- al-Mansur
- the caliph who built her in the shape of a circle
- the round city
- her unique geometric shape in the Islamic city building of old
- the Silk Road
- the great road coming from the farthest land of China
- the Abbasids
- the dynasty that made her the world's capital in her era
- the House of Wisdom
- the scholars' great library standing in her heart
- al-Ma'mun
- the caliph who gathered the translators in her from everywhere
- the Tigris
- the river her ships sail upon, laden with goods
- the merchants
- the carriers of goods and learning alike, from east and west
- the fall of Baghdad
- the city's fall at the Mongols' hands in the year 1258
- India
- the eastern end of her wide-reaching trade
- the sea routes
- the sea routes passing through India and the Gulf
- five centuries
- her five whole centuries as a centre of the world