In his youth the future al-‘Aziz, then merely the third son of the caliph al-Mu’izz, acquired a concubine, most likely a Greek-speaking captive, and produced with her a daughter who was to become the famous Sitt al-Mulk. Not only did her mother remain al-‘Aziz’s favorite long after he rose to the Fatimid throne in 975, she remained so until her death 20 years later, and the daughter continued throughout to hold a claim on his attention many considered unusually intense and extraordinary. Apparently, according to the historical record, he denied her nothing. She moved about accompanied by her own royal guard; the western palace in Cairo was quite possibly built originally as her residence. When the father died she may, if we believe one early source, have contemplated a coup in her favor against the succession of her half brother al-Hakim. In the end, however, she supported him despite signs toward the end of his reign that his erratic behavior threatened to destroy the dynasty. Upon his disappearance in 1021, it was she who managed the succession of her nephew over whom she acted as regent, finally at that point becoming the real ruler of the empire, a fact widely admitted by contemporary and later medieval authorities who often express admiration for her political acumen and sharp intelligence. At her death an obituary commented approvingly: “She had been a patron of men.” Despite some recent work on Sitt al-Mulk, notably a short paper by Heinz Halm, there is more to be gleaned from an array of sources, chiefly the chronicles of al-Maqrizi and Yahya of Antioch, but others as well. Thus she has not, as yet, received as much attention in modern scholarship as she obviously deserves.