Seljuk Empire, Great

Abstract

Abstract The Seljuk Empire (c.1038–1194) was a Muslim state that dominated much of the Middle East and Central Asia – in particular modern Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkmenistan, and northern Afghanistan – in the 11th and 12th centuries ce . Known after their ancestor Seljuk, the dynasty was ethnically Turkish and had been brought to power by invasions of nomadic Turks from Central Asia who had recently converted to Islam. From the second half of the 11th century, the Seljuk Empire began to fragment into constituent parts ruled by branches of the dynasty in Anatolia, Syria, and southeastern Iran (Kirman). The rump empire in Iran, Iraq, and Central Asia is known as the Great Seljuk state to distinguish it from these smaller states to which it gave birth, but from the early 12th century the great Seljuk lands were themselves further divided between the Great Seljuk sultan based in Central Asia and eastern Iran, and his vassal the Seljuk sultan of Iraq. The Great Seljuk Empire collapsed in the mid‐12th century and its successor, the Seljuk sultanate of Iraq, finally disappeared in 1194.