Political Achievements The Abbasid court was very influenced by Persian customs, and members of the Persian Barmakid family were the advisers of the caliphs and rivaled them. One of the most important changes the Abbasids made was to move the capital of the Islamic empire from the old Umayyad Damascus to a new city—Baghdad. Baghdad grew quickly with encouragement from the Abbasid state, and it was soon the largest city in the world. At Baghdad, the Persian culture that the Umayyads had attempted to suppress was now allowed to thrive. Art, poetry, and science flourished. One of the most important ideas of the Golden Age was the creation of a vast empire without internal political boundaries, largely free from external attack. |