The Rulership Concept and the Ruler Perception in The Mongols in Iran

The Great Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan (1206-1227) in the early part of the thirteenth century had expanded too much by mid-century to be ruled from a single centre. When M？ngke Khan (1251-1259) acceded to the throne he sent his brother Kubilai to China and his other brother Hülegü to Iran in order to further the conquests in the West. The second period of Mongol rulership in the Near East began in 1256 with the entry of Hülegü (1256-1265) and the Mongol tribes into Iran. The Ilkhanid rulers came to the lands of the Near East with the outlook of a “divine” and “universal” sovereignity that had taken form in the steppe terrain for centuries. However, the local state traditions of the Near East rapidly influenced them. The Ilkhanid rulers gradually adopted the old Iranian and Islamic traditions in the field of rulership, especially after the acceptance of Islam by Ghazan Khan (1295-1304) in 1295. As a result of this, the perception of the Ilkhanid sovereignity changed over the period of almost a century from the “Mongol Khan” of the old steppe traditions into the “Islamic Sultan” representing the traditions developed in the geography of the Near East. In this study, the details and background of the transformation in the style of the Ilkhanid rulership and the perception of the ruler in the Near East will be examined