Abbasid Caliphate

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The Abbasid Caliphate, also known as the Arabian Empire, was the third caliphate, an Islamic state regarded as succeeding the prophet Muhammad. It was established in 750 in the wake of a revolution against the Umayyad Caliphate. Because their banners were black, they were known to the Tang as the "Black Arabs" (黑衣大食).

The long period of Abbasid rule is often remembered as the Islamic Golden Age for being a zenith of scientific and artistic flowering across the Islamic world.

History

Origin and early years

The Abbasids were descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, who was an uncle of Muhammad. This lineage gained them a number of influence and, with their powerful military, the Abbasids overthrow the Umayyad Caliphate during the Abbasid Revolution from 747 to 750, installing Abul Abbas As-Saffah as the first caliph of the new empire.

Almost immediately upon being installed on the throne, As-Saffah turned against his supporters in brutal purges, and he was subsequently branded with the pejorative epithet of "Bloodshedder" from his enemies such as the Hidden Ones.

In 751, they clashed with the Tang at the Battle of Talas, where the sudden betrayal of the Karluk mercenaries fighting under Tang forces resulted in a decisive victory for the Abbasids. The band of Hidden Ones led by Éléna arrived too late to affect the outcome, but they did manage to save the life of a Tang crossbowman named Li E, upon which they recruited him into their order. By 754, As-Saffah had eradicated the Hidden Ones in the region after assaulting their headquarters, and Li E escaped as the sole survivor.

Islamic Golden Age

By the time during the reign of caliph Al-Mutawakkil, the Order of the Ancients, enemies of the Hidden Ones, held power and sway over the Abbasid capital of Baghdad, with some of its member holding key positions within the Abbasid court, such as Warlord Wasif al-Turki commanding the Turkic Army within the Sharqiyah district, and Qabiha, the concubine of Al-Mutawakkil leading the Order from the Round City.

Eventually, Abbasid power declined, and their control was reduced to only the territory around their capital of Baghdad by the time of the Crusades although their caliphs continued to wield spiritual prestige. In 1258, Hülegü Khan of the Mongol Empire sacked the city of Baghdad, spelling an apocalyptic end to not just Abbasid cultural power but to the intellectual advances of Islamic society, as the city's philosophers and scientists were exterminated and its libraries and academies razed to the ground. The Abbasid Caliphate survived for a time in Egypt under the protection of the Mamluk Sultanate, although with little-to-none of their former spiritual authority and largely relegated to crowning the new Sultan, until finally the Mamluk Sultanate fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1517 and the Ottoman Sultans claimed the caliphate for themselves.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Dynasty (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
  • Wrath of the Druids (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – Geirmund's Saga (mentioned only, as "Serkland")
• Assassin's Creed Roleplaying Game (mentioned only)
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage