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Republic of Iraq Ministry of Culture Al-Mamoon House for Translation and Publishing

BAGHDAD IN HISTORY

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BAGHDAD IN HISTORY

ByProf.Dr. Hassan Fahdel Za'ain Dr. Emad Abdul Salam Ra’uf

Translated and Edited by

Khuloud Ahmed Baban

Revised by: Mohammad Ali AL Saqqaf

Hazim Malik

Al-Mamoon House for Translation and Publishing

Baghdad 2013

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BAGHDAD IN HISTORY ByProf.Dr. Hassan Fahdel Za'an Dr. Emad Abdul Salam Ra’uf

Republic of Iraq– Baghdad Ministry of Culture Al-Mamoon House for Translation and PublishingP.O. Box. 7018 Haifa Street E-Mail:dar-mamoon@mocul.gov.iqdar-mamoon@yahoo.comCopyrights are Reserved / First EditionRepublic of Iraq – BaghdadTranslated from Arabic

Designed Tareq Alaa Maazool

General Scientific Supervision

Dr. Alaa Abu al-Hassan Al-Allaq

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Publisher’s Note

This is a book of several historical essays dealing with different stages of Baghdad old history. The writers of the essays, specialized academics and professors in various Iraqi universities, attempt to give their readers glimpses of a city, how it was founded, flourished and invaded throughout its long history. However, the city has survived all those events and remained unique by all standards.

Al-Mamoon House for Translation and Publishing is offering its readers of English language a good opportunity to know the city from various perspectives and to learn how and why it survived unlike many other cities that have now become a thing of the past.

Baghdad 2013

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Introduction:The Arabian city has occupied a significant position in

the history of the nation being one of the most prominent achievements of civilization by the Arab mind in the fields engineering and construction. Many cities had been established, such as, Basra, Kufa, Qairoan, Wasit and others, but Baghdad has exceeded all, both in regard of fame and glory, ever since its foundation in 145 A. H.

Baghdad is truly fantastic; it is a masterpiece of Arab thought in its creativity and originality. The greatness and fame of Baghdad is connected to the fame and glory of its founder, Caliph Abdullah Muhammad Al-Mansur, 136 A. H. – 158 A. D. Baghdad has preoccupied people's thoughts since its first appearance as a capital of the Arabian state in the Abbasid era until now.

It has attracted the interest and attention of the historians, geographers, writers, poets and archeologists as no other city could do. Arab and foreign researchers, in the past and now, have been interested in Baghdad. They had written about its plans, landmarks and the remaining of its heritage, Al- Jahiz says "I saw the greatest cities in Rome, Sham and others, but I have never seen such a city, higher position, or better roundness, wide gates, or finer weather than the city of Abu Ja'far, as if it had been poured into a template, as if it had emptied"(1).

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Baghdad, the rounded city of Al- Mansur, as Al-Yaqoubi says "is the greatest city which has no counterpart, neither in the west nor in the east of the earth" (2). Baghdad still needs more search and investigation to uncover the secrets of its glory, greatness and its beauty over time. This study is focuses on highlighting Baghdad. It deals with its Iraqi name, selection, planning and the stages of Baghdad building to be the capital of the Arab State the "mother of the world, mistress of countries"(3).

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Baghdad being an Iraqi and Arab Name: Historical sources and documents, and what the

archaeological excavation revealed, have emphasized that the name of Baghdad is an old Iraqi name and there are several evidences to improve its connection with the Iraqi people, in particular:

1. Al-Balathri says " 'Baghdad' had been ancient, adopted as a Capital by Amir al-Mu'mineen…(4).

2. Al-Yaqoubi says "Baghdad was not a developed city; I mean during the days of the Persians and the foreigners, rather it was one of Tasoh Badaweia villages...(5) i. e., the village that named Baghdad before the Persians occupation of Iraq.

3. Al-Hamadani says, concerning the name, the fame of Baghdad, and its commercial position in the world "Baghdad was an old city, founded by Abu Ja'fear Al- Mansur(6), it was a market for China trade(7). If we know the long history of the the commercial relationships between Mesopotamia and China, then we realize the importance of this text and its meaning. Baghdad and its market have been mentioned in the Arab liberation wars. Al-Tabari has referred to the events of 12 A. H. as Khaled Ibn Al-Walid had attacked a Baghdad market... and directed Al–Muthanna to attack the market collection of Qudha'a and Bakr."(8).

