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{{Short description|Hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin}}
{{for|the village in Azerbaijan|Atabəy}}
{{redirect|Atabak|the places in Iran|Atabak, Iran (disambiguation){{!}}Atabak, Iran}}
[[File:Kitāb al-aghānī (“The Book of Songs”) by Abū al-Faraj al-Iṣbahānī.jpg|thumb|[[Badr al-Din Lu'lu']] was ''atabeg'' for the [[Zengid dynasty]] from 1211 to 1234. ''[[Kitāb al-aghānī]]'' fronstispiece, [[Mosul]], 1218–1219. Vol IV. Cairo, Egyptian National Library, Ms Farsi 579]]
'''Atabeg''', '''Atabek''',<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Seljūks |volume=24 |page=609}}</ref> or '''Atabey''' is a hereditary title of [[nobility]] of [[Turkic language|Turkic]] origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a [[monarch]] and charged with raising the [[crown prince]]. The first instance of the title's use was with early [[Seljuk Turks]] who bestowed it on the Persian vizier [[Nizam al-Mulk]].<ref name=EB1911/><ref>''Atabak'', Encyclopedia Iranica. Accessed February 1, 2007. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/atabak-turkish-atabeg-lit</ref> It was later used in the [[Kingdom of Georgia]], first within the [[Armenia|Armeno]]-Georgian family of [[Mkhargrdzeli]] as a military title and then within the house of [[Jaqeli]] as [[Principality of Samtskhe|princes of Samtskhe]].<ref>[http://rbedrosian.com/d3a.htm The Turco-Mongol Invasions, Reactions of the Armenian Lords, Mongol Control Techniques<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927204101/http://rbedrosian.com/d3a.htm |date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref>

==Title origins and meanings==
The word ''atabeg'' is a compound of the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] word<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/atabeg|title=atabeg.|access-date=25 March 2008|work=Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary}}</ref> ''ata'', "ancestor", or "father"<ref name=EB1911/> and the word ''beg'' or ''bey'', "lord, leader, prince".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html|title=bey.|access-date=25 March 2008|work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080308071707/http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html| archive-date= 8 March 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> ''Beg'' is stated in some sources as being of Iranian origin (as in the compound [[Baghdad]] from ''bag/beg'' "lord" and ''dad'' "given"). However, according to [[Gerhard Doerfer]], the word ''beg'' may have possibly been of Turkic origin – the origin of the word still remains disputed to this day.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/beg-pers "BEG"] ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]''. Retrieved 14 January 2015</ref>

The title ''Atabeg'' was common during the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk]] rule of the [[Near East]] starting in the 12th century. It was also common in [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Iraq]]). When a [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk]] prince died, leaving minor heirs, a guardian would be appointed to protect and guide the young princes. These guardians would often marry their wards' widowed mothers, thus assuming a role similar to a surrogate father's. Amongst the [[Turkmen people|Turkmen]] tribes, as in Persia, the rank was senior to a [[Khan (title)|khan]].

The title ''Atabeg'' was also in use for officers in [[Mamluk Egypt]]; some of them were proclaimed sultan before the incorporation into the [[Ottoman Empire]]. After the end of Seljuk rule, the title was used only intermittently.

When describing the [[Atabegs of Azerbaijan]], the [[Ildeniz]] (Ildegoz) dynasty, the title ''Atabeg-e-Azam'' (Great Atabeg) was used, to denote their superior standing, power and influence on the Seljuk sultans.

In [[Persian language|Persian]], the style ''Atabek-e-Azam'' was occasionally used as an alternative title for the [[Qajar dynasty|Shah]]'s [[Vizier|Vazir-e-Azam]] (''Grand Vizier''), notably in 1834–35 for Mirza Abolghasem Farahani, Gha'em Magham, in 1848–51 for Mirza Mohammed Taghi Khan, Amir-e Kabir, in 1906–07 for Mirza Ali Asghar Khan, Amin-ol Soltan, and finally in 1916 for a [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar]] prince, Major-General Shahzadeh Sultan 'Abdu'l Majid Mirza, Eyn-ol Douleh.

