Baghdad: "Madinat al Salam"

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In the cacophony of the current war-drums, here is one piece that’s easy to miss… the cultural history that lies not just in Iraq, but over this entire region.

The City of Baghdad, Martin O’Malley & Justin Thompson
CBC News Online, 18 February 2003

Baghdad was founded by Abu Jafar al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph, in 762. The city was established in what was then Mesopotamia to be the Abbasids’ military and administrative centre. The caliph is “the chief Muslim civil and religious ruler, regarded as the successor of Mohammed,” according to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary.

The original city, known as Madinat al Salam – City of Peace – took four years to build and was founded on the western bank of the Tigris River in an ecologically diverse area know as “the fertile crescent.” The name Baghdad comes from two Persian words meaning “founded by God”. For economic purposes, the city site was in an advantageous position on the routes connecting Iran, Iraq and Syria.

The city was constructed within a series of three concentric walls built around an administrative centre. The circles symbolized order in chaos, and roadways radiated outward to the north, south, east and west. All roads led to the Caliph’s palace at the hub.

The construction of the city spawned the growth of other communities, as military and construction camps arose nearby. To the north was the military camp, al-Harbiya. To the south, al Karkh, home to thousands of construction workers, who established factories and services to provide for the growing population. Baghdad’s famous bazaars, which remain beehives of activity, sprouted in the crowded alleys of al Karkh.

The administrative centre was completed in 766 and soon after additional administrative quarters and palaces were built. Baghdad rapidly expanded across the east bank of the Tigris River, the location of the present city centre.

By the ninth century, Baghdad had evolved into a fast-growing metropolis, roughly the size of present-day Halifax, with a population of between 300,000 and 500,000. For a time, it was the largest city in the Middle East before being overtaken by Constantinople in the 16th century. Baghdad was one of the largest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world, home to Muslims, Christians, Jews and pagans from across the Middle East and Central Asia.

In his book A History of Islamic Societies, Historian Ira M. Lapidus said this varied complexion made Baghdad revolutionary for its time. Under the caliphate the city was home to a new, multi-faceted, culturally integrated Middle East ruled by the Abbasids and subject to Islamic beliefs."

‘Baghdad provided the wealth and manpower to govern a vast empire; it crystallized the culture which became the Islamic civilization.’

The Abbasids rejected the caste system in favour of universal equality for all Muslims, and allowed people of different walks to participate in administrative roles.

Baghdad was, for a time, the de-facto capital of the Middle East. From Baghdad, the Abbasid central government ruled over Iraq, western Iran, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq and Khuzistan (present-day Iran). The 600-year Abbasid reign in Baghdad came to an end in 1258 when the city was sacked and burned by Mongols led by Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan. The last Abbasid caliph was killed in the attacks, and much of Baghdad’s infrastructure was destroyed, plunging the city into a centuries-long tailspin of disrepair.

In the centuries following, Baghdad became caught in a 500-year-long struggle between the Turks and Persians. The Turks held the city for three centuries leading up to the British capture in 1917. Four years later, Baghdad was named capital of the newly created kingdom of Iraq.

An oil boom in the 1970s lifted the city’s fortunes. Money flowed into Baghdad, paying for new sewage and water lines, as well as a broad network of highways. By 1980, however, these improvements were crippled by Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran. What remained of the developing infrastructure was all but crushed by massive U.S. bombing raids during the 1991 Gulf War.

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Iraq discovers pre-Islamic castle, BBC, 3 March 2000

War risk to Iraqi treasures, BBC, Dr. David Whitehouse, 6 March 2003

Iraq is a cradle of civilisation with thousands of archaeological sites spanning more than 10,000 years.

It is the birthplace of agriculture; the first great cities and empires were in Iraq, and the origins of writing have been traced to the region.

Babylon was built on the banks of the Euphrates, Baghdad University is one of the oldest seats of learning in the world and the city of Mosul, in northern Iraq, is considered by some to the oldest continuously inhabited place on Earth.

As part of its preparations for war, the Pentagon recently asked archaeologists to list sensitive locations in Iraq, but as one researcher put it: “the whole country is one big archaeological site”.

Because of the threat of war, archaeologists have recently ceased excavations along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as well as in Iraq’s major cities. In fact, researchers from all over the Middle East are stopping excavations.

