THE ABBASID DYNASTY (750-1258 A.D.)

7150 =Abul-Abbas= established in the caliphate. He has all the Omayyad princes (except Abd ar-Rahman b. Moawiyah, who escapes to Africa) put to death. Revolts break out, owing to his cruelty, but they are suppressed. Abul-Abbas fixes his residence at Anbar.

2754 Death of Abul-Abbas. He has designated =Abu Jafar= (=Al-Mansur=), his cousin, as his successor. Abdallah b. Ali revolts, but is defeated at Nisibis. Several risings are suppressed. Revolt in Africa, which hereafter only nominally belongs to the caliphs.

3755 The Mohammedans in Spain elect Abd ar-Rahman b. Moawiyah caliph. Spain lost to the Abbasids.

4756 Foundation of the western Omayyad caliphate.

5756-757 Invasion of Asia Minor. Capture of Malatiya. Defeat of the Byzantines in Cilicia. Seven years’ truce with the emperor.

6762 Baghdad made the capital of the caliphate.

7763 Muhammed Mahdi falls in battle, after having caused himself to be proclaimed caliph. His brother, Ibrahim, also revolts, and is killed in battle.

8775 Death of Mansur. His son, =Muhammed= (=Al-Mahdi=), succeeds. He busies himself at once with improving internal conditions and restoring peace. Revolt of Hakim in Khorasan. Continued invasion of Asia Minor.

9780 Capture of Semaluos by Harun ar-Rashid.

10782 Renewal of war between Moslems and Byzantines. Victory for the latter in Cilicia. Harun ar-Rashid takes command. He marches to the Bosporus, and compels the empress Irene to pay large yearly tribute.

11785 Rebellion of Mahdi’s eldest son, Musa, because Harun is preferred as heir. Death of Mahdi on his way to crush the rebellion. Musa, who takes the title Hadi, succeeds. Rising of Hosein b. Ali suppressed.

12786 Hadi attempts to exclude Harun from the caliphate, and is smothered at instigation of his mother. =Harun ar-Rashid=, the most celebrated of the caliphs, succeeds without opposition.

13789 The Arabs invade Rumania.

14792-793 Suppression of the party formed by Yahya b. Abdallah.

15797-798 Continued victories over the Byzantines cause the empress Irene to sue for peace. The Khazars driven out of Armenia.

16800 The Aglabite dynasty founded at Kairwan.

17801 Harun sends an embassy to Charlemagne.

18802 The emperor Nicephorus refuses to continue payment of tribute. Harun makes such a devastating invasion of Asia Minor that Nicephorus sues for peace. He breaks it the next year, and the same process is repeated.

19804-805 Rebellion in Khorasan.

20806 Peace renewed with Nicephorus after hostilities have once more been begun.

21808 Edrisite dynasty founded at Fez.

22809 Death of Harun on the way to quell disturbances in Khorasan. His reign is a flourishing period of art and science. His son, =Emin=, succeeds. His reign is mostly taken up with the rebellion of his brother, Mamun, who gradually wins all the provinces, except Baghdad, to his side.

23813 Capture and assassination of Emin. =Mamun= proclaimed at Baghdad. The civil war continues.

24817 Mamun appoints Musa b. Ali heir to the throne, whereupon the people of Baghdad declare Mamun deposed and elect his uncle, Ibrahim, caliph. Sudden death of Musa.

25820 Appointment of Tahir as governor of Khorasan, where his descendants rule until 872--sometimes called Tahirite dynasty.

26829 Euphemius invites the Mohammedans from Africa into Sicily. They take Palermo.

27831 The Mohammedans begin a long invasion of Asia Minor.

28832 Capture of Heraclea.

29833 Death of Mamun. His reign is the Augustan age of Arabian literature. Works on science and philosophy translated from the Greek. Mamun orders the measurement of a degree of the earth’s circumference. The designated heir, his brother =Mutasim=, succeeds. A party in favour of Mamun’s son, Abbas, is put down. Mutasim employs Turks in his body-guard, and their excesses cause Baghdad to revolt. The caliph removes the capital to Samarra.

