In the Near East Beginning in the twelfth century the atabegs formed a number of
dynasties, and displaced the descendants of the
Seljukid emirs in their various principalities. These dynasties were founded by emancipated
Mamluks, who had held high office at court and in camp under powerful emirs. When the emirs died, they first became stadtholders for the emirs' descendants, and then usurped the throne of their masters. There was an atabeg dynasty in
Damascus founded by
Toghtekin (1103–1128). Other atabeg "kingdoms" sprang up to the north east, founded by Sokman (Sökmen), who established himself at Kaifa in
Diyarbakır about 1101, and by his brother
Ilghazi. The city of
Mosul was under
Mawdud ibn Altuntash, and was later ruled by atabegs such as Aksunkur and
Zengi. Zengi became Atabeg of
Mosul in 1128 and soon established himself as an independent ruler of much of northern
Mesopotamia and
Syria (including
Aleppo). The northern part of
Luristan, formerly known as Lurikuchik ('Little Luristan'), was governed by independent princes of the Khurshidi dynasty, styled atabegs, from the beginning of the 17th century when the last atabeg, Shah Verdi Khan, was removed by Persian Shah
Abbas I and the government of the province given to Husain Khan, the chief of a rival tribe. Husain, however, was given the gubernatorial title of
vali instead of atabeg. The descendants of Husain Khan retained the title. Great Luristan, in the southern part of Luristan, was an independent state under the Fazlevieh atabegs from 1160 until 1424. Its capital was Idaj, now only represented by mounds and ruins at
Malamir.
In the Caucasus In the
Kingdom of Georgia, atabeg () was one of the highest court titles created by Queen
Tamar of Georgia in 1212 for her powerful subjects of the
Mkhargrdzeli family. The atabeg of Georgia was a
vizier and a Lord High Tutor to Heir Apparent. Not infrequently, the office of atabeg was combined with that of
amirspasalar (commander-in-chief). In 1334, the title became hereditary in the
Jaqeli family who ruled the
Principality of Samtskhe. Therefore, this entity came to be denominated as
Samtskhe-Saatabago, the latter element meaning "of the atabags". ==Notes==