著者

志茂 智子

出版者

東洋文庫

雑誌

東洋学報 (ISSN:03869067)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.76, no.3, pp.p315-344, 1995-03

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Early in the fourteenth century Il-Khan Ghazan ordered his vazir Rashīd al-Dīn to compile a history of the Mongols mainly based on original Mongolian sources. The khan's intention was that such a history would make the Mongol tribesmen under him reacknowledge their old ties with the Chinggisid house, so that his rule would be firmly established over the Il-Khanid territory, which had long been embroiled in political turmoil. The Mongol History, titled Ta'rikh-i Ghāzāni, was completed after the death of Ghazan Khan and presented to his younger brother and successor Öljeitü Khan. Ordered by the new khan, Rashīd al-Dīn further undertook the task to compile a history of the world. Thus Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh, or the Collection of Histories, consisting of the Mongol History and the History of Nations was completed in 1311. In the past it has been falsely assumed, with no serious examination, that the initial Mongol History, or Ta'rikh-i Ghāzāni, as identical with the Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh edition. The assumption is quite wrong. In fact the Mongol History text contained in Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh is a revised edition of Ta'rikh-i Ghāzāni. By comparison of the History of Tribes, which makes up the core of both editions of the Mongol History, we find that the later Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh edition gives more refined phrasings with new words inserted and errors corrected, at the same time eliminating a large number of passages from the earlier edition. In this respect, the Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh edition of the Mongol History is not quite as valuable a historical source as the Ta'rikh-i Ghāzāni edition.Almost all the extant manuscripts of the Mongol History have descended from the Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh edition. Only the Manuscript Revan Köskü 1518 in lstanbul has come down to us preserving intact the original form of the Mongol History. This is truly the most valuable text, and should be taken as the primary source in studying the history of the Mongol Empire.The initial edition of the Mongol History had also contained Chinggisid family trees, which were excluded by Rashīd al-Dīn in his revised work in order to reduce the volume of the Mongol History, but retained in the Mongol Genealogies section in the Collection of Genealogies supplemental to Jāmiʻ al-Tawārikh.