When did the Great Seljuk Empire exist?

The Great Seljuk Empire existed 1037–1194. On this map it is drawn 1040–1201.

What was the capital of the Great Seljuk Empire?

The Great Seljuk Empire was ruled from Nishapur (1037–1043), Ray (1043–1051), Isfahan (1051–1118), Merv (eastern, 1118–1153), Hamadan (western, 1118–1194).

Middle East · The early caliphates

Great Seljuk Empire

Empire · 1037–1194

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Type: Empire
Existed: 1037–1194
Shown on the map: 1040–1201
Capital: Nishapur (1037–1043), Ray (1043–1051), Isfahan (1051–1118), Merv (eastern, 1118–1153), Hamadan (western, 1118–1194)
Peak area: ~4,100,000 km² (map figure; Wikipedia estimates ~3,900,000 km² c. 1080)
Region: Middle East

Origins & rise

The Seljuks take their name from Seljuk, a chieftain of the Qiniq branch of the Oghuz (Turkmen) Turks, who led his clan from the steppes near the Aral Sea to the Syr Darya around Jend, where they converted to Sunni Islam in 985. Serving first in the frontier defenses of the Samanids and then the Ghaznavids, Seljuk's grandsons Tughril and Chaghri Beg led the Oghuz migration into Khorasan in the 1030s. In 1040 they crushed Sultan Mas'ud of Ghazna at the Battle of Dandanaqan, proclaiming themselves rulers of Khorasan — the birthdate (1037/1040) of the Great Seljuk Empire. Rolling westward, Tughril entered Baghdad in 1055, expelled the Shia Buyids, and was enthroned by the Abbasid caliph al-Qa'im as sultan and protector of the caliphate, hailed as restorer of Sunni unity.

History & key rulers

Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072) added Armenia and Georgia and won the epochal Battle of Manzikert (1071), capturing the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV and opening Anatolia to Turkmen settlement — arguably the most consequential victory in medieval Middle Eastern history. Under Malik-Shah I (r. 1072–1092) and his great Persian vizier Nizam al-Mulk, the empire reached its golden age, stretching from the borders of China to the Mediterranean; the caliph titled Malik-Shah "Sultan of the East and West" in 1087. But the deaths of Nizam al-Mulk (assassinated, likely by Nizari Ismailis) and Malik-Shah weeks apart in 1092 unleashed fratricidal civil wars among his sons Berkyaruq, Muhammad Tapar, Mahmud and Sanjar, fracturing the empire into appanages just as the First Crusade arrived (1096–1099). Ahmad Sanjar (r. 1118–1157) reunited the east, but his catastrophic defeat by the Qara-Khitai at Qatwan (1141) and his capture by rebellious Oghuz tribesmen in 1153 broke Seljuk power in Khorasan. The last sultan of the Iranian line, Tughril III, was defeated and killed by the Khwarazmshah Tekish in 1194.

Government, religion & culture

The Seljuks ruled as a "family federation": the paramount sultan assigned provinces as appanages to relatives and atabegs. Deeply Persianized, they adopted Persian as the language of court and administration, relied on Persian bureaucrats, and took Sasanian royal titles (Shahanshah, "Shahanshah of Islam"). Devout Hanafi Sunnis, they drove the "Sunni Revival," endowing the Nizamiyya madrasa network that standardized higher education across the Islamic world; Nizam al-Mulk's Siyasatnama became a classic of political theory. Seljuk architecture — the four-iwan mosque plan, monumental domes, muqarnas — transformed Islamic building from Isfahan to Anatolia.

Peak & territory

At its height under Malik-Shah (c. 1080–1090) the empire covered roughly 3.9–4.1 million km², from Anatolia and Syria through Iraq and Iran to the Hindu Kush and Central Asia, with the Kara-Khanids and Ghaznavids acknowledging its overlordship.

Decline & legacy

Destroyed in the east by Qara-Khitai and Oghuz revolts and supplanted in 1194 by the Khwarazmians, the Seljuks survived longest in their Anatolian offshoot, the Sultanate of Rum (to 1308), from whose beyliks the Ottomans would rise. Their enduring legacies are the Turkification of Anatolia, the institutional Sunni revival, and the Turco-Persian synthesis that defined Islamic high culture for centuries.

Common questions

What was the Great Seljuk Empire?: The Seljuks take their name from Seljuk, a chieftain of the Qiniq branch of the Oghuz (Turkmen) Turks, who led his clan from the steppes near the Aral Sea to the Syr Darya around Jend, where they converted to Sunni Islam in 985. Serving first in the frontier defenses of the Samanids and then the Ghaznavids, Seljuk's grandsons Tughril and Chaghri Beg led the Oghuz migration into Khorasan in the 1030s.
When did the Great Seljuk Empire exist?: The Great Seljuk Empire existed 1037–1194. On this map it is drawn 1040–1201.
What was the capital of the Great Seljuk Empire?: The Great Seljuk Empire was ruled from Nishapur (1037–1043), Ray (1043–1051), Isfahan (1051–1118), Merv (eastern, 1118–1153), Hamadan (western, 1118–1194).
How large was the Great Seljuk Empire at its height?: At its height under Malik-Shah (c. 1080–1090) the empire covered roughly 3.9–4.1 million km², from Anatolia and Syria through Iraq and Iran to the Hindu Kush and Central Asia, with the Kara-Khanids and Ghaznavids acknowledging its overlordship.
Who ruled the Great Seljuk Empire?: Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072) added Armenia and Georgia and won the epochal Battle of Manzikert (1071), capturing the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV and opening Anatolia to Turkmen settlement — arguably the most consequential victory in medieval Middle Eastern history.
How did the Great Seljuk Empire end?: Destroyed in the east by Qara-Khitai and Oghuz revolts and supplanted in 1194 by the Khwarazmians, the Seljuks survived longest in their Anatolian offshoot, the Sultanate of Rum (to 1308), from whose beyliks the Ottomans would rise. Their enduring legacies are the Turkification of Anatolia, the institutional Sunni revival, and the Turco-Persian synthesis that defined Islamic high culture for centuries.
How was the Great Seljuk Empire governed?: The Seljuks ruled as a "family federation": the paramount sultan assigned provinces as appanages to relatives and atabegs.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia, "Seljuk Empire" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seljuk_Empire
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Seljuq" www.britannica.com/topic/Seljuq

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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