The Seljuqs

From Dandanaqan to several different endings

The Seljuq victory over the Ghaznavids at Dandanaqan in 1040 is a conventional starting point for their rule in Khorasan. Yet “the Seljuqs” were not one state with a single border and ending: the Great Seljuqs, the Kerman branch and the Seljuqs of Rum have distinct timelines. Sanjar’s death in 1157 matters to the central line but did not end every branch. Dynastic chronology, effective regional control and the literary “Seljuq period” are different scales.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Iranian History, Islamic Period, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Khorasan, from the Arab Conquest to the Mongols, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Saljuqs: Literature

Oghuz roots and a mobile geography of power

Toghril and Chaghri led Oghuz groups whose power expanded across Khorasan, the Iranian plateau and Iraq. Courts and armies moved, while political centres changed with ruler and period; Merv gained special importance under Sanjar, and Isfahan also became a major centre. This mobility should not be reduced to a binary of “foreign nomads” and “settled Iranians.” Alliances, bureaucratic service, warfare and settlement created a more complicated network.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Iranian History, Islamic Period, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Khorasan, from the Arab Conquest to the Mongols

Sultan, caliph and bureaucracy

The Seljuq sultan operated alongside the Abbasid caliphate and Persian-speaking administrative institutions; the relationship among religious legitimacy, military command and fiscal government was not fixed. Nizam al-Mulk moved from Ghaznavid service to the vizierate of Alp Arslan and Malikshah, and later became an archetype of the “good vizier.” Iranica cautions that medieval biographies follow exemplary moral patterns. Their stories must therefore be read against each text’s date and purpose, not as unmediated private reports.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Nezam al-Molk

Siyasatnama: moral prescription or state report?

The Siyasatnama, or Siar al-moluk, advises on petitions, armies, officials, provincial accounts and royal conduct. Its scope reveals a language of government, but prescription does not show that every rule was implemented everywhere. Iranica also challenges literal readings of the text’s tropes about women, religion and “others.” A useful method is three columns: the author’s ideal, evidence of actual practice and what remains unknown. Administrative norms and daily operation are not the same.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Siar al-Moluk

Isfahan and a mosque built across periods

Toghril made Isfahan a centre of his realm in 1051, and the city experienced prosperity and major architectural patronage under Malikshah. Its Friday Mosque acquired prominent domes, iwans and a four-iwan courtyard in the Seljuq period, but the site had Abbasid and Buyid phases and continued to change later. This page’s photographs show the Kharaghan twin towers, public heritage in Qazvin Province; they are not views of Isfahan, member photographs or a picture of all Seljuq architecture.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Isfahan, Monuments: A Historical Survey

Madrasas, Persian and diverse learning

The Baghdad Nizamiyya was founded in 1067 for Sunni education, and madrasa construction expanded across the Seljuq realm. Meanwhile, Iranian secretaries and viziers used Persian in administration and much court correspondence, while literary Persian spread alongside Arabic. This did not make society monolingual or immediately displace Arabic and other languages. Ghaznavid, regional and rival courts also contributed to literature; the boundary of “Seljuq literature” is no more exact than the political frontier.

Source: The Met — The Art of the Seljuqs of Iran, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Saljuqs: Literature

Metal, ceramics and the label “Seljuq”

The Met discusses metalwork and ceramics, especially Kashan lustre and mina’i wares, and the expansion of stonepaste in the twelfth century. Stonepaste combined finely ground quartz, small quantities of glass and refined clay, while workshops in Iran and Syria developed differently. Yet the stylistic label “Seljuq” can cover objects from the eleventh to early thirteenth centuries and several regions. Style or material alone does not establish a workshop, exact date, patron or user.

Source: The Met — The Art of the Seljuqs of Iran, The Met — Ceramic Technology in the Seljuq Period

Succession, branches and a cautious conclusion

The deaths of Nizam al-Mulk and Malikshah in 1092 were followed by succession conflict and greater power for dynastic branches, amirs and atabegs. Sanjar temporarily made Khorasan and the east the centre of power, but his defeat and captivity in 1153 and death in 1157 brought the Great Seljuq direct line close to its end. Connect each event to region and branch, and distinguish dynastic chronicle, advice literature and art object. This is a bounded introduction, not complete ruler biographies or an announced Dorehami event.

Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica — Iranian History, Islamic Period, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Khorasan, from the Arab Conquest to the Mongols, Encyclopaedia Iranica — Nezam al-Molk

Sources and review date

Sources checked on 21 October 2026.

• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Iranian History, Islamic Period
• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Khorasan, from the Arab Conquest to the Mongols
• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Nezam al-Molk
• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Siar al-Moluk
• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Isfahan, Monuments: A Historical Survey
• The Met — The Art of the Seljuqs of Iran
• The Met — Ceramic Technology in the Seljuq Period
• Encyclopaedia Iranica — Saljuqs: Literature