A station on the caravan road between Erzincan and Erzurum, where Mama Khatun built a caravanserai, a bath, a mosque and her own round tomb; the place was later named Mamahatun after her.
Who holds it
- Name
- Mama Khatun
- Title
- Ruler of Erzurum
- Since
- 587 AH (1191)
- Family
- Saltukid
- Confidence
- medium
Her complex here (caravanserai, tomb, bath, mosque) is dated 587 AH (1191) in TDV 'Saltuklular'; the 'Mama Hatun' article puts the complex in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.
Lord in 1200
Mama Khatun.
How things stand that morning
Saltukid.
Charter
None: a lord's town, not a commune.
Council
No council recorded; the lord's governor (shihna or subashi) and the judge (qadi).
Communities
Not recorded.
Fairs and markets
None recorded for 1200.
Militia
The lord's garrison in the citadel.
Walls and castle
None recorded; the caravanserai is walled.
Trade and crafts
Caravan station.
Places of note
- Mama Khatun's tomb and caravanserai: Her foundation.
Where the sources disagree
- Complex dated 587 AH (1191) in TDV 'Saltuklular' but late 12th to early 13th century in TDV 'Mama Hatun'; Wikipedia gives 1190-1200.
Evidence: Standing monuments; their date is disputed within some decades.
On the map: Point only.
Primary sources for Saltukids
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
- History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
- The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
- The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online
Sources and studies
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Saltuklular' (A. Ozaydin, history; N. C. Akcil, architecture), vol. 36, 2009
- TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Mama Hatun' (D. A. Seker), vol. 27, 2003
- Wikipedia, 'Saltukids' (citing Bosworth, New Islamic Dynasties; Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey; Leiser, EI2 'Saltuk Oghullari')
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.