The Rest Is History

The Rest Is History

377. Baghdad: Crossroads of the Universe (Part 2)

October 11, 202345 min

0:0045:04

About this episode

“No city in the world will ever rival it for prosperity...“ Baghdad, originally a Christian village in Iraq, was chosen by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur as the site for the new capital of his empire, and it would become a cosmopolis to rival Rome or Babylon. Its foundations were built in a perfect circle, with walls 90 feet tall, and at its heart, the monumental Palace of the Golden Gate. Rejecting the Umayyad Caliphate's desire to conquer Constantinople, Al-Mansur founded his own “centre of the

Comments

No comments yet.

About the show

The Rest Is History

Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook take a deep dive into history's biggest moments, from the fall of Rome to the sinking of the Titanic, with gripping storytelling and expert analysis.

All episodes

More from this show