How the Arabs saved our knowledge from antiquity

In my post, The story around Alexander’s copy of the Iliad, I briefly mentioned how the Abbasid Caliphs in Persia largely contributed to preserving the knowledge of the ancient Greeks. 

A few years ago, my attention was drawn to the glory days of Baghdad around 1000 AD, a city built inside a circle surrounding the central Abbasid Palace, a symbol of power and unity. More amazing than its shape was the fact that its Caliphs invested in hiring scholars to translate ancient Greek documents into Arabic. 

[Baghdad under the early Caliphs. Attribution]

Baghdad was built along the Tigris River in 762 AD, as the residence of Caliph Al-Mansur, the founder of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasid Dynasty was named after the uncle of Prophet Muhammad. A Caliph was the title of the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state, seen as representing Allah on earth. 

Al-Mansur was the first Caliph to honor astrologers. The most famous astrologer was Mash’allah from Basra, who served the Caliphs from 762 to 809 AD. Al-Mansur was convinced that it was written in the stars that the Abbasids were the legitimate successors of the Persian Sassanid Empire. They had been in power from 224 until 651 AD, when they were conquered by the Muslims. Since astrology did not exist in Arabic, Al-Mansur needed to revert to Persian and Greek astrological texts. As a result, he needed these ancient texts to be translated into Arabic.

By 786 AD, Caliph Harun al-Rashid established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, which originally may have been a Library, where scholars from across the Muslim world would organize their translations. The idea caught on, and other centers flourished a few centuries later in Cordoba and Granada in Spain, as well as in Cairo, Egypt. 

In the western Roman world, we saw our ancient knowledge and know-how disappear into the dark Middle Ages soon after the Fall of Rome in 476 AD. In the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, however, the science of Antiquity survived despite the rise of Christianity. Constantine the Great had made it the official religion, renaming its capital Byzantium after himself, Constantinople.

When Islam entered the stage in the 7^th century AD, the Abbasid Caliphate, established in Damascus, was a serious competitor to Constantinople. In about 750 AD, the Caliphate was transferred from Damascus to Baghdad, meaning that the center of power moved east from a Greek-speaking region to a non-Greek-speaking area. Followed a series of wars between the Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire that lasted until the 11^th century. 

All that time, the knowledge from Antiquity flowed into Baghdad, where a vast translation project was set up, and top translators were highly rewarded in gold. They concentrated on matters like astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and even music theory. Aristotle was still held in high esteem, his works as well as his comments. Later translations included Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest, a mathematical and astronomical treatise on the motions of the stars and planets; Euclid's book on geometry; the medical works of Hippocrates and Galen; and Plato’s Republic and Laws. Many other ancient books were translated from Greek, Pahlavi, Neo-Persian, and Syriac into Arabic. 

Simultaneously with this translation movement, Islamic science developed, involving philosophers and scientists alike. A name that stands out is that of Ibn Sina, better known as Avicenna (980-1037), the Father of Early Medicine, whose work was standard in Europe for centuries. Another figure was Al-Khwarizmi (780-860), the Father of Algebra, who introduced the algorithms.

By the mid-11^th century, the ideas of antiquity reached Europe in Arabic, traveling to Sicily and Muslim Spain. Over time, they had been enriched with the knowledge that the Caliphs in the Middle East had acquired and developed. We owe it to the Abbasids that the knowledge from classical antiquity reached Europe, where it was generally translated into Latin. 

The Abbasid Caliphate ended in 1258 when Baghdad was sacked by the Mongols. The city was looted and thoroughly destroyed. The invaders burned piles of books, including those that were held in the House of Wisdom. 

Without Baghdad and its western expansion, we would have remained stuck in the dark Middle Ages, and there would not have been a Renaissance. 

Plato, more than a philosopher

Plato is a highly fascinating figure. Not only was he a student of Socrates, but he also taught Aristotle, who, in turn, passed his knowledge on to young Alexander. 

Plato, born in 427 BC, received the best education of his time. Although we know him mainly as a philosopher, he was educated in martial arts and horse riding, besides mathematics and music, painting, and drawing. 

When about the age of twenty, he encountered Socrates teaching on the Agora of Athens, and he realized that philosophy was a more worthy goal to pursue. 

Socrates hardly wrote anything down. We know him from Plato and Xenophon, who are not always in agreement. Socrates preferred talking, or rather asking questions, to the point of embarrassing and irritating his audience. 

Plato followed his master until the Athenians executed him on the charge of impiety in 399 BC. He then left Athens and traveled to other philosophical centers, such as Megara and Syracuse in Sicily, and later to Egypt and Cyrene. He became a student of Pythagoras, Euclid, and Heraclitus, and concentrated on the religion and metaphysics of Egypt. 

