Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol. The Battle of Manzikert.

• Author: Golden, Peter B.
• Position: Book review

Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol. The Battle of Manzikert. By CAROLE HILLENBRAND. Edinburgh: EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2007. Pp. xii + 288. $120 (cloth). $45 (paper).

The focus of this book is the famous Byzantine-Saljuq confrontation at Manzikert (Malazgirt in Modern Turkish) in 1071 "as it is depicted in the surviving Arabic and Persian sources" (p. 4) of the twelfth through fifteenth centuries, i.e.. written well after the actual events. The texts "belong to a number of genres, including Universal History, dynastic histories and town chronicles" (p. 112). These are not eyewitness accounts, such as that of the Byzantine Michael Attaleiates (d. after 1085), who served under the ill-fated Romanus IV Diogenes (1068-71) and whose narrative is given in an appendix (pp. 229-37). Rather, they are "more about the memory of Manzikert" and how Muslim authors "gradually came to use Manzikert as a vehicle for portraying spiritual truths and for demonstrating the inherent superiority of Islam over Christianity" (pp. 4-5), an "occasion for reflection and for scoring ideological points" (p. 227). Although the accounts have a "common core" of certain details, corresponding, grosso modo, to Byzantine narratives, overall they are vague on military details and the events of the battle itself. Even the date remains "highly debatable" (p. 136). Hillenbrand comments that previous scholarship concentrated on the reliability of Muslim accounts, whereas contemporary scholarship now recognizes the "importance of the rhetorical nature of Islamic historiography" which had the "twin aims of edification and entertainment" (p. 111), often sacrificing "content to form" (p. 129), "a triumph of manner over matter" (p. 132). The texts are "literary artefacts and documents of religious history" written in prose that was "intended to be recited" (p. 130).

The Turks emerge from these accounts as the defenders of Islam. Their leader, Alp Arslan, is at once khan, sultan of the Sunni world, exemplary mujahid, the conqueror of the Byzantine emperor, and the prototype for Ottoman sultans. In modern Turkey, Manzikert, commemorated annually, has become a foundational event for the formation of the Turkish Republic and has elevated the Saljuqs to the level of the Arab conquerors (p. 226) of the Middle East.

Hillenbrand has meticulously translated all the Arabic and Persian accounts from the originals, with the exception of Mirkhwand, translated from Vuller's German rendition, as the editions of his Rawdat al-safa' differ widely and coordinating these "narratives would be a task beyond the scope of this book" (p. 109 n. 77). Hillenbrand has also used the anthologies of modern scholars, e.g., Faruk Sumer and Ali Sevim, Islam kaynaklarina gore Malazgirt savasi (Ankara, 1971)--although some of their translations are "more like paraphrases" and difficult or obscure passages have been glossed over. Hillenbrand's stated aim is to be "as literal as possible" (p. 20), stripping away some of the repetitious literary flourishes. In her brief notes and commentaries on the texts, she gives examples of some of the alliterations, rhymes, puns, word plays, and other literary devices much loved by the highly educated Arabic and Persian authors and their audiences.

The introductory chapter sets the historical context. Hillenbrand describes a Byzantium beset by domestic struggles between the military and political-civilian elites and threatened on all sides by foreign foes. The newly elevated (1068) Romanus IV Diogenes opted for a return to the forward movement halted after the death of Basil II "the Bulgar-slayer" (976-1025). This meant an active defense against the Oghuz tribesmen who were raiding Anatolia. The Byzantine army, however, no longer based primarily on the stratiotai, citizen-soldiers of the themes, had large numbers of foreign troops, cf. "the Rus, Ghuzz, Qipchaqs, Georgians, Abkhaz, Khazars, Franks and Armenians" (p. 59) noted by al-Bundari (d. after 623/1226) and Ibn al-'Adim (d. 660/1262). The important point for the Muslim authors was to contrast this motley array with the united Muslim forces.

Romanus chose confrontation...