4522 AM · 762 CE · world history
The Abbasids and the founding of Baghdad
The Abbasids overthrow the Umayyads and build a new capital on the Tigris—round Baghdad.
A revolt under black banners brings the house of Abbas to power, and the centre of the caliphate shifts from Syria to Mesopotamia, closer to the Persian world. The caliph al-Mansur founds a new city on the Tigris: circular in plan, palace and mosque at the centre, four gates to the four quarters of the world. Within half a century Baghdad is probably the largest city on earth—markets, hospitals, paper workshops, booksellers' rows. Here too, in Mesopotamia, stand the Talmudic academies, and the head of the Jewish community, the exilarch, is recognised at the caliph's court.
Sources
Documents of the period
- al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, “the history of Bagdada” — the plan of the round city
Scholarship
- al-Tabari, “the history of prorokov and kings” — the Abbasid revolution and the founding of Baghdad
Basis: documents and evidence.