Home Region:  Iran (Southwest Asia)

Seljuk Sultanate

D G SC WF HS CC PT EQ 2020  ir_seljuk_sultanate / IrSeljq

Preceding:
950 CE 1212 CE Kara-Khanids (kg_kara_khanid_dyn)    [elite replacement]
Add one more here.

Succeeding:
No Polity found. Add one here.

The Seljuks were a Turkic dynasty from east of the Aral Sea [1] who ruled a relatively decentralized empire across Central Asia, Persia and Mesopotamia - with perhaps the exception of the powerful viziership of Nizam al-Mulk. [2] .
The Seljuk Empire (1037-1157 CE) did not have a single political center as it was divided into western and eastern halves [3] ; the east had "connotations of seniority in Turkic culture" [4] and Nizam al-Mulk himself started his career in the Seljuk bureaucracy in Balkh. [5] The western territories were known as the Sultanate of Iraq [6] and altogether there may have been 12 million under Seljuk rule in 1100 CE.
Nizam al-Mulk "strove to suppress abuses, to introduce reforms, to initiate his still uncultured Saljuk masters into the arts of Perso-Islamic statecraft, and to provide competent and reliable theologians, judges, and secretaries for the state religion and administration." [7] "Nizam al-Mulk was particularly concerned with the construction and maintenance of trade routes, caravanserais, and bridges; the appointment of trustworthy market inspectors and tax collectors; and the appointment of spies throughout the realm - policies crucial to rooting out corruption and fostering confidence in local and long-distance trade." [8]
Within the Seljuk system of rule the caliph was the ultimate religious authority [9] [9] and the sultan was the head of secular power [10] supported by a vizier of the diwan-i a’la. [11] Seljuk maliks (princes) ruled provinces with an atabeg (supervisor) and a small court bureaucracy overseen by a vizier. [12]
As an independent state the Seljuk Empire came to an end when it was defeated by the Mongols and the Sultan had to pay them tribute.

[1]: (Bosworth 2001) C. E. Bosworth, ’Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’ in The Oxford Companion to Military History eds. Richard Holmes, Charles Singleton, and Dr Spencer Jones (2001) (al-Rahim 2010) Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 48) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Peacock 2015, 41) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[5]: (Peacock 2015, 48) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[6]: (Peacock 2015, 7) A C S Peacock. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[7]: (Bagley 1964, xxviii-xxix) F R C Bagley. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

[8]: (Lindsay 2005, 20) James E Lindsay. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.

[9]: (al-Rahim 2012) Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[10]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), P.69.

[11]: (Peacock 2015, 333) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[12]: (Peacock 2015, 194-195) A C S Peacock. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

General Variables
Identity and Location
Original Name:
Seljuk Empire  
Capital:
Hamadan  
Merv  
Rayy  
Isfahan  
Baghdad  
Alternative Name:
Great Seljek Empire  
Seljuk Turks  
Seljuk Dynasty  
Seljuk  
Saljuq  
Selchuq  
Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
1,092 CE  
Duration:
[1,037 CE ➜ 1,157 CE]  
Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
nominal allegiance to [---]  
Supracultural Entity:
Perso-Islamic  
Succeeding Entity:
Il-Khanate  
Scale of Supracultural Interaction:
[3,000,000 to 3,500,000]  
Relationship to Preceding Entity:
elite migration  
Preceding Entity:
Preceding:   Kara-Khanids (kg_kara_khanid_dyn)    [elite replacement]  
Degree of Centralization:
confederated state  
Language
Linguistic Family:
Indo-European  
Afro-Asiatic  
Language:
Turkish  
Arabic  
Persian  
Religion
Religion Genus:
Islam  
Religion Family:
Sunni  
Alternate Religion:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI  
Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[500,000 to 1,000,000] people 1100 CE
Polity Territory:
[4,000,000 to 4,500,000] km2 1100 CE
Polity Population:
12,100,000 people 1100 CE
Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
4  
Religious Level:
[3 to 4]  
Military Level:
6  
Administrative Level:
5  
Professions
Professional Soldier:
inferred absent 1037 CE 1054 CE
present 1055 CE 1157 CE
Professional Priesthood:
present  
Professional Military Officer:
inferred absent 1037 CE 1054 CE
present 1055 CE 1157 CE
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
present  
Merit Promotion:
inferred absent  
Full Time Bureaucrat:
present  
Examination System:
inferred absent  
Law
Professional Lawyer:
inferred present  
Judge:
present  
Formal Legal Code:
present  
Court:
present  
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
present  
Irrigation System:
present  
Food Storage Site:
present  
Drinking Water Supply System:
present  
Transport Infrastructure
Road:
present  
Port:
inferred present  
Canal:
inferred present  
Bridge:
present  
Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
unknown  
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
present  
Script:
present  
Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
present  
Nonwritten Record:
unknown  
Non Phonetic Writing:
absent  
Mnemonic Device:
unknown  
Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
present  
Sacred Text:
present  
Religious Literature:
present  
Practical Literature:
present  
Philosophy:
present  
Lists Tables and Classification:
present  
History:
present  
Fiction:
present  
Calendar:
present  
Information / Money
Token:
unknown  
Precious Metal:
present  
Paper Currency:
inferred absent  
Indigenous Coin:
present  
Foreign Coin:
present  
Article:
present  
Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
inferred present  
General Postal Service:
unknown  
Courier:
present  
Information / Measurement System
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
  Wooden Palisade:
unknown  
  Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent  
  Stone Walls Mortared:
present  
  Settlements in a Defensive Position:
inferred present  
  Modern Fortification:
absent  
  Moat:
unknown  
  Fortified Camp:
inferred present  
  Earth Rampart:
unknown  
  Ditch:
unknown  
  Complex Fortification:
present  
absent  
Military use of Metals
  Steel:
present  
  Iron:
present  
  Copper:
unknown  
  Bronze:
unknown  
Projectiles
  Tension Siege Engine:
inferred present  
  Sling Siege Engine:
inferred absent  
  Sling:
unknown  
  Self Bow:
present  
  Javelin:
present  
  Handheld Firearm:
absent  
  Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent  
  Crossbow:
inferred present  
  Composite Bow:
present  
  Atlatl:
absent  
Handheld weapons
  War Club:
present  
  Sword:
present  
  Spear:
present  
  Polearm:
unknown  
  Dagger:
present  
  Battle Axe:
present  
Animals used in warfare
  Horse:
present  
  Elephant:
inferred absent  
  Donkey:
unknown  
  Dog:
absent  
  Camel:
inferred present  
Armor
  Wood Bark Etc:
inferred present  
  Shield:
present  
  Scaled Armor:
present  
  Plate Armor:
unknown  
  Limb Protection:
present  
  Leather Cloth:
inferred present  
  Laminar Armor:
present  
  Helmet:
present  
  Chainmail:
present  
  Breastplate:
inferred present  
Naval technology
  Specialized Military Vessel:
present  
  Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
inferred present  
  Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
unknown  
Religion Tolerance Nothing coded yet.
Human Sacrifice Nothing coded yet.
Crisis Consequences Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions Nothing coded yet.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Seljuk Sultanate (ir_seljuk_sultanate) was in:
 (1056 CE 1190 CE)   Southern Mesopotamia     Susiana
Home NGA: Susiana

General Variables
Identity and Location
Original Name:
Seljuk Empire

The term "Empire" has no historic equivalent but is "entirely appropriate". [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Capital:
Hamadan

"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan." [1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2]
"From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

Capital:
Merv

"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan." [1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2]
"From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

Capital:
Rayy

"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan." [1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2]
"From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

Capital:
Isfahan

"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan." [1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2]
"From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

Capital:
Baghdad

"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre. In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv ... In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy ... Isfahan, Baghdad and, later, Hamadhan." [1]
Ray under Togrïl Beg; Malik-Shah made Isfahān his capital. "they established their capitals first at Hamadan and then at Isfahan in western Iran." [2]
"From their capital at Isfahan, the Saljuqs controlled Baghdad through a garrison commander (shihnah) and civil governor (’amid), but did not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Caliphate. Attemps at independent political action by the Caliphs and their officials were, however, resolutely checked." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6-7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Bagley 1964, xxix) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.


