Hamadan ｜ Born into a scholarly Persian Jewish medical lineage, studying medicine and natural philosophy.
1247 CE–1318 CE
Grand VizierHistorianCourt Physician
Rashid al-Din
拉施德丁
Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318) was an eminent Persian physician, statesman, and historian who served as Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate under the Mongol Empire. Entering court service as a physician under Arghun Khan, he was elevated to Grand Vizier by Ghazan Khan in 1298. For nearly two decades, he orchestrated sweeping fiscal, land tenure, and currency reforms that stabilized the Ilkhanate. Commissioned by Ghazan Khan and…
1247 CE–1318 CEYuan Dynasty
PROFILE
Rashid al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318) was an eminent Persian physician, statesman, and historian who served as Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate under the Mongol Empire. Entering court service as a physician under Arghun Khan, he was elevated to Grand Vizier by Ghazan Khan in 1298. For nearly two decades, he orchestrated sweeping fiscal, land tenure, and currency reforms that stabilized the Ilkhanate. Commissioned by Ghazan Khan and Öljaitü, he authored the monumental Jami al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), celebrated by modern historians as the world's first genuine universal history, integrating Mongol oral histories with Chinese, Persian, Arab, and European records. Entangled in court factionalism after Öljaitü's death, he was falsely accused of treason and executed in 1318.
- Courtesy / Art Name
- Not recorded
- Era
- Ilkhanate / Mongol Empire period
- Dynasty
- Ilkhanate, Mongol Empire
- Identity
- Grand Vizier, Historian, Court Physician
- Date of Birth
- 1247
- Date of Death
- July 18 1318
- Ethnicity
- Han
- Ancestral Home
- Hamadan, Persia (modern Iran)
- Place of Birth
- Hamadan in Persia (present-day Hamadan, Iran)
- Place of Death
- Place of death unknown
- Lifespan
- Unknown
- Highest Office
- Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate under Ghazan Khan and Öljaitü
- Major Offices
- Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate under Ghazan Khan and Öljaitü
- Major Achievements
- Authoring universal history Compendium of Chronicles (Jami al-Tawarikh), implementing Ghazanid administrative and economic reforms
LIFE TIMELINE
Tabriz ｜ Converted to Sunni Islam and entered court service as personal physician to Ilkhan Arghun.
Tabriz ｜ Elevated to Grand Vizier by Ghazan Khan, launching comprehensive fiscal and administrative reforms.
Tabriz ｜ Commissioned by Ghazan Khan to compile the official history of the Mongols and Eurasian nations.
Tabriz ｜ Reconfirmed as Grand Vizier under Öljaitü Khan, expanding the Jami al-Tawarikh universal history.
Tabriz ｜ Following Öljaitü's death, factional rivalries flared during the minority of Abu Sa'id.
Tabriz ｜ Falsely accused of poisoning the late khan by political rival Ali Shah; executed at age seventy-one.
Aged sixty-three #2 ｜ The Compendium of Chronicles was completed and published at Tabriz, the capital of the Ilkhanate.
Aged sixty-six #2 ｜ He compiled in Persian the Treasure of Chinese Science and Technology of the Ilkhans.
Age 69 ｜ ### Tragic Fall and Legacy Following Öljaitü's death in 1316, court factions polarized.
Aged seventy #3 ｜ On the accession of Abu Sa’id Khan, Rashid al-Din was slandered by his rival Ali Shah and dismissed from the vizierate.
Age 71 ｜ Despite his decades of loyal service, the seventy-one-year-old vizier was executed on July 18, 1318.
BIOGRAPHY
Biography
Early Life and Medical Distinction
Rashid al-Din was born in 1247 in Hamadan, an ancient center of Persian learning. Trained in classical Greco-Arabic and Persian medicine, he entered the service of the Mongol Ilkhans around 1280. His extensive knowledge of botany, pharmacology, and dietetics won him the confidence of Ilkhan Arghun. ### Vizierate and the Ghazanid Reforms In 1298, the converted Muslim ruler Ghazan Khan appointed Rashid al-Din as Grand Vizier alongside Sa'd al-Din. Together, they executed wide-ranging state reforms. They standardized weights and measures, reformed agricultural tax assessments, revitalized irrigation canals, and disciplined predatory Mongol military levies. These reforms restored agricultural prosperity across Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau. ### Authoring the Jami al-Tawarikh Around 1300, Ghazan Khan commissioned Rashid al-Din to document the history of the Mongol tribes. Recognizing the unprecedented interconnectivity of the Mongol Empire, Rashid al-Din expanded the project under Öljaitü Khan into a comprehensive history of the known world. Employing teams of Chinese scholars, Kashmiri monks, Persian scribes, and Mongol chroniclers like Bolad, he compiled the Jami al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles). The work covered Mongol genealogy, ancient Persian monarchs, Chinese dynastic annals, Islamic history, and European popes and emperors. ### Tragic Fall and Legacy Following Öljaitü's death in 1316, court factions polarized. His bitter rival Ali Shah accused Rashid al-Din of poisoning the late monarch. Despite his decades of loyal service, the seventy-one-year-old vizier was executed on July 18, 1318. His memory endures as one of the towering intellectual and administrative figures of Eurasian history.
Major Activities
Authorship of Universal World History
Created the Jami al-Tawarikh, pioneering global historiography by synthesizing primary accounts across Asian and European civilizations. ### Administrative and Fiscal Modernization Standardized currency, eliminated irregular extortions, and instituted reliable grain registries throughout the Ilkhanate. ### Cultural and Scientific Transmission Promoted trans-Eurasian scientific exchange, translating Chinese pulse diagnostics and anatomy into Persian (Tansuqnama).
Personal Relations
- Monarchs: Arghun Khan (early patron), Ghazan Khan (monarch who enacted his reforms), Öljaitü Khan (patron of universal history).
- Collaborator: Bolad Aqa (envoy from the Yuan Dynasty in China who provided Mongol oral history).
- Rival: Ali Shah (corrupt vizier who orchestrated his downfall).
Historical Assessment
Global and Islamic historians regard Rashid al-Din as a peerless intellectual bridge between East and West.
- Edward G. Browne: "The Jami al-Tawarikh is an astonishing historical masterpiece, centuries ahead of its time in global scope."
- W. W. Barthold: "Rashid al-Din was the only historian of the Middle Ages who conceived of a truly universal history of all civilized peoples."
FIGURES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DYNASTY
Bibliography
- Cambridge History of Iran*, Volume 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods
- J. A. Boyle, The Successors of Genghis Khan, Columbia University Press