# Sultanate of Rum

The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim state, established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples (Rum) of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The name Rum was a synonym for the medieval Eastern Roman Empire and its peoples, as it remains in modern Turkish. The name is derived from the Aramaic (romī) and Parthian (frwm) names for ancient Rome, via the Greek Ῥωμαῖοι (Romaioi).
The Sultanate of Rum seceded from the Seljuk Empire under Suleiman ibn Qutalmish in 1077. It had its capital first at Nicaea and then at Iconium. It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. In the east, the sultanate reached Lake Van. Trade through Anatolia from Iran and Central Asia was developed by a system of caravanserai. Especially strong trade ties with the Genoese formed during this period. The increased wealth allowed the sultanate to absorb other Turkish states that had been established following the conquest of Byzantine Anatolia: Danishmendids, House of Mengüjek, Saltukids, Artuqids.
The Seljuk sultans bore the brunt of the Crusades and eventually succumbed to the Mongol invasion at the 1243 Battle of Köse Dağ. For the remainder of the 13th century, the Seljuks acted as vassals of the Ilkhanate. Their power disintegrated during the second half of the 13th century. The last of the Seljuk vassal sultans of the Ilkhanate, Mesud II, was murdered in 1308. The dissolution of the Seljuk state left behind many small Anatolian beyliks (Turkish principalities), among them that of the Ottoman dynasty, which eventually conquered the rest and reunited Anatolia to become the Ottoman Empire.

## Etymology

A few historians from Europe, looking at the Turkish fighting force they encountered in Anatolia during the First Crusade and the Turkmen groups they encountered, saw that Anatolia was now Turkish land and began to call these lands "Turkey".On the other hand, the term used by the entire Islamic world for Anatolia during this period was "Diyar-ı Rum"(Land of Roma) Therefore, the country was also called the Sultanate of Rum.

## History
### Establishment

Since the 1030s, migratory Turkish groups in search of pastureland had penetrated Byzantine borders into Anatolia. In the 1070s, after the battle of Manzikert, the Seljuk commander Suleiman ibn Qutulmish, a distant cousin of Alp Arslan and a former contender for the throne of the Seljuk Empire, came to power in western Anatolia. Between 1075 and 1081, he gained control of the Byzantine cities of Nicaea (present-day İznik) and briefly also Nicomedia (present-day İzmit). Around two years later, he established a principality that, while initially a Byzantine vassal state, became increasingly independent after six to ten years. Nevertheless, it seems that Suleiman was tasked by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos in 1085 to reconquer Antioch and the former travelled there on a secret route, presumably guided by the Byzantines.
Suleiman tried, unsuccessfully, to conquer Aleppo in 1086, and died in the Battle of Ain Salm, either fighting his enemies or by suicide. In the aftermath, Suleiman's son Kilij Arslan I was imprisoned and a general of his, Abu'l-Qasim, took power in Nicaea. Following the death of sultan Malik Shah in 1092, Kilij Arslan was released and established himself in his father's territories between 1092 and 1094, possibly with the approval of Malik Shah's son and successor Berkyaruq.

