page_title: Lake Van
section_title: Seljuk Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Van / History / Seljuk Empire
caption_attribution_description: English: The 10th century Armenian monastery of Narekavank (now destroyed), Lake Van, Vaspurakan (modern Turkey).
context_page_description: Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey and the Armenian Highlands, lies in the far east of Turkey in the provinces of Van and Bitlis. It is a saline soda lake, receiving water from numerous small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. Lake Van is one of the world's largest endorheic lakes —a volcanic eruption blocked the original outlet from the basin in prehistoric times. Although Lake Van has an altitude of 1,640 m in a region with harsh winters, its high salinity prevents most of it from freezing, and even the shallow northern section freezes only rarely.
context_section_description: Alp Arslan divided the conquered eastern portions of the Byzantine empire among his Turcoman generals, with each ruled as a hereditary beylik, under overall sovereignty of the Seljuq Empire. Alp Arslan gave the region around Lake Van to his commander Sökmen el-Kutbî, who set up his capital at Ahlat on the western side of the lake. The dynasty of Shah-Armens, also known as Sökmenler, ruled this area from 1085 to 1192.
  The Ahlatshahs were succeeded by the Ayyubid dynasty.
caption: An early 20th century picture of the 10th century Armenian monastery of Narekavank, which once stood near the southeastern shore of the lake.
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