10 CALIPHS OF BAGDAD. 



is called the Imperfect. The Ommiades are gene- 

 rally styled Caliphs of Syria, their capital being Da- 

 mascus ; while the Abbassides are known in history 

 as the Caliphs of Bagdad, the city to which they 

 transferred their court. In the rise of the Moham- 

 medan monarchy, the empire, however menaced by 

 revolt, was still one and undivided ; but in its de- 

 cline and fall this indivisibility ceased, and the Mos- 

 lems beheld three independent sovereignties erected, 

 towards the close of the eighth century, within dif- 

 ferent parts of their dominions — one seated at Bag- 

 dad, another in Egypt and Africa, and a third in 

 Spain. 



The house of Abbas, whose accession to the 

 throne was attended with circumstances of such 

 unparalleled cruelty as to procure for its first caliph 

 the epithet of Al Saffah, or the Sanguinary, ruled 

 over the Eastern World with various degrees of 

 authority for a period of five hundred years. The 

 first century beheld their power undiminished ; 

 though the dismemberment of several provinces 

 showed that their government w^as inherently w^eak, 

 and that the unwieldly fabric could not long main- 

 tain its stability. Like other great nations of an- 

 tiquity, the policy of the Saracens seemed better 

 adapted for the acquisition of empire than for its 

 preservation ; and though, by a surprising efibrt of 

 arms, they had compelled the world to acknowledge 

 the might of the Commander of the Faithful, they 

 could not infuse into their system those principles 

 of wholesome and vigorous administration essential 

 to its perpetuity. The incessant workings of fac- 

 tion made it necessary to invest the lieutenants of 

 provinces with absolute command ; and these, as 

 the monarchy grew feeble and degenerate, were 

 enabled to make their governments hereditary, and 

 to assume every thing except tlie name of kings. 

 The seeds of dissolution were slowly matured by 

 foreign wars and domestic revolts ; and the first 