### Crusades

Kilij Arslan, although victorious against the People's Crusade of 1096, was defeated by soldiers of the First Crusade and driven back into south-central Anatolia, where he set up his state with its capital in Konya. He defeated three Crusade contingents in the Crusade of 1101. In 1107, he ventured east and captured Mosul but died the same year fighting Malik Shah's son, Mehmed Tapar. He was the first Muslim commander against the crusades.
Meanwhile, another Rum Seljuk, Malik Shah (not to be confused with the Seljuk sultan of the same name), captured Konya. In 1116 Kilij Arslan's son, Mesud I, took the city with the help of the Danishmends. Upon Mesud's death in 1156, the sultanate controlled nearly all of central Anatolia.
The Second Crusade was announced by Pope Eugene III, and was the first of the crusades to be led by European kings, namely Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, with help from a number of other European nobles. The armies of the two kings marched separately across Europe. After crossing Byzantine territory into Anatolia, both armies were separately defeated by the Seljuk Turks. The main Western Christian source, Odo of Deuil, and Syriac Christian sources claim that the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos secretly hindered the crusaders' progress, particularly in Anatolia, where he is alleged to have deliberately ordered Turks to attack them. However, this alleged sabotage of the Crusade by the Byzantines was likely fabricated by Odo, who saw the Empire as an obstacle, and moreover Emperor Manuel had no political reason to do so. Louis and Conrad and the remnants of their armies reached Jerusalem and participated in 1148 in an ill-advised attack on Damascus, which ended in their retreat. In the end, the crusade in the east was a failure for the crusaders and a victory for the Muslims. It would ultimately have a key influence on the fall of Jerusalem and give rise to the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.
Mesud's son, Kilij Arslan II, is the first known Seljuk ruler who is known to have used the title of sultan and captured the remaining territories around Sivas and Malatya from the last of the Danishmends. At the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kilij Arslan II also defeated a Byzantine army led by Manuel I Komnenos. Despite a temporary occupation of Konya in 1190 by the Holy Roman Empire's forces of the Third Crusade, the sultanate was quick to recover and consolidate its power. During the last years of Kilij Arslan II's reign, the sultanate experienced a civil war with Kaykhusraw I fighting to retain control and losing to his brother Suleiman II in 1196.
Following Kilij Arslan II's death, the sultanate was divided amongst his sons. Elbistan was given to Tughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II, but when Erzurum was taken from the Saltukids at the start of the thirteenth century, he was installed there. Tughril governed Erzurum from 1192 to 1221. During 1211–1212, he broke free from the Seljuk state. In 1230, Jahan Shah bin Tughril who was allied to the Khwarazmshah Jalal al-Din, lost the Battle of Yassıçemen, allowing for Erzurum to be annexed by the Seljuk sultanate.
Suleiman II rallied his vassal emirs and marched against Georgia, with an army of 150,000–400,000 and encamped in the Basiani valley. Tamar of Georgia quickly marshaled an army throughout her possessions and put it under command of her consort, David Soslan. Georgian troops under David Soslan made a sudden advance into Basiani and assailed the enemy's camp in 1203 or 1204. In a pitched battle, the Seljukid forces managed to roll back several attacks of the Georgians but were eventually overwhelmed and defeated. Loss of the sultan's banner to the Georgians resulted in a panic within the Seljuk ranks. Süleymanshah himself was wounded and withdrew to Erzurum. Both the Rum Seljuk and Georgian armies suffered heavy casualties, but coordinated flanking attacks won the battle for the Georgians.
Suleiman II died in 1204 and was succeeded by his son Kilij Arslan III, whose reign was unpopular. Kaykhusraw I seized Konya in 1205 reestablishing his reign. Under his rule and those of his two successors, Kaykaus I and Kayqubad I, Seljuk power in Anatolia reached its apogee. Kaykhusraw's most important achievement was the capture of the harbour of Attalia (Antalya) on the Mediterranean coast in 1207. His son Kaykaus captured Sinop and made the Empire of Trebizond his vassal in 1214. He also subjugated Cilician Armenia but in 1218 was forced to surrender the city of Aleppo, acquired from al-Kamil. Kayqubad continued to acquire lands along the Mediterranean coast from 1221 to 1225.
In the 1220s, he sent an expeditionary force across the Black Sea to Crimea. In the east he defeated the Mengujekids and began to put pressure on the Artuqids.