In a statement, the Archaeological Institute of America said it was “concerned that in the aftermath of war, Iraqi cultural objects may be removed from museums and archaeological sites”.

Professor McGuire Gibson, of the University of Chicago, summed it up succinctly. “War and archaeology do not mix,” he said.

The institute points out that Iraq’s museums - particularly the national museum in Baghdad and the regional museum in Mosul - house irreplaceable sculptures, inscribed tablets, reliefs, cylinder seals and other cultural objects.

“The removal of such objects would cause irreparable losses to some of the world’s most significant archaeological sites,” it adds.

The institute urges all governments to follow the terms of the 1954 Hague Convention that seeks to protect cultural artefacts in times of conflict, and to protect ancient sites, monuments, antiquities, and cultural institutions in the case of war.

But the track record in the region is not encouraging.

In the aftermath of the Gulf War in 1991, many unique sites were plundered or damaged and researchers left Iraq to work abroad.

During the conflict, the mighty ziggurat at Ur, one of the first cities, was bombed and damaged. In addition, prized antiquities were looted and sold illegally. In some cases, thieves plundered Assyrian wall frescoes and sculptures.

In January, archaeological curators, collectors and lawyers expressed their deep concern about the impact of another war, saying that sites “face a greater risk now than they did 10 years ago because of the greater American determination to topple Saddam Hussein”.

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Riddle of ‘Baghdad’s batteries’, BBC, 27 February 2003

War can destroy more than a people, an army or a leader. Culture, tradition and history also lie in the firing line. Iraq has a rich national heritage. The Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel are said to have been sited in this ancient land.

In any war, there is a chance that priceless treasures will be lost forever, articles such as the “ancient battery” that resides defenceless in the museum of Baghdad. For this object suggests that the region, whose civilizations gave us writing and the wheel, may also have invented electric cells - two thousand years before such devices were well known.

It was in 1938, while working in Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad in modern day Iraq, that German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig unearthed a five-inch-long (13 cm) clay jar containing a copper cylinder that encased an iron rod. The vessel showed signs of corrosion, and early tests revealed that an acidic agent, such as vinegar or wine had been present. In the early 1900s, many European archaeologists were excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, looking for evidence of Biblical tales like the Tree of Knowledge and Noah’s flood.

Konig did not waste his time finding alternative explanations for his discovery. To him, it had to have been a battery. Though this was hard to explain, and did not sit comfortably with the religious ideology of the time, he published his conclusions. But soon the world was at war, and his discovery was forgotten. More than 60 years after their discovery, the batteries of Baghdad - as there are perhaps a dozen of them - are shrouded in myth.

“The batteries have always attracted interest as curios,” says Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum. “They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life’s enigmas.”

No two accounts of them are the same. Some say the batteries were excavated, others that Konig found them in the basement of the Baghdad Museum when he took over as director. There is no definite figure on how many have been found, and their age is disputed.

Most sources date the batteries to around 200 BC - in the Parthian era, circa 250 BC to AD 225. Skilled warriors, the Parthians were not noted for their scientific achievements. “Although this collection of objects is usually dated as Parthian, the grounds for this are unclear,” says Dr St John Simpson, also from the department of the ancient Near East at the British Museum. “The pot itself is Sassanian. This discrepancy presumably lies either in a misidentification of the age of the ceramic vessel, or the site at which they were found.” In the history of the Middle East, the Sassanian period (circa AD 225 - 640) marks the end of the ancient and the beginning of the more scientific medieval era.

Though most archaeologists agree the devices were batteries, there is much conjecture as to how they could have been discovered, and what they were used for. How could ancient Persian science have grasped the principles of electricity and arrived at this knowledge? Perhaps they did not. Many inventions are conceived before the underlying principles are properly understood.

The Chinese invented gunpowder long before the principles of combustion were deduced, and the rediscovery of old herbal medicines is now a common occurrence. You do not always have to understand why something works - just that it does.

It is certain the Baghdad batteries could conduct an electric current because many replicas have been made, including by students of ancient history under the direction of Dr Marjorie Senechal, professor of the history of science and technology, Smith College, US. “I don’t think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work,” she says. Replicas can produce voltages from 0.8 to nearly two volts.

