The Abbasids Tomb

The Abbasids were the dynasty of caliphs who ruled the Islamic empire from 750 until the Mongol conquest of the Middle East in 1258. The dynasty takes its name from its ancestor al-Abbas, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. In 750 the Abbasids defeated the Umayyads and transferred the capital of the caliphate from Damascus to Baghdad, thereby shifting the empire's center from Syria to Iraq.

The regime reasserted the theocratic concept of the caliphate and continuity with orthodox Islam as the basis of unity and authority in the empire. The Abbasid "revolution" also made Islam and the fruits of power accessible to non-Arabs. A strong Persian influence persisted in the government and culture of the Abbasid period, and Hellenistic ideas led to the rapid growth of intellectual life.

The Abbasid period may be divided into two parts. In the period from 750 to 945 the authority of the caliphs gradually declined, while the Turkish military leaders gained increasing influence. The dynasty's power peaked in the reign (786-809) of Harun al-Rashid. In the later period, from 945 to 1258, the caliphs generally held no more than nominal suzerainty; real power, even in Baghdad, passed to dynasties of secular sovereigns.