Pre-Islamic Turkish elements in the art of the Seljuqid period (1040-1194)

This thesis attempts to examine and define the degree of influence which the Turks exerted on Islamic art of the Seljuqid period (1040--1194 AD) specifically, and on Islamic art of the medieval period generally. As this thesis represents a first investigation of the topic, it was necessary to retrace Turkish history from its beginnings to fully understand its dynamic, but also to analyze the art historical and cultural past of the Turkish peoples in order to assess the degree of probability of Turkish influence on Islamic art as well as the means of its penetration. The vaster arena of this research is the field of Central Asian history and the growing awareness of the important cultural ramifications of its widespread Indo-Buddhist culture.Due to the complexity of the thesis topic, a simple method has been followed to present the material. The thesis is divided into three chapters, each addressing a major issue. The first chapter introduces the four major Turkish steppe dynasties and their art in so far as archaeology permits. The second chapter deals with the process of Islamicization of the Turks, while the third chapter broaches the issue of Turkish influence on Islamic art of the Seljuqid period under four headings: architecture, architectural decoration, animal imagery, and figurative iconography. The basic premise of this paper is the assumption that, if the Turks played such a major role in the political developments of medieval dar al-islam, they must have also contributed, consciously or not, to the formation of medieval Islamic art