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4. Al-Tabari, Ibn Al-jawzi and Al-Aeny have mentioned that "Baghdad was planted for the Baghdadis. It had been named as Al-Mubarakah and it was owned by sixty Baghdadi people. Al-Mansur had satisfied and compensated them for their lands (9).

5. Al –Khateeb Al-Baghdadi had said by Sheikh Abu Bakr who said "this saved name, Baghdad, was known in the past by Al –Mouathah (10).

6. Ibn Rista had described Baghdad, "Baghdad is a nameof a place that had been at this spot in the ancienttime, it is Babylon.(11) This means that its name isknown since the time of the Babylonians.

7. What has been said by the orientalists (12), such as, Jack Reseller who says "Baghdad was an old Babylonian city on the western bank of the River Tigris, while O'Leary says "Baghdad is an ancient city. It had been "known during the Babylonian time as "Baghdada".

8. What has been revealed by the archaeological excavations, referring to which, Listring says "according to the archaeological excavations executed by Sir Henri Rollinson in 1848 and during the dry season the water became lower than its normal level, this place had been the location of an ancient city due to its wide interface which had been built by Babylonian bricks which bordering the West bank of the Tigris in Baghdad. Each piece of brick is stamped with the name of Nebuchadnezzar and his titles. A name like Baghdad had been found since that time in the

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Assyrian geographic excavations from the reign of Serdanabals. It probably refers to the city that existed in the position which became, later on the capital of the Caliphs(13)".

The name of Baghdad has been stated explicitly in the newly discovered tablets, dating back to ancient times some of which to the Babylonian era, the most notable one (14)hadbeen mentioned explicitly in Suppar tablet discovered in Tal Abi-Haba, 50km Northwest Babylon, where the name of Baghdad had been written clearly as "Bakdada" in this tablet which dates back to the 18th century B. C., King Hammurabi time.

Its name had also been stated in another tablet dates 1341-1316 B. C. as "Baghdadi". In another tablet dates back to the 12th C. its name has occurred as "Bakdado". In a historic document dates 728 B. C., era of the Assyrian King Teglattblazzer III, it had been known as "Beghdadu".

These explicit evidences of sayings and written words have reinforced each other and elevated to the level of certainty and full confidence without any doubt, that Baghdad is an ancient authentic Iraqi name known by the Iraqi people since the ancient times, and its name preserved its position till this day in spite of the long time that has passed.

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Choosing Baghdad It is a concrete fact that a capital city does occupy an

extremely significant political and administrative position for each State. After the success of the Abbasid revolution and the Abbasids assuming the leadership of Arab state in its new phase at that time, its importance had become necessary to commensurate with the ambitions of the Abbasid House in commemoration of their glory over the centuries and generations, when Iraq became the center of Caliphate of State together.If the Caliph Abu Abbas Al-

Safah was unable to achieve the building project ofthe capital to satisfy the ambitions of the Abbasids for political

reasons in 126-132 A. H., the Caliph Al-Mansur was "an outstanding, luminary, courage and outsmart power personality of Bani Al- Abbas prestige(15) who received the succession in 132 A. H. had fully realized the importance of resurrection of building a new capital project to satisfy his ambitions and aspirations as the historians had mentioned, he was one of the greatest Kings in their wisdom right opinions and sound of arrangement(16).

People who are worth having this greatness like Al- Mansur, had to fulfill a great impact work to immortalize his name throughout the ages and generations, Baghdad was the Capital of state and stronghold of Arabism and Islam.

Al- Caliph Al-Mansur was ever keen on choosing a place of interest for present state, so he had sent pioneers to

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find a good spot for building the city where the location had to be useful and combines soldiers and public people together. Al Mansur came out to see the goodness of the place which had been found next to Parma, then he said to his group "What do you think about this place? "They said: "It is a good and suitable location," he added" you are saying the truth but it is not enough for people, soldiers and groups,but I want a place for the benefit of people, a place that satisfies them and me, with cheap prices and available food. If I had settled in a spot far away from land and sea, the prices have grown expensive, goods become hard to obtain, food is not easy to get, so it becomes so difficult for people to live (17 ).

