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Seljuk sultans, the Assassins of Alamut, and the Mongol storm that remade Iran.

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Seljuks, Mongols & Ilkhanate · 1040-1370 AD
Turks & Mongols

Seljuks, Mongols & the Ilkhanate

From the Turkish Seljuks and the Persian statecraft of Nizam al-Mulk through the Assassins of Alamut and the poetry of Omar Khayyam, to the cataclysm of the Mongol invasion, the sack of Baghdad, and the Persianized Mongol Ilkhanate that rose from the ruins. Slide across the centuries to read the major events of Iran under Turk and Mongol.

1040 AD
The Great Seljuks
1 / 9

The Seljuks win at Dandanaqan

The Turkish Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids at Dandanaqan and become masters of Khurasan and Iran.

1040 AD

The Great Seljuks
  • Military

    The Seljuks win at Dandanaqan

    The Turkish Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids at Dandanaqan and become masters of Khurasan and Iran.

9 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1040 AD

Full Chronicle

Seljuks, Mongols & the Ilkhanate

From the Turkish Seljuks and the Persian statecraft of Nizam al-Mulk through the Assassins of Alamut and the poetry of Omar Khayyam, to the cataclysm of the Mongol invasion, the sack of Baghdad, and the Persianized Mongol Ilkhanate that rose from the ruins. Slide across the centuries to read the major events of Iran under Turk and Mongol.

  1. The Great Seljuks

    • The Seljuks win at Dandanaqan

      The Turkish Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids at Dandanaqan and become masters of Khurasan and Iran.

  2. The Great Seljuks

    • Nizam al-Mulk and the Persian order

      The Persian vizier Nizam al-Mulk governs the Seljuk Empire, founds the Nizamiyya colleges, and writes his manual of statecraft.

  3. The Great Seljuks

    • Manzikert opens Anatolia

      Alp Arslan crushes the Byzantine army at Manzikert, opening Anatolia to Turkish settlement.

  4. The Assassins

    • Hassan-i Sabbah seizes Alamut

      The Ismaili leader Hassan-i Sabbah takes the mountain fortress of Alamut and founds the order of the Nizari 'Assassins.'

  5. The Persian Renaissance

    • Omar Khayyam, poet and astronomer

      The polymath Omar Khayyam, famed for his quatrains and his solar calendar, dies at Nishapur.

  6. The Mongol Storm

    • Genghis Khan invades Iran

      The Mongols under Genghis Khan pour into the Khwarazmian Empire, unleashing devastation on the cities of Iran.

  7. The Ilkhanate

    • Hulagu founds the Ilkhanate

      Genghis Khan's grandson Hulagu destroys the Assassins of Alamut, sacks Baghdad in 1258, and founds a Mongol realm in Iran.

  8. The Ilkhanate

    • Ghazan Khan converts to Islam

      The Ilkhan Ghazan adopts Islam and, with his vizier Rashid al-Din, reforms the state and sponsors a great flowering of art.

  9. Fragmentation

    • The collapse of the Ilkhanate

      With the death of Abu Sa'id and no clear heir, the Ilkhanate dissolves into rival successor states.