Alp-Arslan

Alp-Arslan

(born c. 1030—died November? 1072/January 1073) Second sultan of the Seljuq dynasty, who added Georgia, Armenia, and much of Anatolia to his domains of Khorasan and western Iran. He preferred conquest to governing and left the administration of his empire to his famous vizier, Nizam al-Mulk. In 1071 his victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert opened the door for the eventual Turkish conquest of Anatolia. He died a year later when mortally wounded by a prisoner during a quarrel.