Muhammad III of Shirvan

Muhammad III
Shirvanshah
Reign	June 981 – November 991
Predecessor	Ahmad
Successor	Yazid II
Died	November 991 Shamakhi
House	House of Shirvanshah
Father	Ahmad

Muhammad III was the Shirvanshah from 981 to 991. He was the son and successor of Ahmad (r. 956–981).^[1]

Reign

In 981/82, Muhammad III took the town of Qabala from its ruler, Abd al-Barr ibn Anbasa. In 982, he took control of Barda'a, and made Musa ibn Ali his lieutenant. In 983, a wall around the town of Shabaran was constructed under Muhammad IV's orders.^[1] In 989/90, the inhabitants of the town of al-Bab became enthusiastic supporters of Muhammad al-Tuzi, a preacher who had arrived from Gilan. The latter soon took over the entire town, and fell into disfavour with its ruler, Maymun. The supporters of al-Tuzi laid siege to the castle of Maymun, forcing him to flee to Tabarsaran in 990/91.^[2]

Muhammad III was subsequently invited by al-Tuzi to take control over al-Bab.^[3] He went to the town, staying there for some months and overseeing its administration. He was eventually taken back to Shirvan by his men after suffering a head injury from a battle-axe by Balid, a ghulams of Maymun, who subsequently reconquered al-Bab.^[1] Muhammad III died in November 991 and was succeeded by his brother Yazid II.^[4]

Coinage and culture

A coin struck under Muhammad III at Barda'a is engraved with the nasab ibn as-Sallar, which demonstrates that Muhammad III wanted to make it clear that he was the rightful heir of the Persian monarchs.^[5] "Sallar" is derived from sardar, a military title under the Sasanian Empire (224–651).^[6]

References

1. Minorsky 1958, p. 29.
2. Madelung 1975, p. 246.
3. Madelung 1975, pp. 246–247.
4. Minorsky 1958, p. 30.
5. Akopyan & Vardanyan 2009, p. 266.
6. Akopyan & Vardanyan 2009, p. 262.

Sources

• Akopyan, Alexander; Vardanyan, Aram (2009). "A donative dirham of the Shirwānshāh Muhammad ibn Ahmad (AH 370-81) struck in Barda'a in AH 373 (982/3)". Numismatic Chronicle: 261–267.
• Bosworth, C. E. (2011). "Šervānšāhs". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Madelung, Wilferd (1975). "Minor dynasties of northern Iran". In Frye, Richard N. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 4: From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 198–250. ISBN 0-521-20093-8.
• Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvān and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd.

Muhammad III of Shirvan Yazidids  Died: November 991
Regnal titles
Preceded by Ahmad	Shirvanshah June 981 – November 991	Succeeded by Yazid II