Medicine Dietetics and Pharmacology - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 265

Ruāfa district, and also for establishing
the west bank markets in the arbiyya
quarter to the north of the Round City.
This quarter was inhabited by Cen-
tral Asians, who traded with ‡ w ārazm
and Transoxania. Both Ibn al-Faīh
and al-Yaūbī describe the markets of
Ba ∞ dād in the later 3rd/9th century and
early 4th/10th century.
The markets in east Ba ∞ dād included
the sū Yayā (named after Yayā
al-Barmakī). The land on which this
market stood war later awarded by
al-Mamūn to āhir b. al-usayn at the
end of the civil war between the sons of
Hārūn al-Ra ª īd. During the 5th/11th
century, when the Sal ¡ ūs were control-
ling Ba ∞ dād, there were many reports of
arson in the city's markets. In 485/1092
fire raged in the markets of the goldsmiths'
and of the money-changers ( sū al-ā ∞ a
wa 'l-ayārif ) resulting in great loss of life;
and in 512/1118 the sū al-rayāīn (the
spice market) and the market of Abdūn
caught fire, resulting in extensive damage
to property in east Ba ∞ dād, including the
money-changers' shops, millers' inn, the
royal mint ( dār al-arb ) and public baths,
all of which were destroyed. Ibn al- ⁄ awzī
describes the layout of east Ba ∞ dād's mar-
kets in the 6th/12th century, which con-
tained high-rise buildings owned by rich
merchants, such as the millers ( daāūn ),
bakers and sellers of sweets ( alwayiyyūn ).
There was also a nearby shoe-makers'
market ( sū al-asākifa ), then a market sell-
ing all kinds of birds ( sū al-ayr ), one for
aromatic plants/spices, and in the vicinity
of this lay the bankers' or money-chang-
ers' shops. Next came shops selling food
( sū al-makūl ), such as those of the bakers
and butchers ( aābūn ). Alongside them
there was the goldsmiths' market housed
in a most splendid building. Next to it,
there was a big market of booksellers and
copyists ( sū al-warrāīn ) in which scholars

and poets congregated. All these markets
of east Baghdad were located close to the
market of al-Ruāfa and its congrega-
tional mosque.
There was an element of competition
in the setting up of sū s. For instance,
the sū al-aa ª (Thirst Market) formerly
known as suwaykat al-ara ª ī was built by
Saīd al-ara ª ī for al-Mahdī as a means
of transferring some of the business to
the east bank at the expense of al-Kar ¶ .
Among the smaller markets of east
Ba ∞ dād were the suwayat Nar (attributed
to Nar b. Mālik), suwayat ‡ ālid (referring
to ‡ ālid b. Barmak) at the · ammāsiyya
Gate, and suwayat al-a ¡¡ ā ¡ (related
to al-a ¡¡ ā ¡ b. Waīf, a client of
al-Mahdī), and the suwayat Amad b.
Abī ‡ ālid . Similarly, west Ba ∞ dād had,
besides the great markets of al-Kar ¶
and al-arbiyya, many other markets,
including the sū al-Hay º am (referring to
al-Hay º am b. Muāwiya), the sū Abd
al-Wahhāb and the fruit market of dār
al-baī ¶ . At ar Waā, named after
the client of the caliph who was in charge
of the arsenal ( āib ¶ izānat al-ilā ), there
were markets selling all kinds of goods;
these included over a hundred shops sell-
ing paper and topics and the shops of
copyists. These bookshops spread from
the ā al-arrānī to the new bridge
on the Sarāt Canal, occupying both sides
of the road and on the bridge itself.
Al-Yaūbī states that, in his time, the
market of al-Kar ¶ occupied an area two
farsa ¶ s in length from ar Waāh to
the sū al- º ulā º a (Tuesday Market) and
one farsa ¶ from the aīat al-Rabī
towards the Tigris. Each trade was located
in a well-known street and the shops and
workshops were arranged in rows of
shops. Craftsmen of one kind did not mix
with another kind and were segregated
from those of other markets, each market
constituting a separate unit. The arb b.