First Muslim Metropolis

Baghdad
(Foundation)
 How Baghdad is different than Mecca,
Medina, Jerusalem and Damascus?
First Muslim metropolis (umm al-qura)
Byzantine and Sassanid Traditions
Whats inside and outside the walls?
State and society participation vs.
isolation
 Narrative Sources
Objectivity
Exaggerations and
symbolism
Archeological
Altered toponomy
and layout
Impossible to
excavate due to
urbanization
 Umayyads Al-Saffah (Blood shedder, d.754)
Abbasid Challenge Al-Mansur (The Victorious, d.775)
(Hashimiyya Movement)
Leaving Damascus moving to East
Abu Muslim, Battle of Zab
(750)
 Created or Spontaneous Cities
Semi-nomadic Medina
Amsar Rapid expansion and necessity of isolation
Lack of walls
Wide streets and non-durable construction material
Organized around military units and tribal affiliations
Inheritance rights & Collective punishment
Economically dependent to political authority
Baghdad is a different type ?
 Cheap, available
and flat land
Rivers trade,
agriculture, defense
and
communication
Ctesiphon and
Seleucia
Proximity to Iran
and Central Asia
100.000
workers, 4
years to
built.
 Construction process and the
outside-in development, unlike
amsar
Organization of Space (separated
by intervallums)
Palace-mosque and
administrative offices in the
center
Residential buildings
Outer fortifications
No race tracks, gardens and
other luxury buildings
What else is missing?
Fortified (against which threats?)
 Construction process and the
outside-in development, unlike
amsar
Organization of Space (separated
by intervallums)
Palace-mosque and
administrative offices in the
center
Residential buildings
Outer fortifications
No race tracks, gardens and
other luxury buildings
What else is missing?
Fortified (against which threats?)
 No one allowed except
on foot
Arcades used for
protection and
ceremonies
Majlis-royal audience in
each of the citys outer
gates
Further isolation
Removing the markets
by closing the gates to
the inner court and
open them up to third
intervallum
Second Friday mosque
in al-Karh
 First Muslim Metropolis
Baghdad
(Development and Decline)
 Caliphs (Dar al-Khilafa)
Isolation through allocation of urban space and
architecture (courtyards and dark passages)
Caliph -center
Clients and commanders within round city
Soldiers fields around the city
Abbasid family outskirts of the city
Power and urbanism
Centrifugal and Centripetal forces
Multiple nuclei of power
Unity vs. multiplicity of urbanism
Change :
Buyids & Seljuks (Dar al-Mamlaka & Dar al-Saltana)
 Calculating the population of Baghdad
Consumption
Baths and Mosques
Migration Patterns
Craftsmen, workers and bureaucrats from Iran
Scholars from Iraq, Syria and Arabia
Soldiers from East Iran and Central Asia
Tensions (Iranian Influence Shuubiyya-Military
Factions)
 Multiconfessionalism and Religious Tension
Non-Muslims
Christians
Jews
Zoroastrians
Muslims
Sunnis and Shiis
Traditionalists and Philosophers
Arabic, Islam and Caliph
Tigris
Separating elite (East Bank-Sunni) and populace (West Bank
(al-Karh)-Shii)
Bridges as public spaces for display of power
 Six great mosques circa 1000 AD
Urban compartmentalization
Urban growth pattern?
New development; failing metropolis because of
political instability
Times of Crisis
Natural disasters and fire
Riots
Insecurity (internal or external)
Uncontrolled expansion
 Fragmentation of the Caliphate
Invasions:
Hulagu in 1258
Timur in 1401
 Ottomans & Safavids (1500-1700)
Provincial Metropolis between Sunni and Shii Empires
 WWI and British Mandate
Hashemite Kingdom 1932-1958
Saddam (1968-2003)
US invasion of 2003