Al-Mansur was not satisfied with this position and other places mentioned (.18) because they did not apply to any of the conditions and specifications that he wanted. He had attended many places himself, one after another to choose the most fitting ones, so he went to Gergeraia and reached Baghdad to Mosul and then returned to the position of Baghdad "(19) Al-Mansur had spent his night there, checked and examined the place as the expert do. He said "This spot satisfied me and it is suitable for building a city (20).

For more accuracy of selection, Al caliph Al-Mansur had sent in the request for known residents of the region to consult them and listen to their views, so he called the owner of the monastery, Patrician (Bishop), the owner of

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Baghdad, the owner of known Pastor 'sBustan (orchard) and owner of an antique, he asked them about their locations in heat, cold, rain, mud, bugs and vermin? Each and every one told him about his sufficient knowledge.Al- Mansour had directed his men, and ordered everyone to spend his night in one village of them. Al Caliph had consulted the men that he brought and investigated their news – so he became intellect of the place - - The owner of Baghdad was their choice, Al-Mansur had brought, Consulted and asked him

The owner of Baghdad said :O,Amir Al-Mu;minim,You ask me about the goodness of these places and which part is the best to choose. What I see,O Amir Al-Mu'minin to appoint four Tasasieh - areas - in the western side in two rivers (Tsugin ) which are Qatrpel and Badourea, and another two rivers in the eastern side which are Buq river and Kloazy river, you are to be among the palm trees and near the water, if one of them became waterless and it's building had delayed ,there would be buildings in the other one.Oh Amir al-Mu'minin , you are in the way of Al- Meera (supplies ),it comes to you from the west of the Euphrates , and the oddities of Egypt and Al –Sham reach you.Al Meera from China, India, Basra and Waist come to you by ships in the Tigris, and the supplies come to you from Armenia and all places connected to Tamra reaching to Zab , Al-Meera from al-Rom island and Mosul reach you by the Tigris and you are among rivers, your enemy is very far from you, only by a bridge or arch,

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could they reach you. If you cut the bridge and destroyed the arch, your enemy would not be able to get you and you are between the Tigris and Euphrates and no one of the East and the West could be able to cross the place,you are in the mid of Basra, Wasit and Kufa, Mosul and all black area, you are close to the land,to the sea and to the mountain.. Oh Amir Al-Mu'minin, However, God had blessed Amir Al-Mu'minin by his huge army and his commanders and his soldiers, it is very difficult for any one of his enemies to be close to him, the measurement should be taken in the cities, like fences, trenches and forts, The Tigris and the Euphrates are the trenches for the city of Amir Al-Mu;minin)) (21)

Definitely, hearing such qualities about the position of Baghdad had received widely acclaimed from Al-caliph Al-Mansur, who had chosen the place after testing procedures and a careful study by himself , based on what al- Hamdani said "Al- Mansur said to the owner of Baghdad: Let my option and tell me what did you have about somewhere in it (22). When Al- Mansur heard this description as al-Tabari mentioned ((Al-Mansour determination had increased to settle in that chosen position)) (23).

Thus, the caliph Al-Mansur himself had investigated, studied and chose the appropriate location for the construction of the capital.

. Al- Mansur himself had explained the reason behind

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choosing of Baghdad location by saying ((I am satisfy

with this place, Al- Meera (supplies ) had come from the Euphrates, and Tigris )) (24) so ((it is the location where I would build in, material comes to it from the Euphrates, the Tigris and rivers. this place is suitable for Soldiers and the parish to live in)) (25), it is a good spot for building, the material comes to it from the Euphrates, the Tigris and rivers, this place is suitable for soldiers and the parish to live in)) (26) , and ((it is a good position for camping, this is Tigris and there is nothing standing between us and China,everything comes to us by the sea. The supplies arrived from the island and Armenia, this is Euphrates where everything come from al-Sham and Al-Riqa and places around)) (27) and it is a place with a few bugs, he said: this spot had satisfied me... And it is suitable for buildingacity (28) and he added ((I have never seen better than this place for establishing a city lactated among Tigris and Euphrates, al- Basra and, Persia,al- Mosul and Al-Jazeera, Syria, Egypt and Khorasan..) (29).