Alternative Name:
Great Seljek Empire

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Alternative Name:
Seljuk Turks

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Alternative Name:
Seljuk Dynasty

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Alternative Name:
Seljuk

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Alternative Name:
Saljuq

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Alternative Name:
Selchuq

Alternative spelling: Seljuqid. [1] Seljūk, Saljūq or Seljük. [2] dawla (dynasty), sultana (Sultanate), or mulk (kingdom). [3] "The Seljuqs (perhaps more properly: Selchuq)". [4] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [4]

[1]: ’Seljuk Turks’, The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork; ’Seljuk Dynasty’ in The Oxford Dictionary of Islam Ed. John L. Esposito.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, xii) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.


Temporal Bounds
Peak Years:
1,092 CE

The reign of Malik Shah ibn Alp Arslan 1072 to 1092. "His reign marked the fullest expansion of the dynasty’s power, characterized by thorough assimilation to Persian/Arabic Muslim culture. He administered territories in Iran, Iraq, and Syria with the assistance of the vizier (Abu Ali Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Ishaq) who held the title nizam al-mulk (order of the kingdom) and established theological schools (nizamiyyah) in major cities; the jurist and mystic al-Ghazali headed the one in Baghdad." [1]
"The Seljuk empire reached its zenith under Toghril’s very capable nephew Alp Arslan (r. 1063-1073) and, after the murder of Alp Arslan in Khwarazm, under the latter’s son, Malikshah (r. 1073-1093)." [2]
"The united Seljuq Empire was only to last until the 1090s. Subsequently, Seljuq power retreated to Iran, although a cadet branch of the Seljuq family was to rule Anatolia until 1243 (and thereafter as Mongol vassals until the early fourteenth century)." [3]
According to ’Imad al-Din al-Isfahani, Nizam al-Mulk as vizier "made the provinces flourish and he built constantly." [4]

[1]: Esposito, John L, ed., ‘Malik Shah Ibn Alp Arslan’, The Oxford dictionary of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003)

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 53) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

[4]: (Peacock 2015, 69) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Duration:
[1,037 CE ➜ 1,157 CE]

Start
The first Seljuk conquest of the settled world was their taking of the Nishapur and Khurasan region in 1040 CE [1] , from the Ghaznavids.
1040-1157 CE [2]
Conquest of Nishapur 1037 CE (coins) or 1038 CE (chronicles). [3]
1037 CE. There is some disagreement about when Toghrïl Beg become sultan, some sources dating it 1038 [4] [5] or to 1040. [6]
Leading their Turcoman followers into Transoxania and then Khurasan at the beginning of the eleventh century, they soon overcame the Ghaznawids (who were pushed into modern-day eastern Afghanistan and northwestern India) in the aftermath of the battle of Dandanqan in 1040." [7]
End
"The end of Seljuk rule coincided with the nearly sixty-year reign of Ahmad Sanjar (1085-1157)." [8]
Death of Sanjar: "left Greater Central Asia divided among three dynasties. In Afghanistan and Khurasan the descendants of Mahmud of Ghazni hung on until 1187 but had in fact had ceded nearly all power to another dynasty based in Ghor in Afghanistan. In the East the Karakhitai nomads had settled down at the old Karakhanid capital at Balasagun after conquering most of what is now Kyrgyzstan, eastern Kazakhstan, and Xinjiang... Finally, the entire northern and central zone of the region was under the control of the most recent dynasty of Turkic shahs of Khwarazm, who ruled from their revived capital at Gurganj." [8]
All agree that the empire ended with the death of Toghrïl III in 1194. [4] [5] [6]

[1]: (Peacock 2015) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 39) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: Esposito, John L, ed. “Seljuk Dynasty.” The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003

[5]: Morby, John E. “Seljuqid Dynasty.” Dynasties of the World: A Chronological and Genealogical Handbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

[6]: al-Rahim, Ahmed H. “Seljuk Turks.” Edited by Robert E. Bjork. The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

[7]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

[8]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Political and Cultural Relations
Suprapolity Relations:
nominal allegiance to [---]

The Sultans owed allegiance to the caliph, "“a new stratification of power emerged, in which legitimacy and prestige belonged to the Abbasid caliph, but political power belonged to sultans or other synonymously titled rulers who acquired power by conquest and claimed legitimacy from him.” [1]

[1]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p.69.


Supracultural Entity:
Perso-Islamic

Perso-Islamic: ""Steppe traditions explain aspects of the internal functioning of the Seljuk state: the status of the Seljuk family; the bipartite division of the empire; the nature of the succession arrangements. However, with the exception of tughra, much of the public symbolism that the Seljuk rulers drew on was not Turkic, but rather derived from the Perso-Islamic tradition of rule ... For most of the Seljuk’s subjects, this Perso-Islamic tradition would have been a more meaningful sign of their rulers’ legitimacy than any steppe tradition." [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 134-135) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press.


Succeeding Entity:
Il-Khanate

Muhezzibeddin had to surrender to the Mongols. From then on the Seljuks had to pay tribute to the Mongols. [1]

[1]: Melville, Charles. “Anatolia under the Mongols” in The Cambridge history of Turkey. Vol. 1, Byzantium to Turkey, 1071-1453 / edited by Kate Fleet. (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009), P.54.


Scale of Supracultural Interaction:
[3,000,000 to 3,500,000]

km squared. Perso-Islamic: ""Steppe traditions explain aspects of the internal functioning of the Seljuk state: the status of the Seljuk family; the bipartite division of the empire; the nature of the succession arrangements. However, with the exception of tughra, much of the public symbolism that the Seljuk rulers drew on was not Turkic, but rather derived from the Perso-Islamic tradition of rule ... For most of the Seljuk’s subjects, this Perso-Islamic tradition would have been a more meaningful sign of their rulers’ legitimacy than any steppe tradition." [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 134-135) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press.