### Mongol conquest

Kaykhusraw II (1237–1246) began his reign by capturing the region around Diyarbakır, but in 1239 he had to face an uprising led by a popular preacher named Baba Ishak. After three years, when he had finally quelled the revolt, the Crimean foothold was lost and the state and the sultanate's army had weakened. It is in these conditions that he had to face a far more dangerous threat, that of the expanding Mongols. The forces of the Mongol Empire took Erzurum in 1242 and in 1243, the sultan was crushed by Baiju in the Battle of Köse Dağ (a mountain between the cities of Sivas and Erzincan), resulting in the Seljuk Turks being forced to swear allegiance to the Mongols and became their vassals. The sultan himself had fled to Antalya after the battle, where he died in 1246; his death started a period of tripartite, and then dual, rule that lasted until 1260.
The Seljuk realm was divided among Kaykhusraw's three sons. The eldest, Kaykaus II (1246–1260), assumed the rule in the area west of the river Kızılırmak. His younger brothers, Kilij Arslan IV (1248–1265) and Kayqubad II (1249–1257), were set to rule the regions east of the river under Mongol administration. In October 1256, Bayju defeated Kaykaus II near Aksaray and all of Anatolia became officially subject to Möngke Khan. In 1260 Kaykaus II fled from Konya to Crimea where he died in 1279. Kilij Arslan IV was executed in 1265, and Kaykhusraw III (1265–1284) became the nominal ruler of all of Anatolia, with the tangible power exercised either by the Mongols or the sultan's influential regents.
The Seljuk state had started to split into small emirates (beyliks) that increasingly distanced themselves from both Mongol and Seljuk control. In 1277, responding to a call from Anatolia, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars raided Anatolia and defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Elbistan, temporarily replacing them as the administrator of the Seljuk realm. But since the native forces who had called him to Anatolia did not manifest themselves for the defense of the land, he had to return to his home base in Egypt, and the Mongol administration was re-assumed, officially and severely. Also, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia captured the Mediterranean coast from Selinos to Seleucia, as well as the cities of Marash and Behisni, from the Seljuk in the 1240s.
Near the end of his reign, Kaykhusraw III could claim direct sovereignty only over lands around Konya. Some of the beyliks (including the early Ottoman state) and Seljuk governors of Anatolia continued to recognize, albeit nominally, the supremacy of the sultan in Konya, delivering the khutbah in the name of the sultans in Konya in recognition of their sovereignty, and the sultans continued to call themselves Fahreddin, the Pride of Islam. When Kaykhusraw III was executed in 1284, the Seljuk dynasty suffered another blow from internal struggles which lasted until 1303 when the son of Kaykaus II, Mesud II, established himself as sultan in Kayseri. He was murdered in 1308 and his son Mesud III soon afterwards. A distant relative to the Seljuk dynasty momentarily installed himself as emir of Konya, but he was defeated and his lands conquered by the Karamanids in 1328. The sultanate's monetary sphere of influence lasted slightly longer and coins of Seljuk mint, generally considered to be of reliable value, continued to be used throughout the 14th century, once again, including by the Ottomans.
The comparative genealogy of the Sultanate of Rûm with their contemporary neighbors in Central Asia :
Tuqaq Temur Beg Commander-in-chief of the Oghuz armyMa'munid rulers in Chorasmia (r. 995–1117)
Seljuk Beg The founder of Seljuk dynastyAltun Tash (1017–1032)
Arslan Yabgu Chief of Seljuk dynastyMikail ibn SeljukThe mother of Toghrul I, Chaghri, Ibrahim & ArtashYûsuf InalYûnusMûsâ(İnanç)YabguHarun (r. 1032–1035)Ismail Khandan (r. 1035–1041)
Rasūl TagīnQutalmish Father of the founder of Anatolian Seljuk SultanateToghrul Beg First sultan of the Seljuks (r. 1037–1063)Chaghri Beg Co-ruler of the Seljuk dynastyIbrahim InalArtash InalAbu Ali Hasan YabguYûsuf, Kara Arslan, Abu Bakr, Umar, Bori & DawlatshahShah Malik (r. 1041–1042)
MānsūrSuleyman I Shah of Rûm (r. 1077–1086)Alp Ilig and DawlatSuleiman (r. 1063)Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072)Kavurt Beg (r. 1048–1073) Kirman SeljuksSeljuk rule in Khwarazm (r. 1042–1077)
Abu'l-Qasim (İznik) (r. 1086–1092)Abu'l Ghazi Hasan Bey (Kayseri)Malik-Shah I (r. 1072–1092)Kīrmān Shah (r. 1073–1074)Sultan Shah (r. 1074–1085)Turan I Shah (r. 1085–1097)Anūsh Tekīn (r. 1077–1097)
Ayisha Khātun (r. in Malatya)Kilij Arslan I (r. 1092–1107)Kulan Arslan (Dāvûd)Mahmud I (r. 1092–1094)Barkiyaruq (r. 1092–1104)Arslan Shah I (r. 1101–1142)Muhammad I Mālīk Shah (r. 1142–1156)Îrânshah (r. 1097–1101)Ekinchi (r. 1097)
Toghrul Arslan (r. 1107–1124)Malīk Shah of Rûm (r. 1110–1116)Muhammad I Tapar (r. 1105–1118)Malik-Shah II (r. 1104–1105)Toghrul Shah (r. 1156–1170)Bahrām Shah (r. 1170–1175) Arslan II Shah (r. 1170–1177)Turan II Shah (r. 1177–1183) Muhammad II (r. 1183–1187)Qutbū'd-Dīn Muhammad (r. 1097–1127)
