The Zengid or Zangid dynasty was an Atabegate of the Seljuk Empire created in 1127. It formed a Turkoman dynasty of Sunni Muslim faith, which ruled parts of the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, and eventually seized control of Egypt in 1169. In 1174 the Zengid state extended from Tripoli to Hamadan and from Yemen to Sivas. Imad ad-Din Zengi was the first ruler of the dynasty.
Nūr-ad-Din's victory at the Battle of Inab, 1149. Illustration from the Passages d'outremer, c. 1490.
Hunting scene on the Blacas ewer, 1232, Mosul, Zengid dynasty.
Saladin began his military career in the army of Nur ad-Din, during the Zengid conquest of Egypt in 1163-1169.
Zengid soldiers armed with long swords and wearing the aqbiya turkiyya coat, tiraz armbands, boots and sharbush hat, at the time of the atabegate of Badr al-Din Lu'lu' in 1218-1219. Kitab al-Aghani, Mosul.
Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was with early Seljuk Turks who bestowed it on the Persian vizier Nizam al-Mulk. It was later used in the Kingdom of Georgia, first within the Armeno-Georgian family of Mkhargrdzeli as a military title and then within the house of Jaqeli as princes of Samtskhe.
Badr al-Din Lu'lu' was atabeg for the Zengid dynasty from 1211 to 1234. Kitāb al-aghānī fronstispiece, Mosul, 1218-1219. Vol IV. Cairo, Egyptian National Library, Ms Farsi 579
