Sultanate of Rum
The Sultanate of Rum (Turkish: Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti, meaning "Anatolian Seljuk State" or Turkish: Türkiye Selçuklu Devleti meaning "Turkey Seljuk State";Persian: سلجوقیان روم Saljūqiyān-i Rūm), was a medieval Turko-Persian,Sunni Muslim state in Anatolia. It existed from 1077 to 1307, with capitals first at İznik and then at Konya. However, the court of the sultanate was highly mobile, and cities like Kayseri and Sivas also temporarily functioned as capitals. At its height, the sultanate stretched across central Anatolia, from the shoreline of Antalya and Alanya on the Mediterranean coast to the territory of Sinop on the Black Sea. In the east, the sultanate absorbed other Turkish states and reached Lake Van. Its westernmost limit was near Denizli and the gates of the Aegean basin.
The term "Rûm" comes from the Arabic word for the Roman Empire. The Seljuqs called the lands of their sultanate Rum because it had been established on territory long considered "Roman", i.e. Byzantine, by Muslim armies. The state is occasionally called the Sultanate of Konya (or Sultanate of Iconium) in older Western sources.
Seljuk
Seljuk (Modern Turkish: Selçuk, Turkmen: Seljuk, Persian: سلجوق Saljūq; also Seldjuk, Seldjuq, Seljuq; died c. 1038) was the eponymous hero of the Seljuq Turks. He was the son of a certain Toqaq surnamed Temür Yalığ (meaning "of the iron bow") and either the chief or an eminent member from the Kınık tribe of the Oghuz Turks. In 985, the Seljuq clan split off from the bulk of the Tokuz-Oghuz, a confederacy of nine clans long settled between the Aral and Caspian Seas. They set up camp on the right bank of the lower Syr Darya (Jaxartes), in the direction of Jend, near Kzyl Orda in present day south-central Kazakhstan. There, in 985, Seljuk converted to Islam.
The biblical names of his four sons — Mikâîl (Michael), Isrâîl (Israel), Mûsâ (Moses), and Yûnus (Jonah) — suggest previous acquaintance with either Khazar Judaism or Nestorian Christianity. According to some sources, Seljuk began his career as an officer in the Khazar army.
Under Mikâîl's sons Tuğrul and Çağrı, the Seljuqs migrated into Khurasan. Ghaznavid attempts to stop Seljuqs raiding the local Muslim populace led to the Battle of Dandanaqan on 23 May 1040. Victorious Seljuqs became masters of Khurasan, expanding their power into Transoxiana and across Iran. By 1055, Tuğrul had expanded his control all the way to Baghdad, setting himself up as the champion of the Abbasid caliph, who honored him with the title sultan. Earlier rulers may have used this title but the Seljuqs seem to have been the first to inscribe it on their coins.
Seljuk (disambiguation)
Seljuk was the founder of the Turko-Persian Seljuk dynasty in the Middle East and central Asia.
Seljuk may also mean:
