The Sultanate of Rum seceded from theSeljuk Empire underSuleiman ibn Qutalmish in 1077. It had its capital first atNicaea and then atIconium. It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on theMediterranean andBlack Sea coasts. In the east, the sultanate reachedLake Van. Trade through Anatolia from Iran andCentral Asia was developed by a system ofcaravanserai. Especially strong trade ties with theGenoese formed during this period. The increased wealth allowed the sultanate to absorb other Turkish states that had been established following the conquest of Byzantine Anatolia:Danishmendids,House of Mengüjek,Saltukids,Artuqids.
The Seljuk sultans bore the brunt of theCrusades and eventually succumbed to theMongol invasion at the 1243Battle of Köse Dağ. For the remainder of the 13th century, the Seljuks acted as vassals of theIlkhanate.[15] Their power disintegrated during the second half of the 13th century. The last of the Seljuk vassal sultans of the Ilkhanate,Mesud II, was murdered in 1308. The dissolution of the Seljuk state left behind many smallAnatolian beyliks (Turkish principalities), among them theOttoman dynasty which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia tobecome the Ottoman Empire.
Since the 1030s, migratoryTurkish groups in search of pastureland had penetratedByzantine borders intoAnatolia.[16] In the 1070s, after theBattle of Manzikert, theSeljuk commanderSuleiman ibn Qutulmish, a distant cousin ofAlp Arslan and a former contender for the throne of theSeljuk Empire, came to power in western Anatolia. Between 1075 and 1081, he gained control of the Byzantine cities ofNicaea and briefly alsoNicomedia. Around two years later, he established a principality that, while initially a Byzantinevassal state, became increasingly independent after six to ten years.[17][18] Nevertheless, it seems that Suleiman was tasked by Byzantine emperorAlexios I Komnenos in 1085 to reconquerAntioch and the former travelled there on a secret route, presumably guided by the Byzantines.[19]
Suleiman tried unsuccessfully to conquerAleppo in 1086 and died in theBattle of Ain Salm, either fighting his enemies or by suicide.[20] In the aftermath, Suleiman's sonKilij Arslan I was imprisoned and a general of his,Abu'l-Qasim, took power in Nicaea.[21] Following the death of sultanMalik Shah in 1092, Kilij Arslan was released and established himself in his father's territories between 1092 and 1094, possibly with the approval of Malik Shah's son and successorBerkyaruq.[22]
Kilij Arslan, although victorious against thePeople's Crusade of 1096, was defeated by soldiers of theFirst Crusade and driven back into south-central Anatolia, where he set up his state with its capital inKonya. He defeated three Crusade contingents in theCrusade of 1101. In 1107, he ventured east and capturedMosul but died the same year fighting Malik Shah's son,Mehmed Tapar. He was the first Muslim commander against the crusades.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, another Rum Seljuk,Malik Shah (not to be confused with the Seljuk sultan of the same name), captured Konya. In 1116 Kilij Arslan's son,Mesud I, took the city with the help of theDanishmends.[citation needed] Upon Mesud's death in 1156, the sultanate controlled nearly all of central Anatolia.
Bas-relief of two Sultanate of Rum warriors.Konya citadel, 12-13th century.[23]
TheSecond Crusade was announced byPope Eugene III and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namelyLouis VII of France andConrad III of Germany, with help from other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source,Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that Byzantine EmperorManuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the Crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. However, this alleged sabotage was likely fabricated by Odo, who saw the empire as an obstacle, and moreover Emperor Manuel had no political reason to do so. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in an ill-advised attack on Damascus, which ended in their retreat. In the end, the crusade in the east was a victory for the Muslims.
