Selected Writings of
Vladimir Minorsky*

* This material is presented solely for non-commercial educational/research purposes.

Maps of the Caucasus, Armenia, and the Middle East are available on our Maps page.
Chronologies are available on the Chronological Tables page.


"Roman and Byzantine Campaigns in Atropatene"
from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies XI, 2(1944) pp. 243-265.

Roman and Byzantine Campaigns in Atropatene

Studies in Caucasian History
(Cambridge, 1953)

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I. New Light on the Shaddadids of Ganja (A.D. 951-1075)
II. The Shaddadids of Ani (A.D. 1064-1198)
III. Prehistory of Saladin (A.D. 1138-1193)

Appendix: Jami' al-duwal on the Musafirids and Rawwadis

Addenda and Corrigenda
Index

"Caucasica IV"
from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies XV, 3(1953) pp. 504-529.

[Discusses Sahl ibn Sunbat of Shakki and Arran; the Caucasian vassals of Marzuban in 344/955]

Caucasica IV

A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries
(Cambridge, 1958)

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Foreword

1. Introduction

§1. Ta'rikh al-Bab [A History of Sharvan and Darband]
§2. Other Arabic sources
§3. Darband-nama and later historians
§4. Historical background
2. Translation from the Arabic

3. Commentary:

§1. Sharvan
§2. Bab al-Abwab
4. General Remarks
(a) Geography and ethnology:
§1. Sharvan
§2. Darband
§3. Farther neighbours of al-Bab (Khazar, Rus, etc.)
(b) Administrative, social and military organisation:
§1. Sharvan
§2. Darband

Munejjim-bashi on later sharvanshahs. Annex I
Postscript on Darband. Annex II
Mas'udi on the Caucasus. Annex III
Ibn-Rusta on Daghestan. Annex IV
Ibn al-Azraq's visit to Darband. Annex V

Index

"Caucasica in the History of Mayyafariqin" [Caucasica I]
from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies XIII, 1(1949) pp. 27-35.

Caucasica in the History of Mayyafariqin

"Transcaucasica"
from Journal Asiatique (1930) vol. 217 pp. 41-112.

Minorsky revisited some of the topics presented in this French-language article in later works; others are treated only in this article. Topics include: the name of Dvin; Sogdabil and Ardabil; the fortress of Alinjak and the Hamsa valley, Tamerlane's campaigns in the Caucasus. Includes title page, table of contents, article, and several maps in 77 pdf pages. Download here: Transcaucasica. File size: 3.7 MB.

La domination des Dailamites

This important monograph was published as the third volume in the series Publications de la société des études iraniennes et de l'art persan (Paris, 1932). Includes a map and plates in 28 pdf pages. Download here: La domination des Dailamites. File size: 1.6 MB.

Selections from the Hudud al-Alam (The Regions of the World), A Persian Geography 372 A. H.—982 A.D. are available on another page of this website and may be downloaded there. Translation and commentary by Vladimir Minorsky (London, 1937, repr. 1982). The selections presented here describe China, India, Iran, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and other parts of Africa.

Selections from the Hudud al-Alam

"Ahl-i Hakk"
from The Encyclopedia of Islam, 1(1960), pp. 260-263

[Discusses a heterodox religious faith practised in Asia Minor, the Caucasus, northern Mesopotamia, and western Iran]

Ahl-i Hakk

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The Khazars and the Turks in the Ākām al-Marjān, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1937), pp. 141-150, in 11 pdf pages.

A Persian Geographer of A. D. 982 on the Orography of Central Asia, from Geographical Journal, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Sep., 1937), pp. 259-264, in 7 pdf pages.

Geographical Factors in Persian Art, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (1938), pp. 621-652, in 33 pdf pages. File size: 3.3 MB.

Nasīr al-Dīn Tūsī on Finance, by M. Minovi and V. Minorsky from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1940), pp. 755-789, in 36 pdf pages. File size: 3.2 MB.

Some Early Documents in Persian (I and II), from Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 3 (Oct., 1942), pp. 181-194 and Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1 (Apr., 1943), pp. 86-99, in 31 pdf pages. File size: 3.3 MB.

The Guran, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1 (1943), pp. 75-103, in 30 pdf pages. Study of a Persian-speaking people in the southeastern and southern fringes of Kurdish settlement. File size: 3.9 MB.

Khāqānī and Andronicus Comnenus, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1945), pp. 550-578, in 30 pdf pages. File size: 3.8 MB.

The Tribes of Western Iran, from Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 75, No. 1/2 (1945), pp. 73-80, in 12 pdf pages. File size: 2.4 MB.

Caucasica II, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4 (1951), pp. 868-877, in 11 pdf pages. 1. The Georgian Maliks of Ahar; 2. The Princes Orbeli in Persia. File size: 1.3 MB.

Caucasica III: The Alan Capital *Magas and the Mongol Campaigns, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2 (1952), pp. 221-238, in 19 pdf pages. File size: 2.4 MB.

A Mongol Decree of 720/1320 to the Family of Shaykh Zāhid, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1954), pp. 515-527, in 14 pdf pages. File size: 1.7 MB.

Addenda to the Hudud al-'Alam, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1955), pp. 250-270, in 22 pdf pages. File size: 2.9 MB.

The Aq-qoyunlu and Land Reforms , from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1955), pp. 449-462, in 15 pdf pages. File size: 1.9 MB.

Mongol Place-Names in Mukri Kurdistan, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (1957), pp. 58-81, in 25 pdf pages. File size: 2.9 MB.

A New Book on the Khazars, from Oriens, Vol. 11, No. 1/2 (Dec. 31, 1958), pp. 122-145, in 25 pdf pages. Courteous yet highly critical review of D. M. Dunlop's History of the Jewish Khazars (1954).

Vīs u Rāmīn, a Parthian Romance, in 58 pdf pages. Download includes Minorsky's four articles with this title published between 1946 and 1962 in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. File size: 4.7 MB.

A Greek Crossing on the Oxus, from Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1, Fiftieth Anniversary Volume (1967), pp. 45-53, in 10 pdf pages. File size: 1.1 MB.

Kurdy. zamietki i vpechatlieniia [The Kurds: Notes and Impressions] (Petrograd, 1915). Russian-language study in 53 pdf pages with a map. Topics include: Kurdish history, settlements, customs, religion, position of women, relations with Russia, etc. File size: 3.1 MB.


For an appreciation of Minorsky's work, see the excellent entry by C. E. Bosworth (2004) in Encyclopaedia Iranica:

Minorsky, Vladimir Fed'orovich (1877-1966)

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