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.