. Mesopotamia and Assyria, from the earliest ages to the present time; with illustrations of their natural history. . n kings the honour of founding this city, andattribute it to Zohauk ; an obvious confusion of their owntraditions with the Scriptural account, which assigns Bab-ylon to Nimrod. They add that it was enlarged by Afra-siab, who called it Bagdad, or the Garden of Dad—the idolwhom he worshipped. But there is little doubt that, inpoint of fact, the true founder was Almansor, second ca-liph of the Abbassides. That prince, disgusted with hisformer abode at Hashemiah, near Cufa, began,
. Mesopotamia and Assyria, from the earliest ages to the present time; with illustrations of their natural history. . n kings the honour of founding this city, andattribute it to Zohauk ; an obvious confusion of their owntraditions with the Scriptural account, which assigns Bab-ylon to Nimrod. They add that it was enlarged by Afra-siab, who called it Bagdad, or the Garden of Dad—the idolwhom he worshipped. But there is little doubt that, inpoint of fact, the true founder was Almansor, second ca-liph of the Abbassides. That prince, disgusted with hisformer abode at Hashemiah, near Cufa, began, 760,to build the metropolis in question; but it was not finisheduntil four )^ears afterward, when he bestowt^d on it thename of Dar ul Salam, the Dwelling of Peace. It appears to have been erected on the left bank of theriver,t of a circular shape, enclosed by two walls, whichwere flanked by towers; and in the centre there was a * Bibliotheque Orientale. See the word Bagdad,t Kinneir says the western side, in which he differs from DHerbelotGeographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, London, 1813, p. 246. I. MODERN BABYLONIA. 233 castle which commanded the neighbouring country. Itwould farther appear that the same Almansor, desirous toavoid as much as possible all contact with the rabble ofhis new capital, built on the western side of the Tigris asuburb named Karkh, joined to the eastern part by a bridge,and in which were the bazars and public markets. Thiscity rose to its highest pitch of grandeur during the reignsof the celebrated Haroun al Raschid and his immediatesuccessors; but, in the fourth century of the Hejira, thepower of the caliphs having declined, we find Bagdad ta-ken from them, first by Ali Buiyah, the second of the Dile-mee dynasty, in 945, and afterward by Togrul Beg,the first of the Seljuk sovereigns. But these were com- Earatively slight calamities; for, though the glory of theouse of Abbas had departed, their capital remained richand populous until
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