For a long period both before and after the Arab conquests of the seventh century, the people of the Iranian plateau and surrounding countries had been living in political and cultural turmoil, interspersed with bouts of stability and development. Despite this, a sense of historical identity and continuity prevailed, albeit tenuously, and it was the so-called catastrophic thirteenth century that finally saw the rebirth of Persia as a central cultural, spiritual and political player on the regional – if not the world – stage.
After the traumatic years of anarchy following the collapse of the Great Saljuqs in the latter part of the twelfth century, the 1250s saw the arrival of Hülegü Khan. This study demonstrates that Hülegü Khan was welcomed as a king and a saviour after the depredations of his predecessors, rather than as a conqueror, and that the initial decades of his dynasty’s rule were characterised by a renaissance in the cultural life of the Iranian plateau. Freed from the spiritual and political oppression imposed by Baghdad and fed on a rich diet of Asian cultural, commercial and mercantile influences, Persia, its language, the ‘state’ and culture all prospered.
The voice of this unique era of renaissance still echoes in modern Iran and beyond.
George Lane spent twenty years living, working and seeking adventure in the Middle East and then later, the Far East. During this time he has been an English teacher, a freelance writer and journalist, and a businessman. He returned to a more concentrated academic life in 1991 when he took up work and studies at SOAS. Since then, he has been primarily concerned with Medieval Islamic History, and with Iran and Central Asia in particular.