavus.

References

1294 deaths Year of birth unknown 13th-century Iranian people {{Iran-royal-stub