Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk episode 16 english subtitles
The Great Seljuk EmpireThe scale of the state the Seljuks founded dwarfed any earlier Muslim Turkish polity – indeed, in terms of area, it was second only to the ‘Abbasid caliphate at its height and was considerably larger than any of the other contemporary Muslim empires such as the Fatimids in Egypt or the Almoravids in Morocco and Spain. By the late eleventh century, the lands that recognised Seljuk suzerainty stretched from Palestine in the west to as far as Kashghar in what is now China in the east. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english
Even the somewhat reduced empire of the mid-twelfth century still reached from Iraq to Samarqand in Central Asia, and, according to the calculation of one contemporary traveler, took four months to cross.13These lands, comprising most of the heartland of mediaeval Islamic civilisation, were bound together by the dominance of Islam and its culture, by the common political heritage of the ‘Abbasid caliphate (128/750–637/1258) to which all were nominally subject, and by historic road networks that were traversed by scholars, pilgrims and merchants. They were populated by a massively diverse range of religious, linguistic and ethnic groups: there were nomads and sedentary, Arabs, a plethora of different ethnically Iranian groups, not to speak of the various Georgian, Armenian, Greek, and Syriac- speaking Christians, as well as Jews, Zoroastrians and other smaller remnants of pre- Islamic religions. Although an exact equivalent for the word ‘empire’ does not exist in pre-modern Arabic or Persian, and the Seljuk polity was called simply a dawla (dynasty), sal†ana (sultanate) or milk (kingdom), the modern term seems entirely appropriate for a state that encompassed without doubt greater diversity than any of its contemporaries in the Islamic world. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english
Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk episode 16 english subtitles
it also serves to distinguish the subject of this book, the Great Seljuk Empire, from the smaller Seljuk polities that arose on its peripheries (discussed further below). The Great Seljuks dominated the Middle East and Islamic Central Asia between c. 431/1040 and 552/1157. For most of its history, the empire was divided into a western and eastern half, and it lacked a single capital city or political center. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk In the east, the main seat of Seljuk rule was Merv, in modern Turkmenistan. In the west, several different cities between which the sultans moved seasonally served as capitals: Rayy near modern Tehran, Isfahan. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-englishBaghdad and, later, Ramadhan. These western territories were known as the Sultanate of Iraq. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
Iraq here is meant in its mediaeval sense, and thus com-prises western Iran (historic ‘Iraq al- ‘Ajam, Persian Iraq, also known as the Jibal) as well as ‘Iraq al- Arab (Arab Iraq), corresponding to the central and southern parts of the modern state of Iraq (the north of which, along with parts of southeastern Turkey and northeastern Syria, was known as the Jazira – the ‘island’ between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). From 511/1118, the Seljuk sultans of Iraq recognized the suzerainty of the Great Seljuk ruler Sanjar, based in Khurasan, who was known by the title of al- sul†ān al- a‘Õam, ‘the Greatest Sultan’. watch netflix movies and series on our siteThe sultans of Iraq are sometimes referred to as the ‘Lesser Seljuks’.The Sultanate of Iraq survived the Great Seljuk collapse in 1152–7, only finally disappearing in 1194. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
These later Seljuks of Iraq claimed to be inheritors of the Great Seljuk Empire, but their state was, in reality, very different. The largely powerless sultans remained in office to give legitimacy to the actual rulers, the Ildegüzid dynasty, who had originated as slave soldiers in the Seljuks’ service. The complex history of the Iraq sultanate between 552/1157 and 590/1194 is treated only briefly here, as it is properly a separate subject. The term Seljuk without further qualification is thus here used to describe the Great Seljuk Empire, just as it is in the primary sources. Other branches of the Seljuk family also controlled territories on the peripheries of the empire, which are only treated tangentially here. Kirman in south-ern Iran (and Oman too) was between c. 440/1048 and 582/1186 ruled by its own Seljuk dynasty, the descendants of Tughrıl’s nephew Qavurt b. Chaghrı. Their relationship with their cousins, the Great Seljuk rulers, was often tense, especially in the eleventh-century Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk There were also the Seljuks of Syria (471/1076–511/1117), descended from Chaghrı’s grandson Tutush, who were themselves divided into two rival branches, one based at Aleppo in the north and one at Damascus. The most important of these offshoots of the family were the descendants of Seljuk’s great-grandson Sulayman, who ruled Anatolia from c. 483/1081 to 707/1308. In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the Anatolian Seljuks became one of the leading powers of the eastern Mediterranean. Any one of these dynasties deserves a monograph in its own right; the Seljuks of Anatolia, in particular, ruled a previously Christian land and their history relies on entirely different sources and presents quite distinct problems from the Great Seljuks. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk also encompassed many other vassal rulers, ranging from Bedouin Arab chiefs in Iraq like the Mazyadids and ‘Uqaylids to dynasties like the Bawandids on the Caspian coast of Iran who could trace their roots back to pre- Islamic times. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the Seljuk lands in the mid-twelfth century, stated that no fewer than forty-five kings were subject to the sultan’s authority.15 One might quibble with the exact number, but the general picture is fair. Surrounded on all sides by Seljuk territories was, from the late eleventh century, the state of the Ismailis in the Alburz mountains of northern Iran, in Quhistan in eastern Iran, and in parts of Syria, which did not recognize Seljuk suzerainty. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english
No effort is made to deal with these numerous states except insofar as they are relevant for understanding Seljuk history. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english.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: although sultans certainly did strike coins in their own names, 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.16 Vassals could often rule their territories in their traditional ways provided they recognized the Seljuk sultans’ suzerainty, remitted tribute and performed obligations of military service. Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk
To people in the Seljuk world, above all Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk sultans themselves, political authority, indeed the political viability of the empire itself, was expressed not through institutions, but through personal ties of loyalty and obligation between patrons and their vassals.17 The impact of Seljuk rule thus varied greatly from place to place. Some areas perhaps rarely saw a Turk, while others were fought over repeatedly by rival contenders for the sultanate and their Türkmen, Bedouin, and Kurdish allies. It is only through detailed, regional studies that we can understand the fluctuating impact of the Seljuk rule in different locations, and these should be a priority for future scholarship Alparslan Buyuk Seljuk. watch Alparslan Buyuk alparslan-buyuk-seljuk-episode-16-english.
