Seljuqs and Their Successors - Art, Culture and History

Renowned scholars present new thinking on art, sciences, belief and history in the Seljuq period

Rising from nomadic origins as Turkish tribesmen, the powerful and culturally prolific Seljuqs and their successors dominated vast lands extending from Central Asia to the eastern Mediterranean from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Enhanced by colour images, charts and maps, this volume examines how, under Seljuq rule, migrations of people and the exchange and synthesis of diverse traditions - including Turkmen, Perso-Arabo-Islamic, Byzantine, Armenian, Crusader and other Christian cultures - accompanied architectural patronage, advances in science and technology and a great flowering of culture within the realm.

The book also explores how shifting religious beliefs, ideologies of authority, and lifestyle in Seljuq times influenced cultural and artistic production, urban and rural architecture, monumental inscriptions and royal titulature together with practices of religion and magic. And it presents today's challenges and new approaches to preserving the material heritage of this vastly accomplished and influential civilisation.

Key Features
¿ Includes studies that focus on the full breadth of Seljuq art and history from the Great Seljuqs in Central Asia and Iran to their successor states in Anatolia, Syria and Iraq/the Jazira
¿ Opens new paths in the research on magic, religion, astronomy, the concept of craftsmanship versus artistry, interaction between rulers and elites, ethno-religious and ethno-cultural diversity and emigration of people
¿ Case studies on the treatment of iconic art objects (the oldest extant Shahnama and the iconic Stora stucco panel) show innovations in conservation practices and set new strategies in dealing with restored objects
¿ The first comprehensive comparison of Seljuq, Qarakhanid and Ghaznavid titulature is set to become a key tool for kingship-related research

Sheila R. Canby is Curator Emerita at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her publications include Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran (2009), The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp (2014) and (with Deniz Beyazit and Martina Rugiadi) Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs (2016). Deniz Beyazit is Associate Curator in the Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her publications include, as editor, At the Crossroads of Empires: 14th-15th Century Eastern Anatolia (2012).

Martina Rugiadi is Associate Curator in the Islamic Art Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

List of contents

Part I: Introduction

Chapter 1: Editors' Introduction Sheila Canby, Deniz Beyazit, Martina Rugiadi

Chapter 2: What is special about Seljuq history? Carole Hillenbrand

Chapter 3: Seljuq art: an overview, Robert Hillenbrand

Part II: Rulers and Cities

Chapter 4: Rum Seljuq Caravanserais: Urbs in Rure, Scott Redford

Part III: Faith, Religion and Architecture

Chapter 5: The Religious History of the Great Seljuq Period , Deborah Tor

Chapter 6: Domes in the Seljuq Architecture of Iran, Lorenz Korn

Chapter 7: The Politics of Patronage in Medieval Mosul: Nur al-Din, Badr al-Din, and the Question of the Sunni Revival, Yasser Tabbaa

Part IV: Identities: Rulers and Populace

Chapter 8: Ghaznavid, Qarakhanid and Seljuq monumental inscriptions and the development of royal propaganda: towards an epigraphic corpus, Roberta Giunta & Viola Allegranzi

Chapter 9: Inscribed Identities: Some Monumental Inscriptions in Eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus, Patricia Blessing

Chapter 10: Grasping the Magnitude: Saljuq Rum between Byzantium and Persia, Rustam Shukurov

Part V: Magic and the Cosmos

Chapter 11: A Seljuq occult manuscript and its world: MS Paris persan 174, Andrew Peacock

Chapter 12: Al-Khazini's Astronomy Under the Seljuqs: Inferential Observations (i¿tibar), Calendars and Instruments, George Saliba

Part VI: Objects and Material Culture

Chapter 13: Casting Shadows, Margaret Graves

Chapter 14: What's in a Name? Signature, Maker's Mark or Keeping Count: On Craft Practice at Rayy, Renata Holod

Chapter 15: Collaborative Investigations of a Monumental Seljuq Stucco Panel, Leslee Michelsen & Stefan Masarovic

Chapter 16: The Florence Shahnama between History and Science, Alessandro Sidoti & Mario Vitalone

About the author

Sheila R. Canby is Curator Emerita of the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is co-author with Deniz Beyazit and Martina Rugiadi of Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016), co-editor with Maryam Ekhtiar, Navina Najat Haidar, and Priscilla Soucek of Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011) and author of The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011 and 2014), Shah `Abbas: the Remaking of Iran, British Museum Press (2009), Shah `Abbas and the Treasures of Imperial Iran, British Museum Press (2009), Islamic Art in Detail, British Museum Press (2005), Persian Love Poetry, with Vesta Curtis, British Museum Press (2005), among numerous other books.Deniz Beyazit is Associate Curator in the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her publications include Le décor architectural des Artuqides de Mardin (2016), and as editor, At the Crossroads of Empires: 14th-15th Century Eastern Anatolia (2012).Martina Rugiadi is Associated Curator in the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and and co-director of the Towns of Karakum Archaeological Project. She is co-author with Sheila Canby and Martina Rugiadi of Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016).

Summary

Supported by colour images, charts, and maps, this volume examines how under Seljuq rule, migrations of people and the exchange and synthesis of diverse traditions accompanied architectural patronage, advances in science and technology and a great flowering of culture within the realm.

Product details

• Authors: Sheila Beyazit Canby, CANBY SHEILA
• Assisted by: Deniz Beyazit (Editor), Sheila Canby (Editor), Martina Rugiadi (Editor)
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2018
• EAN: 9781474450348
• ISBN: 978-1-4744-5034-8
• No. of pages: 360
• Series: Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art; Edinburgh Studies in Islamic A
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; Kunstgeschichte, Naher und Mittlerer Osten, Kunst, allgemein, ART / History / Medieval, Art & Art Instruction, ART / Middle Eastern, ART / Asian / General