Gündüz AlpRukn ad-Dīn Mas'ūd I (r. 1116–1156)Malīk Arab (r. 1116–1127) in AnkaraAhmad Sanjar (r. 1118–1153) Last Sultan of The Great SeljukMahmud II (r. 1118–1131) First sultan of The Iraqi SeljuksToghrul II (r. 1132–1134) Masud (r. 1134–1152)Suleiman-Shah (r. 1159–1160)Qizil Arslan (r. 1191) de facto ruler of Toghrul III Atabeg of the EldiguzidsʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Ātsız (r. 1127–1156)
Danismendli Grooms Yağıbasan (Sivas) & ZūnNūn (Kayseri)ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslan II (r. 1156–1192)Malīk Shāhīn Shāh (Ankara, Çankırı, Kastamonu); DaulatDawud (r. 1131–1132)Malik-Shah III (r. 1152–1153) Muhammad II (r. 1153–1159)Arslan-Shah (r. 1160–1177)Toghrul III (r. 1177–1191, 1192–1194) Last sultanTerken KhatunTāj ad-Dīn İl-Arslan (r. 1156–1172)
Rukn ad-Dīn Suleyman II Shah of Rûm (r. 1196–1204)The mothers of ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kay Kāwus I and Jalāl ad-Dīn Kay FarīdûnGhiyāth ad-Dīn Kay Khusraw I (r. 1192–1196) & (r. 1205–1211)Dawlat Raziya KhatunMalīka İsmetū'd-DīnGevher Nesibe SultanQutbū'd-Dīn Malīk Shāh (Sivas, Aksaray) Arslan Shāh (Niğde)Terken Khatun de facto ruler of MuhammadʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Takish (r. 1172–1200)Jalāl ad-Dīn Sultān Shāh (r. 1172–1193)
Kilij Arslan III (r. 1204–1205)ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kay Kāwus I (r. 1211–1220)Hunad-Māh Pari Khātun of Kir Fard of Alanya CastleʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Kay Qubād I (r. 1220–1237)Malīka Ādīla Ghāzīya Khātun of AyyubidsMuhyi'd-Dīn Masud Shāh (Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir)Nurū'd-[Dīn Mahmud Sultān Shāh (Kayseri)ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Muhammad (r. 1200–1220)Jalāl ad-Dīn Mangubardī (r. 1220–1231)
Jalāl ad-Dīn Kay Farīdûn (Koyulhisar)Sāhīp Shams ad-Dīn Īsfahānī (1246–1249)Bardūlīya Khātun (Prodoulia)Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Kay Khusraw II (r. 1237–1246)Gurju Khatun (Bagrationi dynasty of Georgians)Mu‘in ad-Dīn Suleyman (Parwāna)ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslan, Rukn ad-Dīn and two daughtersMugisū'd-Dīn Toghrul Shāh (Elbistan) Muizū'd-Dīn Kāysar Shāh (Malatya)Ögedei established the Mongol rule in Khwarezmia (r. 1229–1241)
Karîm ad-Dīn Karaman Bey (r. 1256–1263) (Karamanoğulları Anatolian Beylik)Unknown sonʿIzz ad-Dīn Kay Kāwus II (1246–1249) (r. 1249–1254) & (r. 1254–1262)Rukn ad-Dīn Kilij Arslan IV (r. 1249–1254) & (r. 1257–1262) & (1262–1266)ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Kay Qubād II (r. 1249–1254)Pervâneoğulları Anatolian Beylik (established in Sinop in 1277)Nizāmū'd-Dīn Argun Shāh (Amasya) Sanjar Shāh (Ereğli)Nasirū'd-Dīn Barkyāruk Shāh (Niksar, Koyulhisar) Möngke appointed Hulagu, the son of Tolui, as Il khan of the Mongol Empire in 1253
Karamanoğlu Shams ad-Dīn Mehmed Bey (Grand Vizier of ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Sīyāvuş)ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Sīyāvuş (15 May 1277 – 20 June 1277) or (24 April 1279 – 30 May 1279)Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Mas'ūd II (r. 1282–1284) & (r. 1284–1296)FarāmurzGhiyāth ad-Dīn Kay Khusraw III (r. 1266–1282) & (r. 1282–1284)Mu‘in ad-Dīn Mehmed (r. 1277–1297)Mū'hazzab ūd-Dīn AliKubilai endorsed Abaqa, the son of Hulagu, as Il-Khan in 1270 (r. 1265–1282)Ahmad Tagüdar (r. 1282–1284)
Uç Beylik of Osman establishedʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn Kay Qubād III (r. 1298–1302)Mū'hazzab ūd-Dīn Masūd (r. 1297–1300)TaraqayArghun (r. 1284–1291)Gaykhatu (r. 1291–1295)
Osman of Ottomans (r. 1299–1323/4)Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Mas'ūd II (r. 1303–1308)Gazi Chelebi (r. 1300–1322)Baydu (r. 1295)Ghazan (r. 1295–1304)Öljaitü (r. 1304–1316)
The list of important historical events
Chaghri Beg defeated Shah-Malik ibn Ali in Makran in 1042 and ended Ghaznevid rule in Khwarazm
Establishment
Alp Arslan defeated Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes in the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071
The First Crusade
Crusade of 1101
Second Crusade
ʿIzz ad-Dīn Kilij Arslān defeated Manuel I Komnenos in the Battle of Myriokephalon
Third Crusade
Ala ad-Din Tekish-Khwarazmshah ended The Great Seljuk Empire in Ray, Khorasan in 1194
Zenith of Anatolian Seljuks
Kayqubad the Great defeated Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu in the Battle of Yassıçimen in 1230
Chormaqan defeated Mangubartī in the Battle of Indus on August 1231 and ended Khwarazmshahs
Babai Revolt
Baiju Noyan defeated Kay Khusraw II in the Battle of Kösedağ in 1243 and Anatolian Seljuks became a vassal state of Mongol Empire
Güyük designated Kilij Arslan IV the Sultan of Rum in 1248
Triple reign (1249–1254)
Hulagu captured Alamut in 1256
Anatolian Seljuks were divided into two by a firman of Möngke Khan in 1258/1259
Ilkhanate gained independence from the Mongol Empire in 1295 after the demise of Kublai Khan on February 18, 1294
Ottoman State emerged in Söğüt, Bilecik in 1299
Disestablishment period of
The Anatolian Seljuks
Ilkhanate disintegrated after 1336 :

