Makan ibn Kaki

Abu Mansur Makan ibn Kaki (died 25 December 940) was a Daylamite military leader active in northern Iran (esp. Tabaristan and western Khurasan) in the early 10th century. He became involved in the succession disputes of the Alids of Tabaristan, and managed to establish himself as the ruler of Tabaristan and Gurgan for short periods of time, in competition to other Daylamite warlords such as Asfar ibn Shiruya or the Ziyarid brothers Mardavij and Vushmgir. He alternately opposed and secured support from the Samanid governors of Khurasan, and eventually fell in battle against a Samanid army.

Biography Like his father, Makan served as an officer in the army of the Alids of Tabaristan, a Zaydi branch of the Alids that had established an independent emirate in Tabaristan, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, which periodically included some neighbouring regions (Daylam, Gilan and Gurgan) as well. Makan had established family ties through marriage with the Alids, as Ja'far, the son of imam Hasan ibn Ali al-Utrush (r. 914–917), was his son-in-law. Makan was then appointed governor of Gurgan, the easternmost province of the Alid emirate. When Ja'far died in 924, he left the throne to Ahmad's son Abu Ali Muhammad, but Makan deposed Muhammad and installed his own grand-nephew Ismail, a son of Ja'far, in his place. Muhammad, however, managed to escape from his captors and with the aid of the Daylamite military chief Asfar ibn Shiruya, who had seized control of Gurgan, defeated Makan and retook his throne. Makan also had to face a rebellion at home, where his relative al-Hasan ibn al-Fairuzan, who governed Tabaristan in his absence, tried to re-install his half-brother Ismail as imam. The revolt failed after Ismail was poisoned at the instigation of Abu Ja'far Husayn's mother. In the meantime, Asfar had lost power in Rayy to the rebellion of his former subordinate, Mardavij, and fled to Quhistan, where he died soon after. Abu Ja'far Husayn, who had managed to escape Samanid captivity, sought Mardavij's aid in recovering his position. Mardavij lent him an army, but Makan defeated Mardavij's forces in a first engagement in 931. Eventually, after Makan's return to Tabaristan from Nishapur, Mardavij launched an attack that conquered Tabaristan.

Relations between Makan and Vushmgir improved to the point where the former felt secure enough to drop his dependence on the Samanids. As a result, in 939 a Samanid army under Abu Ali ibn Muhtaj attacked him at Gurgan. Following a seven-month siege of his capital, Makan was forced to flee to Rayy. The Samanid army pursued him, and in a battle fought on 25 December 940 at Iskhabad near Rayy, the Samanid forces were victorious. Makan himself was killed by an arrow, and then beheaded by the victors, who sent his head to Nasr in Bukhara.