State · 1037 – 1194

Seljuk Empire

A state of 1037 – 1194 — 157 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It was followed by Ottoman dynasty and Nizari Ismaili state. The atlas records 45 things within it — wars and battles 13 · people 32. Its line of rulers holds 17 people, 14 with dated terms.

Held with the record of Seljuk dynasty, merged into this one.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 157 years; 1037 – 1194
Rulers: 17; the Sultan of the Seljuq Empire
Most ground: 4.14 million km²; in 1085
Within it: 45; recorded rows
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Seljuk Empire in 1085, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Seljuk Empire in 1085, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 4.14 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Seljuk Empire in 1034, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Seljuk Empire in 1085, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

After it

Ottoman dynasty · followed by · 1299
Nizari Ismaili state · followed by · 1090 – 1256

Rulers

The line of Sultan of the Seljuq Empire.

killed, executed or dead in battledeposed, abdicated, exiled or removeddied in officeleft alive by a regular roada second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Tughril I	1037 – 1063	26 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Alp Arslan	1063 – 1072	9 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	nephew or niece
Malik-Shah I	1072 – 1092	20 years	killedWikidata's manner of death	child
Mahmud I	1092 – 1094	2 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	child
Berkyaruq	1092 – 1104	12 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death	sibling
Malik-Shah II	1105 – 1105	under a year	deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Muhammad I Tapar	1105 – 1118	13 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Mahmud II	1118 – 1131	13 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Dawud	1131 – 1132	1 year	deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud	1131 – 1132	1 year	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Tughril II	1132 – 1134	2 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud	1133 – 1152	19 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Malik-Shah III	1152 – 1153	1 year	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	nephew or niece
Tughril III	1175 – 1176	1 year	left office aliveread off the dates alone
Saladin	1185 – 1193	8 years	died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death

17 rulers, 14 with terms dated as terms, covering 1037 – 1193. Median reign 8 years. 7 of 14 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

822,000 km² in 1037, 989,000 km² in 1194; at its largest 4.14 million km² in 1087. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedFlag of Seljuk Empire (16 Great Turkic Empires) 2 · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1000 – 109921 rows · 6 wars and battles

Omar Khayyam · scientist · 1048 – 1131
Al-Ghazali · philosopher · 1056 – 1111
First Crusade · war · 1096 – 1099
Alp Arslan · ruler · 1029 – 1072
Malik-Shah I · ruler · 1055 – 1092
Baldwin I of Jerusalem · politician · 1060 – 1118
Imad al-Din Zengi · commander · 1087 – 1146
Ahmad Sanjar · ruler · 1084 – 1157

and 13 more in the atlas.

1100 – 119923 rows · 7 wars and battles

Saladin · ruler · 1138 – 1193
Saadi Shirazi · writer · 1184 – 1292
Nur al-Din Zengi · commander · 1118 – 1174
Battle of Harran · battle · 1104
Shirkuh · commander · 1110 – 1169
Imad al-Din al-Isfahani · writer · 1125 – 1201
Mahmud II · ruler · 1104 – 1131
Ibn Asakir · philosopher · 1105 – 1176

and 15 more in the atlas.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood157 years
stood longer than 56% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held4,141,600 km²
held more ground at its peak than 97% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century1.3
had more wars on record per century than 96% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median8 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 29% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record17
has more rulers on record than 90% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 1 cause the record names and 3 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 2 have every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Dynastic cycle and the decay of group feeling
Ibn Khaldun 1377 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: the condition it names held here, and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- the state 90 to 160 years old — ageBand 157
Challenge, failed response and dissolution
Toynbee 1934 · Toynbee & Somervell 1946
Applies by its own logic: 2 of its 2 conditions held here (it needs all of them), and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — the state's ending.
- territory shrank by 25% over the 100 y ending 25 y before — territory -33
- unrest, adverse regime change or atrocity within 100 y in the state, or a war the state is fighting, still under way, or a war the state fought, ended within 50 y, or battle within 50 y in the state — prior

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1021 – 1210, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1085, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q3708094 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.