Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī as Depicted in Early Historical Sources

Document Type : Research/Original/Reqular Article

Author

Ph. D., History of Science, Columbia University

Abstract

Starting his intellectual life as a precociously young medical practitioner, Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī (634-710 A.H.) was compelled to wander far and wide in his quest for knowledge. Recognized and admired as a savant, and enjoying the patronage of key political figures of his era, Shīrāzī's activities as a scholar continued even during his appointment as judge in Rūm, and while serving as ambassador on behalf of his Ilkhan patrons. This paper examines a number of early chronicles in order to shed more light on Shīrāzī's itinerant life as a well-known intellectual luminary of the period.

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