Early Islamic Architecture
ABSTRACT
This lecture discusses the early architecture of Islam, the form and nature of a mosque, looking at mosques from the Mosque of Damascus, Syria from 710 to the Mosque of Córdoba, begun 784. It ends with an analysis of the Dome of the Rock; an unusual building that serves as a shrine and not technically as a mosque.

KEY PEOPLES AND EMPIRES
•	Muhammad ibn ‘Abdukkah (ca. 570-632)
•	Abbasid Dynasty (750=1258)
•	Caliphate of Cordoba ( 756 – 1031)
•	Seljuks (1071-1325)
•	Vikings ( ca. 750 – 1150)
•	Tuareg

KEY CONCEPTS
•	Mosque
•	Five Pillars of Islam
•	Mihrab
•	Quibla
•	Minbar
•	Minaret
•	Madrassah
•	Carananserai
•	Muqarnas, girih

KEY PLACES
•	The Kaaba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
•	Great Mosque of Damascus, Syria, 710
•	Tarik Khane Mosque, Damghan Iran, (ca. 770)
•	The Great Mosque of Samarra (ca, 850)
•	Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun, Cairo (ca, 880)
•	Mosque of Cordoba (begun around 780)
•	Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem (691)
•	Dome of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem
•	Damascus
•	Baghdad