Relationship to Preceding Entity:
elite migration

Early Seljuk expansion saw land given out to tribal leaders and their family and kin. [1] Elite migration: "Unlike the earlier military slaves, they came accompanied by their families and their livestock, and their advance consisted of great nomadic migrations which permanently transformed the demography of the parts of the Middle East where they settled." [2] The Seljuks were a Turkic dynasty who had began in the territory east of the Aral Sea. [3] [4]

[1]: Andrew C. S. Peacock, Nomadic Society and the Seljūq Campaigns in Caucasia, Iran & the Caucasus, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2005):224-225.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 2) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: C. E. Bosworth, ’Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’ in The Oxford Companion to Military History eds. Richard Holmes, Charles Singleton, and Dr Spencer Jones (2001)

[4]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)


Preceding Entity:
Kara-Khanids [kg_kara_khanid_dyn] ---> Seljuk Sultanate [ir_seljuk_sultanate]

(Relationship): Early Seljuk expansion saw land given out to tribal leaders and their family and kin. [1] Elite migration: "Unlike the earlier military slaves, they came accompanied by their families and their livestock, and their advance consisted of great nomadic migrations which permanently transformed the demography of the parts of the Middle East where they settled." [2] The Seljuks were a Turkic dynasty who had began in the territory east of the Aral Sea. [3] [4]
(Entity): "the Seljuks themselves seem to have originated from the ruins of the last great non-Muslim Turkish empire, the Khazar state which dominated southern Russia and the north Caucasus between the eighth and tenth centuries." [5] The Seljuk homeland was originally Jand in northwest Kazakhstan. [6] Jand on the eve of the Seljuk invasions was controlled by the Kara-Khanids. [7] Their first conquest of the settled world was the taking of Nishapur and Khurasan region in 1040 CE, from the Ghaznavids. [8] [9]

[1]: Andrew C. S. Peacock, Nomadic Society and the Seljūq Campaigns in Caucasia, Iran & the Caucasus, Vol. 9, No. 2 (2005):224-225.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 2) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: C. E. Bosworth, ’Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’ in The Oxford Companion to Military History eds. Richard Holmes, Charles Singleton, and Dr Spencer Jones (2001)

[4]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[5]: (Peacock 2015, 3) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[6]: (Peacock 2015, 1) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[7]: (Peacock 2015, Map 1.1) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[8]: (Peacock 2015, 1

[9]: Map 1.1) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Degree of Centralization:
confederated state

"The united Seljuq Empire was only to last until the 1090s. Subsequently, Seljuq power retreated to Iran, although a cadet branch of the Seljuq family was to rule Anatolia until 1243 (and thereafter as Mongol vassals until the early fourteenth century)." [1]
"Like the Karakhanids, the Seljuks were a clan of brothers and cousins, each of whom felt himself sovereign in his own territory. This made for a loose confederation rather than a unified state.". [2]
"For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital or political centre." [3]

[1]: (Amitai 2006, 53) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Language
Linguistic Family:
Indo-European

The Seljuqs were Turkish speakers. Persian was used by the administration and at court, Arabic was also used alongside it. [1] Persian bureaucracy, Turkish military. [2] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [3]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 12) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Linguistic Family:
Afro-Asiatic

The Seljuqs were Turkish speakers. Persian was used by the administration and at court, Arabic was also used alongside it. [1] Persian bureaucracy, Turkish military. [2] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [3]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 12) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.


Language:
Turkish

The Seljuqs were Turkish speakers. Persian was used by the administration and at court, Arabic was also used alongside it. [1] Persian bureaucracy, Turkish military. [2] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [3]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 12) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Language:
Arabic

The Seljuqs were Turkish speakers. Persian was used by the administration and at court, Arabic was also used alongside it. [1] Persian bureaucracy, Turkish military. [2] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [3]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 12) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Language:
Persian

The Seljuqs were Turkish speakers. Persian was used by the administration and at court, Arabic was also used alongside it. [1] Persian bureaucracy, Turkish military. [2] Seljuks "were a leading family of the Oghuz peoples (rendered Ghuzz by Muslim writers), a Turkish-speaking tribal federation." [3]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 12) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.


Religion
Religion Genus:
Islam

Religion Family:
Sunni

Alternate Religion:
NO_VALUE_ON_WIKI


Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
[500,000 to 1,000,000] people
1100 CE

AD: turned into a range to reflect more possibilities for Baghdad.
Nishapur [1]
110,000-220,000: 1000 CE (Bulliet)
50,000: 1000 CE (Bosworth)
Isfahan [1]
65,000-130,000: 11th century (Durand-Guedy)
Sultankala ("the main Seljuk urban area at Merv")
150,000 (Agadshanow)
Baghdad [1]
500,000-1,000,000: Late 11th century (Duri)

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 302) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Polity Territory:
[4,000,000 to 4,500,000] km2
1100 CE

in squared kilometers.
"The Seljuk empire eventually embraced all of what is now Iran and extended to modern day Turkey and the Caucasus. But it was born in Central Asia, it was ruled at its zenith by a Central Asian, its last capital was in Central Asia, and it was there that it met its end." [1]
Within the context of declining influence of the caliphate, the Seljuks took control of Anatolia after defeating the Byzantine Empire. [2] [3]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: C. E. Bosworth, ’Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’ in The Oxford Companion to Military History eds. Richard Holmes, Charles Singleton, and Dr Spencer Jones (2001)

[3]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)


Polity Population:
12,100,000 people
1100 CE

West + East: 1100 CE in McEvedy and Jones (1978) [1]
Iraq 1.75m
Caucasus 0.6m
Iran 5m
Afghanistan 2.25m
Russian Turkestan 2.5m

[1]: (McEvedy and Jones 1978) McEvedy, Colin. Jones, Richard. 1978. Atlas of World Population History. Penguin Books Ltd.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
4

levels.
"Satellite towns and villages like those that surrounded Merv were to be found at all the other metropolitan centers." [1]
1. Capital
2. Metropolitan centrethe decentralized nature of Seljuq rule meant that many cities and urban life flourished, includings Hamadān, Nišāpur (Nishapur), Ray, Shiraz, Yazd, Tabriz and Šervān. [2]
3. Town4. Villagee.g. the villages outside Isfahan [3]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[3]: Golombek, Lisa. “Urban Patterns in Pre-Safavid Isfahan.” Iranian Studies 7, no. 1/2 (January 1, 1974): 20-24.


Religious Level:
[3 to 4]

levels.
George Makdisi is a specialist on Seljuk religion.
It is important to bear in mind that “a new stratification of power emerged, in which legitimacy and prestige belonged to the Abbasid caliph, but political power belonged to sultans or other synonymously titled rulers who acquired power by conquest and claimed legitimacy from him.” [1] This was called the amir-a’yan system, with the “the caliph theoretically at the top, then the various sultans or other autonomous rulers supposedly acting as his agents, then the commander (amir) of their military forces, then the notables (a’yan) from the indigenous populace who mediated between conquerors and conquered, and lastly the populace.” [1] The caliph was not at the head of administration but did theoretically head the religious and military hierarchies.
Sultan Malik-Shah (r. 1073-92) introduced a new definition of caliphal authority and a separation of powers. From then on "the (Abbasid) caliph functioned as the religious head of Sunnism, while the (Seljuk) sultan, as its secular authority, enforced public order." [2]
1. Caliph
2. Sultan. The title ’sultan’, "carried with it the notion of defender of the faith". [3]
3. Jurists. The central concern of the madrasa was the study of law in this period. [4]
3. Imams

[1]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), P.69.

[2]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim, ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)

[3]: Michael Brett, ‘State Formation and Organisation’, in Maribel Fierro (ed.), The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 562.

[4]: Muhammad Qasim Zaman, ‘Transmitters of Authority and Ideas across Cultural Boundaries, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries’, in David O. Morgan and Anthony Reid (eds), The New Cambridge History of Islam: Volume 3. The Eastern Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 582-610.


