The Tahirid Palace () or Tahirid Precinct/Sanctuary () was an

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

-era palace in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

The palace was constructed on the western bank of the

Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...

, at the Zubaidiyya Fief, by

Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir () (824/5 – November 867) was a Tahirid who served the Abbasid Caliphate as governor and chief of police ('' sahib al-shurta'') of Baghdad from 851 until his death, during a particularly troubled peri ...

, a member of the Tahirid family, which during the 9th century ruled Khurasan as governors of the

s, and held the post of governor of Baghdad. The palace functioned as the seat of the Tahirid governors, and had the rights of sanctuary (), meaning that anyone could seek refuge on its grounds. Following the return of the Abbasid caliphs to Baghdad in the late 9th century, the palace became a secondary caliphal palace, used chiefly as a residence for the caliphs' sons, or as a state prison for deposed caliphs

al-Qahir Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mu'tadid ( ar, أبو المنصور محمد بن أحمد المعتضد, Abū al-Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muʿtaḍid), usually known simply by his regnal title Al-Qahir bi'llah ( ar, القاهر � ...

and

al-Muttaqi Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Jaʿfar al-Muqtadir ( ar, أبو إسحاق إبراهيم بن جعفر المقتدر) better known by his regnal title Al-Muttaqi (908 – July 968, ar, المتقي) was the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad from 940 to 944. Hi ...

. Caliphs

al-Mu'tadid Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Ṭalḥa al-Muwaffaq ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن طلحة الموفق), 853/4 or 860/1 – 5 April 902, better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaḍid bi-llāh ( ar, المعتضد بالله, link=no, ...

and

al-Muktafi Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن أحمد; 877/78 – 13 August 908), better known by his regnal name al-Muktafī bi-llāh ( ar, المكتفي بالله, , Content with God Alone), was the Caliph of the Ab ...

, and possibly also al-Muqtadir, were buried in its grounds, along with numerous

princes. In the later 10th century, parts of the palace were purchased by the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Islam, Shia Iranian peoples, Iranian dynasty of Daylamites, Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central ...

Amir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

Izz al-Dawla Bakhtiyar ( fa, بختیار, died 978), better known by his ''laqab'' of Izz al-Dawla ( ar, عز الدولة, ʿIzz ad-Dawla, lit=Glory of the Dynasty), was the Buyid amir of Iraq (967–978). Early life Izz al-Dawla was born as ''Bakhtiyar ...

, and served as his residence and that of the later Buyid governors of the city. During the 1136 Siege of Baghdad by the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

, the palace was plundered by the populace, and what remained of it was nearly entirely destroyed in the great Tigris floods of 1217.

References

Sources

* * * * {{coord missing, Iraq Buildings and structures completed in the 9th century Abbasid palaces in Baghdad Former palaces Tahirid dynasty Burial sites of the Abbasid dynasty