Al- Caliph al-Mansur words had revealed the goodness and the interesting features of the city of Baghdad, these qualities enabled him to establish the capital of the political and military aspects, geographical and economic.

All that satisfies the ambition of Al- Mansur and his political aspirations and it complies with the advancement of the state and its greatness as well as the centrality of Iraq and the state together to the east and west. it is characterized

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by natural military immunity that derived from the presence of rivers and canals surrounding it, which make an obstacle for the enemies, as it is located in a geographical area with a favorable climate and characterized by flat land abound with farms and orchards. The city is also located in the trade crossroads.

Another most important advantage that Al- Mansur had realized by his Arabian sense for choosing the place of the capital in the preferred western side, which is now known by Al-Karkh side because he realized and Foreseen, by his insight looking for the present and future, the danger that comes from the east so he made the Tigris as a terminator (watershed) between him and the arrivals from Khorasan, because his sense allowed him to think that the Persians,no matter how he treats them well their hatred for Arab will push them to plot against Baghdad, confirmed by the words of Al- Jawzi (The western had protected by Tigris to prevent the Persians)) (30).

Planning and BuildingAl-caliph al-Mansur had innovated a rounded shape for

Baghdad, which indicates that he had unlimited vision in engineering and construction field. This view was supported by what Al- Khatib al-Baghdadi said "when Al- Mansur had determined to build Baghdad, he collected the engineers,people of knowledge, construction,survey and the division of land,Al-Mansur had described the place for them as it is in his imagination ... Then, he designed a rounded

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shape for the place (31).One of the modern historians confirmed the reality of this fact when he said ((The rounded planning of Baghdad was innovated by the imagination of Al-Mansur, and this planning was a derived product from (the core of Arab thought ) (32).

This rounded figure has gave the city of Baghdad a special character, because there is no other round city in whole countries (33), it has meanings and goals which are not available in other,Al-Mansur temper and experience made him realized this fact, so he built his palace in the middle, among his family, his relatives, his leaders and senior leaders of his state to avoid any problem, as well as the ease of defense of any part of the city if it is subjected to any unexpected attack (34).

And about the planning of the city Al- Hamdani says ((when Al-Mansur wanted to build Baghdad in the middle of the mentioned place, he ordered to beat a wedge there, then, he took a rope and stretched it out on the amount that he wanted to be rotated, then, he ordered to scatter the ash,. AL-Mansur went out and reduced forty cubits of its amount and he set another line and dug a trench with forty cubits hole between the two lines. He also build a wall behind the platoon (the width of its bottom is eighteen cubits and the width of its high six arms), and he used one arm for the building of Battlements next to the trench,and the last five cubits were for the residence of the people)) (35)

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Historical tales have attributed that as Al- Mansur would like to see the place visually, and he ordered to chart the spot by ash, then he started to enter from every door, passing its faction, its arches and its Rahabha, which are marked by the ash, Al-Mansure made a sightseeing tour around the position,he looked at them and at the line of trenches that he made, then he ordered to put seeds of cotton on those lines and to pour oil on them , he stared for a while at the flames as they were going higher, he could understood and knew its shape.

Thus he had ordered to dig the basis depending on the drawing, then, he started the establishment of the city (36). Al Yaqoubi refers that Al- Mansur had deter minded and insisted to build Baghdad while he stopped them said ((I swear by Almighty God that I shall build the city and I shall spend all my life and the life of my son after me in it,then it has to be the most civilized city on earth...(37).

Technical supervision Al-Mansur had entrusted the engineering supervision of Baghdad starting from its planning till its finishing to four engineers who are mentioned

by Al-Yaqoubi ((Those who engineered the city are

Abdullah bin Mehrez,Al- Hajjaj bin Yousif( al-Haj

bin Artat), Amran bin Al- Wadhah, and Shihab bin Katheir).

