Ending History: the Historiography of Persian Chronicle Conclusions

by Quinn A. Sholeh, University of California, Merced

The prefaces or introductions (dibachah/muqaddimah) to early modern Persian chronicles consist of highly conventional elements, in which chroniclers showcased their most elevated writing styles. In these ornate narratives, they introduced themselves, described the circumstances under which they came to write their histories, and introduced their chronicle, sometimes even providing a table of contents and a bibliography for their work. While some scholarly attention has been paid to chronicle dibachahs, we know far less about chronicle conclusions (khatimah). Some historians were unable to conclude their histories and their texts remain unfinished. Others, however, wrote more formal conclusions, thereby creating a book end to their introduction. The Safavid chronicler Iskandar Beg Munshi, for example, in the conclusion to his Tarikh-i ‘alam-ara-yi ‘Abbasi, lamented that he had run out of time and was unable to include additional material in his chronicle. Yet other chroniclers ended their texts with specific types of chapters, such as a tazkirah section, listing categories of poets, scholars, and administrative officials, or a section describing marvels and wonders of the world. The purpose of this paper is to analyze a series of Persian chronicles written under the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals in order to understand better the nature of such conclusions and their place in the larger context of Persianate historiography. Particular attention will be paid to instances of imitative writing and historiographical models.

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