Yaqut al-Hamawi
Arab bibliographer and geographer (1179–1229)
Yāqūt Shihāb al-Dīn ibn-ʿAbdullāh al-Rūmī al-Ḥamawī (1179–1229) (Arabic: ياقوت الحموي الرومي) was a Muslim scholar of the Byzantine ancestry active during the late Abbasid period (12th–13th centuries). He is known for his Mu'jam ul-Buldān, an influential work on geography containing valuable information pertaining to biography, history and literature as well as geography.
Life
Yāqūt (ruby or hyacinth) was the kunya of Ibn Abdullāh ("son of Abdullāh"). He was born in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, called in Arabic al-Rūm, whence his nisba "al-Rūmi". Captured in war and enslaved, Yāqūt became "mawali" to ‘Askar ibn Abī Naṣr al-Ḥamawī, a trader of Baghdad, Iraq, the seat of the Abbasid Caliphate, from whom he received the laqab "al-Hamawī". As ‘Askar's apprentice, he learned about accounting and commerce, becoming his envoy on trade missions and travelling twice or three times to Kish in the Persian Gulf. In 1194, ‘Askar stopped his salary over some dispute and Yāqūt found work as copyist to support himself. He embarked on a course of study under the grammarian Al-‘Ukbarî. Five years later he was on another mission to Kish for ‘Askar. On his return to Baghdad he set up as a bookseller and began his writing career.
“Yaqut al-Hamawi” enters the record as arab bibliographer and geographer (1179–1229). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yaqut, al-Hamawi and Arab can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q316364. VIAF identifies the subject as 5728728. The Library of Congress control number is n84172872. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1179, 1229 and 1194.
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