As part of their survey, researchers examined declassified U.S. spy satellite imagery from the 1970s, which is now in the public domain, and compared the visual data to modern-day photography and ...

After the town fell to Muslim forces in AD639-40, the Umayyad Caliph Hisham is said to have built two palaces there and renamed it Raqqa ("the marsh"). In 771, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansour chose ...

The first major caliphate was the Rashidun Caliphate, followed by the Umayyad Caliphate and the Abbasid Caliphate. The Islamic Golden age began during the Abbasid caliphate which was centred ...

On the plain of the town, the forces of the Umayyad caliphate massacred fellow Muslims who supported the family of Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, rivals to the Umayyads for ...

who would later become Umayyad Caliph Walid II (709-744). Qusayr Amra represents one of finest examples of Umayyad art and architecture known for its lavish and sophisticated paintings.