Description
In 1071, the new Byzantine Emperor Romanos Diogenes—full of hubris and irrational confidence—violated a peace treaty to make war on the Seljuk Turks, who had been making inroads in Anatolia. An inept commander, he pursued the retreating Turkish army too far away from his base camp—a tactical blunder of historic proportions—and wound up getting routed near a provincial town called Manzikert. As a result, the Seljuks conquered much of Anatolia. They named this new territory Rûm, for Rome. Not long after, the Seljuks took Jerusalem, a conquest that inspired Pope Urban II to call for the First Crusade. The Sultanate of Rûm endured until the early 14th century. This silver dirham, issued from 1219-83, is larger than contemporary Crusader coins, and more intricate in its design.
