Ilkhanid coins, beyond their economic function as a medium of exchange, are a symbolic reflection of governmental identity and legitimacy. These coins contain Islamic written elements, Mongol signs, and various animal, vegetal, geometric, and epigraphic motifs.
The present research, utilizing the structural semiotics theory of Claude Lévi-Strauss, has systematically analyzed these motifs. Levi-Strauss believes that the human mind understands the world through opposing pairs (such as nature/culture), and myths are also constructed from these oppositions to narrate and moderate the contradictions of life. In Ilkhanid coins, four fundamental oppositions can be identified: Islam versus Mongol culture, center versus periphery, geometry versus nature, and text versus image.
The research findings indicate that these coins act as the "political myth" of the Ilkhanids; a myth in which Muslim and Mongol culture are reconciled with one another, while simultaneously adhering to Iranian tradition and Islamic teachings. These oppositions were designed not to create division, but to establish a symbolic reconciliation among the various cultures under Ilkhanid rule.
Consequently, Ilkhanid coins can be considered not merely economic objects, but propagandistic media in the process of identity formation and legitimation, which, through symbolic language, made the Ilkhanid government appear acceptable and justified in the eyes of peoples with different beliefs and ethnicities.