Islamic and Persian empires

Every case in islamic and persian empires, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

1944 · Johannesburg, South Africa; Cairo, Egypt; Rey (Tehran), IranRevolutionaries demolished Reza Shah's mausoleum in 1980 and could not find his body, and a mummified body turned up on the site in 2018Reza Shah ruled Iran from 1925. He became the richest man in the country through forced sales and confiscations of estates, and on abdication he reportedly left his heir about £3 million and more than 3 million acres.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more1495 · Castel Capuana, Naples, Italy; buried Bursa, TurkeyMehmed II's younger son lost the throne to his brother and spent 13 years as a paid captive of the Knights of Rhodes, the Pope and the King of FranceCem, born in 1459, was the third son of Mehmed the Conqueror. When Mehmed died in 1481, Cem said his father had chosen him and that his elder brother Bayezid II had taken the throne unjustly.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1747 · Mashhad and Tehran, IranNader Shah's Indian jewels cost his blind grandson his life under torture, and a deposed shah took them into the Russian legationIn 1739 Nader Shah defeated the Mughal emperor and took Delhi. The Abbé de Claustre wrote that 5,000 chests were filled with gold rupees and 8,000 with silver, besides chests of diamonds and pearls.iranicaonline.org and 2 more1562 · Qazvin, IranSüleyman paid the Shah of Persia to hand back his son Bayezid, who was strangled in Qazvin with his four sonsAfter Mustafa's death and their mother Hürrem's death on 15 April 1558, two sons were left: Selim and Bayezid. Bayezid feared the clause in Mehmed II's law code that let a new sultan kill his brothers.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1866 · Bombay (Mumbai), IndiaBombay Khoja dissidents sued the first Aga Khan for control of the community's funds, and a British judge ruled in 1866 that he was their hereditary imamHasan Ali Shah received the title Aga Khan from the Shah of Persia in 1818 and governed Kerman.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 1 more1449 · near Samarkand, UzbekistanUlugh Beg kept back his son's share of the treasury, and the son defeated him, had him sentenced, and let the emirs kill him on the road to MeccaUlugh Beg, grandson of Timur, governed Samarkand from 1409 and built a madrasa and an observatory there; his star catalogue of 1437 listed 994 stars. When his father Shah Rukh died in 1447 he became ruler.islamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 2 more1648 · Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, TurkeyThe last male of the Ottoman house would not leave his room when told he was sultan, and eight years later his mother agreed to his depositionIbrahim, born in 1615, was the last of Ahmed I's sons to reach the throne.islamansiklopedisi.org.tr and 1 more1629 · Mazandaran, IranShah Abbas had one son killed and two blinded, and died with no son able to ruleAbbas I nearly died as a boy: his uncle Esmail II murdered or blinded at least nine relatives and ordered Abbas killed, and only Esmail's own assassination in 1577 saved him.iranicaonline.org and 2 more1553 · Aktepe camp near Ereğli, Konya, TurkeySüleyman had his eldest son Mustafa strangled in the imperial tent in 1553 after his grand vizier produced a letter in the prince's name to the ShahMustafa, born in Manisa in 1515 to Süleyman's first favourite Mahidevran, was the eldest surviving son and popular with the Janissaries. Hürrem Sultan's sons grew up behind him.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1517 · Cairo, Egypt; Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, TurkeyThe Prophet's mantle and relics passed from dynasty to dynasty as proof of title, and the Ottomans shipped them from Cairo to Istanbul in 1517Possession of the Prophet's belongings became a sign of the right to rule. TDV records that the Umayyad caliph Mu'awiya paid 20,000 dirhams for the Prophet's mantle.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1405 · Gur-e Amir mausoleum, Samarkand, UzbekistanSoviet scientists opened Timur's tomb on 19 June 1941 over the objections of Samarkand's clerics, and the keeper who read out its warning was ordered arrestedTimur died at Otrar in February 1405. His body was embalmed, laid in an ebony coffin and buried in the Gur-e Amir in Samarkand under a large slab of jade.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1405 · Otrar, Kazakhstan; Samarkand, UzbekistanTimur's will named a grandson in Kandahar, but another grandson took Samarkand and the treasury firstTimur fell ill at Otrar on his way to invade China and died on 19 February 1405. Before dying he named his grandson Pir Muhammad, son of his late son Jahangir, as heir, and the emirs with him promised to carry out the will.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 more1193 · Damascus, SyriaSaladin left a gold ingot and 47 silver dirhams, not enough for his grave, and his brother took the empire from his sonsSaladin took Jerusalem in 1187 and fought Richard I to a truce in 1192. He died in Damascus on 4 March 1193. World History Encyclopedia, citing Amin Maalouf, says the treasury held one gold ingot from Tyre and 47 silver dirhams.Encyclopaedia Britannica and 5 more628 · Ctesiphon, IraqPersia's crown prince overthrew his father to stop a half-brother's succession, executed him, killed his brothers, and died of plague within monthsKhosrow II ruled Persia from 590; he had come to power after his own father was deposed and blinded in a palace revolt led by Khosrow's uncles.iranicaonline.org and 2 more2 BCE · Parthian Empire (Iran and Iraq)A slave woman sent from Rome persuaded the Parthian king to send his four sons to Rome, then her son killed him and married herIn 20 BC Phraates IV of Parthia returned the Roman legionary standards to Augustus. In the same exchange he received an Italian slave woman, Musa. Josephus calls her Thermusa and says she was a gift of Julius Caesar.Wikisource (primary text) and 2 more486 BCE · Susa (Shush) and Persepolis, IranDarius passed over his eldest son for Xerxes, grandson of Cyrus, on an argument supplied by an exiled Spartan kingHerodotus says Darius I had three sons by his first wife, a daughter of Gobryas, born before he became king; the eldest was Artobazanes.Wikisource (primary text) and 2 more530 BCE · Pasargadae, Fars province, IranAlexander found Cyrus the Great's tomb robbed and the body thrown out, and tortured its hereditary guards, who named no oneArrian, using the account of Alexander's officer Aristobulus, describes the tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae: a golden coffin holding the body, a couch with golden feet, Babylonian tapestries, purple rugs, robes, and collars, sabres and earrings of gold and jewels.Wikisource (primary text) and 2 more