The city’s connection with the night sky, for the study of astronomy and astrology was due to the ancient indian knowledge of astrology, and many ancient books and manuscripts written in early languages went through translations.  The value of wisdom was well-known among the rulers of Baghdad, as they implemented many infrastructure and geometric designs based on the principles learnt from books like Elements by Euclid.

Astronomy And Astrology

Due to a potpourri of knowledge from various parts of the globe, Baghdad became a melting point of many innovations, like an early version of the telescope. Baghdad was tolerant towards all kinds of races and nations, and welcomed opinions from people who were in the minority, learning from everyone, albeit for a short time. Baghdad became well known for serious scholarly work like the 9th Century fables called Arabian Nights, and had a lasting image of a city full of wonder and adventure.

A Home Of Innovation

After several villages got formed near the Tigris river with the area boring the name of Baghdad(meaning God-given),the Abbasid dynasty founded the capital in the 8th century. The official name given was ‘Madinat as-Salam’ meaning the City Of Peace. The first caliph(ruler), Al-Mansur took four years and many engineers, architects, surveyors and creative artists to construct the city in the period of 764 to 768 CE. Astrology and astronomy were found to be interconnected in those times, with astrologers being able to predict human destiny by looking at the stars and planets.

The Start Of Baghdad

The Muslim world had its footprints in most parts of Asia, and Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, once the world’s third-largest city by population, is now, unfortunately a hotbed to many terrorist activities and other conflicts. This was not always the case, with the 9th Century CE Baghdad being the Islamic Golden age, growing into the world’s largest city and seeing many breakthroughs in astronomy and mathematics.

The Islamic Golden Age

The superbly conducted ancient city was a hub of commercial activities, full of people from rich, diverse cultures, speaking a wide range of languages. It became a global bazaar, with a wide range of silk, spices, and precious stones from countries like China, India and Judhaba. As slavery was prevalent in those times, there were also people up for sale in those bazaars.

The Commerce Hub

The xenophobic part of the Islamic religious forces who opposed the teachings from different religions and races, promoting their own religious teachings instead, overthrew Baghdad when it was invaded by the Mongols in 1258 CE, lead by the grandson of Genghis Khan, Hulagu Khan. All the books, crafted with decades of hard work, were thrown into the Tigris River.

Astronomy And Astrology

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