==List of Atabeg dynasties and other dynasties who used the title==
*[[Ahmadilis]] (Atabegs of [[Maragha]]) (of Turkic origin)
*[[Eldiguzids]] (Atabegs of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]]) (of Kypchaq Turkic origin)
*[[Salghurids]] (Atabegs of [[Fars province|Fars]]) (of Turkmen origin)<ref>C.E. Bosworth, ''The New Islamic Dynasties of Islam'', (Columbia University Press, 1996), 103.</ref>
*[[Hazaraspids]] (Atabegs of [[Luristan]]) (of Iranian origin)
*[[Atabegs of Yazd]] (of Iranian origin)
*[[Zengids]] (Atabegs of [[Mosul]]) (of Turkmen origin)

==Atabeg dynasties==

===In the Near East===
 
Beginning in the twelfth century the atabegs formed a number of [[dynasty|dynasties]], and displaced the descendants of the [[Seljukid]] [[emir]]s in their various principalities. These dynasties were founded by emancipated [[Mamluk]]s, who had held high office at court and in camp under powerful emirs. When the emirs died, they first became stadtholders for the emirs' descendants, and then usurped the throne of their masters. There was an atabeg dynasty in [[Damascus]] founded by [[Toghtekin]] (1103–1128).

Other atabeg "kingdoms" sprang up to the north east, founded by Sokman (Sökmen), who established himself at Kaifa in [[Diyarbakır]] about 1101, and by his brother [[Ilghazi]]. The city of [[Mosul]] was under [[Mawdud ibn Altuntash]], and was later ruled by atabegs such as Aksunkur and [[Imad ad-Din Zengi|Zengi]]. Zengi became Atabeg of [[Mosul]] in 1128 and soon established himself as an independent ruler of much of northern [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Syria]] (including [[Aleppo]]).

The northern part of [[Lorestān Province|Luristan]], formerly known as Lurikuchik ('Little Luristan'), was governed by independent princes of the Khurshidi dynasty, styled atabegs, from the beginning of the 17th century when the last atabeg, Shah Verdi Khan, was removed by Persian Shah [[Abbas I of Persia|Abbas I]] and the government of the province given to Husain Khan, the chief of a rival tribe. Husain, however, was given the gubernatorial title of [[Wali|vali]] instead of atabeg. The descendants of Husain Khan retained the title.

Great Luristan, in the southern part of Luristan, was an independent state under the Fazlevieh atabegs from 1160 until 1424. Its capital was Idaj, now only represented by mounds and ruins at [[Malamir, Iran|Malamir]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lorestān {{!}} region, Iran |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Lorestan#ref36085 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=10 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

===In the Caucasus===
{{see also|Court officials of the Kingdom of Georgia}}

In the [[Kingdom of Georgia]], atabeg ({{lang-ka|ათაბაგი|tr}}) was one of the highest court titles created by Queen [[Tamar of Georgia]] in 1212 for her powerful subjects of the [[Mkhargrdzeli]] family. The atabeg of Georgia was a [[vizier]] and a Lord High Tutor to Heir Apparent. Not infrequently, the office of atabeg was combined with that of [[amirspasalar]] (commander-in-chief). In 1334, the title became hereditary in the [[Jaqeli]] family who ruled the [[Principality of Samtskhe]]. Therefore, this entity came to be denominated as [[Samtskhe-Saatabago]], the latter element meaning "of the atabags".<ref name="Toumanoff ">[[Cyril Toumanoff|Toumanoff, Cyril]] (1967). ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History'', p. 438, n. 1. [[Georgetown University Press]].</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[[Amin Maalouf]]. ''Crusades Through Arab Eyes'', 1984
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080908024529/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v13f1/v13f1004.html ÏNĀNČ ḴĀTUN, Encyclopædia Iranica]}}
*[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/atabak-turkish-atabeg-lit ATĀBAK, Encyclopædia Iranica]
*[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/atabakan-e-adarbayjan ATĀBAKĀN-E ĀḎARBĀYJĀN, Encyclopædia Iranica]
* https://web.archive.org/web/20180105151014/http://www.selcuklular.com/?

[[Category:Heads of government in Asia]]
[[Category:Ministerial offices]]
[[Category:Gubernatorial titles]]
[[Category:Atabegs of Samtskhe|.]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Georgia]]
[[Category:Noble titles]]
[[Category:Noble titles of Georgia (country)]]