Before the Museum of Alexandria was founded, the center of knowledge was in Heliopolis, where priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks, like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon, consulted the Library that contained the history of Egypt going back thousands of years. For us, Egypt's ancient history is lost in the mists of time… How much was (still) available in Plato’s days? Probably far more than we can imagine. 

In the 380s BC, Plato returned to Athens, where he started the Academy. The philosopher educated his followers in a shrine of olive groves, sacred to the Greek hero Academos, and called it, therefore, Academia. Plato’s school would continue to thrive till the early 6^th century AD when it was shut down by Emperor Justinian. This Byzantine emperor was determined to erase paganism for good and impose Christianity instead to regain control over the Western Roman Empire. 

Plato is best known for his Dialogues and his Letters. He contributed hugely to our Western culture and religion, although few people realize his impact on monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. He was the first philosopher to mention and underscore the soul's immortality. For that reason, his work was not destroyed but accepted by the Christian religious leaders. Plato also stressed the importance of ‘objective truth’ in order to live well. 

As a result of the recent advanced imaging diagnostic techniques to read the carbonized papyri from Herculaneum (see: Reading the papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum), scholars have discovered more details about Plato’s life, of which very little is otherwise known. By virtually realigning the bits of burnt papyrus, they were able to restore the continuity of the text and obtain more information. 

The scroll revealed that Plato was sold into slavery on the island of Aegina, south of Athens, either in 404 BC when Sparta conquered the island, or in 399 BC upon the death of Socrates. It was previously and erroneously accepted that this event took place while he resided at the court of Dionysios of Syracuse in 387 BC. 

We also learned more about the final hours of Plato. While battling a fever, he listened to flute music played by a Thracian slave girl. He was still very lucid as he had the strength to criticize the girl’s lack of rhythm. A perfectionist to the end? 

Plato died in 348/347 BC, and it is now understood that he was buried in the garden of his Academia of Athens. This is very telling since the Academy is considered the world’s first university, which he founded next to the Mouseion. 

Deciphering the papyrus scrolls is a lengthy process that may well require many more years. Who knows what more we will learn?

The multiculturalism of Alexandria

Earlier this month, Academia.edu shared an article by Rogério Sousa, Alexandrea ad Aegyptum: The legacy of Multiculturalism in Antiquity, together with a team of specialists in Art History, Archaeology, Literature, Mathematics, Egyptology, and Classical Studies. 

It is a nice complement to my blog Alexandria, first Renaissance, which I published just recently.

At the beginning of said book from 2012, a Chapter called FORWARD, deserves our dearest attention. It is written by Ismael Serageldin, Librarian of Alexandria. Who is better placed to describe Alexander’s role in creating a multicultural city that led “to the betterment of the human condition and carry us to heights unimagined.” I’m quoting this Chapter hereafter for everyone to enjoy: 

"The founding of Alexandria in 331 B.C.E. was a momentous event in the history of mankind. Alexander's dream was to create an international city, a space where people from all over the known world would live and work together for the development of the human mind. Alexandria therefore endures in our imagination as the first model of cultural interaction – of cosmopolitanism, to use both classical and contemporary terminology – and as the cultural and intellectual capital of the Ancient World. 

The intermingling of races and beliefs, and the exchange of ideas, undoubtedly produced the knowledge that modern scholarship still celebrates. For centuries Alexandria ruled the Mediterranean not just through its wealth and military power, but also with its intellectual achievements which came to fruition at the ancient Library of Alexandria. It was there that scholars gathered from the four corners of the world to push the boundaries of human knowledge and unleash the human mind on myriad quests. To this day it symbolizes the noblest aspirations of the human mind, global ecumenism, and the greatest achievements of the intellect. In Science, Mathematics, Astronomy and the humanities, the mark of Alexandrian scholarship and discoveries is to be found everywhere. 

The ancient Library of Alexandria was not just a repository of scrolls, valuable though those might have been. It was a centre of learning and of excellence, as we would today call it. It did not survive the turmoil of conflict and bigotry, or even the scars of time and natural disasters (for no physical remains exist), but its legacy lived on. Sixteen hundred years after its final collapse, the dream of its revival became a reality and it was resurrected, through international efforts, on the shores of the Mediterranean, just a stone's throw away from where its famed predecessor had stood. The new Library of Alexandria is a bold evocative building, but like its namesake, it is much more than a building and is not just a library. Born digital, it has risen to the challenges of the modern times and aspires to be a library for the new digital age. It is also, like the ancient Library, a centre of learning and dialogue, a space for intellectual debates (encouraging especially the youth), scholarship, and the arts, as well as a meeting place for North and South, East and West. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology and conference halls, it is a vast cultural complex with its own orchestra, museums, permanent as well as temporary exhibitions, research centres and publications. As it celebrates its tenth anniversary this October, the new Library of Alexandria can look back with pride upon the large strides it has taken towards promoting culture, dialogue and scholarship, reassuring its ancestor that ideas never die, and that though men may expire and buildings may perish, great minds are immortal. 

