for its mountainous terrain. During the Seljuk era in the 11th and 12th centuries, it began to be called ?Iraq-i ?Ajam(i) ("Persian Iraq").

According to the medieval historian and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, the name ?Iraq-i ?Ajam(i) arose when the Seljuk sultans, who were addressed as "sultan al-?Iraq", came to rule both Iraq proper and Jibal, and made Hamadan in Jibal their capital city. This direct rule by the sultan al-?Iraq