royal hunt

{{for|the band|Royal Hunt}}

File:KhubilaiOnTheHunt.jpg on the hunt, contemporary painting by Liu Guandao]]

The royal hunt was an institution found throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa from antiquity until the early 19th century. It can be traced in ancient Egypt about 4000 years ago, but it lasted the longest in Iran, where it survived almost to the end of the Qajar dynasty.{{sfn|Allsen|2011|pp=10–11}} Its core area was the Iranian Plateau, North India amd Turkestan. Next to the core area were Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Transcaucasia.{{sfn|Allsen|2011|pp=10–11, 14}} Its popularity was correlated to the popularity of cavalry over infantry and to the presence of big game. The royal hunt was not universal across Eurasia. It is not found, for instance, around the Mediterranean Sea in classical antiquity. After the fall of Rome, however, it gained prominence in medieval hunting.{{sfn|Allsen|2011|pp=15–16}}