Who were the Abbasids?
T
he Abbasids were a Muslim dynasty
that held power over the Islamic em-
Abbasid Art
pire for almost 2oo years from 750 to
945 CE. They came to power by rebelling
against the ruling Umayyad dynasty in East-
During the Abbasid era (750–
1258), in 762 the capital was shifted eastward from Syria to Bagh-
ern Iran and later on defeated the Umayyads
dad, Iraq. The first three centuries
completely. The main base of the Abbasids
of the Abbasid rule were the gold-
was established in Iraq. Their first capital was
Baghdad and then shifted to Samarra and later on again back to Baghdad (Petersen, 2002).
en age. Due to the new location of
the capital, numerous influences
from cultures around the world
were made available. The Muslim
artisans adopted aesthetic influences from China, the Iranians or
Persians, Indians culture and traditions. As the Muslim artisans
were being influenced and inspired by all these various beautiful cultures at the same time they
were improving and mastering
their own aesthetics, which later
created a whole new unique art
style in the Islamic world.
Figure 1 Beaker with relief–cut decoration, Abbasid period (750–1258), 9th–10th century