Gadara, located some 120 km northwest of Amman (Photo courtesy of ACOR) AMMAN — The Abbasid presence at Gadara (modern Umm Qais) was mentioned in the works of Arab mediaeval geographers and scholars.

Though little remembered in the west today, the Abbasids reigned for five centuries. They oversaw an era of Islamic military dominance... city-building… brilliant scholarship, and technological ...

The period of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) has long been recognized as the formative period of Islamic civilization with its various achievements in the areas of science, literature, and culture.