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Ahmad Sanjar

Type Figure Region Khorasan Time 1085–1157 Also known as Sultan Sanjar、Mu'izz ad-Din Ahmad Sanjar

Last great Seljuk ruler, Ahmad Sanjar governed Khorasan from Merv, became Great Sultan in 1118, and remained a leading 12th-century Islamic monarch.

Timeline

  1. 1085–1097Sinjar · IraqSanjar was a son of Sultan Malik-Shah I. In his youth he was granted Khorasan and other lands, grew up around Sinjar, and received courtly military and administrative training, laying the foundation for his long guardianship of the east.
  2. 1097–1118Merv · KhorasanSanjar governed Khorasan from Merv. Between 1111 and 1120 he remained nominally subordinate to his brother Muhammad Tapar while in fact controlling the military administration and taxation of the east. He campaigned repeatedly against the Khwarazmshahs and nomadic border forces, consolidating defenses along the Amu Darya line.
  3. 1118–1157Merv · KhorasanAfter Muhammad Tapar's death in 1118, Sanjar became Great Sultan, nominally ruling Iraq, Persia, and Central Asia. The empire remained strong early in his reign, but later suffered the Oghuz rebellion and Ghurid invasion; after Merv fell in 1153 he was imprisoned, and his death in 1157 marked the decline of Seljuk hegemony.

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