Almansur

Almansur ('the victorious'), the title assumed by Abu-Jafar, the second calif of the house of the Abbasides, who succeeded his brother in 754. Warfare, treachery, murder were his steps to the throne, and his whole rule was as cruel as its beginning. He especially persecuted the Christians in Syria and Egypt. In war against external foes he had but little success, Spain and Africa falling away from the eastern califate. He removed the seat of government from Kufa to Bagdad, which he built (764) at immense cost, raising the money by oppressive taxation. He introduced the pernicious custom of making his freed slaves, mostly foreigners, rulers of provinces. The best feature in his character was his patronage of learning. He caused the Elements of Euclid to be translated from the Syriac, and the famous fables of Bidpai from the Persian. Almansur died in 775 during a pilgrimage to Mecca, at the age of almost 70. See Nöldeke's Sketches from Eastern History (1893).