Then came the year 157 AH.

In that year al-Manṣūr built in Baghdad the palace he called al-Khuld (“Eternity”), hoping thereby for everlasting renown in this world; yet no sooner was it completed than he died, and the palace later fell into ruin. The two who pressed him to hasten its construction were Abān ibn Ṣadaqah and al-Rabīʿ, al-Manṣūr’s client and chamberlain.

That same year al-Manṣūr moved the marketplaces from their location near the Governor’s Residence to the Karkh Gate—we have already explained the reason for this (1).

He also ordered the widening of the streets, commanded that a bridge be built at Bāb al-Shaʿīr, and reviewed his troops arrayed in full armor—he himself wearing heavy armor as well—along the banks of the Tigris.

During the year he dismissed Hishām ibn ʿAmr from the governorship of Sind and appointed Maʿbad ibn al-Khalīl in his place (2).

In the summer campaign Yazīd ibn Asīd al-Sulamī advanced deep into Byzantine territory. He sent ahead Sinān, the freedman of al-Baṭṭāl, who captured several forts, took prisoners, and obtained considerable booty.

That year the pilgrimage was led on behalf of the people by Ibrāhīm ibn Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, and the provincial deputies remained those named for the preceding year.

Among those who died this year were:
– al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid;
– and the eminent imam, the scholar of his age, Abū ʿAmr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī (3), the jurist and leader of the people of Greater Syria. The inhabitants of Damascus and the surrounding regions remained upon his school for roughly two hundred and twenty years.