ABSTRACT
In the eleventh century the Seljuqs, a Turkic dynasty of nomadic origin, conquered large areas of the eastern Islamic world, parts of central Asia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, as well as new lands in Anatolia. The Seljuq rulers quickly presented themselves as upholders of Sunni Islam. Their empire remained broadly unified until 1118; thereafter, centrifugal forces inher ent in the nomadic heritage of the Seljuqs fragmented their polity. Seljuq history is interwoven with the history of several other empires and dynas ties - Byzantium, Seljuq successor states in Syria such as the Zengids and Ayyubids, the Anatolian Turcoman dynasties, the Fatimids of Egypt who were the main opponents of the Seljuqs in the eleventh century, the Crusader states, and other groups in central Asia. In Anatolia the Seljuqs formed part of the mosaic of Turcoman dynasties vying for power on the eastern Byzantine borders and they interacted with Byzantium from the eleventh to the early fourteenth century. Given the time span of Seljuq power and their vast empire, it is not surprising that their history should have been written from a number of perspectives in widely varying terri tories.