Military Level:
6

levels.
1. Caliph.
Malik-Shah waited for "for news for the caliphs endorsement" before attacking the Karakhanids and Ghaznavids. [1]
2. Sultan. Examples of sultans deferring to Caliph’s authority, but they appointed the amirs.3. Commander (amir) of military forces.“It was said to have been divided into twenty-four military zones, each under a regional commander. These commanders had to raise, train and equip a specified number of troops every year, who would muster at a pre-arranged spot to spend the summer either training or on campaign.” [2]
4. Tribal leaders- they continued to owe allegiances to the sultan in times of war and provided troops.
5. Professional soldiers- "these professionals comprised heavily armed and armoured cavalrymen and infantrymen with swords and spears. For them a system of land grants grew up, on whose revenues the warriors, their mounts and weapons could be supported." [3]
6. Soldiers- the ordinary mamluk soldiers equipped by those holding land grants. [4]
"The armies of the first Seljuks bore little relation to the famed Turkish military of the classical Abbasid era." [5] “It was said to have been divided into twenty-four military zones, each under a regional commander. These commanders had to raise, train and equip a specified number of troops every year, who would muster at a pre-arranged spot to spend the summer either training or on campaign.” [2] "There was a cursus honorum through which the mamluks rose, lasting seven years. A freshly recruited mamluk would start at the rank of foot-groom, and could rise by the age of thirty-five to become a fully-fledged amir." [6]
Three armies: Turkmen, mamluks (standing army), and the sultan’s personal guard. [7] Mamluk forces did not have the same "ecological limitations" as the nomadic Turkmen. [8]

[1]: Başan, Aziz. The Great Seljuqs: A History. Routledge Studies in the History of Iran and Turkey. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010, p.30.

[2]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.220.

[3]: Holmes, Richard, ed., ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)

[4]: ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, Holmes, Richard, ed., The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

[5]: (Peacock 2015, 217) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[6]: (Peacock 2015, 226) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[7]: (Peacock 2015, 218) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[8]: (Peacock 2015, 225) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Administrative Level:
5

levels.
--- 1037-1045 CE
"Beyond a few cities which served as Seljuk bases, such as Rayy and Hamadhan, Tughril made little effort to assert direct rule. For many city dwellers, little changed immediately, and not just the descendants of Seljuk but also local princes continued fighting among each other, sometimes recruiting aid from various Turks, ranging from Tughril himself to Ibrahim Yinal to the ’Iraqiyya." [1] "for most of Seljuk history there was no one central bureaucracy. Multiple Seljuk courts required multiple bureaucracies, and multiple viziers. Indeed, the whole system of administration was characterised by its extreme fluidity and decentralisation." [2] "As well as overseeing the functioning of other departments, the vizier and the diwan-i a’la were tasked with making appointments in the name of the sultan to offices which were in his gift, such as the positions of qadi, muhtasib and shihna." [3]
--- 1045-1118 CE
1. Caliph de jure
"The Seljuq leader, Alp Arslan (1063-1072), behaved with more courtesy toward the caliph and provided him with greater financial and political leniency, but it was clear that the latter figure was still mainly a de jure ruler. Real power remained in the hands of Alp Arslan, who was granted the title of sultan, which up to that time had generally meant ’rule’ or ’authority’ but henceforth could be understood to mean the de facto ruler, ostensibly appointed by the caliph to rule in his name." [4]
1. Sultan de facto
The sultan was the head of secular power [5] his court, the dargah [6] [7] 2. nadims (boon companions)according to Nizam al-Mulk "everything connected with pleasure and entertainment, parties of drinking and companionship, hunting, polo and gambling." However, Peacock (2015) reports he says that "nadims should not be consulted on matters of high politics - a stricture which suggests that in fact they frequently were." [8]
2. hajib (chamberlain)
2. wakildar (messenger)
2. Treasury
2. wakil (steward)3. Kitchen
3. sharabkhana (winehouse)
3. Stables
3. Palaces of the elites (khass)4.5. Slaves and servantsAccording to Nizam al-Mulk’s Book of Government "Slaves and servants should stand at attention while on duty." [9]
_Central government_ (nb: Anne Lambton is a specialist on Seljuk administration).
"for most of Seljuk history there was no one central bureaucracy. Multiple Seljuk courts required multiple bureaucracies, and multiple viziers. Indeed, the whole system of administration was characterised by its extreme fluidity and decentralisation." [2]
2. vizier of the diwan-i a’la (main government department with overall responsibility) [10] "As well as overseeing the functioning of other departments, the vizier and the diwan-i a’la were tasked with making appointments in the name of the sultan to offices which were in his gift, such as the positions of qadi, muhtasib and shihna." [3]
3. mustawfi of the diwan-i istifa (revenue)
4. sub-head in divan for taxation?
5?. ra’is (central government representative located in the regions)The ra’is "was essentially the link between the government and the taxpayers ... cases involving taxation were referred to his dīvān." [11]
4. Clerks
3. mushrif of the diwan-i ishraf (accountancy) [12]
3. tughra’i or munshi of the diwan-i tughra wa insha (chancery) [12]
3. diwan-i ’ard (military pay) [12]
3. diwan-i awqaf (religious endowments) [12]
3. diwan-i istifa headed by the mustawfidepartment for revenue
_Provinces_
"in the provinces an incredible variety of individuals were vested with authority in the name of the sultan(s)." [2] "the east ... has connotations of seniority in Turkic culture: with both the Gok turks and the Qarakhanids, the rulers of the eastern divisions of the empire, considering it to be superior." [13]
2. malik (prince) and atabeg (supervisor). wali (governor). amir.Seljuk princes assigned to provinces as iqta as nominal governor (maliks). Atabegs usually an amir. They looked after the princes. [14] "de facto independent atabegates" [15] amir: "(1) a military commander; (2) a prince, a ruler’s title; (3) a Turkmen chief (in this sense equivalent to beg)" [16]
3. Vizier"The bureaucracy of each court was probably quite small. ... Most probably, each department probably consisted of little more than its head - the vizier, mustawfi, tughrai and so on - and a handful of clerks." [17]
4. diwan-i iyalat (or diwan-i wilayat or diwan-i riyasat)department in the provinces concerned with taxation. [3]
5. Clerks
2. (provincal) 5. (central) ra’is"the head of the community known as the ra’is might be charged with functions ranging from the collection of taxes to cooperating with the shihna in the maintenance of security." [18] 4?. Prefects of police [9] 5.
2. Amir/muqta (Iqta holder)"Some provinces, like Ganja, were assigned to maliks and their atabegs, while others, towns like Mosul, were allotted as iqta to an ever-changing succession of amirs." [2]
"... in lieu of salary an amir would be granted the right to collect the taxes of a given area. An iqta could thus vary in size from a whole province to much smaller subdivision, to a single town or village. ... The system was greatly expanded under the Seljuks, and itqa’s were now used to pay senior bureaucrats as well as amirs and were also granted to members of the Seljuk dynasty. However, iqta holders became much more than tax collectors, and often functioned effectively as the local ruler (particularly amirs: bureaucrats seem to have become less entrenched in their iqta’s, perhaps because their duties required their presence at court)." [19]

2. Ulama"Some cities, such as Bayhaq, Nishapur and Bukhara, were controlled by religious elites - Bukhara, for instance, was subject to a dynasty of Hanafi ’ulama who bore the title of sadr (themselves, of course, subject to the Seljuks’ Qarakhanid vassals." [20]

2. Shihna"Baghdad had several types of overlapping administration: most prominent were the sultan’s shihna, and the caliphal diwan" [18]
_Vassals_
2. Vassal ruler"Vassals could often rule their territories in their traditional ways provided they recognised the Seljuk sultans’ suzerainty, remitted tribute and performed obligations of military service." [21]
"Other branches of the Seljuk family also controlled territories on the peripheries of the empire": "Kirman in southern Iran (and Oman too)" between 1048-1186 CE, Seljuks of Syria 1076-1117 CE, and the Anatolian Seljuks 1081-1308 CE. [22]
"Bedouin Arab chiefs in Iraq": Mazyadids and ’Uqaylids. [21]
"Bawandids on the Caspian coast" [21]
Ismaili state in Quhistan did not recognise Seljuk suzerainty [21]
--- 1118-1157 CE
1118 CE: "Seljuk sultans of Iraq recognised the suzerainty of the Great Seljuk ruler Sanjar, based in Khurasan, who was known by the title of al-sultan al- a’zam, ’the Greatest Sultan’. The sultans of Iraq are sometimes referred to as the ’Lesser Seljuks’. [22]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 46-47) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 189) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 193) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[4]: (Amitai 2006, 51) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

[5]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), P.69.