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Al- Mansur had divided the place into four quarters and asked each engineer to look after one of them .He gave the first quarter from the door of Al- Kufa to the door of Basra, the door of Al-Mahmool and Karkh that was contacted with to Al-Musayyib bin Zuhair Rabeaa the enginer Amran bin Wadhah, and he gave the second quarter from the door of Al- Kufa to door of Al-Sham and Al-Anbar street till the land border of Herb bin Abdullah Sulaiman bin gladiator and the engineer Abdullah bin Mehrez,while he gave the third the quarter of Bab al-Sham to the land border of Harb and what is Connected with it till the street of Bab al-Sham and what is related to, till the bridge on Tigris for Harb bin Abdullah Ghazwan and the engineer Hajjaj bin Yousif. He gave the fourth quarter from the door of Khorasan to the bridge on Tigris expanded in the Street on Tigris for Hisham bin Amro Al-Taghlubei and Amara bin Hamza and the engineer Shihab bin Katheer (38).

Al- Yaqoubi added more details about the engineering supervision of Baghdad, and task that entrusted by Al- Caliph for each engineer,assistants and supervisors.

Al-Mansur had signed and identified the workspace for the owners of quarter and their assistances,and he ordered them to expand the shops and build a joint market for gathering all types of trades and establish different kinds of rail and path, they have to name every road after a leader downward or man prophetess who bring him down or the

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people of the country who live to make the Street View fifty cubits and routes sixteen cubits and Eptnoa in all Alarbad, markets and routes of mosques and baths in each district and he ordered them to make a place for soldiers,fed information to Tjarabnnouna and Anzlonh and its market people and the people of countries (39).

The planning of the city in this situation of wideness, magnitude, importance, and immunity as well as being the upcoming capital of the state, must be overseen and supervised by more than one engineers and more than one observer and administrator to carry out its work as soon as possible and to complete it

Preparations and supplies for construction Al- Mansur had supplied all the requirements of work

that he need on the site of Baghdad; he made a camp and gathered all kinds of craftsmen and laborers from Syria, Mosul, Kufa, Wasit, and Basra, to choose people of justice, jurisprudence, honesty and knowledge of engineering,so he asked them to supervise the construction(40)

While other tales had referred that Al- Mansur ((had ordered to bring and collect the engineers,people of knowledge in construction, survey and division of land as well as laborers and craftsmen of carpenters, blacksmiths and diggers,when they got together, Al-Mansur had paid them livelihoods and allocated their wages then he wrote to

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their country asking about people who are familiar with art of construction, and due to his demand one hundred thousand of different occupations and industries had attended . Al-Mansur did not start the construct of the city until the staff of building from laborers and folks of professions-(the one hundred thousand) had completed)) (41).

Other preparations were made by the order of Al-Mansur ((preparing of the clay, digging wells(to get water) and canal for carrying water from Krkhaya river taking from Euphrates to allow the water pass into the city for drinking and preparing clay)) (42).

Al-Mansur entrusted Abu Hanifa Nu'man Bin Thabit al-Faqih to supervise the work, and to prepare clay of the bricks, and took the men to the work. Abu Hanifa was the first one who mixed clay with reeds (43). Al- Noueiri said ((Al-Mansur had prepared and supplied all the needs for the city like the machinery of the construction, wood, tin and others)) (44).

Starting construction:

Almost all the historical tales ensured that Al- caliph al-Mansur had started the construction of Baghdad and put the first brick in its foundation in 145 A.H. (45) A celebration was held on this occasion attended by notable, Ministers, princes and people of high rank of state, announcing the start of work and construction by saying ((In the name of

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God the Merciful who grants the earth according to his wills for his slaves and the consequence for the righteous,

And then he said: 'Build on the God's blessing)) (46).

Al-Msaudi indicates to the number of the workers who were daily employed saying ((Fifty thousand men were working every day)) (47) that means the rest of one hundred thousand men were busy with other works like metalwork, carpentry, engineering, administration, financial supervision and providing foods, water and monitoring workers and other kinds of works.

