17 - Samarra

An era of unprecedented intellectual and cultural flowering, the Golden Age of Islam, unfolds in the Abbasid Caliphate.  But fearful of an emerging dynasty of powerful Eastern governors, the Tahirid dynasty, the Abbasid Caliphs build a great Turkish slave army.  In order to house the Turkish slave army, a new capital city is constructed at Samarra.   In Samarra, the Turkish slave army becomes increasingly politically powerful.  Things come to a head during the reign of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, as the Turkish slave soldiers decide that the time has come for the slaves to become the masters.