Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, the Ayyubid realm spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.
Saladin in the sharbush hat of Seljuk rulers, his rallying sign, on a coin: "The Victorious King, Righteousness of the World and the Faith, Yusuf ibn Ayyub". 587 AH (1190-1191 CE).
Coin of Saladin, dated AH 578 (AD 1182/3).
Ayyubid or Zengid soldiers in Seljuk-type clothes and sharbush hats on the Palmer Cup (1200-1215)
Experimental crossbow mounted inside a shield, in the Tabṣira by Murḍi Ibn cālī Ibn Murḍi al-Ṭarsūsī written for Saladin, late Fāṭimid or early Ayyūbid Egypt, c.1170 CE (Ms. Hunt.264, f.117, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK).
The Ayyubid dynasty, also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier. Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt by the Abbasid Caliphate, and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant, in addition to Hijaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tarabulus, Cyrenaica, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq, the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz, the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517. Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
Ayyubid Sultanate of Egypt (in pink) at the death of Saladin in 1193
A dirham coin in the name of Saladin, dated 1215 CE. Likely minted in Mayyafariqin. Similar coins were also minted during Saladin's lifetime. The sharbush headgear was a rallying sign for Saladin.
Fatimid or Ayyubid dynasty battle scene, Fustat, Cairo, Egypt, 12-13th century.
Arabic trebuchet, with its counterweight, in the Tabṣira by Murḍi Ibn cālī Ibn Murḍi al-Ṭarsūsī written for Saladin, late Fāṭimid or early Ayyūbid Egypt, c.1170 CE (Ms. Hunt.264, f.117, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK).