Atri Hatef Naiemi, Ilkhanid Capital Cities: Transcultural Interactions, Edinburgh Historical Studies of Iran and the Persian World. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025, xii, 296 pp.

When the Mongols invaded and conquered much of the Middle East during the thirteenth century they began a slow transition, moving from a primarily nomadic culture to a more hybrid way-of-life, drawing increasingly on the sedentary practices of the peoples now under their dominion. This transformation manifested itself in many aspects of Mongol society including the many cities they founded during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. This work Ilkhanid Capital Cities explores these cities, focusing in particular on the cultural influences apparent in their design, layout, and material culture as well as further insights gleaned from pertinent textual sources. Traditionally scholars have tended to emphasize the substantial influence of Persian culture, and to some extent Chinese culture, in shaping the Ilkhanate’s identity, but this work also makes the point that the Mongols’ original steppe beliefs and worldview can be traced in the cities they established.