Research has proliferated on several topics that have invited new methodological approaches: the rural setting, gendered relations between men and women, communal status of minorities (Christians and Jews), and religious diversity among Muslims, in particular among those who identified as Sufi mystics. New sources and revisionist interpretations of them continue to transform the field of Mamluk Studies. Yet in many instances, findings on these subjects are confined to discoveries of information on discrete conditions or isolated events that do not lend themselves to comprehensive analysis. They often depend on a single source or fragmentary data set, and require imaginative speculation to formulate hypotheses that apply to questions about their broader contexts in society. The chapter will outline the state of research on these subjects and their potential to open new lines of inquiry by highlighting examples that have influenced revisionist interpretations.

In the centuries after Justinian’s death, Constantinople’s bronze horseman became a defining presence on the city’s skyline. It signified imperial power and elicited competitive emulation. In the eighth–ninth centuries the lofty monument emerged as a powerful emblem in Byzantine–Abbasid relations. Abu Ja’far al-Mansur, the creator of Baghdad, placed a prominent equestrian statue atop the tallest, central dome of his new capital. This chapter discusses the so-called "crown of Baghdad," a forgotten sculptural monument which once mirrored Constantinople’s horseman in form and function. The dome and its sculpture immediately became iconic features of the city. They could be seen from the outskirts of Baghdad or even at a more distant approach to the city. The dome and its monument were calculated statements of imperial power that were deeply embedded in the Abbasid–Byzantine dialogue. I argue that this bronze, sculptural monument in the heart of Baghdad was created as a conscious and deliberate response to the bronze horseman of Constantinople. It grew in mythology, stature, and significance to rival the bronze horseman. By contextualizing the Baghdad monument within a competitive relationship, a forgotten facet of Abbasid–Byzantine cultural dialogue has emerged.