Mesud's son,Kilij Arslan II, is the first known Seljuk ruler who is known to have used the title ofsultan[25] and captured the remaining territories aroundSivas andMalatya from the last of the Danishmends. At theBattle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kilij Arslan II defeated a Byzantine army led by Manuel I Komnenos. Despite a temporary occupation of Konya in 1190 by theHoly Roman Empire's forces of theThird Crusade, the sultanate was quick to recover and consolidate its power.[26] During the last years of Kilij Arslan II's reign, the sultanate experienced a civil war withKaykhusraw I fighting to retain control and losing to his brotherSuleiman II in 1196.[26][27]
Following Kilij Arslan II's death, the sultanate was divided amongst his sons.[28] Elbistan was given toTughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II, but when Erzurum was taken from the Saltukids at the start of the 13th century, he was installed there.[29] Tughril governed Erzurum from 1192 to 1221.[29] During 1211–1212, he broke free from the Seljuk state.[29] In 1230,Jahan Shah bin Tughril who was allied to the Khwarazmshah Jalal al-Din, lost theBattle of Yassıçemen, allowing for Erzurum to be annexed by the Seljuk sultanate.[29]
The Sultanate of Rûm and surrounding states, c. 1200
Suleiman II rallied his vassalemirs and marched against Georgia, with an army of 150,000–400,000 and encamped in theBasiani valley.Tamar of Georgia quickly marshaled an army throughout her possessions and put it under command of her consort,David Soslan. Georgian troops under Soslan made a suddenadvance into Basiani and assailed the enemy's camp in 1203 or 1204. In a pitched battle, the Seljukid forces managed to roll back several attacks of the Georgians but were eventually overwhelmed and defeated. Loss of the sultan's banner to the Georgians resulted in a panic within the Seljuk ranks. Süleymanshah was wounded and withdrew to Erzurum. Both the Rum Seljuk and Georgian armies suffered heavy casualties, but coordinated flanking attacks won the battle for the Georgians.[30][better source needed]
Suleiman II died in 1204[31] and was succeeded by his sonKilij Arslan III, whose reign was unpopular.[31] Kaykhusraw I seized Konya in 1205 reestablishing his reign.[31] Under his rule and those of his two successors,Kaykaus I andKayqubad I, Seljuk power in Anatolia reached its apogee. Kaykhusraw's most important achievement was the capture of the harbour ofAttalia (Antalya) on the Mediterranean coast in 1207. His son Kaykaus capturedSinop[32] and made theEmpire of Trebizond his vassal in 1214.[33] He also subjugatedCilician Armenia but in 1218 was forced to surrender Aleppo, acquired fromal-Kamil.Ala Al-Din Kayqubad I continued to acquire lands along the Mediterranean coast from 1221 to 1225.[citation needed]
Frieze with Sultanate of Rum horseman,Konya Palace, 1156-1192.[35]
Kaykhusraw II (1237–1246) began his reign by capturing the region aroundDiyarbakır, but in 1239 he had to face an uprising led by a popular preacher namedBaba Ishak. After three years, when he had finally quelled the revolt, the Crimean foothold was lost and the state and the sultanate's army had weakened. It is in these conditions that he had to face a far more dangerous threat, that of the expandingMongols. The forces of theMongol Empire tookErzurum in 1242 and in 1243, the sultan was crushed byBaiju in theBattle of Köse Dağ (a mountain between the cities ofSivas andErzincan), resulting in the Seljuk Turks being forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and became their vassals.[15] The sultan himself had fled toAntalya after the battle, where he died in 1246; his death started a period of tripartite, and then dual, rule that lasted until 1260.
TheSeljuk realm was divided amongKaykhusraw's three sons. The eldest,Kaykaus II (1246–1260), assumed the rule in the area west of the riverKızılırmak. His younger brothers,Kilij Arslan IV (1248–1265) andKayqubad II (1249–1257), were set to rule the regions east of the river under Mongol administration. In October 1256, Bayju defeated Kaykaus II nearAksaray and all of Anatolia became officially subject toMöngke Khan. In 1260 Kaykaus II fled from Konya to Crimea where he died in 1279. Kilij Arslan IV was executed in 1265, andKaykhusraw III (1265–1284) became the nominal ruler of all of Anatolia, with the tangible power exercised either by the Mongols or the sultan's influential regents.
The declining Sultanate of Rûm, vassal of theMongols, and the emerging beyliks, c. 1300
The Seljuk state had started to split into smallemirates (beyliks) that increasingly distanced themselves from both Mongol and Seljuk control. In 1277, responding to a call from Anatolia, theMamluk SultanBaibars raided Anatolia and defeated the Mongols at theBattle of Elbistan,[36] temporarily replacing them as the administrator of the Seljuk realm. Following the ensuing chaos, theKaramanids underShams al-Din Mehmed managed to captureKonya, briefly installingJimri as a puppet ruler of the Sultanate of Rum. Since the native forces who had called him to Anatolia did not manifest themselves for the defense of the land, Baibars soon had to return to his home base inEgypt, and the Mongol administration was re-assumed, officially and severely. Also, theArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia captured the Mediterranean coast fromSelinos toSeleucia, as well as the cities ofMarash andBehisni, from the Seljuk in the 1240s.