Making an electric current requires two metals with different electro potentials and an ion carrying solution, known as an electrolyte, to ferry the electrons between them. Connected in series, a set of batteries could theoretically produce a much higher voltage, though no wires have ever been found that would prove this had been the case. “It’s a pity we have not found any wires,” says Dr Craddock. “It means our interpretation of them could be completely wrong.”

But he is sure the objects are batteries and that there could be more of them to discover. “Other examples may exist that lie in museums elsewhere unrecognised”. He says this is especially possible if any items are missing, as the objects only look like batteries when all the pieces are in place.

Some have suggested the batteries may have been used medicinally. The ancient Greeks wrote of the pain killing effect of electric fish when applied to the soles of the feet. The Chinese had developed acupuncture by this time, and still use acupuncture combined with an electric current. This may explain the presence of needle-like objects found with some of the batteries. But this tiny voltage would surely have been ineffective against real pain, considering the well-recorded use of other painkillers in the ancient world like cannabis, opium and wine.

Other scientists believe the batteries were used for electroplating - transferring a thin layer of metal on to another metal surface - a technique still used today and a common classroom experiment. This idea is appealing because at its core lies the mother of many inventions: money. In the making of jewellery, for example, a layer of gold or silver is often applied to enhance its beauty in a process called gilding.

…] The ability to mysteriously electroplate gold or silver on to such objects would not only save precious resources and money, but could also win you important friends at court.

A palace, kingdom, or even the sultan’s daughter may have been the reward for such knowledge - and motivation to keep it secret. Testing this idea in the late seventies, Dr Arne Eggebrecht, then director of Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, connected many replica Baghdad batteries together using grape juice as an electrolyte, and claimed to have deposited a thin layer of silver on to another surface, just one ten thousandth of a millimetre thick.

Other researchers though, have disputed these results and have been unable to replicate them. “There does not exist any written documentation of the experiments which took place here in 1978,” says Dr Bettina Schmitz, currently a researcher based at the same Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum. “The experiments weren’t even documented by photos, which really is a pity,” she says. “I have searched through the archives of this museum and I talked to everyone involved in 1978 with no results.”

Although a larger voltage can be obtained by connecting more than one battery together, it is the ampage which is the real limiting factor, and many doubt whether a high enough power could ever have been obtained, even from tens of Baghdad batteries. One serious flaw with the electroplating hypothesis is the lack of items from this place and time that have been treated in this way. “The examples we see from this region and era are conventional gild plating and mercury gilding,” says Dr Craddock. “There’s never been any untouchable evidence to support the electroplating theory.” He suggests a cluster of the batteries, connected in parallel, may have been hidden inside a metal statue or idol. He thinks that anyone touching this statue may have received a tiny but noticeable electric shock, something akin to the static discharge that can infect offices, equipment and children’s parties.

“I have always suspected you would get tricks done in the temple,” says Dr Craddock. "The statue of a god could be wired up and then the priest would ask you questions. “If you gave the wrong answer, you’d touch the statue and would get a minor shock along with perhaps a small mysterious blue flash of light. Get the answer right, and the trickster or priest could disconnect the batteries and no shock would arrive - the person would then be convinced of the power of the statue, priest and the religion.” It is said that to the uninitiated, science cannot be distinguished from magic. “In Egypt we know this sort of thing happened with Hero’s engine,” Dr Craddock says.

Hero’s engine was a primitive steam-driven machine, and like the battery of Baghdad, no one is quite sure what it was used for, but are convinced it could work. If this idol could be found, it would be strong evidence to support the new theory. With the batteries inside, was this object once revered, like the Oracle of Delphi in Greece, and “charged” with godly powers? Even if the current were insufficient to provide a genuine shock, it may have felt warm, a bizarre tingle to the touch of the unsuspecting finger. At the very least, it could have just been the container of these articles, to keep their secret safe.

Perhaps it is too early to say the battery has been convincingly demonstrated to be part of a magical ritual. Further examination, including accurate dating, of the batteries’ components are needed to really answer this mystery. No one knows if such an idol or statue that could have hidden the batteries really exists, but perhaps the opportunity to look is not too far away - if the items survive the looming war in the Middle East. “These objects belong to the successors of the people who made them,” says Dr Craddock. “Let’s hope the world manages to resolve its present problems so people can go and see them.”