Sultanate of Rum · 1077-1308

Konya, Rumi and the Sultanate of Rum

In the heart of Anatolia, Seljuk sultans built roads, inns and mosques, and a refugee poet named Rumi wrote verses still read worldwide. Students explore the Sultanate of Rum and its capital Konya.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1200 to AD 1279
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In the heart of Anatolia, Seljuk sultans built roads, inns and mosques, and a refugee poet named Rumi wrote verses still read worldwide. Students explore the Sultanate of Rum and its capital Konya.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the Sultanate of Rum and its capital Konya on the map in 1200.
  • Explain why the Seljuks built caravanserais along their roads.
  • Describe who Rumi was and why he is still remembered.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1200

Rome becomes Rum

Open the map in 1200. Find the Sultanate of Rum in the middle of Anatolia and the Byzantine lands around it. Why would Turks call this land Rum, "Rome"?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1220

Konya

Zoom in on Konya with the Cities layer on. Watch its dot as you move the slider from 1150 to 1300. Around which year was the city largest?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1279

The Mongols arrive

Move to 1279. Which great power now borders the Sultanate of Rum to the east? What do you think happened to the sultans' independence?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. The Seljuks of Rum built inns called caravanserais about a day's journey apart along their roads. Why would a sultan pay for inns for merchants?
  2. Rumi was born far to the east and fled with his family before the Mongols came. How do refugees shape the places where they settle?
  3. Rumi wrote in Persian, lived among Turks in a land called "Rome" and is read in English today. What does that tell us about poetry?
  4. After 1243 the sultans had to obey the Mongols. Is a state still independent if it pays tribute to another?
  5. Why do you think so many people still visit Rumi's tomb in Konya?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Genghis Khan, whose conquests drove Rumi's family west and whose successors later made the Sultanate of Rum pay tribute. Discuss: how did the Mongol storm change the lives of ordinary people in Anatolia?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.