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The Seljuks of Bagdad alone amounted to fifty thousand men; the Sultan of Syria contributed the warriors who had conquered the Arabian princes of Damascus and Aleppo; while the ancient provinces of Asia Minor, which formed the rich and powerful kingdom of Seljukian Roum, poured forth a myriad of that matchless cavalry, which had so often baffled the armies of the Cæsars.
To the east was the Seljukian principality of Caramania in the center of Asia Minor, and, when that was finally overthrown , Persia, whose hostility was inflamed by differences of sect. The conquest of the Greek Empire was achieved by Mohammed. For twenty-three years Scanderbeg, the intrepid Prince of Albania, repulsed all the attacks of the Moslems.
THE TURKISH EMIRS. In the eleventh century, the Seljukian Turks despoiled the Arabs of their sovereignty in the East. The caliph at Bagdad gave up all his temporal power to Togrul Bey , and retained simply the spiritual headship over orthodox Mussulmans. To the Turk who bore the title Emir al Omra, was given the military command. He was what the Mayor of the Palace had been among the Franks.
The miserable remnant of three thousand men who escaped from the field of blood before the city of the Seljukian sultan found a refuge in Byzantine territory about the time when the better appointed armies of the crusaders were setting off on their eastward journey.
The doomed horde rushed into the plain which fronts the city; and a vast heap of bones alone remained to tell the story of the great catastrophe, when the forces which might more legitimately claim the name of an army passed the spot where the Seljukian had entrapped and crushed his victims.
There is a certain remarkable parallel and contrast between the fortunes of these two races, the Seljukian and the Ottoman.
Mahmud the Gaznevide had declared himself in favor of the line of Abbas; and had treated with indignity the robe of honor which was presented by the Fatimite ambassador. Yet the ungrateful Hashemite had changed with the change of fortune; he applauded the victory of Zendecan, and named the Seljukian sultan his temporal vicegerent over the Moslem world.
Kilij Aslaun, the Sultan of Roum, and chief of the Seljukian Turks, whose deeds, surrounded by the false halo of romance, are familiar to the readers of Tasso, under the name of Soliman, marched to defend this city, but was defeated after several obstinate engagements, in which the Christians showed a degree of heroism that quite astonished him.
In the court of a mosque there was a lion in the round, a remarkable work by some Græco-Roman sculptor. There and in other towns of Asia Minor, lions from the Seljukian period are by no means rare, and even now they are made in considerable numbers.
It was sunset; the star of eve glittered over the white Ionian fane that rose serene and delicate in the flashing and purple sky. 'This way, my lord! said the merchant guide, turning round to Hassan Subah, who, surrounded by his officers, led the van. The whole of the great way of the city was filled with the Seljukian warriors.
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