Āṣaf ibn Barakhyā in the Mongol and Mamluk Realms: Between Vizier and Magic

Āṣaf ibn Barakhyā (Hebrew: Asaph ben Berechiah) is an enigmatic figure. An obscure biblical character (also connected in the Jewish tradition to Asaph the Physician, author of an early Hebrew medical text), in Muslim lore Āṣaf appears mainly in connection to the king and prophet Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd. This study reviews Āṣaf's main images in the Jewish and Muslim realms and then focuses on his representation in Mamluk, Chaghadaid, and Ilkhanid sources. It argues that the Mongol period gave a major boost to Āṣaf's image as the embodiment of an ideal vizier in the Iranian-Turkish realm, and seeks to explain why he became such a prevalent political symbol in the Mongol and post-Mongol domains while never gaining similar function among the neighboring Mamluks.