## Culture and society

The Seljuk dynasty of Rum, as successors to the Great Seljuks, based its political, religious and cultural heritage on the Turco-Persian tradition and Greco-Roman world, even to the point of naming their sons with New Persian names. The Seljuks of Rum had inherited the administrative method of Persian statecraft from the Seljuk Empire, which they would later pass on to the Ottomans.
As an expression of Turco-Persian culture, Rum Seljuks patronized Persian art, architecture, and literature. Unlike the Seljuk Empire, the Seljuk sultans of Rum had Persian names such as Kay Khosrow, Kay Kawad/Qobad, and Kay Kāvus. The bureaucrats and religious elite of their realm were generally Persian. In the 13th century, most Muslim inhabitants in major Anatolian urban hubs reportedly spoke Persian as their main language. It was in this century that the proneness of imitating Iran in terms of administration, religion and culture reached its zenith, encouraged by the major influx of Persian refugees fleeing Mongol invasions, who brought Persian culture with them and were instrumental in creating a "second Iran" in Anatolia. Iranian cultural, political, and literary traditions deeply influenced Anatolia in the early 13th century. The notable historian Ibn Bibi composed a six-volume Persian language poetic work called the Selçukname, modeled after the Shahnamah, which focused on the Seljuk sultans.
Despite their Turkic origins, the Seljuks used Persian for administrative purposes; even their histories, which replaced Arabic, were in Persian. Their usage of Turkish was hardly promoted at all. Even Sultan Kilij Arslan II, as a child, spoke to courtiers in Persian. Khanbaghi states the Anatolian Seljuks were even more Persianized than the Seljuks that ruled the Iranian plateau. Persian poetry was written by sultans Suleiman II, Kayqubad I, and Kaykhusraw II.
The Rahat al-sudur, the history of the Great Seljuk Empire and its breakup, written in Persian by Muhammad bin Ali Rawandi, was dedicated to Sultan Kaykhusraw I. Even the Tārikh-i Āl-i Saldjūq, an anonymous history of the Sultanate of Rum, was written in Persian. The sultans of Rum were largely not educated in Arabic. This clearly limited the Arab influence, or at least the direct influence, to a relatively small degree. In contrast, Persian literature and Iranian influence expanded because most sultans and even a significant portion of the townspeople knew the language.
One of its most famous Persian writers, Rumi, took his name from the name of the state. Moreover, Byzantine influence in the Sultanate was also significant, since Byzantine Greek aristocracy remained part of the Seljuk nobility, and the native Byzantine (Rûm) peasants remained numerous in the region. Based on their genealogy, it appears that the Seljuk sultans favored Christian slave-concubines, just like the early Ottoman sultans. Within the Seljuk harem, Greek women were the most dominant. Cultural Turkification in Anatolia first started during the 14th-century, particularly during the gradual rise of the Ottomans. With a population that included Byzantine Greeks, Armenians, Kurds, Turks, and Persians, the Seljuks were very successful between 1220 and 1250 and set the groundwork for later Islamization of Anatolia.

