The Idea of Iran: The Age of the Great Saljuqs

About This Conference

The ninth programme in our ‘The Idea of Iran’ series will focus on the age of the Great Saljuqs (11th and 12th centuries CE). The new Turko-Persian symbiosis that had emerged under the Samanids, Ghaznavids and Qara-Khanids came to fruition in a period that combined imperial grandeur with extraordinary artistic achievement. Under the Saljuqs a system of government based on Turkish ‘men of the sword’ and Persian ‘men of the pen’ was consolidated and subsequently endured for centuries. The same era witnessed major developments also in religious institutions and ideas. With Saljuq support sunni orthodoxy was reinforced, and in Shi’ism, the same period saw the high point of Isma’ilism, with the Fatimid caliphate dominating the western Dar al-Islam. The Saljuq Age presents us with a wealth of themes to explore and unanswered questions to debate in the 2012 ‘Idea of Iran’ symposium.