Omar II, his successor by Soliman's last will, was equally unsuccessful in the conduct of the war. Having incurred the displeasure of the Ommiades by his indulgence toward the sect of Ali, he was poisoned by them (721 Al).,. Heg. 102). Jezid II, his successor also for the dis position of Soliman, died of grief for the loss of a female favorite, of whose death he was the author (723 A.D., Heg. 104). His successor was Hisham, who reigned till 743. He had to suppress several revolts, the chief being that of Zaid (739-40). About this time the Abbas sides, descendants of Abbas, son of Abdalmo taleb, uncle of the Prophet, began to be for midable. Under Hisham an end was put to the progress of the Saracens in the west by the energy of Charles Martel, who annihilated their armies at Tours in 732, and at Narbonne in 736. Walid II was murdered after a reign of one year (744 A.D., Heg. 124).
After the still briefer reigns of Jezid III and of his brother Ibrahim, Merwan II fol lowed, with the surname (respectable among the Arabs) of the Ass (Al Hemar). Ibrahim, the Abbasside leader, being imprisoned and put to death by this prince, his brother, Abul Abbas, took up the cause of the Abbassides and as sumed the title of caliph. In the resulting war Medwan was twice defeated, and fell (750 A.D., Heg. 133). With him terminates the series of caliphs of the race of Ommiyah. The furious Abdallah, uncle of Ibrahim and Abul Abbas, treacherously destroyed almost all the Ommiades by a horrible massacre at a meeting to which they had been inveigled. One of the family, Abderrahman, grandson of Hisham, having taken refuge in Spain, escaped the massacre and founded the independent caliphate of Cordova. See SPAIN.
Abul Abbas, first of the Abbasside caliphs, died young in 754 A.D. (Heg. 136). His brother, Abu Giafar, called Al Mansur ()the Victorious)), was obliged to contend with a rival in his uncle, Abdallah, whom he, however, overcame. He acquired his surname by his vic tories in Armenia, Cilicia and Cappadocia. Spain was lost by him, however, as well as Africa. In the year 764 he founded the city of Bagdad on the Tigris, and transferred thither the seat of the caliphate (768 A.D., Heg. 149). He died on a pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving im mense treasures (775 A.D., Heg. 158). Moham med Mandi, his son and successor, a man of a noble character, had to contend with the tur bulent inhabitants of Khorasan under the pre tended prophet, Hakem, and died 785 A.D. ; and Musa or Hadi, his grandson, met with the same opposition from the Ali party under Houssain. Hadi's mother was a strong-minded, woman, who wished to rule her son, and with him the state, and this led him to try to poison her. She, however, caused him to be smothered before he could effect his purpose.
Hadi was followed, not by his son, but by his brother Harun (786 A.D.), who was.denom Mated Al Rashid caThe Upright)) on account of his justice, and is famous for promoting the arts and sciences. He concluded a truce (an actual peace could never be made with Chris tians) with the Greek empress, Irene (788 A.D.), who consented to pay him tribute. Yahya, a member of the house of Ali, disputed with him the possession of the throne, but subsequently submitted. Harun, however, tarnished his repu tation by the murder of Yahya, and still more by the murder of his sister, and her favorite, the Barmecide Giafar, and by the• expulsion and persecution of the whole family of the Barme cides, whose services to the state and himself had been of very great value. Harun divided
the empire among his three sons. Al Amin. as sole caliph, was to reign over Irak, Arabia, Syria, Egypt and the rest of Africa: under him Al Mamun was to govern Persia, Turkestan, Khorasan, and the whole East; and Motassem was to rule Asia Minor, Armenia and all the countries on the Black Sea. The younger broth ers were to succeed Amin in the caliphate. Thus, in Khorasan, through which Harun was passing, in order to quell a rebellion that had broken out in Samarcand, he was arrested by death, of which .he had been forewarned by extraordinary dreams (809 A.D., Heg. 190).
Al Amin the faithful (his proper name was Mohammed) was undeserving of this name. Untrue to his obligations as a ruler, and ad dicted to all kinds of sensuality, he left the dis charge of his duties to his vizier, Fadhel. The vizier, from hatred of Mamun, persuaded the caliph to appoint his son his successor, and de prive Motassem of his portion of territory. A war arose between the brothers. Mamun's gen eral, Thaher, defeated the armies of the caliph, took Bagdad, and caused Amin to be put to death (813 A.D., Heg. 194).
Mamun was recognized as caliph. Nobler in his inclinations than Amin, he cherished the arts and sciences but, like his brother, he left the government and armies to his ministers. His measures to secure the caliphate to the Alides in order to please Riza, his favorite, ex cited the powerful Abbassides to an insurrec tion. They declared Mamun to have forfeited the throne, and proclaimed Ibrahim caliph, but submitted again, after the death of Riza, when the caliph had changed his sentiments. The vast empire of the Arabs, embracing number less provinces in two quarters of -the globe, could hardly be held under his sceptre. There is but one step, and that an easy one, under a weak sovereign, from a vice-royalty to a king dom. The wisdom of the former Abbassides could only retard this evil; the faults of the latter precipitated it. Even under Harun Al Rashid the Agladides had founded an inde pendent empire in Tunis (800 A.D., Heg. 181), as had likewise the Edrisides in Fez. Thaher, having been appointed •governor of Khorasan, made himself independent. From him the Thaherides derived their origin. Mamun sent Thomas, a Greek exile, with an army against the Greek emperor, Michael II the Stammerer. Thomas depopulated Asia Minor, and laid siege to Constantinople; but a storm destroyed his fleet (823 A.D., Heg. 207). A second attack on the imperial city was repelled by the aid of the Bulgarians. Thomas was taken prisoner and executed. Toward the many religious sects into which the Mussulmans were then divided. Mamun acted with toleration. He died 833 A.D. (Heg. 218). During his government (about 830 A.D., Heg. 215), the African Arabs con quered Sicily and Sardinia, where they main tained themselves about 200 years, till the latter island was torn from them by the Pisans in 1016-17, and the former island by the Normans between 1061 and 1090.