[6]: (Peacock 2015, 12

[7]: 159) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[8]: (Peacock 2015, 159) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[9]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[10]: (Peacock 2015, 333) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[11]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii

[12]: (Peacock 2015, 333-335) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[13]: (Peacock 2015, 41) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[14]: (Peacock 2015, 93-94) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[15]: (Peacock 2015, 75) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[16]: (Peacock 2015, 332) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[17]: (Peacock 2015, 194-195) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[18]: (Peacock 2015, 190) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[19]: (Peacock 2015, 79-80) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[20]: (Peacock 2015, 189-190) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[21]: (Peacock 2015, 8) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[22]: (Peacock 2015, 7) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Professions
Professional Soldier:
absent
1037 CE 1054 CE

Mid-11th century (after conquest of Baghdad?) "the Turkmen began to be supplemented, but never wholly supplanted, as a military force by mamluks." [1]
According to ’Imad al-Din al-Isfahani: "The custom was that taxes were collected from the land and spent on the army; previously no one had held a land-grant [iqta]. Nizam al-Mulk realised that taxes were no being collected from the land owing to its poor condition, nor was revenue being realised for the same reason. He distributed land grants [iqta’s] to the soldiers and made them a source of income and revenue for them." However, al-Isfahani was wrong in saying that Nizam al-Mulk was the first to introduce the Iqta as they were used during the Buyid period. [2]
"Under the Seljuqs there were large and small iqtas that were granted to members of the dynasty, to various members of the military and official class and to ordinary soldiers." [3]
The first armies "were not ’professional armies’ in the sense of the Abbasid or Samanid mamluk corps, but warfare was a way of life for most adult male Turkmen; only women and children were exempted from fighting." [1]
Mamluks were "a standing army paid both in cash and by iqta’s" [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 218) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 69-70) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Davidovich 1997, 144) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.

Professional Soldier:
present
1055 CE 1157 CE

Mid-11th century (after conquest of Baghdad?) "the Turkmen began to be supplemented, but never wholly supplanted, as a military force by mamluks." [1]
According to ’Imad al-Din al-Isfahani: "The custom was that taxes were collected from the land and spent on the army; previously no one had held a land-grant [iqta]. Nizam al-Mulk realised that taxes were no being collected from the land owing to its poor condition, nor was revenue being realised for the same reason. He distributed land grants [iqta’s] to the soldiers and made them a source of income and revenue for them." However, al-Isfahani was wrong in saying that Nizam al-Mulk was the first to introduce the Iqta as they were used during the Buyid period. [2]
"Under the Seljuqs there were large and small iqtas that were granted to members of the dynasty, to various members of the military and official class and to ordinary soldiers." [3]
The first armies "were not ’professional armies’ in the sense of the Abbasid or Samanid mamluk corps, but warfare was a way of life for most adult male Turkmen; only women and children were exempted from fighting." [1]
Mamluks were "a standing army paid both in cash and by iqta’s" [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 218) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 69-70) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Davidovich 1997, 144) Davidovich, E A. in Asimov, M S and Bosworth, C E eds. 1997. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part I. UNESCO.


Professional Priesthood:
present

Imans in the mosques.


Professional Military Officer:
absent
1037 CE 1054 CE

Mid-11th century (after conquest of Baghdad?) "the Turkmen began to be supplemented, but never wholly supplanted, as a military force by mamluks." [1]
The Saljuqs adopted the system of distributing land grants to pay for the army. Iqtas (land tax allotments) were given to military commanders in exchange for military service. They were also given to higher functionaries. [2] [3]
There were full time officers within the Sultan’s retinue and military commanders; there were full time soldiers in the mamluk contingent of slave soldiers. [4]
Iqta holder, who was a military officer, "was to support himself and his household, including his own retinue of troops, which meant their purchase, training, and upkeep. Unlike fuedalism this system did not usually entail administration of the territory in question." [5]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 218) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Lapidus 2012, 250)

[3]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 pp.70-72.

[4]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.220.

[5]: (Amitai 2006, 52-53) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.

Professional Military Officer:
present
1055 CE 1157 CE

Mid-11th century (after conquest of Baghdad?) "the Turkmen began to be supplemented, but never wholly supplanted, as a military force by mamluks." [1]
The Saljuqs adopted the system of distributing land grants to pay for the army. Iqtas (land tax allotments) were given to military commanders in exchange for military service. They were also given to higher functionaries. [2] [3]
There were full time officers within the Sultan’s retinue and military commanders; there were full time soldiers in the mamluk contingent of slave soldiers. [4]
Iqta holder, who was a military officer, "was to support himself and his household, including his own retinue of troops, which meant their purchase, training, and upkeep. Unlike fuedalism this system did not usually entail administration of the territory in question." [5]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 218) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Lapidus 2012, 250)

[3]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 pp.70-72.

[4]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.220.

[5]: (Amitai 2006, 52-53) Amitai, Reuven. The Mamluk Institution, or One Thousand Years of Military Slavery in the Islamic World. Brown, Christopher Leslie. Morgan, Philip D. eds. 2006. Arming Slaves: From Classical To The Modern Age. Yale University Press. New Haven.


Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
present

Mints coined gold dinars at Nishapur and Merv. [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Merit Promotion:
absent

The Iqtas were granted by the sultan and later, many became hereditary. It was not a meritocratic system of appointments. [1]
According to Nizam al-Mulk "women must be strictly excluded from matters of state." [2]
According to Nizam al-Mulk "Today there are men, utterly incapable, who hold ten posts, and if another appointment were to turn up they would apply for it, giving bribes if necessary, and get it." [3]

[1]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 pp.70-72.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: (Peacock 2015, 194) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Full Time Bureaucrat:
present

e.g secretary in royal household. [1]
The Sultans recruited Iranian bureaucrats. [2]
There were permanent officials in the royal household, for example. Higher officials were paid through the iqta system of land grants. Appointments were made by the sultan, although some of the iqtas became hereditary. [3] [4]

[1]: Başan, Aziz. The Great Seljuqs: A History. Routledge Studies in the History of Iran and Turkey. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. p.169.

[2]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)p.70.

[3]: Başan, Aziz. The Great Seljuqs: A History. Routledge Studies in the History of Iran and Turkey. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010. p.169

[4]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 pp.70-72.


Examination System:
absent

The Iqtas were granted by the sultan and later, many became hereditary. It was not a meritocratic system of appointments. [1]

[1]: Findley, Carter V., The Turks in World History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 pp.70-72.


