or AXAN, the second sultan of the dynasty of Seljuk, in Persia, and great-grandson of Seljuk the founder of the dynasty. He was born in the year 1030, of the Hegira 421. In place of Israel, which was his original name, he assumed that of Mohammed when he embraced the Mussulman faith; and, on account of his military prowess, he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which in the Turkish language signifies a valiant lion. Having held the chief command in Khorassan for ten years as lieutenant of his uncle Togru Beg, he succeeded him in the year 1063, and, at the commencement of his reign, saw himself sole monarch of Persia, from the river Amu to the Tigris. When he assumed the reins of government, faction and open rebellion prevailed in his dominions; in subduing which he was ably assisted by Nadham al Molk, his vizier, one of the most distinguished characters of his time, whose prudence and integrity in the administration of the affairs of the kingdom proved of most essential service to this prince, and to his successor. Peace and security being established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states; and having declared his son Malek Shah his heir and successor, he exacted an oath of fidelity to him from the principal officers of the empire. With the hope of acquiring immense booty in the rich temple of St Basil in Cesarea, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates, and entered and plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which, in the year 1065, he finally conquered. In the former country the very name of a kingdom and the spirit of a nation were totally extinguished; but the native Georgians, who had retired to the woods and valleys of Mount Caucasus, made a more vigorous resistance. They too, however, overpowered by the arms of the sultan and his son Malek, were forced to submission, and reduced to slavery. To punish them for the brave defence which they had made, and as a badge of their humiliating condition, Alp Arslan obliged them to wear at their ears horse-shoes of iron. Some, to escape this mark of cruelty and ignominy, professed to embrace the religion of Mahomet.

In the year 1068 Alp Arslan invaded the Roman empire, the seat of which was then at Constantinople. Romanus Diogenes, the Greek emperor, assuming in person the command of his forces, met the invaders in Cilicia. In three several campaigns his arms were victorious; and the Turks were forced to retreat beyond the Euphrates. In the fourth he advanced with an army of 100,000 men into the Armenian territory, for the relief of that country. Here he was met by Alp Arslan, with 40,000 cavalry, or, according to some authors, a much smaller number; and the sultan having proposed terms of peace, which were insultingly rejected by the emperor, a bloody and decisive engagement took place, in which the Greeks, after a terrible slaughter, were totally routed. Romanus, deserted by the main body of his army, with unshaken courage kept his station, till he was recognised by a slave, taken prisoner, and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan. When the terms of his ransom were about to be settled, Romanus was asked by Alp Arslan what treatment he expected to receive. To this question the emperor, with seeming indifference, replied, "If you are cruel, you will take my life; if you follow the dictates of pride, you will drag me at your chariot wheels; if you consult your interest, you will accept a ransom, and restore me to my country." "But what," says the sultan, "would you have done in such circumstances?" "Had I been victorious," said the insolent Romanus, "I would have inflicted on thy body many stripes." The conqueror smiled at the Alphabet, fierce and unsubdued spirit of his captive; observed that the Christian precepts strongly inclined the love of enemies and the forgiveness of injuries; and, with a noble greatness of mind, declared that he would never imitate an example which he disapproved. A ransom of a million, an annual tribute of 3000 pieces of gold, an intermarriage between the families, and the deliverance of all the captive Musalmans in the power of the Greeks, were at last agreed to as the terms of peace and the liberty of the emperor. Romanus was now dismissed loaded with presents, and respectfully attended by a military guard. But the distracted state of his dominions, the consequence of a revolt of his subjects, precluded him from fulfilling the terms of the treaty, and remitting the stipulated price of his ransom. The sultan seemed disposed to favour and support the declining fortunes of his ally; but the defeat, imprisonment, and death of Romanus interrupted the accomplishment of his generous, or rather ambitious, design.

At this time the dominion of Alp Arslan extended over the fairest part of Asia: 1200 princes, or sons of princes, surrounded his throne; and 200,000 soldiers were ready to execute his commands. He now meditated a greater enterprise, and declared his purpose of attempting the conquest of Turkistan, the original seat of his ancestors. After great preparations for the expedition, he marched with a powerful army, and arrived at the banks of the Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety, it was necessary to gain possession of some fortresses in its vicinity, one of which was for several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yusuf Cothul, a Carizmian. He was, however, obliged to surrender, and was carried a prisoner before the sultan, who, enraged at his obstinacy and presumption, addressed him in very reproachful terms. Yusuf replied with so much spirit, that he roused the resentment of Alp Arslan, and was commanded instantly to be fastened by the hands and feet to four stakes, to suffer a painful and cruel death. Yusuf, on hearing this sentence, became furious and desperate; and drawing a dagger which he had concealed in his boots, rushed towards the throne to stab the sultan. The guards raised their battle-axes, and moved forward to defend their sovereign; but Alp Arslan, the most expert archer of his age, checking their zeal, forbade them to advance, and drew his bow: his foot slipped, and the arrow missed Yusuf, who rushed forward, and plunging his dagger in the breast of the sultan, was himself instantly cut in pieces. The wound proved mortal, and the sultan expired a few hours after he received it, in the year 1072.