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Secondary sourceArtifact2018-07-08

The Round City of Baghdad

קובץ על יד · 2018-07-08

A 2018 schematic map with Hebrew labels illustrating the circular design of Baghdad, the capital city founded by al-Mansur.

Illustrates the Round City of Baghdad, founded by al-Mansur as his new capital.

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Schematic map of the Round City of Baghdad in Hebrew. A thick outer circular wall with four labeled gates (Damascus, Kufa, Basra, Khorasan) surrounds rows of rectangular buildings, an inner circular wall, and a central area labeled with the Great Mosque and the Golden Palace (Armon al-Halif). Brown and magenta markers show government offices (diwan) and palace quarters, with a legend at bottom right.
The Round City of Baghdad, 2018. Modern illustration with Hebrew captions.

About this source

What it is

This is a modern schematic map created in 2018, with Hebrew captions, showing the layout of the Round City of Baghdad. It marks the outer wall, gates named after Damascus, Kufa, Basra, and Khorasan, and the central government and palace area.

Why it matters

The Round City was the capital al-Mansur founded, and this later diagram helps modern students understand its structure, including the location of government offices and the ruler's palace at its heart.

Look closer

  • Why might the gates of the city have been named after distant regions?
  • What does the location of the palace at the very center suggest about the ruler's role in the city?
  • How might this modern illustration differ from what the city actually looked like?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Caliph al-Mansur on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Miniature painting from a manuscript page with Persian text above. A king seated on a golden throne with a green-sleeved robe is surrounded by attendants and craftsmen working at forges, anvils, and a furnace. A bearded man sits in a cage on the right, and a seated scribe writes at the lower left under a tree.Book

Secondary source

History of the Prophets and Kings

Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari · completed 915 AD

Historical map titled Baghdad between 150 and 300 A.H., showing the circular walled city at center labeled The Round City, with rivers, canals, districts such as Katrabbul, Harbiyah, Nahr Buk, Kalwadha, and Karkh, and a scale in English miles.Artifact

Secondary source

Round City of Baghdad

762–766

Historical map titled 'The Round City in the Time of Mansur' showing a circular walled city with concentric walls, radial streets, numbered buildings including the Mosque and Palace, the Tigris river to the east, and Harbiyah district outside. A second inset plan shows wall and gate details.Artifact

Secondary source

Palace of the Golden Gate

763

Scanned page of an Arabic manuscript printed in dense right-to-left columns of text, with the page number 585 at top, a handwritten marginal note on the left side, and a section heading in the lower half.Book

Secondary source

Genealogies of the Nobles

Al-Baladhuri

Close-up of a parchment page of a Syriac manuscript with dense brown-ink Syriac script in several lines, with red-ink headings at the top and bottom. A diagonal streak of red-brown ink strokes marks a comet-like shape in the lower middle of the page. The page is a Syriac chronicle folio.Book

Primary source

Zuqnin Chronicle

Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Maḥrē · completed c. 775

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