1179-1229

Syrian Geographer, Historian, and Ethnographer

Yaqut is known primarily for two works, Kitab mu'jam al-budan and Mu'jam al-udaba'. The former is a summation of historical, geographical, and ethnographic information in the Arab world of his time, the latter a collection of biographical sketches concerning important men of the era. These, the first Muslim works organized encyclopedically, have provided scholars with invaluable insights concerning the Middle East and central Asia in the twilight years of the Abbasid Caliphate.

His full name was Yaqut ibn 'Abdallah, but because his parents were Greek he was often known as al-Rumi, "the Roman" or "the Byzantine." He was also called al-Hamawi, a reference to the fact that he came from the town of Hama in Syria. As for the name Yaqut, it means "ruby." Slaves, of whom Yaqut was one, were often given the names of gemstones.

The life of a slave...