Tag Archives: Baghdad

Caliph al-Mansur, 754-75

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Ruth

Caliph al-Saffah’s brother became known as al-Mansur, the Victor. He ruled almost twenty years, so it was really his hand that established the dynasty. During his early years, an old Persian fashion came back at court. It was a very … Continue reading →

Posted in Islam History C: the Abbasids | Tagged , | Comments Off on Caliph al-Mansur, 754-75

The Shi’ite Revolution: Revenge of Fatima

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Ruth

Ever since the Battle of Karbala, true-believer Shi’ites kept track of a secret line of true Imams descended from one survivor. It was inevitable that someone would emerge to challenge Abbasid power, and to this end, the regime was constantly … Continue reading →

Posted in Muslim Empire (old series) | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mamluks and Seljuks

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Ruth

During the years of white ceramics, mathematics, and water clocks, the Abbasid dynasty was fairly stable. But no dynasty is ever easily stable; the Abbasid ruler had to move east to Samarra once, as power see-sawed. The Central Asia territory … Continue reading →

Posted in Muslim Empire (old series) | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Mechanical engineering

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Ruth

Baghdad’s House of Wisdom also produced a collection of all of the mechanical engineering devices known at that time. It’s certainly a collection from China, India, Persia and Greece, like the other scientific works. We aren’t sure if the pictures … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Muslim Empire (old series) | Tagged , | Leave a comment

10th century Pottery

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Ruth

Having never been a potter myself, I could never understand why archeologists seemed to assume that some tribe or region made the same kind of pottery over and over. They name prehistoric cultures that way: the Grey Ware culture, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Muslim Empire (old series), Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

House of Wisdom: Baghdad

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Ruth

Baghdad’s Round City featured a large building that was called, at first, The Bookstore. It was modeled after the Persian Empire’s library in Ctesiphon, but its chief purpose was to transfer civilization into the Arabic script of the recently-literate nomads. … Continue reading →

Posted in Muslim Empire (old series) | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Baghdad of legend

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Ruth

The Abbasid dynasty endowed a scholars’ center in Baghdad; its first work was to collect and translate the Iranian books sitting in local libraries. We don’t know at what point they began to translate the Persian storybook that became the … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Baghdad

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Ruth

As payoff for Persian support, the Abbasid rulers agreed to relocate the administrative capital to Persian territory, instead of Damascus. The old capital of Ctesiphon may have been starting to fall apart, but in any case, they decided to build … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments

Abbasid Dynasty

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Ruth

The Umayyad dynasty had been ruling since winning the Battle of Karbala, where they defeated the last of Mohammed’s grandsons. They were of the same tribe as Mohammed, but not from his clan or family. Arabic extended families appear to … Continue reading →

Posted in Muslim Empire (old series) | Tagged | Leave a comment