Artuk Bey

Zaheer-ul-Daulah Artuk Beg (also known as "son of Eksük") was a Turkish commander of the Seljuq Empire in the 11th century. He was the Seljuk governor of Jerusalem between 1085-1091. Although the beylik of Artukids was named after him, actually the Beylik was founded 11 years after his death by his sons.

Artuk Bey was one of the commanders of the Great Seljuk Empire army during the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After the battle, he took part in the conquest of Anatolia on behalf of the Seljuk Empire. He captured the Yeşilırmak valley in 1074. He also served the sultan by quashing a rebellion in 1077.

His next misson was a campaign to capture Amid (modern Diyarbakır) from the Marwanids. In this campaign he quarreled with the commander in chief Fahrüddevlet who tended to make peace with Marwanids. In a surprise attack he defeated reinforcements to Marwanids. However, when the sultan Malik Shah I heard about the event he accused Artuk.

Artuk left the battle field and attended to Tutush I who was Malik Shah's discordant younger brother in Syria in 1084. In 1086 he was instrumental in defeating Süleyman, the sultan of Seljuks of Turkey in a battle between Süleyman and Tutush.

Tutush granted him Kudus (Jerusalem) as an iqta and Artuk lived in Küdus up to his death in 1091.