Near the end of his reign, Kaykhusraw III could claim direct sovereignty only over lands around Konya. Some of the beyliks (including the early Ottoman state) and Seljuk governors of Anatolia continued to recognize, albeit nominally, the supremacy of the sultan in Konya, delivering thekhutbah in the name of the sultans in Konya in recognition of their sovereignty, and the sultans continued to call themselves Fahreddin,the Pride of Islam. When Kaykhusraw III was executed in 1284, the Seljuk dynasty suffered another blow from internal struggles which lasted until 1303 when the son of Kaykaus II,Mesud II, established himself as sultan inKayseri. He was murdered in 1308 and his son Mesud III soon afterwards. A distant relative to the Seljuk dynasty momentarily installed himself as emir of Konya, but he was defeated and his lands conquered by theKaramanids in 1328. The sultanate's monetary sphere of influence lasted slightly longer and coins of Seljuk mint, generally considered to be of reliable value, continued to be used throughout the 14th century, once again, including by the Ottomans.
In Anatolia, aTurco-Persian cultural synthesis gradually emerged which, by the 13th century, came to define the intellectual and aesthetic life,[37] to the point of Seljuk elites naming their sons withNew Persian names.[38] The Seljuks of Rum had made Turco-Persian tradition the culture of their court,[39] and had inherited thetımar andtahrir methods of Persian statecraft from the Seljuk Empire, which they later passed on to the Ottomans.[40] Despites such influences, Seljuk art remained essentially Central Asian in character.[41]
SultanKayqubad I (r.1220–1237) or a notable of his court, seated in Turkic style and holding a flower, symbol of eternal life.Kubadabad Palace, late 1220s.[42][43]
Enturbaned and bearded figure of a likely high-ranking official, holding an inscribed tablet in his hand.Kubadabad Palace, late 1220s.[44]
As an expression of Turco-Persian culture,[45][46][47] Rum Seljuks patronizedPersian art,architecture, andliterature.[48] Unlike the Seljuk Empire, the Seljuk sultans of Rum had Persian names such asKay Khosrow,Kay Kawad/Qobad, andKay Kāvus.[49][50] The bureaucrats and religious elite of their realm were generally Persian.[51] In the 13th century, most Muslim inhabitants in major Anatolian urban hubs reportedly spoke Persian as their main language.[52]
It was in the 13th century that the proneness of imitating Iran in terms of administration, religion and culture reached its zenith, encouraged by the major influx of Persian refugees fleeing Mongol invasions, who brought Persian culture with them and were instrumental in creating a "second Iran" in Anatolia.[53][54] Iranian cultural, political, and literary traditions deeply influenced Anatolia in the early 13th century.[55] The notable historianIbn Bibi composed a six-volume Persian language poetic work called theSelçukname, modeled after theShahnamah, which focused on the Seljuk sultans.[56]
Standing man holding a pomegranate. Late 1220s,Kubadabad.[57]
Despite their Turkic origins, the Seljuks used Persian for administrative purposes; even their histories, which replaced Arabic, were in Persian.[48] Their usage of Turkish was hardly promoted at all.[48] Even Sultan Kilij Arslan II, as a child, spoke to courtiers in Persian.[48] Khanbaghi states the Anatolian Seljuks were even more Persianized than the Seljuks that ruled the Iranian plateau.[48] Persian poetry was written by sultans Suleiman II, Kayqubad I, and Kaykhusraw II.[58] Written documents used either Persian or Anatolian Turkic, but the army used the Turkic language exclusively.[59]
TheRahat al-sudur, the history of the Great Seljuk Empire and its breakup, written in Persian by Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi, was dedicated to Sultan Kaykhusraw I.[60] Even theTārikh-i Āl-i Saldjūq, an anonymous history of the Sultanate of Rum, was written in Persian.[61] The sultans of Rum were largely not educated in Arabic.[62] This clearly limited the Arab influence, or at least the direct influence, to a relatively small degree.[62] In contrast, Persian literature and Iranian influence expanded because most sultans and even a significant portion of the townspeople knew the language.[62]
One of its most famous Persian writers,Rumi, took his name from the name of the state. Moreover, Byzantine influence in the Sultanate was also significant, since Byzantine Greek aristocracy remained part of the Seljuk nobility, and the native Byzantine (Rûm) peasants remained numerous in the region.[63][64] Based on their genealogy, it appears that the Seljuk sultans favored Christianslave-concubines, just like the early Ottoman sultans. Within theSeljuk harem, Greek women were the most dominant.[65]
