Turco-Persian tradition

Quick Facts: Who was Turco-Persian tradition?

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Turco-Persian tradition

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A distinctive culture blending Persian literary roots with Turkic patronage and Islamic thought.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian, or Turco-Iranian (Persian: فرهنگ ایرانی-ترکی) is the distinctive culture that arose in the 9th and 10th centuries AD in Khorasan and Transoxiana (present-day Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and minor parts of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan). According to the modern historian Robert L. Canfield, the Turco-Persian tradition was Persianate in that it was centered on a lettered tradition of Iranian origin; it was Turkic insofar as it was for many generations patronized by Turkic rulers; and it was "Islamicate" in that Islamic notions of virtue, permanence, and excellence infused discourse about public issues as well as the religious affairs of the Muslims, who were the presiding elite." In subsequent centuries, the Turco-Persian culture was carried on further by conquering peoples, mainly the two key Turkic groups Oghuz and Karluk tribes, to neighbouring regions, eventually becoming the predominant culture of the ruling and elite classes of South Asia (where it evolved into Indo-Persian tradition), Central Asia and the Tarim Basin, as well as large parts of West Asia. Turkic-Persian tradition was a variant of Islamic culture. Islamic notions of virtue, permanence, and excellence permeated discussions on public issues and the religious affairs of the presiding Muslim elite. After the Muslim conquest of Persia, Middle Persian, the language of Sassanids, continued in wide use well into the second Islamic century (eighth century) as a medium of administration in the eastern lands of the Caliphate.

Career & Major Achievements

Politically, the Abbasids soon started losing their control, causing two major lasting consequences. First, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mutasim (833–842) greatly increased the presence of Turkic mercenaries and Mamluk slaves in the Caliphate, and they eventually displaced Arabs and Persians from the military, and therefore from the political hegemony, starting an era of Turco-Persian symbiosis. Second, the governors in Khurasan, Tahirids, were factually independent; then the Saffarids from Sistan freed the eastern lands, but were replaced by independent Samanids, although they showed perfunctory deference to the Caliph. Middle Persian was a lingua franca of the region before the Islamic invasion, but afterwards Arabic became a preferred medium of literary expression. In the ninth century a new Persian language emerged as the idiom of administration and literature.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Tahirids and Saffarids continued using Persian as an informal language, although for them Arabic was the "only proper language for recording anything worthwhile, from poetry to science", but the Samanids made Persian a language of learning and formal discourse. The language that appeared in the ninth and tenth centuries was a new form of Persian, based on the Middle Persian of pre-Islamic times. The Samanids began recording their court affairs in Persian, and they used it as the main public idiom. The earliest great poetry in New Persian was written for the Samanid court. Samanids encouraged translation of religious works from Persian into Arabic.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Turco-Persian tradition

True or False: “The primary language of administration in the eastern lands of the Caliphate remained Middle Persian until after the Abbasid decline.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): While Middle Persian was used into the second Islamic century, Arabic eventually became the preferred medium for literary expression.

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