later completed by Khvandamir. A discussion on the advantages of studying history is included in the , a tradition that goes back to at least the 12th-century, when Ibn Funduq (died 1169) did the same in his (1168). Mirkhvand's discussion on the advantages of studying history was copied and modified by three other distinguished historians; Qasim Beg Hayati Tabrizi's (1554); Hossein Nishapuri Vuqu'i's (1591/2); and Sharaf Khan Bidlisi's (1596). Mirkhvand's work attracted much attention, as demonstrated by its numerous translations, such as the Ottoman dedicated by Mustafa ibn Hasanshah to the Ottoman grand vizier Rüstem Pasha (d. 1561) in 1550 and written by Mehmed Kemal Balatzade in 1555. The was one of the three works generally read by history students in Mughal India. There exist hundreds of copies of , making it one of the most copied Persian history books. However, neither the current editions by Parviz (1959/60) and Kiyanfar (2001) nor the 19th-century lithographs are based on the oldest version of the books. For example, Kiyanfar's edition is based on the (written in 1854–6) of the 19th-century Iranian writer Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat (died 1871), a continuation of the and based on a lithograph printed in Bombay in 1849/50. The was frequently used by western orientalists from the 17th to the 19th-century to understand the history of Iran. As a result, there are numerous incomplete translations of it in European languages. According to the German orientalist Bertold Spuler, the is the greatest universal history in Persian regarding the Islamic world. References Sources 1433 births 1498 deaths 15th-century Iranian historians Historians from the Timurid Empire People from Bukhara