Sultanate of Rum flourishes under Kaykhusraw I

1204

While Constantinople burned under Latin swords, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum entered a period of commercial and cultural confidence. Konya's caravanserais sheltered Silk Road traffic diverted by the chaos in Byzantium, and the sultan's court attracted Persian poets, Sufi mystics, and Greek-speaking merchants in equal measure. The elegant hans built along Anatolian trade routes during this era still dot the Turkish landscape.