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Episode 122, the early Abbasid Caliphate.

In this program, we will discuss the history and society of the Abbasid Caliphate In this program, we will discuss the history and society of the Abbasid Caliphate from its inception in the year 750 and up until the end of the reign of the 10th Abbasid Caliph al-Mutuakil in 861.

The Abbasid Caliphate actually endured all the way up until the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols

in 1258, the traditional date, given for the extinction of Abbasid power.

However, the years between 750 and 861 will give us plenty to discuss in one audio program,

so 750 to 861 will be our time frame for today.

Between 750 and 861, the golden age of Islamic history began.

From Tunisia to Kyrgyzstan, a dynasty of 10 caliphs held sway over many of the most densely inhabited regions of earth.

The city of Baghdad was founded, along with its House of Wisdom, one of history's most

famous libraries and academies. The Caliph al-Mamun launched a major translation movement

to bring knowledge of Greek philosophy, medicine, and science into Arabic

texts. Literature flourished, in prose and verse, under the pens of writers still widely

read today. Society under the Abbasid Caliphs was sprawling and diverse, with the Umayyad Arab

hegemony slowly giving way to a more heterogeneous patrician

and intellectual class.

If we imagine the Islamic golden age is a long, bright day, the years between 7.50 and

861 were its morning, and the time when social and economic systems were established

that catalyzed the flowering of Islamic art and science over the next few centuries.

And while these secular developments were central to later Islamic history, Islam itself underwent important developments during the early Abbasid Caliphate as well.

Just as Christianity was still very much in development

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