CATEGORY

In this collection of articles George Makdisi is, to start with, concerned with the growth, topography and local history of Baghdad. This is of interest in itself, as a study of one of the principal urban centres of the medieval world, but it also has a broader significance. For Baghdad, as the seat of the Abbasid caliphate and the centre of government, represents a microcosm of much of the Islamic world at that time: the rivalries between different rulers and their ministers and the conflicts between secular and religious authorities find their reflection in the physical structure of the city and in the writings of those who lived there. This theme of authority and power is then developed further in the second set of articles, concerned in particular with the relations between Caliph and Sultan after the arrival of the Seljuks.