(1173–1250) Kurdish dynasty founded by Saladin that ruled over Egypt, most of Syria, upper Iraq, and Yemen.
After overthrowing the Crusades and made Egypt the most powerful Muslim state in the world. After Saladin's death the Ayyūbid regime became decentralized. In 1250 a group of mamlūk s (military slaves) exploited a lapse in Ayyūbid succession to take over the government in Egypt and to found the Mamlūk dynasty . Minor Ayyūbid princes continued to rule in parts of the Syria for some years afterward.