[169] Jehan Shah. Uzun Hassan was not his brother, as they were the respective chiefs of the rival tribes of Kârâ Koinloo and Ak-Koinloo. The dynasty founded by Uzun Hassan of the Ak-Koinloo tribe is termed Bâyenderee; the influence of the family dates from the reign of Timour, who made them grants of land in Armenia and Mesopotamia.
[170] Mahomet II, the first Emperor of the Turks, reigned from 1450-1481.
“Vixêre fortes ante Agamemnona
Multi.”—Horace, Book iv, ode 10.
[172] It was by no means the case that at that time the Persian monarchs had no poets or historians to celebrate their deeds, as the Augustan age, so to speak, of Persian literature was just then coming to a close, the two last of the great poets, Jami and Hatifi, flourishing at the Court of Abou-said and his successor Hoossein Meerza, the enlightened descendants of Timour. Hatifi died in 1522; his great poem was written to commemorate the victory of Ismael Shah over the Usbegs at Merv in 1514. The two famous historians, Mirkhond and Khondemir, also flourished at this time.
[173] Jehan Shah, Karâ Yusuf.
[174] Darius was the husband, not the son, of Atossa.
[175] There were two rival Toorkman tribes, as has already been noticed, the Kara-Koinloo and the Ak-Koinloo, who were engaged in continual struggles for the supremacy in Persia. Uzun Hassan was a chief of the Ak-Koinloo, or White Sheep.
[176] Jehan Shah.