'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎32] (63/586)

32
'irAk.
[chap.
road, and Kalwadha district to the southward; the town of
Kalwadha standing on the river bank a short distance below the
southernmost gate of East Baghdad. From Baghdad, as the central
point of the road system of the empire, two roads (as already said),
going south and west, bifurcated at the Kufah Gate of the Round
city; and two, going north and east, passed through East Baghdad,
having their starting-point at the further end of the main bridge
of boats. The southern road, to Kufah (and Mecca), after leaving
the suburb of Karkh, came before long to the town of Sarsar, on the
Nahr Sarsar, the second of the great canals from the Euphrates
to the Tigris, which flowed parallel with the Nahr 'Isi on the
south. The western or Anbar road turning off at the Kufah
Gate, and passing through the suburb of Baratha, came after
about a league to the town of Muhawwal which stood on the
'Isa canal. The eastern or Khurasan road left East Baghdad
(as already said) at the Khurasan Gate, north of the Mukharrim
quarter, and the first town reached was Nahrawan Bridge at the
crossing of the great canal of this name. Finally, the northern
road passed through the Shammasiyah quarter to the Baradan Gate
of East Baghdad, and shortly came to the town of Baradan lying
on the east bank of the Tigris; whence, keeping along the left
bank of the river, the high road reached Samarra and the towns
of northern Mesopotamia.
Duxing^the five centuries of the Abbasid Caliphate the plan
of Baghdad with its suburbs changed considerably as the city grew
and in parts fell to ruin. What has been sketched in the fore-
going paragraphs was the city as it existed in the time of
Harun-ar-Rashid. The civil war which broke out after his death
brought about the ruin of the Round city. In 221 (836) the seat
of the Caliphate was removed to Samarra, and during the reigns
of seven Caliphs Baghdad was reduced to the condition of
a provincial town. When finally in 279 (892) Samarra was
abandoned and the Caliph re-established his court in the old
capital, it was East Baghdad, where many new palaces came to be
built, which succeeded to the glories of the Round city, now
falling more and more to ruin; and for the next four centuries,
down to the invasion of the Mongols, the Caliphs permanently
established their residence on the east bank.