THE CITY OF BAGHDAD

Present day Iraq stands is historically known as ‘the cradle of civilization’. It’s the place where
humans settled for the first time in one place. This was made possible because of the fertile land
around the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. This land, also called Mesopotamia, saw the rise
and fall of great ancient empires like Babylonia, Assyria and the Akkadian empire. During the
rise of Islam, it was ruled by the Sassanid empire, the last ruler that was defeated by the Muslim
army in 638 AD. In the beginning, Iraq constituted a province in the vast Muslim empire but
with the rise of the Abbasid caliphate in the 8th century, it became the center of attention as
caliph Al-Mansur laid the foundations for his new capital city, Baghdad. This city was to
become the center of various rich traditions and cultures for the next five hundred years. We call
this era the Golden Age, before being conquered and subsequently ravaged by the Mongol ruler
Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.

The Rise of the Magnificent Capital Bagdad:

 The design of the city was a marvel in urban planning and called the “greatest construction
project in the Islamic world”. Al-Mansur realized that the location on the bank of the Tigris
would provide both a bustling metropolis in peace and a strong citadel in war. Well versed in
Euclidean principles of geometry, Al-Mansur closely supervised the construction of the circular
perimeter. The caliph himself walked on the ground to mark the perfect circle for the outer walls
4 miles in circumference and then laid the first brick after a prayer. The outer walls were
fortified and ringed by a deep water channel for extra security. Four gates, equidistant from the
center were built which connected with the center via straight roads, providing sentries an
opportunity to spot any trouble easily inside or outside the city. A network of water ways called
Sarat Canal which connected Euphrates with the Tigris added to the visual value and probably
helped the drainage from the city too. The four main roads acted as the main bazaars (markets)
for the city. In the center was the royal precinct with the Great Mosque and the Royal palace with
the remarkable 130ft-high emerald dome visible from miles around.As Baghdad was built on the
trade route which linked central Asia with eastern lands, it became a trade hub with markets
offering goods not only from all parts of the Muslim world but from Europe and far off
countries like India and China.Being the capital of the Abbasid caliphate, it gained a central
position in the world. This resulted in drawing all kinds of people to the city, and this ofcourse
resulted in an influx of literature and knowledge.Caliph Haroon al-Rashid set up the famous
Bayt-al Hikma (House of knowledge) which became a repository of all the existing knowledge in
the world. It’s major achievement was the translation of knowledge from Greek, Syriac, Indian
and Persian sources. The House offered an unparalleled study of sciences and humanities not
only to Muslim but also to Jewish and Christian scholars and, by the ninth century, it boasted
the largest selection of books in the world. Baghdad was now a big cosmopolitan city which,
according to Michael Cooperson in his ‘Baghdad in Rhetoric and Narrative’, was the center of
the world. Another scholar Abu-Al Qasim’s (11th century) praise for Baghdad goes far and
beyond as he says “whichever road you take to Baghdad, you will find beauty herself looking
astonished.”