Harun al-Rashid
Biography
The fifth Abbasid caliph ruled at the height of Baghdad wealth and splendor. His court patronized poets, scholars, and musicians, and he appears as a character in the Thousand and One Nights. He exchanged embassies with Charlemagne, sending him an elephant. The powerful Barmakid family of viziers ran his government until he abruptly destroyed them in 803. Civil war between his sons followed his death.
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