30836 The emperor Theophilus destroys Zapetra in his savage war on the Moslems.

31838 Moslem victory at Dasymon. Amorium captured. Second revolt of Abbas, who dies in prison.

32841 Death of Mutasim. His son, =Wathik=, succeeds. The caliphate begins to decline.

33845 Truce with the empress Theodora.

34847 Death of Wathik. The state officials elect his son, Muhammed, to succeed, but immediately recall their choice and substitute Wathik’s brother, =Mutawakkil=. He is noteworthy for his atrocious cruelty, and persecutes the Jews and Christians.

35852 Serious revolt in Armenia suppressed in four years.

36858 A great war with the Byzantines begins in Asia Minor. The Mohammedans capture the Byzantine commander.

37860 Byzantine defeat near Melitene.

38861 Murder of Mutawakkil by his Turkish guard, bribed by his son, =Muntasir=, who takes the caliphate.

39862 Death of Muntasir, probably by poison. His cousin, Akhmed, who takes name of =Mustain=, is chosen to succeed by the Turkish soldiery.

40863 Great victory of the Byzantines over the Moslems at Amasia. Death of the general, Omar. Peace for some years results.

41866 The Turks revolt against Mustain and choose his brother, =Motazz=, caliph. Surrender of Motazz, who is put to death. He tries to free himself of the yoke of the Turkish soldiery.

42869 The Turks besiege the caliph, who is imprisoned and dies. =Mutahdi=, son of Wathik, is chosen caliph. He tries in vain to reform the empire.

43870 Mutahdi slain by the Turks. =Mutamid=, son of Mutawakkil, chosen as caliph. He reduces the power of the Turkish soldiery, and re-establishes capital at Baghdad.

44872 The Tahirites overthrown in Persia, and the Saffarid dynasty founded. War with Byzantines recommences.

45878 Akhmed b. Tulun, governor of Egypt, makes himself independent, and founds Tulunite dynasty that lasts until 905.

46887-888 Mohammedan invasions of Asia Minor.

47892 Death of Mutamid. His nephew, =Mutadid=, succeeds. Rise of the Karmathian sect, inimical to the pomp of the Baghdad court. Turkestan becomes independent under Samani, who afterwards conquers Persia and extinguishes the Saffarid dynasty.

48894 The Karmathians having ravaged Mecca, the caliph rebuilds the city.

49902 Death of Mutadid, leaving the throne to his son, =Muktafi=. Struggles with the Karmathians. They plunder the pilgrimage to Mecca and slay twenty thousand pilgrims. They are badly defeated and remain quiet for a while.

50904 The Mohammedans capture Thessalonica.

51905 Muktafi takes Egypt from the Tulunites and gives it to the Ikhshidites.

52908 Death of Muktafi. His son, =Muktadir=, succeeds. Rebellion in favour of Abdallah b. Motazz is put down and Abdallah killed. Muktadir is a weak caliph, who leaves the government to his ministers. Establishment of the Fatimite dynasty in Egypt and Africa. It subverts the Aglabite and Edrisite dynasties. During the remainder of Muktadir’s reign, the Byzantines invade Mesopotamia and the Karmathians recommence their disorders. The caliph’s inaction and indolence cause a reaction against him.

53930 He is deposed and his brother, Kahir, made caliph, but he recovers the throne. Revolt of Mosul and foundation of the Hamdanite dynasty in Mesopotamia. The Karmathians seize Mecca and carry off the Black Stone of the Kaaba.

54932 Death of Muktadir in battle with his rebellious minister, Munis. His brother, =Kahir=, succeeds.

55933 Foundation of the Buyid dynasty in Persia. The caliphate is reduced to the province of Baghdad.

56934 Kahir deposed and blinded. His nephew, =Radhi=, succeeds. He creates the office of emir of the emirs, corresponding to mayor of the palace. He is the last caliph to possess any considerable spiritual or temporal power.

