CHAPTER VIII. THE ABBASIDS

[1Sidenote: [750-1258 A.D.]]

2The revolution which had raised the Abbasids to the caliphate may be regarded as an uprising of eastern against western Asia; it was the populations of Khorasan and Irak who had brought it about, and it was they whom it chiefly benefited. Abul Abbas, who reigned but four years (750-754) transferred the royal residence from Syria to Babylonia and took up his abode at Anbar. His brother and successor Al-Mansur, desiring a more imposing dwelling-place, at first chose Cufa, but finding that popular feeling ran high there against his own family, and in favour of the Fatimites, he decided to build for himself a new city which should owe entire allegiance to him.