In Anatolia, Turkic languages and culture were present, but they stayed at the edges of the Irano-Greek world, mainly kept alive by nomadic Turkic groups through oral tradition. Turkic culture held little prestige, and many viewed it as inferior. As a result, nobles and middle-class Turkic families (and possibly lower classes) often married into what was considered more "cultured" communities, learned Persian and Greek, and adopted urban customs to elevate their social standing.[66] Some sultans merged Iranian and Greek identities by claiming to be thekhusraw-i Yunan ("theChosroes of Greece").[67] Cultural Turkification in Anatolia first started during the 14th-century, particularly during the gradual rise of theOttomans.[68] With a population that includedByzantine Greeks,Armenians,Kurds, Turks, and Persians, the Seljuks were very successful between 1220 and 1250 and set the groundwork for later Islamization of Anatolia.[69]
From the 12th century onward, Western European chroniclers often referred to Anatolia and the Sultanate of Rum asTurchia, the predecessor of the nameTurkey.[70][71]
TheKonya citadel (city walls ofKonya), built and decorated byKayqubad I in the 1220s, incorporated many Greco-Roman Classical elements for its decoration.Léon de Laborde, 1838
Architectural styles of the Sultanate of Rum were rather eclectic. Thewalls of Konya in particular, built by Kayqubad I, adopted many western decorative elements, such as a statue ofHercules, a frieze from a Roman sarcophagus, courtly scenes with seated figures in toga, winged deities around the figure of the sun, mixed with inscriptions in Arabic.[72] It would seem that such symbolism mixing Western and Eastern elements was mostly derived from the influence of theArtuqids, who were adept at combining Classical and Perso-Islamic approaches.[73]
In their construction ofcaravanserais,madrasas andmosques, the Rum Seljuks translated the Iranian Seljuk architecture of bricks and plaster into the use of stone.[74] Among these, thecaravanserais (orhans), used as stops, trading posts and defense for caravans, and of which about a hundred structures were built during the Anatolian Seljuk period, are particularly remarkable. Along with Persian influences, which had an indisputable effect,[75] Seljuk architecture was inspired by local Byzantine architects, for example in theCelestial Mosque in Sivas, and byArmenian architecture.[76] Anatolian architecture represents some of the most distinctive and impressive[opinion] constructions in the entire history of Islamic architecture. Later, this Anatolian architecture would be inherited by theSultanate of India.[77]
Gök Medrese (CelestialMadrasa) ofSivas, built by a Greek (Rûm) subject in the periodic capital of the Sultanate of Rum in 1271
The largest caravanserai is theSultan Han (built 1229) on the road between Konya and Aksaray, inSultanhanı, covering 3,900 m2 (42,000 sq ft). Two caravanserais carry the nameSultan Han,the other one being between Kayseri and Sivas. Furthermore, apart from Sultanhanı, five other towns across Turkey owe their names to caravanserais built there. These are Alacahan inKangal,Durağan,Hekimhan andKadınhanı, as well as the township of Akhan within theDenizli metropolitan area. The caravanserai of Hekimhan is unique in having, underneath the usual inscription inArabic with information relating to the tower, two further inscriptions inArmenian andSyriac, since it was constructed by the sultan Kayqubad I's doctor (hekim), who is thought to have been aChristian convert to Islam.
There are other particular cases, like the settlement inKalehisar contiguous to an ancientHittite site nearAlaca, founded by the Seljuk commanderHüsameddin Temurlu, who had taken refuge in the region after the defeat in theBattle of Köse Dağ and had founded a township comprising a castle, a madrasa, a habitation zone and a caravanserai, which were later abandoned apparently around the 16th century. All but the caravanserai, which remains undiscovered, was explored in the 1960s by the art historianOktay Aslanapa, and the finds as well as several documents attest to the existence of a vivid settlement in the site, such as a 1463 Ottomanfirman which instructs the headmaster of the madrasa to lodge not in the school but in the caravanserai.[citation needed]
The Seljuk palaces, as well as their armies, were staffed withghilmān (Arabic:غِلْمَان), singularghulam), slave-soldiers taken as children from non-Muslim communities, mainly Greeks from former Byzantine territories. The practice of keeping ghilmān may have offered a model for the laterdevşirme during the time of the Ottoman Empire.[78]
The miniatures represent typical Central Asian people, thickset with large round heads.[87] They also provide rare depictions of the contemporary military of the Seljuk period, and may have influenced other known depictions of Turkic Seljuk soldiers.[88] All depicted costumes and accoutrements are contemporary to the artist, in the 13th century.[80] The miniatures constitute the first known example of illustrated Persian-language manuscript, dating from the pre-Mongol era, and are useful in studying weapons of the period.[80][89] Particularly, metal face masks and chainmail helmets in Turkic fashion, and armor with small metal plates connected through straps, large round shields (the largest of them called "kite-shields") and long teardrop shields, armoured horses are depicted.[80] The weapons and armour types depicted in the miniatures were common in the Middle East and the Caucasus in the Seljuk era.[80]
