|
Indonesian
Version
Iraq
/ Baghdad / History
Babylonian bricks bearing the Royal Seal
of King Nebuchadnezzar (sixth century BC) were found
in the Tigris here. But whatever settlement existed
then, historic Baghdad was undoubtedly founded by the
second of the Abbasid Caliphs, Mansur (AD 750-775),
and the name Baghdad is probably a combination of two
Persian words meaning 'Founded by God'. Arabs call it
'The City of Peace'.
The founding of Baghdad by Mansur came about in this
way: the first Abbasid Caliph, Abul Abbas, had built
a palace on the Euphrates at Anbar, but it didn't suit
Mansur, who at once began to search about for somewhere
more centrally placed from which to administer the new
empire. Soon the site of a Sassanian village on the
west bank of the Tigris caught his eye, and in · the
spring of AD 762 the lines were traced out. This first
Baghdad took four years to build and Mansur employed
one hundred thousand architects, craftsmen and workers
from all over the Islamic world. Thus came into being
the famous Round City of Mansur, with double brick walls,
a deep moat and a third innermost wall ninety feet high.
Four highways radiated out of four gates and at the
hub of everything was built the Caliph's palace with
a green dome. A certain amount of judicious stealing
went on: many of the stones for the palace- the center
of the universe- came from the ruins of the Persian
city of Ctesiphon not far away; a wrought-iron gate
was taken from Wasit, another from Kufa. And a man who
did more than most to help Mansur build his new city
was the Imam Abu Hanifa, whose tomb you can see in Baghdad
to this day.
Soon merchants built bazaars and houses round the Basra
(southern) Gate and formed a district of their own called
Kerkh, and this was joined by a bridge of boats to the
east bank of the Tigris- where most of modern Baghdad
stands in the district of Rasafa. Two cemeteries grew
up- one in Adhimiya and another where Kadhimain now
houses the shrines of two of the twelve Imams.
back
to content page
|
