Historical Topography of Samarra

by Northedge, Alastair

• ISBN13: 9780903472227
• ISBN10: 0903472228
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

This is the first fundamentally new work to come out in half a century on one of the world's most famous Islamic archaeological sites: Samarra, in Iraq. This capital of the Abbasid caliphs in the 9th century is not only one of the largest urban sites worldwide, but also gives us the essence of what the physical appearance of the caliphate was like, for early Baghdad is long lost. Northedge sets out to explain the history and development of this enormous site, 45 km long, using both archaeological and textual sources to weave a new interpretation of how the city worked: its four caliphal palaces, four Friday mosques, cantonments for the military and for the palace servants, houses for the men of state and generals.

Table of Contents

List of tables
List of figures
Introduction	p. 19
Sources and methods	p. 27
The regional environment	p. 35
Samarra before the Abbasid period	p. 43
Al-Qadisiyya and the cities of the Qatul	p. 81
Surra Man Ra'a : the city of al-Mu'tasim	p. 97
The Dar al-Khilafa	p. 133
Al-Hayr	p. 151
The military cantonments	p. 167
The palaces of al-Mutawakkil	p. 195
Al-Jaf'fari and al-Mutawakkiliyya	p. 211
Al-Haruni and the west bank of the Tigris	p. 225
The end of Abbasid Samarra : Samarra in the medieval and modern periods	p. 239
Samarra, Baghdad and other Islamic cities	p. 247
Bibliography	p. 261
Al-Ya'qubi's description of Samarra in the Kitab al-Buldan	p. 267
The description of Samarra by Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadhani	p. 274
Toponyms at Samarra known from texts	p. 276
Glossary of Arabic terms	p. 359
Source of figures	p. 363
Photographic credits	p. 365
Index	p. 367
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