After the dissolution of this empire, many of the Turkish chiefs obtained other thrones, and more wealthy dominions. The family of Samance usurped the sovereign authority in Persia, which they held for 125 years, and were succeeded by that of Ghiz ni, where Sultan Mahmood was one of the greatest monarchs that ever sat upon the throne of Persia. After the short period of forty years, they, in their turn, were supplanted by the shepherd kings of the tribe of Seljookee, who extended their dominion from China over Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt. The unity of this mighty empire was dissolved by the death of Malik Shah, and while Persia continued subject to the elder branch, the younger dynasties of the house of Seljookee established the kingdoms of Kerman, Syria, and Roum, or Anatolia.
The kingdom of Roum, in which the others eventually merged, extended from the Euphrates to Constantinople, and from the Black Sea to the confines of Syria, with Nice for its capital; and Soliman, its first sultan, had his conquests confirm ed to him by a treaty of peace with the Emperor Alexius Corn nenus. But his successor was driven from his capital by the arms of the crusaders, and the battle of Dorylmum stript him of all his territories upon the sea-coast from Trebisond to the Syrian gates. After the loss of Nice, the royal residence was removed to Iconium, an obscure in land town above three hundred miles from Con stantinople. Here the successors of Soliman con tinued to reign for nearly a century and a-half, en gaged in almost incessant hostilities with the Greek emperors, until Anatolia was overwhelmed in the general wreck by the ravages of Jenghis Khan and his successors. The sultan of Iconium, after a feeble resistance, fled for refuge to his for mer enemies, the Greeks of Constantinople, and the fragments of the Seljookian monarchy were seized by the emirs or governors of the cities and provinces, who continued to exercise an indepen dent dominion until their territories became gra dually and imperceptibly incorporated with the Ot toman empire.
One of these emirs was Othman, from whom the Ottomans derive their name. His grandfather Soliman, who, with other Turkman chiefs, had at tached himself to the fortunes of the sultan of Car izme, after the dispersion of the Carizmean army by the Moguls, directed his course towards the west, and perished while attempting to cross, on horseback, the waters of the Euphrates. Ortho grul, the eldest of his sons, led his forces into Anatolia, and having obtained a grant of territory from Aladdin, the sultan of Iconium, he establish ed a camp of 400 tents at Surgut, on the hanks of the Sangar. Placed on the verge of the Byzantine empire, he made constant incursions into its terri tory; and, being appointed generalissimo of the army of Iconium, he persevered for half a century in preserving and extending his conquests in that quarter. Othman succeeded to the lordship of
Surgut, and continued to be the subject and soldier of Aladdin II. the last monarch of the house of Seljookee, till the death of that prince, when he and the other chiefs, as has been already mentioned. seized each of them a share of the dominions of Iconium.
The territory of Othman was but of small ex tent compared with the other governments which surrounded him. Caraman, from whom the mod ern Caramania derives its name, had seized upon the city of Iconium, Celicia, part of Lycaonia, Pamphylia, Carla, and the greater Phrygia, as far as Philadelphia, and the city of Antioch. Ridin held the greater part of Mysia with part of Lydia; and the chief parts of the latter province with part of Mysia, Troas, and Phrygia, submitted to Caras.
The sway of Sarukham extended over the mari time provinces of Ionia, as far as the city of Smyr na; and Pontus and Paphlagonia, comprising many important cities upon the Euxine, formed the prin cipality of the sons of Omer. The small lordship of Surgut, with some strong holds which he had won from the Christians, was all that acknowledged the sway of Othman, but it formed the nucleus of a mighty kingdom, which embraced within its limits extensive dominions in each of the three quarters of the old world.
The vicinity of Othman to the Greeks opened to him a wide field of enterprise; and the civil broils between the elder and younger Andronicus, which at this period agitated the Byzantine empire, leav ing their Asiatic subjects to their own resources, they became an ease prey to the first invaders. Othman having established his residence at Ne apolis, about 20 miles from Nice, now began to as sume the prerogatives of royalty by coining money, and commanding his name to be used in the public prayers; and, taking advantage of the weakness of his enemies, pushed his conquests over the greater part of 13ithyttia. The Christian princes, alarmed at his progress, united their forces, and endeavour ed, by one decisive effort, to crush the rising power of the ambitious Turk. The hostile armies met on the confines of Phrygia and Bithynia, but Othman was victorious; and the city of Brusa, a few years after, submitted to his son Orchan, who made it the seat of the Ottoman government. The policy of Othman was equal to his military skill; and what he won by his valour, he secured by wise and salu tary regulations. By the impartial administration of justice and mercy, he reconciled the conquered Christians to his government; and many, who fled before his arms, returned to enjoy safety and repose under his powerful protection.