## Architecture

In their construction of caravanserais, madrasas and mosques, the Rum Seljuks translated the Iranian Seljuk architecture of bricks and plaster into the use of stone. Among these, the caravanserais (or hans), used as stops, trading posts and defense for caravans, and of which about a hundred structures were built during the Anatolian Seljuk period, are particularly remarkable. Along with Persian influences, which had an indisputable effect, Seljuk architecture was inspired by local Byzantine architects, for example in the Celestial Mosque in Sivas, and by Armenian architecture. Anatolian architecture represents some of the most distinctive and impressive constructions in the entire history of Islamic architecture. Later, this Anatolian architecture would be inherited by the Sultanate of India.
The largest caravanserai is the Sultan Han (built-in 1229) on the road between the cities of Konya and Aksaray, in the township of Sultanhanı, covering 3,900 m$^2$ (42,000 sq ft). Two caravanserais carry the name Sultan Han, the other one being between Kayseri and Sivas. Furthermore, apart from Sultanhanı, five other towns across Turkey owe their names to caravanserais built there. These are Alacahan in Kangal, Durağan, Hekimhan and Kadınhanı, as well as the township of Akhan within the Denizli metropolitan area. The caravanserai of Hekimhan is unique in having, underneath the usual inscription in Arabic with information relating to the tower, two further inscriptions in Armenian and Syriac, since it was constructed by the sultan Kayqubad I's doctor (hekim), who is thought to have been a Christian convert to Islam. There are other particular cases, like the settlement in Kalehisar contiguous to an ancient Hittite site near Alaca, founded by the Seljuk commander Hüsameddin Temurlu, who had taken refuge in the region after the defeat in the Battle of Köse Dağ and had founded a township comprising a castle, a madrasa, a habitation zone and a caravanserai, which were later abandoned apparently around the 16th century. All but the caravanserai, which remains undiscovered, was explored in the 1960s by the art historian Oktay Aslanapa, and the finds as well as several documents attest to the existence of a vivid settlement in the site, such as a 1463 Ottoman firman which instructs the headmaster of the madrasa to lodge not in the school but in the caravanserai.
The Seljuk palaces, as well as their armies, were staffed with ghilmān (Arabic: غِلْمَان), singular ghulam), slave-soldiers taken as children from non-Muslim communities, mainly Greeks from former Byzantine territories. The practice of keeping ghilmān may have offered a model for the later devşirme during the time of the Ottoman Empire.

## Numismatics

The earliest documented Rum Seljuq copper coins were made in the first part of the twelfth century in Konya and the eastern Anatolian emirates. Extensive numismatic evidence suggests that, starting in the middle of the thirteenth century and continuing until the end of the Seljuk dynasty, silver-producing mints and silver coinage flourished, particularly in central and eastern Anatolia.
Most of Kilij Arslan II's coins were minted in Konya between 1177–78 and 1195, with a small amount also occurring in Sivas, which the Rum Seljuks conquered from the Danishmendids. Sivas may have started minting coins in 1185–1186. The majority of Kılıj Arslan II's coins are silver dirhams; however, there are also a few dinars and one or two fulūs (small copper coins) issues. Following his death the sultanate was divided among his sons. Muhyiddin Mesut, son of Kilij Arslan II, minted coins in the northwesterly cities of Ankara, Çankırı, Eskişehir, and Kaztamunu from 1186 to 1200. Tughril ibn Kılıç Arslan II's reign in Erzurum, another son of Kilij Arslan II, minted silver dirhams in 1211–1212.
The sun-lion and the equestrian are the two central motifs in the Rum Seljuq numismatic figural repertoire. The image of a horseman with two more arrows ready and his bow taut represents strength and control and is a representation of the ideal Seljuq king of the Great Age. The image initially appeared on Rum Seljuq copper coins in the late eleventh century. The first to add equestrian iconography to silver and gold coins was Suleiman II of Rûm(r. 1196–1204). Antalya minted coins with Kaykaus I's name from November 1261 to November 1262. Between 1211 and 1219, the bulk of his coins are minted at Konya and Sivas.
A significant portion of the Islamic Near East may have experienced a "silver famine" owing to little, or very little, silver mintings from the eleventh and most of the twelfth centuries. However, at the start of the thirteenth century a "silver flood" occurred in Rum Seljuq territory when Anatolian silver mines were discovered. The fineness of Rum Seljuq dirhams is similar to that of dinars; frequently, both were struck using the same dies. The Seljuq silver coinage's superior quality and prominence contributed to the dynasty's affluence throughout the early part of the thirteenth century and explains why it served as a kind of anchor for the local "currency community." The Empire of Trebizond and Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia silver coins were modeled after the fineness and weight specifications of Rum Seljuq coins.

