Sassanid Persian realms in Antiquity. Egypt was the basis of Ibn Tulun's power; he paid particular attention to restoring its economy, as well as establishing an autonomous bureaucracy, army, and navy. These policies were continued by later Egypt-based regimes, the Ikhshidids (935–969) and eventually the Fatimids (969–1171), who likewise used Egypt's wealth to establish control over parts or even most of Syria. Indeed, as Thierry Bianquis remarks, the territory ruled by Ibn Tulun in Syria was remarkably similar to that controlled by the later Egypt-based regimes of Saladin and the Mamluk Sultanate. According to the historian Matthew Gordon, Ibn Tulun's relations with, and quest for autonomy from, the Abbasids is a "central problem of Tulunid history". Modern scholars see in Ibn Tulun's policies a "careful balancing act" and notice that he never fully severed himself from the Caliphate, remaining conspicuously loyal to the person of al-Mu'tamid, who, after all, was a powerless figurehead. Nevertheless, the move towards increasing autonomy is evident throughout his reign. His relations with the Abbasid government were dominated by his conflict with al-Muwaffaq, resulting from the latter's attempts to establish control over Egypt—whose wealth was direly needed during the costly war against the Zanj—and prevent the further rise of Ibn Tulun. In a certain sense, writes Matthew Gordon, many of Ibn Tulun's measures "were as much the means by which imperial interests were protected against the ambitions of al-Muwaffaq and his (largely Turkish) military coterie in Iraq as they were efforts to secure Tulunid authority". Given that Ibn Tulun at least twice (in 871 and 875/6) remitted huge sums to the caliphal treasury, it remains an open question whether without the conflict with al-Muwaffaq, this would have been a more regular occurrence. Nevertheless, in retrospective, Ibn Tulun's role in the wider context of Islamic history is as the herald of the Abbasid Caliphate's disintegration and the rise of local dynasties in the provinces. This became particularly evident with the succession of Khumarawayh: as Thierry Bianquis explains, "this was the first time in Abbasid history with regard to the government of so large and rich a territory, that a , whose legitimacy derived from the caliph who had designated him, was succeeded openly by an who claimed his legitimacy by inheritance". Thus Zaky M. Hassan calls Ibn Tulun a "typical example of the Turkish slaves who from the time of Harun al-Rashid were enlisted in the private