Alp Arslan in the context of "Romanos IV Diogenes"

The Saltukids or Saltuqids (Modern Turkish: Saltuklu Beyliği) were a dynasty of the Seljuk Empire, founded after the Battle of Manzikert (1071) centred on Erzurum. The Saltukids ruled between 1071 and 1202. The beylik was founded by Emir Saltuk, one of the Turkmen commanders of the Great Seljuk Alp Arslan. The beylik fought frequently against the Georgian Kingdom for hegemony of the Kars region. The center of the beylik, Erzurum, was briefly re-occupied by the Byzantine Empire between 1077 and 1079, and was besieged by the Georgian King Giorgi III in 1184. It comprised the entirety of present-day Erzurum and Bayburt provinces, lands east of Erzincan, most of Kars, and lands north of Ağrı and Muş provinces during its height.

Kingdom of Kars (Armenian: Կարսի թագավորություն), alternatively known as the Kingdom of Vanand (Armenian: Վանանդի թագավորություն), was a medieval Armenian kingdom formed in the year 963 by the son of Abas I of Armenia, Mushegh Bagratuni (d. 984). The capital of the kingdom was Kars, currently part of modern-day Turkey.

In 963, shortly after the Bagratuni seat was transferred to Ani, Kars became the capital of a separate independent kingdom called Vanand. However, the extent of its actual independence from the Kingdom of Ani is uncertain: it was always in the possession of the relatives of the rulers of Ani, and, after Ani's capture by the Byzantine Empire in 1045, the Bagratuni title "King of Kings" held by the ruler of Ani was transferred to the ruler of Kars. In 1064, just after the capture of Ani by Alp Arslan (leader of the Seljuk Turks), the Armenian king of Kars, Gagik-Abas, paid homage to the victorious Turks so that they would not lay siege to his city. In 1065 Gagik-Abas ceded his kingdom to the Byzantine Empire, but soon after Kars was taken by the Seljuk Turks.

The Pishteginids (Bishkinids, Pishkinids) were a dynasty of maliks in Iran which ruled, from 1155 to 1231, Ahar and its adjacent district as vassals to the Shaddadids of Arran. The family descended from a Georgian nobleman captured by the Seljuqid sultan Alp Arslan during his 1068 expedition against Georgia and brought as a prisoner to Iran. The dynasty fell to the Khwarezmian conquests between 1225 and 1231. The last two dynasts of the family issued their own coins, placing their names next to those of the Caliph and Eldiguzid atabeg. The name of Meshkinshahr, a town east of Ahar, seems to have been derived from the Pishkinid dynasty.

Constantine X Doukas or Ducas (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος Δούκας, romanized: Kōnstantīnos Doúkās; c. 1006 – 23 May 1067), was Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067. He was the founder of the Doukid dynasty. During his reign, the Normans took over much of the remaining Byzantine territories in Italy, while in the Balkans the Hungarians occupied Belgrade. He also suffered defeats by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan.

Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī Ṭūsī (Persian: ابوعلی حسن بن علی طوسی) (1018 – 1092), better known by his honorific title of Niẓām al-Mulk (Persian: نظام‌الملک, lit. 'Orderer of the Realm'), was a Persian Sunni scholar, jurist, political philosopher and vizier of the Seljuk Empire. Rising from a low position within the empire, he became the de facto ruler of the empire for 20 years after the assassination of Sultan Alp Arslan in 1072, serving as the archetypal "good vizier". Viewed by many historians as "the most important statesman in Islamic history", the policies implemented by Nizam ul-Mulk remained the basic foundation for administrative state structures in the Muslim world up until the 20th century.

One of his most important legacies was the founding of a system of madrasas in cities across the Seljuk Empire which were called the Nizamiyyas after him. He also wrote the Siyasatnama (Book of Government), a political treatise that uses historical examples to discuss justice, effective rule, and the role of government in Islamic society.

Malik-Shah I (Persian: ملک شاه یکم) was the third sultan of the Seljuk Empire from 1072 to 1092, under whom the sultanate reached the zenith of its power and influence.

During his youth, he spent his time participating in the campaigns of his father Alp Arslan, along with the latter's vizier Nizam al-Mulk. During one such campaign in 1072, Alp Arslan was fatally wounded and died only a few days later. After that, Malik-Shah was crowned as the new sultan of the empire, but the succession was contested by his uncle Qavurt. Although Malik-Shah was the nominal head of the Seljuk state, Nizam al-Mulk held near absolute power during his reign. Malik-Shah spent the rest of his reign waging war against the Karakhanids to the east and establishing order in the Caucasus.