## Dynasty

Part of a series on the :
History of Turkey :
PrehistoryPrehistory of Anatolia
Palaeolithic Anatolia c. 500,000–  10,000 BC Mesolithic Anatolia c. 11,000–  9,000 BC Neolithic Anatolia c. 8,000–  5,500 BC :
Bronze AgeTroy 3000–700 BCHattians 2500–2000 BCAkkadian Empire 2400–2150 BCLuwians 2300–1400 BCAssyria 1950–1750 BCKussara 1780–1680 BCAchaeans (Homer) 1700–1300 BCKizzuwatna 1650–1450 BCHittites 1680–1220 BCArzawa 1500–1320 BCMitanni 1500–1300 BCHayasa-Azzi 1500–1290 BCLycia 1450–350 BCAssuwa 1300–1250 BCDiauehi 1200–800 BCNeo-Hittites 1200–800 BCPhrygia 1200–700 BCCaria 1150–547 BCTuwanuwa 1000–700 BCIonia 1000–545 BCUrartu 859–595/585 BC :
Iron AgeDiauehi 1200–800 BCNeo-Hittites 1200–800 BCPhrygia 1200–700 BCCaria 1150–547 BCDoris 1100–560 BCAeolis 1000–560 BCTuwanuwa 1000–700 BCIonia 1000–545 BCUrartu 859–595/585 BCMedian Empire 678–549 BCLydia 685–547 BC :
Classical AgeClassical AnatoliaClassical Thrace
Achaemenid Empire 559–331 BCKingdom of Alexander the Great 334–301 BCKingdom of Cappadocia 322–130 BCAntigonids 306–168 BCSeleucid Empire 305–64 BCPtolemaic Kingdom 305–30 BCKingdom of Pontus 302–64 BCBithynia 297–74 BCAttalid kingdom 282–129 BCGalatia 281–64 BCParthian Empire 247 BC–224 ADArmenian Empire 190 BC–428 ADRoman Republic 133–27 BCCommagene 163 BC–72 ADAncient Rome 133 BC-27 BC–330 ADSasanian Empire 224–651 AD (briefly in Anatolia) :
Medieval AgeMedieval Anatolia
Eastern Roman Empire (330–1453; 1204-1261 in exile as Empire of Nicaea)Rashidun Caliphate (637–656)Great Seljuk State (1037–1194)Danishmends (1071–1178)Sultanate of Rum (1077–1307)Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1078–1375)Anatolian beyliks (1081–1423)County of Edessa (1098–1150)Artuqids (1101–1409)Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461)Latin Empire (1204–1261)Karamanids (1250–1487)Ilkhanate (1256–1335)Kara Koyunlu (1375–1468)Ak Koyunlu (1378–1501) :
Ottoman EraPeriods of Ottoman Empire
Rise (1299–1453) Classical Age (1453–1566) Transformation (1566–1703) Old Regime (1703–1789) Decline and modernization (1789–1908) Defeat and dissolution (1908–1922) :
Republic of TurkeyPeriods of Turkey
War of Independence (1919–1922) Provisional government (1920–1923) One-party period (1923–1930) (1930–1945) Multi-party period (1945–present) :
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History of the Turkic peoples pre–14th century :
Court of Seljuk ruler Tughril III, circa 1200 CE. :
Turkic peoples Onogurs Oghuz Turks Saragurs Utigurs Bulgars Sabir Kutrigurs Karluks Kimek Kipchaks Cherniye Klobuki Uyghurs Tatars Kumyks Yakuts Dolgans Krymchaks Crimean Karaites :
Turkic Languages Turkish Azerbaijani Uzbek Kazakh Uyghur Turkmen Tatar Kyrgyz Bashkir Chuvash Qasgqai Karakalpak Sakha Kumyk Karachay-Balkar Tuvan Gagauz Karaim Krymchak :
Turkic Mythology Belief system: Tengrism and Shamanism Chief gods and goddesses: Kayra and Ülgen Epics and heroes: Ergenekon and Asena Major concepts: Sheka and Grey wolf :
Pre-14th century
Yenisei Kyrgyz People 202 BCE–13th CE
Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate
Dingling 71 BC–?? AD
Tiele (Gaoche)
Göktürks
First Turkic Khaganate 552–581
Western Turkic Khaganate 581–657
(Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis)