Persian was the preferred language for literature, while Arabic remained the standard language for religious, scientific, and philosophical writing.[4]
The earliest documented Rum Seljuq copper coins were made in the first part of the twelfth century in Konya and the eastern Anatolian emirates.[90] Extensive numismatic evidence suggests that, starting in the middle of the thirteenth century and continuing until the end of the Seljuk dynasty, silver-producing mints and silver coinage flourished, particularly in central and eastern Anatolia.[91]
Most of Kilij Arslan II's coins were minted in Konya between 1177–78 and 1195, with a small amount also occurring in Sivas, which the Rum Seljuks conquered from the Danishmendids.[28] Sivas may have started minting coins in 1185–1186.[28] The majority of Kılıj Arslan II's coins are silverdirhams; however, there are also a fewdinars and one or twofulūs (small copper coins) issues.[28] Following his death the sultanate was divided among his sons. Muhyiddin Mesut, son of Kilij Arslan II, minted coins in the northwesterly cities of Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir, and Kaztamunu from 1186 to 1200.[28] Tughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II's reign in Erzurum, another son of Kilij Arslan II, minted silver dirhams in 1211–1212.[28]
Dirham ofKaykhusraw II (r. 1239–46). Astrological Device (Sun-Lion, symbol of an ideal ruler in the Great Age of the Seljuqs) dated 638 AH (1240–41 AD). Legend in Arabic.[92][93]
The sun-lion and the equestrian are the two central motifs in the Rum Seljuq numismatic figural repertoire.[94] The image of a horseman with two more arrows ready and his bow taut represents strength and control and is a representation of the ideal Seljuq king of the Great Age.[94] The image initially appeared on Rum Seljuq copper coins in the late eleventh century.[94] The first to add equestrian iconography to silver and gold coins was Suleiman II of Rûm.[94] Antalya minted coins with Kaykaus I's name from November 1261 to November 1262.[95] Between 1211 and 1219, the bulk of his coins are minted at Konya and Sivas.[28]
A significant portion of the Islamic Near East may have experienced a "silver famine" owing to little, or very little, silver mintings from the eleventh and most of the twelfth centuries. However, at the start of the thirteenth century a "silver flood" occurred in Rum Seljuq territory when Anatolian silver mines were discovered.[96] The fineness of Rum Seljuq dirhams is similar to that of dinars; frequently, both were struck using the same dies.[96] The Seljuq silver coinage's superior quality and prominence contributed to the dynasty's affluence throughout the early part of the thirteenth century and explains why it served as a kind of anchor for the local "currency community."[97] TheEmpire of Trebizond andArmenian Kingdom of Cilicia silver coins were modeled after the fineness and weight specifications of Rum Seljuq coins.[94]
As regards with the names of the sultans, there are variants in form and spelling depending on the preferences displayed by one source or the other, either for fidelity intransliterating thePersian variant of theArabic script which the sultans used, or for a rendering corresponding to the modernTurkish phonology and orthography. Some sultans had two names that they chose to use alternatively in reference to their legacy. While the two palaces built by Alaeddin Keykubad I carry the namesKubadabad Palace and Keykubadiye Palace, he named his mosque in Konya asAlâeddin Mosque and the port city ofAlanya he had captured as "Alaiye". Similarly, the medrese built by Kaykhusraw I in Kayseri, within the complex (külliye) dedicated to his sisterGevher Nesibe, was named Gıyasiye Medrese, and the one built by Kaykaus I in Sivas as Izzediye Medrese.[citation needed]
^Also referred to as theAnatolian Seljuk Sultanate (Persian:سلجوقیان روم,romanized: Saljûqiyân-i Rûm,lit. 'Seljuks of Rûm'), theSultanate of Iconium, theAnatolian Seljuk State (Turkish:Anadolu Selçuklu Devleti), theSeljuks of Turkey (Türkiye Selçukluları), or theKonya Sultanate[9][10][11]
^Grousset, Rene,The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, (Rutgers University Press, 2002), 157; "...the Seljuk court at Konya adopted Persian as its official language."
^Bernard Lewis,Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire, (University of Oklahoma Press, 1963), 29; "The literature of Seljuk Anatolia was almost entirely in Persian...".
^abcCanby et al. 2016, p. 30 "For literary works, however, Persian remained the preferred language while, as elsewhere in the Middle East, Arabic remained the standard medium for religious, scientific, and philosophical writing."
^Andrew Peacock and Sara Nur Yildiz,The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, (I. B. Tauris, 2013), 132; "The official use of the Greek language by the Seljuk chancery is well known".
^Koprulu, Mehmed Fuad (2006).Early Mystics in Turkish Literature. p. 207.
^A.C.S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yildiz,The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, (I. B. Tauris, 2015), 265.
^Beihammer, Alexander Daniel (2017).Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040–1130. New York: Routledge. p. 15.
