ABSTRACT
The Saljuq empire may be divided into those areas that were adminis tered directly by the sultan and those that were governed indirectly. Direct administration o f cities and agricultural land was perhaps some thing that did not come altogether naturally to the Saljuqs, with their Central Asian nomadic background. Such areas as were ruled directly tended, for obvious reasons o f administrative convenience, to be concentrated near the various Saljuq capitals. The first capital was NIshapur, in the east. As Toghril Beg’s forces proceeded westwards, Nlshapur was replaced by Rayy, to the south o f modern Tehran. Later the main governmental centre was at Isfahan, though during Sanjar’s long reign in the twelfth century he made Marv, in the far east o f Khurasan, his capital.