Law
Professional Lawyer:
present

Highly literate and scholarly society.
"While the Seljuks themselves belonged to the Hanafi school of law, they, through their famous vizier Nizam al-Mulk, established a wide network of madrasahs (colleges) and mosques which promoted Sunnism, mainly in the form of the Shafii school of law and Asharite theology." [1]

[1]: Ahmed H. al-Rahim in ’Seljuk Turks’ in The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages Ed. Robert E. Bjork (2010)


Judge:
present

"the ulama were a third pillar of Seljuk administration, providing qadis, whose appointments were ratified by the sultan." [1]
a faqih was a jurist "one who specialises in fiqh" (Islamic jurisprudence). [2]
The "mazalim court" was a "potent symbol of sovereignty. Seljuk sultans sat in mazalim in person and conferred decision-making powers on subordinates. Qadis and viziers also consulted with the mazalim court and sometimes presided over it in the sultan’s name. Governors and military officers, besides holding their own courts, also enforced the judgements of the shariah courts, fulfilling their responsibility to preserve order, punish criminals, and keep the roads safe." [3]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 191) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 333) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[3]: (Darling 2013, 96) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


Formal Legal Code:
present

Sharia law.
Differences between Islamic and royal justice, influenced by steppe custom, needed to be reconciled. [1]

[1]: (Darling 2013, 96) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


Court:
present

Sharia courts. Mazalim court. Courts of governors and military officers.
The "mazalim court" was a "potent symbol of sovereignty. Seljuk sultans sat in mazalim in person and conferred decision-making powers on subordinates. Qadis and viziers also consulted with the mazalim court and sometimes presided over it in the sultan’s name. Governors and military officers, besides holding their own courts, also enforced the judgements of the shariah courts, fulfilling their responsibility to preserve order, punish criminals, and keep the roads safe." [1]

[1]: (Darling 2013, 96) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Market:
present

muhtasib: "market inspector; city official responsible for upholding public morals" [1] Toghrïl Beg “built a new quarter at Baghdad … which included ... bazaars”. [2] Seljuks built markets. [3] General reference for Seljuk? - Safavid? time period: "The bāzār was usually, though not always, divided into a number of sūqs (markets) in which different crafts and occupations had separate quarters. At night, after members of the crafts and shopkeepers had shut their premises and retired to their homes, the gates of the bāzārs were locked and barred." [4] Grand Bazaar of Isfahan first built in the Seljuk period.

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 335) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Internal Structure of the Saljuq Empire’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period, ed. by J.A. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968),p.223.

[3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[4]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii


Irrigation System:
present

Present in Central Asia from about 800 BCE - 1200 CE: "the major Central Asian hydraulic systems appear to have been maintained with few serious interruptions for over two millenniums, extending down to the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century." [1] Nishapur: "The agricultural basis of the region was the qanat system of irrigation through underground canals." [2] Merv (for which the cotton industry was "essential to the town’s prosperity"): "The city’s survival relied on a complex irrigation system, both to bring water of the Murghab River to the city and to allow cultivation of the surrounding oasis. In the tenth century, the only mediaeval period for which we have information, maintenance of the irrigation works required a workforce of 10,000 men." [2] Merv (for which the cotton industry was "essential to the town’s prosperity"): "The city’s survival relied on a complex irrigation system, both to bring water of the Murghab River to the city and to allow cultivation of the surrounding oasis. In the tenth century, the only mediaeval period for which we have information, maintenance of the irrigation works required a workforce of 10,000 men." [2] "rulers and elites financed dams, canals, and irrigation works". [3]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Peacock 2015) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press.

[3]: (Darling 2013, 95) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


Food Storage Site:
present

General reference for Seljuk? - Safavid? time period: "Caravansaries, where goods were unloaded on arrival and where merchants could take rooms, were to be found both in or close to the bāzārs and on the outskirts of the city." [1]

[1]: (Lambton 2011) Lambton, Ann K S. 2011. CITIES iii. Administration and Social Organization. Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cities-iii


Drinking Water Supply System:
present

Seljuks built aqueducts. [1] There were cisterns beneath caravanserai. [1] Mountain top castles "created problems of water supply, which was solved through complex systems of canals and reservoirs." [2]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 242-243) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Transport Infrastructure
Road:
present

"historic road networks that were traversed by scholars, pilgrims and merchants." [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 6) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Port:
present

Seljuk Empire was involved in trade.


Canal:
present

inferred that they maintained existing canal networks. "rulers and elites financed dams, canals, and irrigation works". [1]

[1]: (Darling 2013, 95) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


Bridge:
present

Malan bridge near Herat. [1] Pul-e Malan, near Herat, is a 22-arched bridge constructed by Seljuks 12th CE. [2] "Nizam al-Mulk was particularly concerned with the construction and maintenance of trade routes, caravanserais, and bridges". [3]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/afghanistan/herat/attractions/pul-e-malan/a/poi-sig/451141/355747

[3]: (Lindsay 2005, 20) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis.


Special-purpose Sites
Mines or Quarry:
unknown

Information / Writing System
Written Record:
present

The administration produced written documents and correspondence, in Persian. [1]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Script:
present

e.g. Persian, the language of administration and court letter writing. [1]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
present

Nonwritten Record:
unknown

The administration produced written documents and correspondence, in Persian. [1]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Non Phonetic Writing:
absent

Mnemonic Device:
unknown

Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
present

Farid al-Din Attar (1145-1221 CE): "Pharmacist and Sufi poet from Nishapur." [1] Zayn al-Din Jurjani (1040-1136 CE): "Author in Gurganj of a massive compendium of medical knowledge, the Khwarazm Shah’s Treasure, which focused on the needs of the practicing doctor." [1] Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 CE): Mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, engineer, and poet from Nishapur" [1] Abu al-Rahman al-Khazini (d. c.1130 CE): "Astronomer and polymath whose Book of the Balance of Wisdom, written in Merv, has been called ’the most comprehensive work on [weighing] in the Middle Ages, from any cultural area.’" [1] e.g. The Aḡrāż al-ṭebb, "one of the first medical treatises in Persian literature" [2] Science and mathematics genius Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 CE) who was also a poet. [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Sacred Text:
present

The Qu’ran.


Religious Literature:
present

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE): A Sufist who "integrated his views on faith into the mainstream of Islam, eventually influencing Christianity as well." [1] Ḥasan Ghaznavi wrote theology in Arabic and Persian. [2] " Nasir Khusraw (1004-1088) epitomized the challenge that the Ismailis presented to Sunni orthodoxy in the Seljuk period." [1] [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Practical Literature:
present

In the 11th century and after "the genre of writing treatises on statecraft in Persian develops, such treatises usually containing advice on the organizing of armies and on the art of war." [1] the Siār al-moluk or Siyāsat-nāma, a treatise on statecraft [2]

[1]: (Bosworth 2011) Bosworth, C E. 2011. ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-ii

[2]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Philosophy:
present

Nizam al-Mulk wrote Siyasatnama (Book of Government). In tradition of the "Mirrors for princes" [1] writings of Persian authors giving advice to kings. Mirrors for Princes "do not venture upon systematic treatment of the problems of government and of state and society. Such treatment was indeed attempted by Abu Yusuf (d. 182/798), Mawardi, and other lawyers, whose approach is strictly rational within the limits of their doctrinal postulates, and by Farabi (d. 339/950) and subsequent philosophers, who attempted to reconcile Platonic theories with Islamic concepts. Authors of ’Mirrors’, however, keep clear of both constitutional law and political theory, and simply take for granted the existence of an Islamic state in whatever form they themselves knew it." [2] Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE): "Theologian and philosopher from Tus in what is now Iranian Khurasan, and author of The Incoherence of the Philosophers, which threw down the gauntlet to rationalism." [3] Ḥasan Ghaznavi wrote philosophy in Arabic and Persian. [4] Nizam al-Mulk (1018-1092 CE) (or Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn Ali) a "powerful Seljuk vizier from Tus who railed against the Ismailis in his Book of Government" [3] Ghazali (1058-1111 CE). [3]

[1]: Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

[2]: (Bagley trans. 1964, xi) Bagley, F. R. C. trans. Huma’i, Jalal and Isaacs, H. D. eds. 1964. Ghazali’s Book of Counsel for Kings (Nasihat Al-Muluk). Oxford University Press. London.