^Alexander Kazhdan, "Rūm"The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford University Press, 1991), vol. 3, p. 1816.Paul Wittek,Rise of the Ottoman Empire, Royal Asiatic Society Books, Routledge (2013),p. 81:"This state too bore the name of Rûm, if not officially, then at least in everyday usage, and its princes appear in the Eastern chronicles under the nameSeljuks of Rûm (Ar.:Salâjika ar-Rûm). A. Christian Van Gorder,Christianity in Persia and the Status of Non-muslims in Iran p. 215: "The Seljuqs called the lands of their sultanateRûm because it had been established on territory long considered 'Roman',i.e. Byzantine, by Muslim armies."
^The Art and architecture of Turkey. New York : Rizzoli. 1980. p. 178note on plate 119,Plate 119.ISBN978-0-8478-0273-9.Page 178 Plate 119: "Throne scene on a star-shaped tile, Iranian-Seljuk minai technique, Alaeddin Palace, Konya, 1156—92 (Kilicarslan II period), D. 8.5 cm. The sultan, sitting cross-legged on his throne, is holding a pomegranate in one hand; there are tiraz bands on his arms and two guards next to him. Karatay Madrasah Museum, Konya.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^A.C.S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yildiz,The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, (I.B. Tauris, 2015), 73.
^abAnatolia in the period of the Seljuks and the "beyliks", Osman Turan,The Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 1A, ed. P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton and Bernard Lewis, (Cambridge University Press, 1995), 244–245.
^A.C.S. Peacock and Sara Nur Yildiz,The Seljuks of Anatolia: Court and Society in the Medieval Middle East, (I.B. Tauris, 2015), 29.
^Turks: a journey of a thousand years, 600-1600. London : New York: Royal Academy of Arts ; Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Harry N. Abrams. 2005. pp. 114, 392.ISBN978-1903973578.
^Turks: a journey of a thousand years, 600-1600. London : New York: Royal Academy of Arts ; Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Harry N. Abrams. 2005. p. 106.ISBN978-1903973578.Despite the undoubted influence of Iranian culture on the Great Seljuks and the Anatolian Seljuks, Seljuk art remained essentially Central Asian in character.
^Özel, Mehmet (1986).Traditional Turkish Arts: Tiles and ceramics. General Directorate of Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture and Tourism,Turkish Republic. p. 15.Kubadabad tiles consist of panels of figural tiles linked by cruciform tiles decorated with arabesques. The figural tiles are decorated with figures of the sultan, harem women, courtiers and servants. However, the most interesting figures are the various animals related to hunting and the imaginary or magical animals. Such creatures as the sphinx, siren, single and double-headed eagles, single and paired peacocks, paired birds flanking the tree of life and dragon create a magical world of the imagination. They are all symbolic representations of the rich figural world of the Seljuks. Animals related to hunting, such as the fox, hare, wolf, mountain goat, wild ass, bear, lion, falcon, hawk and antelope are in widely varying and highly artistic compositions.
^The Art and architecture of Turkey. New York : Rizzoli. 1980. pp. 175–176.ISBN978-0-8478-0273-9.Usually made in the underglaze technique, the star tiles contain an extremely rich figural design, depictingthe sultan, the elite of the palace and animals of the hunt as well as imaginary or so-called 'fabulous' animals. (See figural reliefs and sculptures, p. 171.) The sultan and the palace notables, including in some cases the palace women, are shown sitting cross-legged in the Turkish tradition. In most cases, the figures hold in their hands a symbol representing eternal life-a pomegranate or opium branch or an astrological symbol like the fish. It is interesting to note the parallels with the same motifs in Anatolian Seljuk architecture.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^Yemelianova, Galina M. (2025).Turkism in Eurasia: Identity, Ideology and Politics. I.B. Tauris. p. 16.The Seljuks established an Anatolia-centred Seljukid Rum Sultanate (1077-1308), which at the peak of its territorial expansion embraced most of the territory of modern Turkey, Iran and part of the Middle East..[..]..With time, the Turkic Seljuks, like the Ghaznavids, became politically and culturally Persianized and presided over a sophisticated Turco-Persian material and ideational culture...
^Nassiri, Giv (2002).Turco-Persian Civilization and the Role of Scholars’ Travel and Migration in its Elaboration and Continuity (Thesis). University of California. p. xii."Just as the Saljuq dynasty began to decline under the inherent contradictions of the appanage system and its contradiction with the Persianate dynastic and administrative systems, the nascent Anatolian Saljuqs provided an intensified push toward the continuation, elaboration and further crystallization of Turco-Persian civilization.
