SÖKMENLİ HÂKİMİYETİNDE MUŞ’UN TARİHİ GELİŞİMİ (original) (raw)

Muş (an Eastern Anatolian city), had been under the domination of Sökmenid for approximately 110 years between 1100, its seizure by the Seljuk commander Sökmen, and 1208, its seizure by the Ayyūbid ruler Najm al-dīn. The city had been an important settlement for the Sökmenids. The city gained further importancenduring the reigns of the Sökmenid rulers Sökmen al-Kutbī, Zahīr al-dīn, Ahmed, II. Sökmen, Seyf al-dīn Bektemür, Bedre al-dīn Aksungur Muhammed and İzz al-dīn Balaban.Muş was an important city with regards to its religious, social, and military structures. As they had protected the structures that had been passed on to them, the Sökmenids had further improved the city by adding new ones. The Sökmen revived the city by reconstructing it after fully ensuring the protection and safety of the city. Following Sökmenid rulers continued this reconstruction turning this city to an important cultural and commercial center of the region. In this research study, our objective is to present the political, social, economic, cultural, and religious improvements of Muş city in the 12th century. The works and studies of Muslim historians such as İbn al-Azrak, İbn al-Athīr, İbn Sheddād, and Christian historians such as Mateos from Urfa, Assyrian Mihael, Abā al-Faraj, Muslim geographers such as Mukaddasī, Yākūt el-Hamavī, Hamdullah Mustevfī Kazvīnī, Ebū al-Fidā, wanderers such as Nāsır-ı Husrev, İbn Jubeyr, Marko Polo, Evliya Chelebi, modern historians such as Osman Turan, Claude Cahen, Guy Le Strange, Faruk Sümer, and Minutes of Excavation Results Meetings periodicallymheld by Ministry of Culture of Turkish Republic were all analyzed and information regarding our topic was held in the perspective of critical history methodology, thus the historical improvement of Muş under the reign of the Sökmenlis will be presented. It is not possible to mention what kinds of findings we will find out; however, it will be wrong to estimate finding results different from the improvement of the cities in its environ. I would like to mention that this paper of mine will be supplementary to my studies on Meyyāfārikīn and Hısn Kayfā, which were the capital cities of the Artuqids.