14th century manuscript depicts Mahmud of Ghanza attacking rebels in the fortress of Arg in Sistan (Iran) with a massive catapult. Siege warfare was predominant in the Islamic world. Control of cities was key to victory. A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices. The fortress is made of mud brick (adobe) which was normal for that stoneless and treeless region. Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030) was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid Empire that was centered in modern-day Afghanistan with its capital at Ghazni. In the name of Islam, he conquered the eastern Iranian lands, the Afghan tribal areas and the northwestern Indian subcontinent from 997 until his death in 1030. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni in Afghanistan into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Afghanistan, eastern Iran, as well as Pakistan and northwestern India. He was the first ruler to carry the title Sultan (authority), signifying the extent of his power. Mahmud, according to several contemporary accounts, considered himself a Ghazi who waged jihad on the Hindus. In Afghanistan and Pakistan Mahmud is celebrated as a hero and a great patron of the arts, architecture, literature, and Persian revivalism as well as a vanguard of Islam and a paragon of virtue and piety who established the standard of Islam in India. While in in India he is considered a raiding iconoclastic invader, bent upon the loot and plunder of a peaceful Hindu population.