ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by briefly introducing the classical work known as the Siyar al-mulūk (also Siyasatnamah) of Nizam al-Mulk, the questions on its authenticity, the dissemination of the work and the influence it had on medieval Persian literature. After this introduction, the chapter looks at the adaptations made in the Fusṭāṭ al-‘adāla (a unique work dedicated to a Chobanid ruler) to Niẓām al-Mulk’s original text by looking at arrangements of contents and chapter omissions in the Chobanid text vis-à-vis the original work. Finally, this chapter will provide with an analysis of the additions made by the author of the Fusṭāṭ al-‘adāla to his rendition of the Siyar al-mulūk and what these additions might tell us about the particularities of the religious, political and social history of north-western Anatolia in the second half of the 13th century. The chapter argues that the main intention of the author of the Fusṭāṭ al-‘adāla was not to simply reproduce Nizam al-Mulk’s classic work, but to use it as a tool to instruct his Turkmen patron from Kastamonu in the good practices that a Muslim ruler should follow.