^Lewis, Bernard,Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire, p. 29,Even when the land of Rum became politically independent, it remained a colonial extension of Turco-Persian culture which had its centers in Iran and Central Asia ... The literature of Seljuk Anatolia was almost entirely in Persian ...
^Grousset, Rene (1931).Civilizations of the East. Hamish Hamilton. p. 252.At the court of Konia, in fact, Persian culture reigned supreme, as is proved by the very names of the sultans -- Kaikhosrau, KaiKā'ūs, Kaiqubūd--which were borrowed from Iranian epic...
^Turks: a journey of a thousand years, 600-1600. London : New York: Royal Academy of Arts ; Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Harry N. Abrams. 2005. p. 106.ISBN978-1903973578.
^Hillenbrand 2021, p. 211 "Inner Anatolia was now set to become Muslim gradually, and this process occurred under the leadership of the Turks. In Anatolia, as elsewhere, the Seljuq rulers drank in Persian cultural ways in their cities. This tendency to copy Iran in administration, religion and culture reached its height in the thirteenth century with the fuller development of the Seljuq state in Anatolia and the influx of Persian refugees to Anatolian cities. Thus ‘a second Iran’ was created in Anatolia. It is food for thought that, while it was the Turks who conquered and settled the land of Anatolia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, it was the Persians who were instrumental in bringing to these territories a developed Islamic religious and secular culture. (...)Quote in French: Les réfugiés iraniens qui entrèrent en grand nombre en Anatolie à la suite des invasions mongoles de l’Iran – les fonctionnaires, les poètes, les Sufis et, avant tout, les cadres religieux – transformèrent de l’intérieur la culture urbaine de cette région."
^Findley, Carter V. (2005).The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 72.ISBN978-0-19-517726-8.Meanwhile, amid the migratory swarm that Turkified Anatolia, the dispersion of learned men from the Persian-speaking east paradoxically made the Seljuk court at Konya a new center for Perso-Islamic court culture.
^Turks: a journey of a thousand years, 600-1600. London : New York: Royal Academy of Arts ; Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Harry N. Abrams. 2005. p. 117.ISBN978-1903973578.
^Turks: a journey of a thousand years, 600-1600. London : New York: Royal Academy of Arts ; Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Harry N. Abrams. 2005. p. 106.ISBN978-1903973578.However, scholarship and literature were influences by Iran, and Persian was used alongside Anatolian Turkic in written documents during this period, although Turkic was the only language used by the army.
^Cahen, Claude (1968).Pre-Ottoman Turkey: A General Survey of the Material and Spiritual Culture and History, 1071–1330. New York: Taplinger. pp. 144–146.
^Yalman, Suzan (1 January 2012)."'ALA AL-DIN KAYQUBAD ILLUMINATED: A RUM SELJUQ SULTAN AS COSMIC RULER".Muqarnas Online.29 (1):151–186.doi:10.1163/22118993-90000186.In some cases—such as the sultan's well-known city walls in Konya—there appears to be, at first sight, an antiquarian penchant for the "classical" or "Roman" past (fig. 1). (...) Nevertheless, the portrait's classicizing aspect is important in that it resonates with the use of spoliated classical sculpture in the walls of Konya (fig. 1). (...) Kayqubad's walls in Konya. (...) above the statue of Hercules was a reused Roman sarcophagus frieze carved in high relief; the latter featured a courtly scene with a seated figure wearing a toga and holding an orb ("a ball, the symbol of the world" according to Kinneir). Above this image was an Arabic inscription and then winged "genies" making offerings to the "sun" (as described by Olivier).
^Yalman, Suzan (1 January 2012)."'ALA AL-DIN KAYQUBAD ILLUMINATED: A RUM SELJUQ SULTAN AS COSMIC RULER".Muqarnas Online.29 (1):151–186.doi:10.1163/22118993-90000186.As I will argue below, in addition to obvious "Western" links, Kayqubad was also inspired by sources further "East," such as the Artuqids of Hisn Kaifa and Amid (1102-1232), which combining Classical and Perso-Islamic impulses, seemed better suited as models. In fact, upon closer examination, these pagan/secular Roman imperial ("Western") signs seemed to be infused with mystical/Sufi ("Eastern") readings that imbued them with new meaning. Most significant was the emergence of an unexpected undercurrent of light symbolism.
^Blair, Sheila; Bloom, Jonathan (2004), "West Asia: 1000–1500", in Onians, John (ed.),Atlas of World Art, Laurence King Publishing, p. 130
^Architecture (Muhammadan), H. Saladin,Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol.1, Ed. James Hastings and John Alexander, (Charles Scribner's son, 1908), 753.
