Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi (from Persian شیرکوه (Shirkuh) meaning lion of mountain, also Shirguh or Shêrko in Kurdish) (died 1169) was an important Muslim military commander, and uncle of Saladin. He was originally from a Kurdish village in Armenia near the town of Dvin. He was the son of Shadhi ibn Marwan, a Kurdish ruler, and was the brother of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, the ancestor of the Ayyubid dynasty. The family was closely connected to the Shaddadid… (More on Shirkuh)