The town was the home of the Abbasid, or Banu Abbas family, around AD 700, who eventually overthrew the Umayyad dynasty and took over the title of caliph, and as such it was the birthplace of the first three Abbasid caliphs: As-Saffah (r. 750–754), Al-Mansur (r. 754–775) and Al-Mahdi (r. 775–785). The family residence of the Abbasids was a large "qasr" a roughly square plan, approximately 61 by 50 m, with a recessed entrance facing east, and a large central court, arguably one of the so-called desert castles, of which very little remains today.