^Armenia during the Seljuk and Mongol Periods, Robert Bedrosian,The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times: The Dynastic Periods from Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century, Vol. I, Ed. Richard Hovannisian, (St. Martin's Press, 1999), 250.
^Lost in Translation: Architecture, Taxonomy, and the "Eastern Turks", Finbarr Barry Flood,Muqarnas: History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the "Lands of Rum, 96.
^Porter, Yves; Flood, Finbarr Barry (2023).Under the adorned dome: four essays on the arts of Iran and India. Leiden Boston: Brill. p. 17, note 30.ISBN978-90-04-54971-5.The Varqa and Gulshāh was probably made in the Konya sultanate.
^Hillenbrand 2021, p. 208 "The earliest illustrated Persian manuscript, signed by an artist from Khuy in north-west Iran, was produced between 1225 and 1250, almost certainly in Konya. (Cf. A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, ‘Le roman de Varqe et Golsâh’, Arts Asiatiques XXII (Paris, 1970))"
^Ettinghausen, Richard (1977).Arab painting. New York : Rizzoli. p. 91,92,162 commentary.ISBN978-0-8478-0081-0.The two scenes in the top and bottom registers (...) may be strongly influenced by contemporary Seljuk Persian (...) like those in the recently discovered Varqeh and Gulshah (p.92) (...) In the painting the facial cast of these Turks is obviously reflected, and so are the special fashions and accoutrements they favored. (p.162, commentary on image from p.91){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
^Waley, P.; Titley, Norah M. (1975)."An Illustrated Persian Text of Kalīla and Dimna Dated 707/1307-8".The British Library Journal.1 (1):42–61.ISSN0305-5167.JSTOR42553970.A unique Seljùq manuscript in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum Library (Hazine 841) (fig. 7). This manuscript, the romance Varqa va Gulshah, probably dates from the early thirteenth century . The figures in the miniatures with the typical features of Central Asian people are squat and thickset with large round heads. They are to be seen again in a more sophisticated form in the so-calledTurkman style miniatures produced inShiraz c. 1460 – 1502 under the patronage of another dynasty ofTurkman invaders.
Bektaş, Cengiz (1999).Selcuklu Kervansarayları, Korunmaları Ve Kullanlmaları üzerine bir öneri: A Proposal regarding the Seljuk Caravanserais, Their Protection and Use (in Turkish and English). Yapı-Endüstri Merkezi Yayınları.ISBN975-7438-75-8.
Cahen, Claude; Holt, Peter Malcolm (2001).The Formation of Turkey. The Seljukid Sultanate of Rūm: Eleventh to Fourteenth Century. Longman.
Canby, Sheila R.; Beyazit, Deniz; Rugiadi, Maryam; Peacock, A.C.S., eds. (2016).Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Canfield, Robert L. (1991). "Introduction: The Turko-Persian tradition". In Canfield, Robert L. (ed.).Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–34.ISBN0 521 52291 9.
Crane, H. (1993). "Notes on Saldjūq Architectural Patronage in Thirteenth Century Anatolia".Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.36 (1):1–57.doi:10.1163/156852093X00010.
Frankopan, Peter (2013).The First Crusade: The call from the East. London: Vintage.ISBN9780099555032.
Hickman, Bill; Leiser, Gary (2016).Turkish Language, Literature, and History: Travelers' Tales, Sultans, and Scholars Since the Eighth Century. Routledge.
Hillenbrand, Carole (2021).The Medieval Turks: Collected Essays. Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-1474485944.
Hillenbrand, Robert (1994).The Art of the Saljūqs in Iran and Anatolia: Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Edinburgh in 1982. Islamic art and architecture; v. 4. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers. p. 319.ISBN0-939214-55-5.LCCN94010037.OCLC30071085.
Inalcik, Halil (2008). "The Origins of Classical Ottoman Literature: Persian Tradition, Court Entertainments, and Court Poets".Journal of Turkish Literature (5). Translated by Sheridan, Michael D. Bilkent University Centure for Turkish Literature:5–76.
Kastritsis, Dimitris (2013). "The Historical Epic "Ahval-i Sultan Mehemmed" (The Tales of Sultan Mehmed) in the Context of Early Ottoman Historiography".Writing History at the Ottoman Court: Editing the Past, Fashioning the Future. Indiana University Press.
Khanbaghi, Aptin (2016). "Champions of the Persian Language: The Mongols or the Turks?". In De Nicola, Bruno; Melville, Charles (eds.).The Mongols' Middle East: Continuity and Transformation in Ilkhanid Iran. Brill.
Mecit, Songul (2013).The Rum Seljuqs: Evolution of a Dynasty. Taylor & Francis.
Pamuk, Sevket (2000).A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge University Press.
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