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Hello and welcome to Life of the Week from History Extra, where leading historians delve into the lives of history's most intriguing and significant figures.

Medieval leader and military commander Saladin has gone down in history for his role

in the unification of the Muslim near east, his capture of the

holy city of Jerusalem, and his iconic rivalry with Richard the Lion Hearts.

But is this extraordinary reputation just the product of his savvy PR team.

Speaking to me Emily Griffith, Jonathan Phillips charts the extraordinary rise of the Muslim

leader who usurped his patron before reaching dizzying heights,

and questions how his legacy has shifted and changed across the centuries.

Hi Jonathan, thank you so much for joining us on the History Extra

podcast.

Hi Emily, good to be here.

Today we are going to be delving into the life of Saladin.

And let's start with who was Saladin?

Saladin was occurred.

He was born in 1137 in the city of Tikrit, which is now in modern Iraq,

and his family grew and moved through the hierarchy if you like of the Muslim Syrian

rulers of the time and he ended up in part by usurping his former patron he ended up becoming the Sultan of Egypt.

He used that position to create a power base for his family and then he rebelled against his

former overlord and when his former overlord died he then took

...