57939 Capture of Mosul.

58940 Death of Radhi, succeeded by his brother, =Muttaki=. Al-Baridi, the head of a Chaldean principality, besieges Baghdad, but is repulsed.

59944 Turun seizes Muttaki and puts his eyes out. =Mustafki=, son of Muktafi, is chosen by Turun to succeed. Owing to the unpopularity of Zirak, the emir of the emirs, the people call upon Akhmed, the Buyid ruler, who establishes himself vizir to the caliph with title Muiz ad-Daula. He and his successors, under the title of emir of the emirs, absorb all political power.

60946 Mustafki conspires against Akhmed, who seizes him and puts his eyes out. Muktadir’s son, =Muti=, is chosen to succeed. Constant war with the Byzantines.

61958 The Fatimite caliph, Muiz ad-Din, subdues all Africa and Egypt and is acknowledged by Arabia.

62961 Foundation of the principality of Ghazni.

63968 Nicephorus takes Antioch from the Mohammedans.

64974 Abdication of Muti. His son, =Tai=, succeeds. The Buyid princes contend furiously for the office of emir.

65991 The emir, Baha ad-Daula, compels Tai to abdicate, and appoints =Kadir=, grandson of Muktadir, to the caliphate.

66995 Aleppo taken from the Mohammedans by the emperor Basil.

67997 Mahmud, of Ghazni, comes to the throne. He reigns until 1028.

681020 Firdusi, the Persian Homer, flourishes. The power of the Seljuk Turks increases.

691030 Mohammedan victory over the Byzantines at Azaz.

701031 Death of Kadir. His son, =Kaim=, succeeds.

711038 Mohammedans regain Edessa.

721055 The caliph, oppressed by the emir, calls upon Toghril Beg, the Seljuk. The latter enters Baghdad, overthrows the Buyids, and takes their place.

731063 Death of Toghril, leaving the power to his nephew, Alp Arslan.

741074 Suleiman, the Seljuk, conquers Asia Minor and founds kingdom of Rum or Iconium.

751075 Death of Kaim. His grandson, =Muktadi=, succeeds.

761076 The Seljuk Turks conquer Syria from the Fatimites and take Jerusalem.

771090 Hassan b. Sabba, of Nishapur, organises a band of Karmathians, named the “Assassins.”

781092 Death of Malik Shah, successor of Alp Arslan. Decline of Seljuk power.

791094 Death of Muktadi. His son, =Mustazhir=, succeeds.

801096 The Fatimite caliph, Mustali, takes Jerusalem.

811099 The crusaders succeed in getting the whole of Asia Minor.

821118 Death of Mustazhir. His son, =Mustarshid=, succeeds.

831135 Murder of Mustarshid by the Assassins. His son, =Rashid=, succeeds.

841136 Rashid defends Baghdad against the Turks, but is murdered by the Assassins. His uncle, =Muktafi=, succeeds. He is captured by the Ghuz Turks and carried about in an iron cage, but afterwards escapes.

851160 Death of Muktafi. His son, =Mustanjid=, succeeds. His reign is marked by great disorders in Persia, where the governors have all made themselves independent.

861170 Death of Mustanjid. His son, =Mustadi=, succeeds.

871171 Saladin, sultan of Egypt, destroys the Fatimite dynasty.

881180 Death of Mustadi. His son, =Nasir=, succeeds. He recognises the usurpation of Saladin.

891183 Fall of Ghazni.

901206 Jenghiz proclaims himself khan of the Mongols.

911218-1221 Conquests of Jenghiz Khan.

921225 Death of Nasir. His son, =Dhahir=, succeeds.

931226 Death of Dhahir. His son, =Mustansir=, succeeds. The whole of Persia is subject to the Mongols.

941245 Death of Mustansir. His son, =Mustasim=, succeeds.

951256 Hulagu, khan of the Mongols, invades Persia and extirpates the Assassins.

961258 Hulagu takes Baghdad, and puts Mustasim to death. End of the Abbasid dynasty.