Seljuks
a division of the Ghuzz confederacy of the Turkish tribes, who were settled on the Jaxartes and in Transox- iana in the 11th century, when they became converts to Islam. Togrul Beg, grandson of a chief named Seljuk grandson of (whence the name of the several successive dynasties), severely crippled the empire of Ghazni (1040); then turning W. conquered all Persia, and 10 years later he marched on Bagdad, to the assistance of the Abbasside Caliph, a mere "donothing" sovereign, who existed by the nothing" sovereign, who existed by the favor and protection of a powerful family of the Shîite faith. The head of this family (the Bowides) was, however, the master rather than the protector of the caliph. Togrul seized and supplanted master rather than the protector of the faith, was nominated by the caliph "Commander of the Faithful." Dying in 1063, Togrul was succeeded by his nephew, Alp Arslan. This sovereign wrested Syria and Palestine from the rival Fatimite caliph of Egypt, and in 1071 defeated the and captured him. The price of his re- Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes, and captured him. The price of his resion of great part of Anatolia or Asia sion of great part of Anatolia or Asia stabbed by a captive enemy in distant Turkestan (1072), and was succeeded by his son Malik Shah. His reign is chiefly remarkable for the enlightened rule of his grand vizier, Nizam ul-Mulk, the Turkestan (1072), and was succeeded by his son Malik Shah. His reign is chiefly remarkable for the enlightened rule of and of Hassan ben Sabbah, the founder of the ASSASSINS (q. v.). This statesman founded a university at Bagdad, an observatory, and numerous schools and mosques, and with the help of his old friend Omar Khayyam revised the astroservatory, and numerous schools and the Jelalian.
After the death of Malik (1092) the extensive empire began to break up into smaller kingdoms. But already during his lifetime, and even that of his predecessors, powerful tributary princes had ruled over separate provinces in Syria, in Kerman (beside the Persian Gulf), and in Asia Minor. During the first half of cessors, powerful tributary princes had these provincial rulers was Sinjar, who governed Khorassan, with Merv for his capital. He spent his life fighting against SELKIRK chiefs, and latterly against the Mongols. and that of Asia Minor, or Rum, as the Seljuks preferred to call it. It was the rulers of these two provinces or kingdoms But a stronger and more immediate interest attaches to the province of Syria and that of Asia Minor, or Rum, as the Seljuks preferred to call it. It was the rulers of these two provinces or kingdoms and it was the rulers of the same two who persecuted the Christian pilgrims kingdoms against whom the crusaders of Europe principally fought. The capiof Europe principally fought. The capital of Rum was fixed at Iconium (Konieh) in the first half of the 12th century. This extensive territories in Mesopotamia and During the reign of his son Kaikhosover nearly the whole of Asia Minor and extensive territories in Mesopotamia and northern Persia.
During the reign of his son Kaikhosarose; and at the same time the Mon- gols began to threaten the E. borders of ished and the various orders of dervishes arose; and at the same time the Monreal sovereign power of that part of Asia was in the hands of the Mongol the state. Indeed from about 1243 the real sovereign power of that part of last, Turks like the Seljuks, had rechiefs, Hulagu and his successors, till the rise of the Ottoman princes. These last, Turks like the Seljuks, had retreated W. before the all-conquering Montury, and at the end of it they entered tury, and at the end of it they entered the service of the Seljuk ruler of Asia Minor. After that the name Osmanli or Ottoman soon superseded that of Seljuk as the appellative of the Turkish rulers and ruling classes in Asia Minor. And out of the Ottoman supremacy grew the empire of Turkey. The Seljuks, however, had centuries before, while they were still settled in Transoxiana, lost a good many had centuries before, while they were still of their peculiarly Turkish characteristics and had become "Turkomans," i. e., "Like the Turks"; and with their conversion to Islam they also adopted the Persoas using those of the peoples they had Arabian civilization and customs, though still retaining their own language as well conquered.