Animals in the Gift Exchange Diplomacy of the Ilkhanate (1260-1335)
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האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים The Hebrew University of Jerusalem הפקולטה למדעי הרוח Faculty of Humanities החוג ללימוד האסלאם והמזרח התיכון Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies עבודה סמינריונית מחקרית בנושא: Animals in the Gift Exchange Diplomacy of the Ilkhanate (1260-1335) In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies The Hebrew University of Jerusalem May 2019 מוגש על ידי לאון וולפובסקי Submitted by Leon Volfovsky בהנחיית פרופסור מיכל בירן Supervisor: Prof. Michal Biran Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1: Livestock Animals .................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Hunting Animals .................................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 3: Exotic Animals ..................................................................................................................... 53 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 70 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................... 81 Appendix I – List of Delegations and Gifts ............................................................................................ 93 Abstract Hülegü Khan (1256-1265) established the Ilkhanid dynasty (1256-1335) following a military campaign in the Middle East. The dynasty was one of the Mongol dynasties that rose to power as the result of the dissolution of the Mongol Empire, established by Chinggis Khan (1206-1227). The Ilkhans maintained diplomatic relations with multiple contemporary dynasties in Asia, Europa and Africa, both Mongol and otherwise, including also hostile polities, such as the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (with which peace was established in 1323). These diplomatic relations involved gift exchange, of which animals played a significant role. This thesis examines how did the establishment of the Ilkhanid dynasty in the Iranian region and the dynasty’s diplomatic relations influence the movement of animals in Eurasia. Who were the individuals who chose the exchanged animals; why were the animals chosen as diplomatic gifts; what was the role of the animals in comparison to other royal gifts; which transformations in the exchange of animals occurred throughout the Ilkhanid period. This adds another facet to the ongoing study of mobility of people, knowledge, commodities and artifacts across Eurasia due to Mongol policies. While some arenas of exchange, such as historiography, astronomy, geography, medicine and agriculture, have received extensive scholarly attention, the influence of the Mongols in general and the Ilkhans in particular on the movement of animals was only partially examined. The thesis examines the exchange of three kind of animals in Ilkhanid diplomacy: livestock, hunting partners and exotic animals. In each case it reveiwes the functions of such animals to the Mongols and their use in diplomatic exchange in the United Mongol Empire (1206-60) and in the Ilkhanid realm, sometimes bringing also examples from the other Mongol khanates. The thesis demonstrates that the Ilkhanid dynasty contributed to the movement of animals in Eurasia through the use of diplomatic missions. Out of 120 embassies which the Ilkhanid dynasty 1 exchanged with contemporary dynasties, 42 included animals that were chosen as gifts to foreign rulers or were received as gifts to the Ilkhans. Througout its exisatnce, the Ilkhanid dynasty was able to establish diplomatic relations with dynsties in Eastern and Western Asia, in Africa and in Europe, and exchanged animals with all of these polities. This thesis demonstrates that the Ilkhans received animals from across Eurasia; moreover, they connected the remote corners of Eurasia by sending embassies to their various allies, often carrying more than one specie of the same animal. More importantly, the Mongols had direct influence on the movement of animals throughout the continent. Their nomadic background influenced their interaction with animals, for example their great interest in hunting partners and livestock animals. Moreover, Mongol and Ilkhanid preferences for specific animals accelersted the movement of such animals across the continent. The Ilkhans preferred livestock and hunting animals, such as horses, camels and various raptors to exotic animals, such as elephants or giraffes, which were popular among the rulers of sedentary dynasties, in the Mamluk Sultanate and Europe. In addition, following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the various Mongol dynasties, membrs of the Mongol elite personaly choose the animals which they wished to receive as gifts. 2 Introduction The State of Research The topic of this thesis combines three research fields: diplomacy, human-animal relations, and the exchange of gifts. The diplomatic relations between the various Mongol polities, as well as between the Mongols and the non-Mongol contemporary dynasties, have already received considerable scholarly attention.1 Reuven Amitai-Preiss and Anne Broadbridge examined the relations between the Ilkhanid dynasty and the Mamluk Sultanate.2 In addition, Na’ama Arom examined the development of the Ilkhanid diplomacy during the reign of the dynasty’s first two rulers, Hülegü and Abaqa.3 Other studies examined the diplomatic connections between the Golden Horde and the Mamluk Sultanate, and the Mongol diplomatic relations with the Delhi Sultanate.4 Thomas T. Allsen’s Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia is a prominent example in the field of Mongol diplomatic and cultural exchange. Allsen examined the relations between the Ilkhans and the Qa’ans of the Yuan dynasty, the Ilkhans’ titular rulers.5 Allsen demonstrated how the diplomatic relations and the military alliance between the two Mongol dynasties led to an extensive exchange of knowledge and products between western and eastern Asia. Most 1 Michal Biran, “Diplomacy and Chancellery Practice in the Chagataid Khanate: Some Preliminary Remarks,” Oriente Moderno 88, 2 (2008): 382; Salikh Zakirov, Diplomaticheskie Otnoshenie Zolotoi Ordy s Egiptom (XII- XIV vv.) (Moscow: Nauka, 1966), pp. 39-97; Peter Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 93, 141, 208-209, 302, 314. 2 Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and the Mamluks: the Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260-1281 )Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Reuven Amitai, Holy War and Rapprochement: Studies in the Relations between the Mamluk Sultanate and the Mongol Ilkhanate (1260-1335) (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013); Anne F. Broadbridge, Kingship and Ideology in the Islamic and Mongol Worlds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). 3 Na’ama O. Arom, “Beyond Bow Range: The Formation of Mongol Foreign Relations in the Middle East 1253- 1282,” PhD. dissertation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2016: 1-2. 4 Zakirov, Diplomaticheskie Otnoshenie, pp. 39-97; Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate, pp. 93, 141, 208-209, 302, 314. 5 Thomas T. Allsen, Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia (Cambridge, U.K.; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 17-40. 3 importantly, Allsen explained that this exchange occurred under the supervision of the Mongol rulers who influenced the spheres of exchange, picking and choosing the mediators of knowledge and the topics of exchange.6 Thus Allsen established that the Mongol rise to power throughout Asia not only initiated a globalization process, but that the Mongol elites shaped it. However, Allsen presented only a brief examination of the exchange of animals between the two polities.7 In his other book, The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History, where Allsen elaborated on the Mongols’ use of animals, he did not focus on the aspect of exchange.8 An additional work on animals examining the Ilkhanid period is Housni Alkhateeb Shehada's book, Mamluks and Animals: Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam. However, it dealt with hunting, animal representations, and veterinary medicine during the Mamluk period (1250-1517), and mentioned only partial examples of exchange.9 Marcel Mauss developed the research of the gift exchange, focusing on the social perspective.10 Later works either expanded the theory of gift exchanges,11 or focused on gift exchanges in specific periods and areas, addressing also the Islamic and Middle Eastern perspectives.12 More recently, in her book Practicing Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World, Doris Behrens-Abouseif examined the topic of the “Maussian gift” in the Ilkhanid context. However, as the book's title suggests, this research did not focus on the Mongols 6 Allsen, Culture and Conquest, pp. 189-211. 7 Ibid, p. 44. 8 Thomas T. Allsen, The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, c2006). 9 Housni Alkhateeb Shehada, Mamluks and Animals: Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam (Boston: Brill 2013), p. 70. 10 Marcel Mauss, The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in