In her debut monograph, Ilkhanid Capital Cities: Transcultural Interactions, based on her PhD thesis (University of Victoria, Canada), Atri Hatef Naiemi proposes a multifaceted discussion aimed at better understanding the intercultural interactions between the Ilkhanid rulers (the dynasty of Genghis Khan’s descendants who ruled the greater Iranian territory) and the native Persianate society the Mongols conquered. She approaches this topic from a creative perspective, examining urbanism under the Ilkhanid Dynasty (1256–1335). Moreover, the work features a concluding chapter dedicated to a theoretical interpretation of cultural interactions as illustrated by these urban settlements. Hatef Naiemi is the first scholar to address the subject in a systematic manner and with extensive contextualisation in the monograph’s opening section.

Throughout the book and by means of selected methodological approaches to the subject, Hatef Naiemi performs a tour de force in reinterpreting the subject through a discussion of an extensive number of primary written sources in Western Asian languages and an analysis of aerial photographs of archaeological sites, unpublished archaeological finds, and reports provided by Iranian colleagues. Rather than being heavily evidence-driven, Hatef Naiemi’s methodology comprises Islamicate material culture studies and cultural theory, as well as hypotheses and informed speculations on the subject. In doing so, she debates an important and neglected aspect of Islamic Persianate architecture. Presented in a high-quality binding and print, the monograph could, however, have been illustrated with a greater number of figures, and some of these could have been presented in colour. The extensive endnotes for each chapter and erudite text cater to general readers as well as to an expert audience. Notwithstanding some of its shortcomings, the work is a welcome scholarly publication on this overlooked subject. It showcases a significant methodological approach for research on Persianate medieval architecture at the intersection of history, art historical analysis, and the examination of archaeological landscapes based on aerial photographs.

Across five chapters, Hatef Naiemi examines the intercultural interactions between Perso-Islamic and Mongol nomadic conventions in the built environment of Ilkhanid cities. The introduction and the first two chapters ground the discussion by providing information concerning current knowledge of pre-Ilkhanid urbanism in the Persianate world, contextualising it by means of an examination of settlement characteristics in the eastern and western regions of the Ilkhanid empire (Anatolia, Central Asia, and China). Building upon that, she proceeds to examine two case studies of urban sites sponsored by Ilkhanid rulers: Ghazan Khan (r. 1295–1304)—Ghazaniyya, and Sultan Uljaytu (r. 1304–1316)—Sultaniyya. In the book’s closing chapter, Hatef Naiemi proposes a theoretical framework for the interpretation of these intercultural interactions, based on a discussion of collected evidence. In sum, the monograph aims to provide an inventive and systematic interpretation of a hitherto uninvestigated aspect of medieval Islamic Persianate architecture.

For the general readership, it would have been advisable to include more images of sites and Ilkhanid monuments to help them follow the discussion better. This would have rendered the author’s elaborate discussion more tangible for readers foreign to the narrow field of Ilkhanid urbanism. For expert readers, the monograph provides extensive endnotes with references to sources and further information, which are welcome. The book nevertheless leaves some room for improvement regarding experts’ points of view and interests. Firstly, the discussion of the Takht-i Sulayman site could have been more extensive, given its significance in understanding Ilkhanid urbanism and architecture. Secondly, while the author selected Ghazaniyya and Sultaniyya as case studies because they were imperially founded settlements, the omission of Rashidiyya (a settlement established by the Ilkhanid minister Rashid al-Din), as well as further sites in Tabriz and Yazd, represents a considerable shortcoming. Analysis of these sites by drawing on their primary sources would have provided comparative studies and further discussion. The monograph focuses geographically on north-western Iranian sites; further sites in central, north-eastern, and southern Iran would need to be included to deliver a more holistic discourse. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the book is its firm focus on the discussion of urban sites. As early as 1955, in his seminal monograph on Ilkhanid architecture, Donald Wilber catalogued some 116 architectural structures, proposing that they date to the Ilkhanid period. It would have been beyond the feasibility of the present study to re-examine these sites, but it would have been helpful to reference them for two reasons. Firstly, it would have provided a stronger context for the monograph’s discussion. And secondly, the treatment of monuments would have enabled the author to support her proposed hypotheses with additional evidence. These monuments also retain rich architectural decorations in stucco, tile, and wall painting media, often works of several constructive and decorative undertakings, thus providing further evidence concerning aesthetics, patronage patterns, and socio-political aspects tied to Ilkhanid patronage of monuments and their respective urban centres. Inclusion of these monuments in the book, even if only through references, would enable the reader to better imagine and understand the discussed settlements.

The final chapter is dedicated to the theoretical interpretation of Perso-Islamic and Mongol interactions, drawing on the analysis of Ilkhanid urban sites. It presents a novel contribution, enabling the author to propose further hypotheses and speculations on the subject. This chapter also includes a short discussion of Uljaytu’s mausoleum at Sultaniyya and some interpretations related to it, such as the symbolic significance of the mausoleum’s second decorative stage blue-white wall paintings and the lack of evidence for the existence of Uljaytu’s cenotaph in the mausoleum. The proposed hypotheses are interesting and meaningful, but they nevertheless do not take into account aspects of materiality, technologies, and approaches to production of architectural decorations or the construction of structures. It would be advisable to focus more attention on the agents and agency of transmission tied to the constructive and decorative knowledge of monument and settlement erection. Inclusion of these aspects would have likely provided the author with further evidence for her arguments. Some hypotheses might have required a more cautious formulation. For example, the absence of Uljaytu’s cenotaph in his mausoleum should not be considered solid enough evidence to state that the sultan’s actual burial might have been hidden somewhere else, in accordance with the Mongol tradition. While Hatef Naiemi’s hypotheses bring scholarly discussions tied to Uljaytu’s mausoleum a few steps further, contextualisation of this monument through its comparison to the other Ilkhanid religious structures would have helped flesh out its unique traits as well as understand its characteristics, form, and meaning. She concludes the monograph by stating that Ilkhanid settlements possessed a hybrid quality embodied in their physical structures and the motivations and tastes of their Ilkhanid patrons.

Hatef Naiemi explains that the book aims to provide an interpretation of the cultural interactions resulting from the arrival of Mongol concepts into the urban architecture of Ilkhanid Iran. She aspires to examine these intercultural interactions through the theory of translation, scrutinising form, meaning, and the transmission of ideas. In doing so, she proposes to interpret the hybridisation processes of newly founded Ilkhanid settlements in the Iranian territory. The adopted research methodology is the coup de maître of Hatef Naiemi’s academic strengths, enabling the author to shed light on the sites in question from a new viewpoint while keeping the reader engaged throughout the text. The strength of the monograph accordingly stems from the fact that knowledge about Ilkhanid sites is gathered in one place, and it is supported by unpublished archaeological finds and primary written sources not otherwise accessible to a general reader. Chapters three and four, which discuss case studies of Ghazaniyya and Sultaniyya, present the monograph’s assets. Discussion of these sites is based on an extensive amount of collected evidence, providing a revised understanding of their characteristics, thus increasing our knowledge of Islamic Persianate architecture and urban settlements in particular. It is, however, unfortunate that we know relatively little about the urbanism of periods preceding and following the Ilkhanid Dynasty. The body of such knowledge, which will hopefully emerge in future research, will enable the scholarly community to holistically comprehend the unique traits of Ilkhanid urbanism and architecture. The book indeed succeeds in elucidating some of these aspects in an inventive and erudite manner, which makes it a welcome and significant contribution for future research and the understanding of Islamic Persianate material culture.