ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil, or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba from 912 to 929, at which point he founded the Caliphate of Córdoba, serving as its first caliph until his death. Abd al-Rahman won the laqab (sobriquet) al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh in his early 20s when he supported the Maghrawa Berbers in North Africa against Fatimid expansion and later claimed the title of Caliph for himself. His half-century reign was known for its religious tolerance.
Silver dirham of Abd al-Rahman III, minted in 335 AH
The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
Dirham of Abd al-Rahman III, minted in Medina Azahara in 959/960 AD
Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham, commonly known as Abd al-Rahman I, was the founder of the Umayyad dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia in Al-Andalus for nearly three centuries. Abd al-Rahman was a member of the Umayyad dynasty in Damascus, and his establishment of a government in Iberia represented a break with the Abbasids, who had overthrown the Umayyads in Damascus in 750.
Dirham coin of Abd al-Rahman I
A 19th century depiction of Abd al Rahman I
An illustration of The Song of Roland from the Grandes Chroniques de France, A romanticization of Battle of Roncevaux Pass.
The hypostyle hall, with its distinctive two-tiered arches, inside the Great Mosque of Córdoba, begun by Abd al Rahman I in 785–786.
