Alp Tigin

Alp - Tigin or Alp - Tegin ( Turkish for " courageous Prince"; Arabic and Persian letters written mostly ألبتكين; † ca 963 ) was a Turkish-born military slave ( Ghulam ), who gave the impetus for the founding of the Ghaznavid dynasty.

The exact date of birth Alp - Tigins is unknown. Alp - Tigin was a military slave who initially the Samanid Emir Ahmad b. Ismail belonged and served in the Life Guards. He was then of Nasr b. Ahmad released. In the Life Guards, he was appointed commander of the bodyguard (Arabic: al - hadschib huddschab ) and exercised the real power instead of the young ruler Abd al -Malik from I.. The vizier Abu Ali al - Balami owed ​​Alp - Tigin his appointment and did not dare to intervene. To remove him from the capital, received Alp - Tigin in 961 the post of governor of Khorasan. Later he was this office by Mansur b. Relieved of Nuh, had refused to hand his enthronement Alp - Tigin. Alp - Tigin retired to Balkh, a town in the north of present-day Afghanistan, back. In the year 962, he defeated an army that had been sent against him the Samanid ruler. He marched to Ghazni, sat there the local dynasty and founded their own kingdom with Ghazna as its capital. About his date of death give contradictory information sources.