[3]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[4]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Lists Tables and Classification:
present

e.g. the Loḡat-e Fors , the first monolingual dictionary of Persian; manuals detailing the techniques of composing verse. [1] "Secretarial manuals describe the compilation of census and property registers that decided land rights and set just taxation levels." [2]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v

[2]: (Darling 2013, 95) Darling, Linda T. 2013. A History of Social Justice and Political Power in the Middle East: The Circle of Justice from Mesopotamia to Globalization. Routledge.


History:
present

There are many prose histories from this period. [1]

[1]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Fiction:
present

Awhad al-Din Anvari (1126-1189 CE): "Poet and boon companion of Sultan Sanjar at Merv." [1] Ahmad Yasawi (1093-1166 CE): "Sufi mystic and poet from Isfijab, now Sayram, in southern Kazakhstan. His Turkic quatrains carried a message of private prayer and contemplation of God to large numbers of heretofore unconverted Turkic nomads." [1] There are many prose stories from this period. [2] The Saljuqs adopted the model of court patronage of their predecessors. "By so doing, they played a significant role in the diffusion of the Persian literary language and of the culture expressed by it, and this in turn led to a reappraisal and partial rejection of the dominance of Arabic as the lingua franca of educated society in the Middle East." [2] Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 CE) author of the Rubaiyat. [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: Daniela Meneghini ’SALJUQS v. SALJUQID LITERATURE’ http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/saljuqs-v


Calendar:
present

"Biruni’s research on calendar systems, which he undertook in the early years of the eleventh century, took as its point of departure the Khwarazian calendar." [1] e.g. the solar calendar introduced by Sultan Malik Shah. [2]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[2]: E.S. Kennedy, ‘The Exact Sceinces in Iran under the Saljuqs and Mongols’, in J.A. Boyle (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p.670.


Information / Money
Token:
unknown

Precious Metal:
present

Silver and gold. [1]

[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, Pp.95-96.


Paper Currency:
absent

Not mentioned in sources so far consulted.


Indigenous Coin:
present

"...individual areas used whatever type of coinage precedent, convenience and local circumstances dictated: Byzantine coins in Syria, Fatimid ones in Baghdad, the old Nishapuri dinar in Khurasan, and so on." [1] "The gold dinars issued at Nishapur, Merv, and other Central Asian mints became standard instruments of trade across Eurasia, staving off for a time the rising inflation that was later to be reflected in the issuance of degraded silver coinage." [2] Silver coins minted, "of a fineness superior to other Muslim coinages in the Levant". [3] “In the earliest period following the establishment of the Turks the only money was what the occupiers found, which must have been fairly abundant, being on the one hand accumulated by them as tribute or booty, or on the other hidden when possible by the indigenous people... “The first mintings appear only under the Danismendid Gumustekin Gazi and probably a little later under the Seljukid Sultan Masud I. Until the middle of the century at least they are solely of copper, that is to say, intended only for local trade. Silver was to appear under Kilic Arslan II, gold only in the thirteenth century.” [4]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 8) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.

[3]: Meyers, Eric M., ed., ‘Anatolia in the Islamic Period’, The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)

[4]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, p.97


Foreign Coin:
present

"The Seljuks were not interested in enforcing conformity to the practices or ideals of an imperial centre. The empire did not even have a uniform currency ..." [1] e.g. coins acquired through booty and tribute. [2]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 8) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, Pp.95-96.


Article:
present

Used in barter between merchants and nomads. [1]

[1]: Cahen, Claude. The Formation of Turkey: The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Translated by P. M. Holt. A History of the Near East. Harlow, England: Longman, 2001, Pp.95-96.


Information / Postal System
Postal Station:
present

Inferred that postal stations were kept and used by chosen emissaries and it was just the bureaucracy behind it which involved an intelligence service that was abolished. "Despite Nizam al-Mulk’s urging, Alp Arslan was steadfast in rejecting the introduction of the barid. ... One reason may have been the Ghaznavid barid reports were encrypted (mu’amma), meaning that only a trained bureaucrat could interpret them. The Seljuks may not have wished to place such confidence in their kuttab." [1] Nizam al-Mulk mentions postal stations in his "Book of Government". "Little is known about the postal service in Persia under the Saljuqs, but Sultan Alp Arslan (455-65/465-1072) abolished at least the intelligence-gathering aspects of the courier service, preferring to rely on personally chosen emissaries". [2]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 200) Peacock, A C S. 2015. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

[2]: (Floor 1990) Floor, Willem. 1990. ČĀPĀR. www.iranicaonline.org/articles/capar-or-capar-turk


General Postal Service:
unknown

a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE. [1] Expert input needed on whether this was accessible to private individuals

[1]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden.


Courier:
present

A wakildar "brought messages between the sultan and the vizier." [1] a ’hamami’ was a "despatcher of carrier pigeons and letters from one town to another" in Iraq, Egypt and Syria: 9th, 10th 11th CE. [2]

[1]: (Peacock 2015) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press.

[2]: (Shatzmiller 1993, 140) Shatzmiller, Maya. 1994. Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. E. J. BRILL. Leiden.


Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Wooden Palisade:
unknown

Stone Walls Non Mortared:
absent

Stone Walls Mortared:
present

Present for the walls at Isfahan. At Merv there was a mud-brick wall. [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 241) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Settlements in a Defensive Position:
present

Cities were generally “enclosed by a fortified wall, within which there was frequently a citadel”. [1] "Castles tended to occupy the summits of mountains, with the citadel at the uppermost point, as is best exemplified by Ismaili castles, but can also be found in Seljuk fortifications like Shahdiz." [2]

[1]: Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Internal Structure of the Saljuq Empire’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period, ed. by J.A. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p.274.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 242) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Modern Fortification:
absent

Not developed until later in history.


Moat:
unknown

In Syria?


Fortified Camp:
present

"The Seljuks tended to use fortresses and citadels more as temporary bases in terms of emergency than as permanent bases, and were more likely to base their camps outside rather than at the heart of cities." [1]

[1]: (Peacock 2015, 240) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Earth Rampart:
unknown

Ditch:
unknown

In Syria?


Complex Fortification:
present

All descriptions are of a single wall with towers around the city, with a citadel at the centre in some cases. [1] "Some Seljuk towns were strongly defended. Isfahan had an impressive enceinte built by the Kakuyidsm, for Nasir-i Khusraw notes the strength of its walls and their battlements. ... However we should not assume that such solid stone work was the rule, for many fortifications were rather flimsy, designed only to deter casual raids and localised hostilities, not properly organised armies." [2]

[1]: Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Internal Structure of the Saljuq Empire’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period, ed. by J.A. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p.274.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 241) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.