Eastern Turkic Khaganate 581–650
Second Turkic Khaganate 682–744
Sabiri People
Khazar Khaganate 618–1048
Xueyantuo 628–646
Kangar Union 659–750
Turk Shahi 665-850
Türgesh Khaganate 699–766
Kimek–Kipchak Confederation 743–1035
Uyghur Khaganate 744–840
Oghuz Yabgu State 750–1055
Karluk Yabgu State 756–940
Kara-Khanid Khanate 840–1212
Western Kara-Khanid
Eastern Kara-Khanid
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom 848–1036
Qocho 856–1335
Pecheneg Khanates 860–1091
Ghaznavid Empire 963–1186
Seljuk Empire 1037–1194
Sultanate of Rum
Cuman–Kipchak Confederation 1067–1239
Khwarazmian Empire 1077–1231
Kerait Khanate 11th century–13th century
Atabegs of Azerbaijan 1136–1225
Delhi Sultanate 1206–1526
Mamluk dynasty
Khalji dynasty
Tughlaq dynasty
Qarlughid Kingdom 1224–1266
Golden Horde 1242–1502
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) 1250–1517
Bahri dynasty
Ottoman State 1299–1922 :
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As regards with the names of the sultans, there are variants in form and spelling depending on the preferences displayed by one source or the other, either for fidelity in transliterating the Persian variant of the Arabic script which the sultans used, or for a rendering corresponding to the modern Turkish phonology and orthography. Some sultans had two names that they chose to use alternatively in reference to their legacy. While the two palaces built by Alaeddin Keykubad I carry the names Kubadabad Palace and Keykubadiye Palace, he named his mosque in Konya as Alâeddin Mosque and the port city of Alanya he had captured as "Alaiye". Similarly, the medrese built by Kaykhusraw I in Kayseri, within the complex (külliye) dedicated to his sister Gevher Nesibe, was named Gıyasiye Medrese, and the one built by Kaykaus I in Sivas as Izzediye Medrese.
| Sultan | Reign | Notes |
| 1. Qutalmish | 1060–1064 | Contended with Alp Arslan for succession to the Imperial Seljuk throne. |
| 2. Suleiman ibn Qutulmish | 1075–1077 de facto rules Turkmen around İznik and İzmit; 1077–1086 recognised Sultan of Rûm by Malik-Shah I of the Great Seljuks | Founder of Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate with capital in İznik |
| 3. Kilij Arslan I | 1092–1107 | First sultan in Konya |
| 4. Malik Shah | 1107–1116 | |
| 5. Masud I | 1116–1156 | |
| 6. 'Izz al-Din Kilij Arslan II | 1156–1192 | |
| 7. Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw I | 1192–1196 | First reign |
| 8. Rukn al-Din Suleiman II | 1196–1204 | |
| 9. Kilij Arslan III | 1204–1205 | |
| (7.) Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw I | 1205–1211 | Second reign |
| 10. 'Izz al-Din Kayka'us I | 1211–1220 | |
| 11. 'Ala al-Din Kayqubad I | 1220–1237 | |
| 12. Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw II | 1237–1246 | After his death, sultanate split until 1260 when Kilij Arslan IV remained the sole ruler |
| 13. 'Izz al-Din Kayka'us II | 1246–1262 | |
| 14. Rukn al-Din Kilij Arslan IV | 1249–1266 | |
| 15. 'Ala al-Din Kayqubad II | 1249–1254 | |
| 16. Giyath al-Din Kaykhusraw III | 1266–1284 | |
| 17. Giyath al-Din Masud II | 1282–1296 | First reign |
| 18. 'Ala al-Din Kayqubad III | 1298–1302 | |
| (17.) Giyath al-Din Masud II | 1303–1308 | Second reign |