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This course will study the vibrant world of the Seljuks, an Islamic empire that flourished between 1037 and 1157 AD, from Khorasan across Baghdad to Hijaz and Anatolia. As an exploration in intellectual history, we will attempt to understand the social world of the Seljuk Turks through political, religious, and literary texts. We will first read a political treatise, Siyasatnama (The Book of Government), written by Nizam al-Mulk (1018-1092), the formidable minister of the Seljuk Empire, who oversaw the reign of three successive sultans during the second half of the eleventh century and created a strong bureaucratic state for the Seljuks. During his administration, he commissioned the development of madrasas, colleges dedicated to the teaching of Islamic law, theology, literature, and history. The most famous of these madrasas was the Baghdad Nizamiyya where Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) taught from 1190 and 1194. We will read Al-Ghazali’s Deliverance from Error in order to explore the state of religious learning at the peak of the Islamic Golden Age. Having discussed the political and religious foundations of Islamic orthodoxy in the eleventh century, next we turn to the rise of heterodox movements that challenged the authority of the Seljuk state. We will briefly examine the history of the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam, focusing on the politico-religious ideas of its most potent representative, Hassan-i Sabbah (1050s-1124). Finally, we will end our class with the Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), the prominent poet and polymath of the eleventh century.