BAGHDAD

Center of the World

Fire and Foundation

650-768

Historic map of Khorasan
Khorasan and the shifting of power
Medieval manuscript image of merchants carrying goods
The Perfume Dealers
Ruins and mausoleums at Merv in Turkmenistan
Merv
Abbasid dinar minted under al-Mansur
Al-Mansur and the start of the golden age
Great Mosque of Kufa
Persian Rebellion in Kufa
Map of the Abbasid Caliphate showing Baghdad's imperial position
The Many Names of Baghdad
Plan of the Round City and canals of Baghdad
Baghdad's Canals
Map of the Round City of Baghdad
The Dhimma System

The Golden Age

8th - 13th Century

Harun al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Illustration representing the end of the Barmakids
The Barmakids
Harun al-Rashid, Jafar, Abu Yusuf, and a slave girl
Jafar the Barmakid
Entrance to the Kadhimayn Shrine in Baghdad, 1958
The Shrine at Kadhimain
Malwiya Minaret at Samarra
The Relocation to Samarra
Firdos a thousand years later (spoiler alert)
The Return from Samarra
Byzantine and Arab ambassadors
The Byzantine Reception
Coin of the Buyid ruler Mu'izz al-Dawla
The Buyids Take Control
Map of the Seljuk Empire
The Seljuk Turks

The Mongols

1219 - 1258

Manuscript detail of Hulagu Khan
History's Greatest Mistake
Late thirteenth-century Baghdad manuscript associated with al-Mustasim's courtly world
The Correspondence between Hulegu and the Caliph

Stagnation & Invasion

1258 - 1534

Zafarnama manuscript image of soldiers marching before Timur
Tamerlane's Brutality
Late medieval image used for Baghdad's period of ruin
Black and White Sheep
Portrait detail of Shah Ismail I Safavid
The Safavids

Ottoman Rule

1528 - 1917

Great Synagogue of Baghdad
The Jews of Baghdad
Al-Saray Mosque in Baghdad near the Ottoman administrative quarter
Sarah Khatun
Bab al-Talism, the Talisman Gate of Baghdad
Bab al-Talism

Modern Times

1917 - 2010

Map of the frontlines in the Iran-Iraq War
War of the Cities
Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, remembered after the 2010 attack
Christians of Baghdad

Recovery and Future

2019 - Present

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