The Ancient City of Baghdad

Baghdad was built by the Abbasid family in 762AD. They built Baghdad as they wanted to have a powerful new Capital away from the supporters of the Umayyad family who had ruled the Muslims for a long time.
The City was built as a circle and is known as 'the round city'. One modern Historian describes the Baghdad as being:

"perfectly round. It had four gates and 360 towers. On the outside was a ditch twenty meters wide and a wall nine meters thick. The main wall was over thirty meters high and fourteen meters wide at the top. One section was reserved for the government and the army and closed off by a wall seventeen and a half meters high and twenty meters thick. At the centre of the city was a vast square. here stood the Golden Palace with it's copper dome and the Great Mosque. No one entered this central space except on foot and with permission."

Baghdad soon became very rich as it was near to all of the major trade routes. It became a centre for art and literature as many people stopped in the city and shared ideas.

The Rise of Islam is an optional Unit in Key Stage 3