This interpretation of Al- Masoudi tale is closer to the reality and more acceptable for its compatibility with the nature and diversity of the work,one of his interpretation that Al-Mansur had divided the workers to two working groups each group consisted of fifty thousand men who had worked in shift manner with each other from day to day, and there is no any reason behind the waste of time, materials, and human and finance capacities in addition to that, the comfort of such a huge number per day is not applicable even in the present time, as long as the work is being on the day only

Stages of achieving the construction Baghdad had been built in two stages: -

The first stage had completed in the 146 A.H.it is the most important stage of achieving the construction of Baghdad, despite the delay of the work for a period of time

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about six months due to the movements of Mohammed Al-Nafs Al-Zakiya and his brother Ibrahim. The historical tales Indicate that ((when the length of the wall had reached to the person's height in 145 A.H. Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, had contacted him and postponed the work,

Until Mohammad and his brother,(48) had finished their work then he returned to Baghdad in Safar in 146 A.H,and finished the building of Baghdad (49).

One of the most important thing that had been achieved at this stage was the building of Al-Caliphate palace in the center of the city, Al-Masjid al-Jamia was built next to the palace,as the building of private and public houses,the administrative and financial institutions and buildings of state have been comleted.The construction of the doors,wall, streets and markets, trenches and domes was done.

After the completion of the main buildings of the city, AL-Caliph Al-Mansur had moved to Baghdad in 146 A.H. and he transferred all the treasures, the houses of money and government offices to the city that is called by the city of peace. (50)

The second stage is a complementary and final stage of the construction, which lasted for three years. It began since the move of A- Mansur in 146 A.H., and it had been completed in 149 A.H. as the fence and tranche were finished in this year (51).

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Description of the City The building of the rounded Baghdad is considered the

greatest architectural experience carried out by Al-caliph al-Mansur. As Al-Yaqoubi said (He was the first caliph who had built a city and settled in,it is the city of Baghdad)) (52)

because it has adopted an accurate engineering system, artistic and architecture experiences, a wide human, financial capabilities and great efforts, Al- Caliph Al- Mansur had taken all the political,military and social in considerations to be eligible for taking responsibility of the new capital of the country, The description of the most important architectural landmarks of the city has become a cultural significance, for such unique style of the cities which is designed to be the capital of the state. The most distinguish features are:

1–The rounded shape of the city The rounded shape of city of Baghdad had

characterized it from all other cities of the world.Al Yaqoubi said ((there is no other rounded City in the world etc.)) (53).

Baghdad has been famous for its rounded shape and was described as " the city of rounded shape" and "the rounded city of Al-Mansur",this curved shape had given the city special meaning and significance. Al- Khatib al-Baghdadi and Al-Hamdani mentioned ((that Al- Mansur had built a rounded city because rounded shape had several meanings which are not found in the square shap,so that

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the king who sit in the middle of the square land ,he would not be in equal distance for others, as it was for the rounded shape land,all the points on circle are equidistant from the center )) (54).

In addition to this description, Baghdad had been called by other names, including ((City of Peace)) which was named by Al-Mansur. Al- Khatib al-Baghdadi says ((when Abu Jaffer had finished the construction of the city and settled with his soldiers in it, he called it "the City of Peace")) (55). Abu Al- Hassan Ahmed Jaafar al-Munadi says: ((Baghdad was named by city of peace when I lived there, there is no other city on the earth called by that name, if some of our brothers mentioned its name,they read the words of God ((Good town and Forgiving God)) (56).

Baghdad was also called by (Al-Zawra ),al- Hamdani explains the reason behind that name by saying ((Al-Mansur had faked the internal doors which are not alike to the external Doors therefore it called by Al- Zawra)) (57).

2 - Trench and Pillars: The Trench surrounded the city ((and the water of the

canal that was taken from the Krkhaya river,(58) run into the trench). Trench is the first architectural landmark of the city besides its military fortifications facing the people arriving to Baghdad. This trench had two pillars which had been built by plaster and baked brick. Ibn Rasta says :((the two edges of the trench had been built from plaster and baked

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brick outside the wall)) (59) the first edge is adjacent to the outer wall, its task is to protect the fence and maintain the interior buildings from the water leak, and the second edge in the other side,is adjacent the land outside Baghdad.

3 – The outer wall The outer wall comes after the trench and pillars, the

width of outer wall from the bottom is 50 cubits, and from above 20 cubits (60), its height as Ibn al- Jawzi mentioned 35 cubits (61).And Al-khtaib Al-Baghdadi addresses this wall,which has been given the name of “ the first wall”,by saying ((and it has been named “the first wall” (the wall of faction)located beyond the trench)) (62) .

