vizier, Arabic and modern Persian wazīr, Turkish vazir, originally the chief minister or representative of the ʿAbbāsid caliphs and later a high administrative officer in various Muslim countries, among Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols, and other eastern peoples.
The office took shape during its tenure by the Barmakid (Barmecide) family in the 8th century. The ʿAbbāsid vizier stood between sovereign and subjects, representing the former in all matters touching the latter. This withdrawal of the head of state from direct contact with his people was unknown to the previous Umayyad caliphate and was certainly an imitation of Persian usage.
Under the early Ottoman sultans, the office was called pervane (“advice”), a usage inherited from the Seljuqs of Anatolia. The Ottoman title vizier was first conferred on a military commander about 1380. Thenceforth until the conquest of Istanbul (1453), it denoted the highest rank in the ruling institution and could be held simultaneously by several persons, including the ministers of state. In this period members of the powerful Çandarli family served periodically as ministers and held the rank of vizier.
Under the sultan Mehmed II (reigned 1444–46, 1451–81), the Ottomans assumed the old Islamic practice of giving the title vizier to the office of the chief minister, but they had to use the distinguishing epithet “grand.” A number of viziers, known as the “dome viziers,” were appointed to assist the grand vizier, to replace him when he was absent on campaign, and to command armies when required. Later the title vizier was granted to provincial governors and to high officials such as the defterdar (finance officer).
The grand vizier was the absolute representative of the sultan, whose signet ring he kept as an insignia of office. His actual power, however, varied with the vigour of the sultans. In 1654 the grand vizier acquired an official residence known as the Babıâli (Sublime Porte), which replaced the palace as the effective centre of Ottoman government. Beginning in the 19th century, the grand viziers presided over the council of ministers, appointed by the sultan; and after 1908 they acquired the right to appoint the cabinet ministers. The title disappeared with the collapse of the empire.
The term vizier is also customarily applied to a pair of civil officers in ancient Egypt having viceregal powers. The office dates from at least the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce) and achieved great importance from the reign of Sesostris III (1836–18 bce), when the vizier acquired jurisdiction over the entire bureaucracy of ancient Egypt.