The History of al-?abari Vol. 29: Al-Man?ur and al-Mahdi A.D. 763-786/A.H. 146-169

This volume opens when the caliph al-Manṣūr has just defeated the rebellion of Muḥammad the Pure Soul in 145/762-3 and is now securely established in power. The main concerns of the remaining thirteen years of his reign are the building of his new capital at Baghdad, on which al-al-Ṭabarī's text contains details not previously published in English, and his efforts to have his nephew ʿIsā ibn Mūsā replaced as heir apparent by his own son Muḥammad al-Mahdī, a maneuver that required all his po...