Complex Fortification:
absent

All descriptions are of a single wall with towers around the city, with a citadel at the centre in some cases. [1] "Some Seljuk towns were strongly defended. Isfahan had an impressive enceinte built by the Kakuyidsm, for Nasir-i Khusraw notes the strength of its walls and their battlements. ... However we should not assume that such solid stone work was the rule, for many fortifications were rather flimsy, designed only to deter casual raids and localised hostilities, not properly organised armies." [2]

[1]: Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Internal Structure of the Saljuq Empire’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period, ed. by J.A. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p.274.

[2]: (Peacock 2015, 241) Peacock, A C S. 2015. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press Ltd. Edinburgh.


Military use of Metals
Steel:
present

"archaeologists have discovered at Merv one of the first known furnaces for the production of crucible steel." [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Iron:
present

Used for the chainmail. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.


Copper:
unknown

Bronze:
unknown

Projectiles
Tension Siege Engine:
present

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Sling Siege Engine:
absent

"A fragment of a wall painting depicting the use of a traction trebuchet at the siege of Penjikent (700-725) in modern Tajikistan. This unique painting is contemporary with Tang China, displaying how the traction trebuchet was used along the Silk Road." [1] First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet was in 1165 CE by the Byzantines at the siege of Zevgminon. [1]

[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.


Sling:
unknown

Self Bow:
present

Used by archers. [1]

[1]: ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, Holmes, Richard, ed., The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).


Javelin:
present

Ghulams or mamluks had javelins. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.


Handheld Firearm:
absent

Gunpowder Siege Artillery:
absent

Crossbow:
present

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1] "In the seventh century the Arab Caliphate overran the Sāssānian Empire and, as far as we can tell, no great changes took place in the Persian equipment then or for a long time afterwards." [1]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Composite Bow:
present

Used by mounted archers. Range of over 300m. [1]

[1]: Başan, Aziz. The Great Seljuqs: A History. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010, p.161


Atlatl:
absent

Weapon of the Americas.


Handheld weapons
War Club:
present

Ghulams or mamluks had maces. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.


Sword:
present

Ghulams or mamluks had swords. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.


Spear:
present

Saljuq art shows cavalryman equipped with ’short spear’. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.211.


Polearm:
unknown

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Dagger:
present

Saljuq art shows soldiers equipped with daggers. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.211.


Battle Axe:
present

Saljuq art shows soldiers equipped with axes. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.211.


Animals used in warfare
Horse:
present

Cavalry was important part of the Seljuk armies. [1] Like many armies in the Middle East mounted archers were central to the Seljuk forces. The tribal forces would have been lightly armoured and not highly organised. The introduction of ghulams or mamluks introduced better organised and better equipped soldiers (cavalry and infantry). They were heavily armoured, including horse-armour, and had lances, javelins, swords, bows, maces, lasso, hauberk [mail shirt] and helmets. [2] Citadels and walls around cities are known to have been built by the Seljuks. [3]

[1]: ‘Turks, Seljuk and Ottoman’, Holmes, Richard, ed., The Oxford companion to military history (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

[2]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London: Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.

[3]: Lambton, A.K.S., ‘The Internal Structure of the Saljuq Empire’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol 5, The Saljuq and Mongol Period, ed. by J.A. Boyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), p.274.


Elephant:
absent

Certainly the Arabs of Sind, the Saffarids, and the later Buyids made almost no use of them at all." [1]

[1]: (Wink 1997, 102-103) Andre Wink. 1997. Al-Hind. The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Volume II. The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest 11th-13th Centuries. BRILL. Leiden.


Donkey:
unknown

Dog:
absent

Camel:
present

May have been used as pack animals as camels were present for postal duty during Buyid and Samanid times: "A network of camel stations was established under the Abbasids and continued under the Buyid and Samanid successor regimes." [1] "The camel was the favorite mount of the Turkish founders of the Seljuk..." [2]

[1]: (Irwin 2010, 152) Robert Irwin. 2010. Camel. Reaktion Books. London.

[2]: David Levinson. Karen Christensen. eds. 2002. Encyclopedia of modern Asia, Volume 1. Charles Scribner’s Sons. p.428


Armor
Wood Bark Etc:
present

Their archers “wore little if any armor”. [1] "The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [2] "... a fragment of a leather-covered circular wooden shield has survived, bearing a painting of a mounted warrior. This was found in the ruins of the castle of Mug, east of Samarkand, and with it were many documents dating the destruction of the place to the eighth century - when the Persian prince who held it rebelled against the local Arab ruler." [2]

[1]: Başan, Aziz. The Great Seljuqs: A History. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2010, p.161

[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Shield:
present

Shields. [1] [2] "Many of the early Persian miniatures, particularly those under Mongol influence of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, seldom illustrate shields. When they do the shields would seem to be of stout hide - small, circular, and convex, with applied metal bosses." [2]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.221.

[2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Scaled Armor:
present

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1] The picture of the Central Asian warrior appears to show scaled armour. The Sassanid Persians had scale armour. [2]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.

[2]: (Farrokh 2012, 16) Farrokh, Kaveh. 2012. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing.


Plate Armor:
unknown

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Limb Protection:
present

Saljuq art shows soldiers wearing chain mail leg armour. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.212.


Leather Cloth:
present

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1] "... a fragment of a leather-covered circular wooden shield has survived, bearing a painting of a mounted warrior. This was found in the ruins of the castle of Mug, east of Samarkand, and with it were many documents dating the destruction of the place to the eighth century - when the Persian prince who held it rebelled against the local Arab ruler." [1] "Many of the early Persian miniatures, particularly those under Mongol influence of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, seldom illustrate shields. When they do the shields would seem to be of stout hide - small, circular, and convex, with applied metal bosses." [1]

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.


Laminar Armor:
present

Saljug art shows a lamellar cuirass [torso armour] worn over a mail shirt. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. p.214.


Helmet:
present

Saljuq art shows soldiers wearing dommed helmets, some with neck coverings.. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. pp.212, 215.


Chainmail:
present

Saljuq art shows soldiers wearing mail shirts and mail leg armour. [1]

[1]: Nicolle, David. Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia. Rev. and updated ed. London : Mechanicsburg, Pa: Greenhill Books ; Stackpole Books, 1999. pp.211,214.


Breastplate:
present

"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change." [1] The nomadic Turkman archer had the equipment of Turkic, rather than Persian, military culture. However, that the Sassanid cavarlyman wore breastplate [2] might suggest the Seljuk mamluk forces, which came from Islamic tradition, if not the Turkman forces themselves, may have worn breastplates.

[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York.

[2]: (Mitterauer 2010, 106) Mitterauer, M. 2010. Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path. University of Chicago Press.


Naval technology
Specialized Military Vessel:
present

In the Anatolian Seljuk state (a different polity) "the Seljuk state never possessed very large naval forces". [1] Could infer that this was also true for the Great Seljuk Empire.

[1]: (Köprülü and Leiser 1992, 62) Köprülü, Mehmet Fuat. Gary Leiser, Gary. 1992. The Origins of the Ottoman Empire. SUNY Press.


Small Vessels Canoes Etc:
present

"Central Asia’s traders ... moved their goods by large, solidly built boats on the region’s three main rivers." [1]

[1]: (Starr 2013) Starr, S. Frederick. 2013. Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. Princeton University Press. Princeton.


Merchant Ships Pressed Into Service:
unknown


Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
- Nothing coded yet.
Power Transitions