ABSTRACT
To introduce the basic historical facts of hostage-giving and hostage-taking, this chapter starts with an explicitly descriptive piece of testimony from an 11th-century treatise known as the Siyasat-nama, by Nezam al-Molk. It provides further exploration of such peculiarities, through a close study of the concept of hostage-giving and hostage-taking in early-11th-century Islamic contexts as attested in historical accounts and in poetry. The chapter suggests that Nezam al-Molk advocates the practice of hostage-taking for his Seljuq masters in order to secure the loyalty of dependent populations. With this introductory text in place, she proceeds to analyze the text of a remarkable letter as recorded by the 11th-century historian Beyhaqi. The chapter proceeds to consider the dialectic of gift-exchange and guest-friendship as an alternative to hostage-giving and hostage-taking. It examines the story of Siyavash as retold by the poet Ferdowsi in his 11th-century epic known as the Shahnama.
