Description: This volume brings together a set of key articles, along with a new introduction to contextualize them, on the role of Turkish peoples in the Western Asiatic world up to the 11th century. It covers the Inner Asian background for the appearance of Turks within the Islamic caliphate from the 9th century onwards, first as military slaves, then as movements of peoples, and the establishment of the Seljuq sultanate and individual military empires such as that of the Ghaznavids, which put in place a Turkish dominance of the northern tier of the Middle East which was to last for centuries.
Review Quotes: 'For students of the Seljuq period, this collection of scholarly papers is long overdue... This collection forms a solid bank of knowledge and support for any researcher into or student of the early history of the Turks and their contacts with the Islamic world... Though some of the papers date back decades their ideas have withstood subsequent scholarship and they are as relevant now as when they first appeared. This book will doubtless become a fixture and of any library, public or private, aspring to cover the history of the Turks.' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 'Preceding the sixteen papers reprinted (or translated, where necessary, into English) in this volume is a lucid introduction by Edmund Bosworth... Since the majority of the papers themselves, classics as they are, are some decades old, the frequent references made here to more recent scholarly literature are especially valuable. ... The volume is a welcome addition to a fine series, and constitutes a valuable guide to a range of scholarly literature on the subject.' Journal of Islamic Studies