ABSTRACT
In the mid-thirteenth century Simon of St Quentin asserts that there were a hundred towns in the Seljukid state, and Ibn Sa'īd says that there were twenty-four metropolitan centres, each provided according to regulations with its governor, qāḍī, mosque, baths and textile merchants. The towns were inhabited by elements of the diverse peoples of Asia Minor. It is reported that at Antalya the Greeks, Jews and Turks each inhabited their own quarter, but the fact that this is reported suggests that it was not the case elsewhere; in fact although an 'Armenian tavern' is mentioned once at Konya, there is no impression of any segregation. The organization of trades and professions in Asia Minor touches on a problem of wider territorial range. Both in Byzantium and in the later Roman Empire to which it succeeded, there was a state organization of occupations in the sense that they were distinguished from one another.