It seems that this wall didn’t represent the main defense building of the city, because the second wall is the greatest and the highest one and it contains the defensive towers. Al- Mansur had made two walls; the internal wall is longer and higher than the outer wall (63).

4–The internal wallIt is the greatest wall (64) or the grand wall (65), The wall of defense of the city is relying on it due to its enormity and height and its containments towers, AL- Yaqoubi mentiones the dimensions of wall by saying :((he made the width of the wall basis ninety cubits, then the wall degenerates until it becomes twenty-five cubits at the top, and sixty cubits high with balconies (66).

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This wall contains, according to the tale of Al- Khatib al-Baghdadi, 113 defensive towers, because Al- Mansur had put twenty towers between each two doors and he had also put twenty one towers between the door of al -Basra and the door of al-Kufa (67). But Ibn Al- Jawzi mentioned that the number of towers was 112 towers, because Al –

Mansur had put twenty-eight towers between each

two doors (68) It seems that the tale of al- Jawzi is most

likely true, because the dimensions between one door and another is equal, like the diameters of the rounded city,so the divisions of doors and distances between one door to another must have been equal.

5- The DoorsThe historical tales cite that the number of the gates of

the city of Baghdad was eight gates ((the city had eight gates, four doors to get in and four gates to get out)) (69).

And ((he put eight doors, four small doors for entrance, and four big door for exit)) (70).

The outside doors were bigger and larger in the external wall,there were four-doors given the names of known cities leading to them, one was called “al-Kufa door” and the other called “ Al- Basra door” and the third one was called “Khurasan door” and the last one was called “Al-Sham door” (71) and these doors have been made

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according to the measure characters, ((if someone came from the Hijaz,he\she will enter from the door of Al- Kufa, and if he came from Morocco,he\she will enter from the door of Al-Sham, and if someone came from Ahwaz, Basra, Wasit, Al Yamamah and Bahrain,he\she will enter from the door of Al-Basra, and if anybody came from the east,he\she will enter from the door of Khorasan (73) the distance between one door to another is, as Al-Yaquoubi said, ((five thousand black cubits from outside the trench))(74).

Each door of these external four-doors of the wall, as well as the internal four doors of the greatest wall had ((An iron door - each door had two great parts – that only a group of men could open and shut one part of the door)) (75)

((and there was a great decorated dome above the beautiful arch)) (76).

To introduce more protection for the entrances of the city, Al-Caliph had appointed military force under the command of the leader for each door of the external four-doors.Al-Khateib Al- Baghdadi said ((there was one thousand at the door of Al-Sham Suleiman bin harb, and thousand at the door of Basra Abu Alazhraltmaimi, and thousand at the door of Kufa Khaled Aeka, in thousand, and at the door of Khorasan Muslim bin Sehaib Ghassani)) (77).

Avery important note so that,Al- Mansur ((had faked the inside doors which are not alike to the external doors))

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(78) man who ((entered from the first door of Khorasan and turned to his left in the vestibule built by bricks and plaster, its width twenty cubits and its length, thirty cubits)) (79). This model of the entrances had a great military importance, as well as it represents a new architectural phenomenon showing the creativity and innovation, it was noted during the engineering of the city, that if the enemy succeeds to go through the trench and outer wall, he would not be able to rush with all his power into the city in straight way,since he must have turned to the left to reach al-Rahba(wide place) and then up to inner doors. Such a turn for the attacking forces make the right of these forces vulnerable to arrows and the weapons of the defending troops the city because the soldiers would be carrying their shields usually in their left hand, so their right hands remain open in front of the defending forces to cause them heavy losses

6 – Two factions and Arches: The city had external and internal factions, the external

faction had confined between the two walls round the city, Al-yaqoubi described it as( great and magnificent faction) (80) its width is about one hundred cubits,and it had great towers and balconies (81). To reach this faction, one had to pass through a vestibule and courtyard with two doors,the right door leads to the faction of Al- Sham door, if a person entered from the door of Khorasan, and the left door leads to a faction of Al-Basra door,and then turned from Al-Basra