right|420px|thumb|The [[Great Seljuq Empire in 1092, upon the death of
Malik Shah I]]
The
Seljuq (also
Seljuq Turks,
Seldjuks,
Seldjuqs,
Seljuks; in
Turkish Selçuklular; in
Ṣaljūqīyān; in
Arabic سلجوق
Saljūq, or السلاجقة
al-Salājiqa) were a
Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of
Central Asia and the
Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They set up an empire, the
Great Seljuq Empire, which at its height stretched from
Anatolia through
Persia and which was the target of the
First Crusade. The dynasty had its origins in the
Turcoman tribal confederations of Central Asia and marked the beginning of
Turkic power in the
Middle East. After arriving in
Persia, the Seljuqs adopted the
Persian culture and language
, and played an important role in the development of the
Turko-Persian tradition which features
"Persian culture patronized by Turkic rulers." Today, they are remembered as great patrons of
Persian culture,
art,
literature, and
language[O.Özgündenli, "Persian Manuscripts in Ottoman and Modern Turkish Libraries", Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, ()][Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Seljuq", Online Edition, (): "... Because the Turkish Seljuqs had no Islamic tradition or strong literary heritage of their own, they adopted the cultural language of their Persian instructors in Islam. Literary Persian thus spread to the whole of Iran, and the Arabic language disappeared in that country except in works of religious scholarship ..."][M. Ravandi, "The Seljuq court at Konya and the Persianisation of Anatolian Cities", in Mesogeios (Mediterranean Studies), vol. 25–6 (2005), pp. 157–69] and are regarded by some as the cultural ancestors of the
Western Turks – the present-day inhabitants of
Azerbaijan,
Turkey, and
Turkmenistan.
Early history
Origins
Prior to the ninth century, hordes of Turks had crossed the
Volga River into the
Black Sea steppes. Originally, the House of Seljuq was a branch of the
Qinik Oghuz Turks who in the 9th century lived on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the
Caspian and
Aral seas in their
Yabghu Khaganate of the Oghuz confederacy, in the
Kazakh Steppe of
Turkestan. In the 10th century the Seljuqs migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland
Persia, in the
province of Khurasan, where they mixed with the local population and adopted the
Persian culture and
language in the following decades.
Seljuq leaders
Rulers of the Seljuq Dynasty (1037–1157)
The "Great Seljuqs" were heads of the family; in theory their authority extended over all the other Seljuq lines, although in practice this often was not the case. Turkish custom called for the senior member of the family to be the Great Seljuq, although usually the position was associated with the ruler of western Persia.
Muhammad's son
Mahmud II succeeded him in western Persia, but Sanjar, the governor of
Khurasan from 1097 and the senior member of the family, became the Great Seljuq sultan
From 1157, the Oghuz took control of much of Khurasan, with the remainder in the hands of former Seljuq emirs.
Seljuq sultans of Hamadan (1118–1194)
The rulers of western Persia, who maintained a very loose grip on the
Abbasids of
Baghdad. Several Turkish emirs gained a strong level of influence in the region, such as the
Eldiduzids.
In 1194, Tugrul III was killed in battle with the Khwarezm Shah, who annexed Hamadan.Seljuq rulers of Kerman (1041–1187)
Kerman was a province in southern Persia. Between 1053 and 1154, the territory also included
Umman.
Muhammad abandoned Kerman, which fell into the hands of the Oghuz chief
Malik Dinar. Kerman was eventually annexed by the
Khwarezmid Empire in 1196.
Seljuq rulers in Syria 1076–1117
thumb|right|180px|[[Alp Arslan humiliating Emperor
Romanos IV after the
Battle of Manzikert. From a 15th-century illustrated French translation of
Boccacio's
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium.]]
- Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I 1085–1086
(second time)
1094–1095To the
Artuqids
Sultans/Emirs of Damascus:
- Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush I 1079–1095
- Abu Nasr Shams al-Muluk Duqaq 1095–1104
Damascus seized by the
Burid ToghtekinSeljuq sultans of Rûm (Anatolia) 1077–1307
See Sultanate of Rûmthumb|right|180px|[[Kharraqan towers|The Kharāghān twin towers, built in 1053 in Iran, is the burial of Seljuq princes.]]
right|300px|thumb|The [[Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in 1190, before the Third Crusade]]
(second time)
1205–1211(second time)
1284–1293(second time)
1293–1294(third time)
1294–1301(third time)
1301–1303(fourth time)
1303–1307
The Seljuq line, already having been deprived of any significant power, effectively ends in the early fourteenth century''
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