Zengid dynasty
Zengid State الدولة الزنكية | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1127–1250 | |||||||||||||||||||
The Zengid state under Imad al-Din in 1145, and expansion under Nur al-Din in 1174 CE. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Atabegate of the Seljuk Empire (1127–1194) Emirate (1194–1250)
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Mosul (until 1154) Damascus (from 1154) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Arabic | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Arabic (majority, administrative, literary, numismatics) Syriac (Christian populations) Oghuz Turkic(nomads, military elite, rulers). | ||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam (majority) Shia Islam (minority) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sultan | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1118–1157 | Ahmad Sanjar | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1176–1194 | Toghrul III | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emir | |||||||||||||||||||
• 1127–1146 | Imad ad-Din Zengi (first) | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1241–1250 | Mahmud Al-Malik Al-Zahir (last reported) | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1127 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1250 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Dinar | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The Zengid dynasty was a Turkoman Sunni Muslim dynasty in the Middle East. Initially an Atabegate of the Seljuk Empire created in 1127, it ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, and eventually seized control of Fatimid Egypt in 1169. Imad ad-Din Zengi was the first ruler of the dynasty. In 1174, the Zengid state extended from Tripoli to Hamadan and from Yemen to Sivas, as it also included the Egyptian territories held by Saladin as governor in the name of Nur al-Din Zengi.
The Zengid Atabegate became famous in the Islamic world for its successes against the Crusaders, and for being the Atabegate from which Saladin originated. Following the demise of the Seljuk dynasty in 1194, the Zengids persisted for several decades as one of the "Seljuk successor-states" until 1250.