This paper explores the incorporation of new geographical knowledge into medieval Persian political thought, as articulated in epic poetry. Studies of Firdawsi’s Epic of Kings (Shahnama) have come to view the text as exploring the contradictions and complexities of kingship, and instructing readers in statecraft—in effect, a mirror for princes—rather than as a monument to the kings of Iran, who are not simply Iranian kings, but icons of universal empire. While revision of nationalist readings of the Epic of Kings was necessary, it may still be said that the text tied universal monarchy to a geographical concept of Iranzamin and lieux de memoire therein, and to Iranian royal lineages. The importance of this place-boundedness is attested by the incorporation of much new geographical knowledge into the next generation of epics, including the Garshasbnama of Asadi Tusi and the Kushnama of Iranshah ibn Abi’l-Khayr, as well as later works such as Nizami’s Alexander romance. In these texts, universal kingship is staged across a larger geographical space. It was not enough simply to imagine a world-ruler defeating or subordinating a king of China. Instead, specific regions such as Korea, Spain, and islands of the Indian Ocean were incorporated or even made central to their narratives. Moreover, perceptions of the political culture and histories of these various regions demanded a redefinition of kingship in terms of its relation to various social classes. Thus, Alexander could not simply defeat the king of China, he needed to demonstrate his wisdom in a contest between Greek and Chinese painters, defining kingship in relation to arts. In the Garshasbnama, India and islands of the Indian Ocean function as a stage upon which the title character establishes his identity as a traveler and ur-hero, ancestor to legendary heroes of the Shahnama and also a builder of Sistan, which is thus defined by its proximity to India. During Garshasb’s travels around the Indian Ocean, he is taught by brahmins he encounters in remote places full of wonders; this constructed foreignness is then projected across a wider world, as he encounters a brahmin again in Rum. In the Kushnama, China and Korea play a similar role as origin of both the demonic title character and the messianic Faridun. These epics and of their reception by Ilkhanid and Timurid courts thus speak to the role of geographical knowledge in formulating ideologies of kingship.