Rebuilding Anatolia after the Mongol Conquest

Blessing’s book is a welcome addition to the growing body of recent scholarship about Seljuq Anatolia after the Mongol conquest, when Ilkhanid rule extended from the Iranian plateau into Asia Minor. By not isolating events in Anatolia from the rest of the Ilkhanate, the author successfully unifies the two usually separately treated Mongol and Seljuq architectural spheres within a cohesive framework, rightfully transcending modern borders. Such a viewpoint reflects the contemporary vision of the Mongol world as well, since the Ilkhanid vizier Rashīd al-Dīn’s (d. 1318) understanding of Anatolia, or Rūm as it was known, was also as an extension of Greater Iran: The Successors of Genghis Khan (transl. J. A. Boyle; New York, 1971), 218. Using her chosen group of monuments, Blessing shows that architectural expressions in Anatolia integrate the region into the political framework of the Mongol Empire. Her research reveals major shifts in patronage, in three subsequent periods. From the Mongol conquest of 1243 until the 1270s, powerful Seljuq emirs aligned themselves with the Ilkhanids’ political patronage while navigating between them and Seljuq rulers. The second period begins with the temporary Mamluk invasion of Anatolia in 1277, when the Ilkhanids increasingly established their presence in the region and became active patrons. During the late 1280s, patronage shifted yet again, this time as a result of the Ilkhanid decision to exercise a tightened hold over Anatolia through the direct appointment of governors from Iran. Blessing argues that since these governors rarely founded monuments, local patrons, benefiting from the absence of an imperially imposed unified style, built on a small scale while relying on local resources and expertise

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