"The Elephant Clock", Folio from al-Jazari's Automata / 1315, Syria or Iraq
The Abbasid’s power made them major players in the diplomatic and geostrategic game from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. From Tang China to Carolingian France, high-ranking officials came to Baghdad bearing lavish gifts with high hopes of forming an alliance.
History records the name of numerous ambassadors sent to the Abbasid court for one reason or another. One was Yang Liangyao, a Chinese eunuch who came to Baghdad to negotiate an alliance in 785. Another was Georgios I of Makuria, a Sudanese prince sent to negotiate tribute owed by his father's kingdom to the caliphate. A third was John Rhadenos, a Byzantine admiral who came to negotiate peace and pay ransom for captured soldiers in 917. Each brought gifts of silk, ivory or precious manuscripts to offer to the caliph himsel ... or to the high officials who controlled access to him!
The Abbasids also sent emissaries of their own. Between 797 and 809, no less than three diplomatic envoys brought tokens of friendship from Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne, displaying Abbasid imperial power and technological prowess. They are said to have offered to their new ally an elaborate water clock made of brass on which 12 small horsemen would move around at the end of each hour, as well as an elephant named Abul-Abbas.