Neoplatonic kingship in the Islamic world: Akbar’s millennial history

Gommans, J.J.L.; Huseini, S.R. (2022)

Part of book or chapter of book

On the basis of the neglected Mughal world history, the Tarikh-i Alfi, this study investigates the making of immanentist cosmic kingship under the aegis of emperor Akbar. This remarkable chronicle was part of a post-Islamic project to demarcate the end of the Islamic millennium and to announce the coming of Akbar as saviour with a new covenant of universal peace. During a global Neoplatonic Renaissance, it turned Akbar into a messianic philosopher-king. Different from his royal colleagues in the West, though, Akbar could build on an existing Neoplatonic legacy of Chinggisid rule and post-nomadic state-formation along the arid frontiers of the Islamic world.

• Akbar
• Mughal Empire
• Neoplatonism
• Mongol Legacy
• Sacred Kingship
• World-Histories

• All authors: Gommans, J.J.L.; Huseini, S.R.
• Editor(s): Afzar Moin, A.; Strathern, A.
• Date: 2022-04-05
• Title of host publication: Sacred kingship in world history: between immanence and transcendence
• Pages: 192 - 222
• ISBN (print): 9780231204170
• ISBN (electronic): 9780231555401
• DOI: doi:10.7312/moin20416-010
• Link: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/sacred-kingship-in-world-history/978023120....