emirate · Anatolia and the Levant

Artuqids of Harput

1112 CE – 1234 CE · capital Harput

A branch of the Artuqid dynasty at the fortress of Harput, where Belek Ghazi held the King of Jerusalem captive.

Origins

Harput, a fortress near the upper Euphrates, came under Artuqid rule early in the 12th century. Its most famous holder was Belek Ghazi, a nephew of Ilghazi, who captured Joscelin I of the County of Edessa in 1122 and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem in 1123 and imprisoned them there.

Rule and society

Armenian sympathisers briefly seized Harput castle to free the captives in 1123, but Belek retook it. He was killed besieging Manbij in 1124. Harput then belonged to the Artuqids of Hasankeyf until a separate line was established in 1185 by Imad al-Din Abu Bakr. The small emirate built mosques, notably the Ulu Cami of Harput.

Decline and legacy

Squeezed between the Ayyubids and the Sultanate of Rum, the Harput branch was annexed by the Seljuk sultan Kayqubad I in 1234.

Lineage

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Artuqids of Harput. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/artuqids-of-harput
MLA
“Artuqids of Harput.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/artuqids-of-harput. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Artuqids of Harput.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/artuqids-of-harput.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Artuqids of Harput’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/artuqids-of-harput (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