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Seljuk Iqta Land Grants

Type Object Region Persia Time c. 1000–1200

Iqta (iqṭāʿ) was a fief-granting system in the Islamic world exchanging land revenue for military service and administrative duties;…

Timeline

  1. c. 960–1040Ghazni–Khwarazm frontier · KhwarazmIn the Ghaznavid and early Turkic polities, fief practices exchanging tax-yielding parcels for cavalry service had already emerged, providing an institutional precedent for the Seljuks' large-scale iqta grants.
  2. 1055–1060Baghdad · MesopotamiaAfter Tughril took Baghdad, the center granted iqta to favorites and corps commanders, linking military obligations to local taxes, forming a rotatable, non-hereditary fief network; this node falls within the 1051–1060 window.
  3. c. 1063–1072Anatolian frontier · AnatoliaUnder Alp Arslan, iqta extended into newly conquered areas, using fiefs to support frontier garrisons and sustain offensives against the Byzantines and Asia Minor, deepening military-fiscal integration.
  4. c. 1100–1200Persia and Mesopotamia · PersiaAfter the empire fragmented, iqta gradually localized and became de facto hereditary; fief holders' power expanded, central control over corps and taxes weakened, and the institution entered a period of transformation.

Sources