Kay Kāʾūs b. Iskandar - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Marlow, Louise
Leiden
Brill
(2,402 words)
Kay Kāʾūs b. Iskandar b. Qābūs b. Vushmgīr, ʿUnṣur al-Maʿālī (b. c.412/1021-2, r. 441-c.480/1049-c.1087), belonged to the Ziyārid dynasty, which ruled, with varying autonomy, in the Caspian provinces of Ṭabaristān and Gurgān from about 319/931 to about 483/1090. Describing himself as mawlā-yi amīr al-muʾminīn ("lord and commander of the believers") ( QN , 3), Amīr Kay Kāʾūs ascended the throne in 441/1049, at a time when much of his territory had come under the suzerainty of the Saljūqs,