TULUNID DYNASTY

first local dynasty of Egypt and Syria to exist independently of the 'Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, ruling 868905. Its founder, Ahmad ibn Tulun, a Turk, arrived in Egypt in 868 as vice governor and promptly (868872) established a military and financial foothold in the province by organizing an independent Egyptian army and securing the management of the Egyptian and Syrian treasuries. Insufficient payment of tribute brought caliphal troops against him in 877, but Ahmad maintained his position by occupying Syria (878). During his rule (868884), the most significant in Tulunid history, the provinces developed agriculturally, commerce and industry were encouraged, and the artistic traditions of the 'Abbasids of Baghdad and Samarra' were introduced into western Islam. A public building program was initiated, in which Al-Qata'i', the Tulunid capital, and the great Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun were constructed. The mosque, modeled after the Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil in Samarra', is made of brick and plaster, materials rarely used previously in Egyptian architecture but popular in Iraq. The subsequent Tulunids, Khumarawayh (884896), Jaysh (896), Harun (896905), and Shayban (905), were ineffectual rulers, totally reliant on a Turkish-black military caste. Under the administration of Khumarawayh, Ahmad's son, the Syro-Egyptian state's financial and military stability was destroyed, and the state finally reverted to the 'Abbasids in 905. After the fall of the Tulunids, the arts in Egypt deteriorated and did not recover until the Fatimids took power. They were strongly influenced by the Tulunids and, by the 11th century, had made Egypt the cultural centre of western Islam.