This conference, and its proceedings, are a testimony that the values embodied by Alexandria and its Library continue to inspire noble minded scholars whose pursuit for knowledge transcends boundaries and time. The breadth and scope of the papers presented do credit to the spirit of Alexandria – its multiculturalism, and its passion for science and scholarship. All this would not have been possible without the enlightened leadership of the first Ptolemies, who translated Alexander's dream in ways that may have exceeded his 10 alexandrea ad aegyptvm: the legacy of multiculturalism in antiquity expectations. The genius of the site, Alexander's choice, allowed the city to accumulate immense wealth through maritime trade, and this in turn allowed the Ptolemies to channel funds towards culture. It was they who laid the foundations of enlightenment, symbolized by the Pharos, the Museion and the Library. Under their aegis, scholarship and science – the product of foreign and local minds working together – made immense leaps in all areas. Callimachus, especially revered in the new Library of Alexandria, not only revolutionized poetry but also classified books according to author, title and subject, thereby establishing library science. Euclid's book continues to be taught to this day, a record that has yet to be broken! And Philo's early attempt at reconciling philosophy with religion set a tradition that also continues to engage philosophers and theologians. Indeed, Alexandria's importance in philosophy, Judaism and Christianity is a matter for deep scholarship, but this conference pays attention to the especial role Alexandria played in spreading the cult of Isis throughout the world, making her the most popular deity of ancient times. Cleopatra herself often assumed the role of Isis (thus providing a marvelous example of cultural interaction) during festivals and religious ceremonies. She was the last of the Ptolemies and the Hellenistic age came to an end with the asp bite that ended her life. Yet her magic, like that of the city which she ruled, lives on. The Hellenistic age may have officially ended with Octavian's victory, but it never died. 

The proceedings in our hands confirm that the multiculturalism of the Ancient World, rippling out from Alexandria to extend throughout the Hellenistic period and beyond, is as valid now as it was then – perhaps more so today, when globalization has given a new meaning to the internationalism envisioned by Alexander the Great centuries ago. Now, with the «clash of civilizations» dominating our discourse, it is pertinent to remember the lesson Alexandrea ad Aegyptum taught us: that the interaction between cultures can only lead to the betterment of the human condition and carry us to heights unimagined".

Alexandria, the first Renaissance

The term Hellenism is often interchanged with Greek, especially in art. Classical Greek art almost unnoticeably merged with Hellenistic art, and we owe it all to Alexander. In the wake of his conquests, Greek culture and language spread all over the ancient world, from Greece to India. Thanks to the common use of the Greek language, trade developed as merchants were always looking for business opportunities. Talking to buyers and sellers in the same language was a considerable asset. 

After the wars among Alexander’s successors were settled, peace returned in one form or another. Traffic and exchanges between East and West soon blossomed to reach a level never achieved before. 

Greek knowledge and culture were mixed and blended with the learning of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and India. In this context, Alexandria became the new center of the ancient world. 

It was in Alexandria that the first Library was created. In today’s words, this could be compared to a university. Ptolemy I Soter initially founded a Museum inside the Temple of the Muses (hence the name Museum), where all art and sciences were brought together. 

It seems that the Library was, in fact, an extension of the temple built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, his son. Like every other building in Alexandria, we only have a slight idea of what it looked like, as, to this day, very few remains have been unearthed. An outstanding effort to visualize the great Library was made by Kevin Kok, Senior Level Artist at Ubisoft Montreal, to recreate the complex as it would or could have been (see: The Library of Alexandria). In time, the terms Museum and Library were used interchangeably. 

The Library of Alexandria certainly met Alexander’s own desire to create a research center where knowledge from East and West would be collected to be shared by all. The very concept existed already in the Academy and the Lyceum of Athens, but at Alexander’s death in 323 BC, the ancient world had grown into another dimension. We must credit Ptolemy for understanding Alexander’s vision and executing his ambition. 

Eventually, great scientists flocked to Alexandria, exchanging and discussing their understanding and perception of the world. Much research was done at the Museum, which held an astronomical observatory and rooms for anatomical dissections, and where all sorts of experiments were carried out. The site also included botanical and zoological gardens. How modern is that! 

It is generally accepted that Dimitrios of Phaleron was responsible for the organization. With the budget made available by Ptolemy II, he collected all the books he could, including the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus. Ptolemy III continued this trend, and the Library could boast of having half a million parchment rolls. Among them were all the great Greek works from Homer onward! 

After the death of Dimitrios, Zenodotus of Ephesus took over, assisted by Callimachus of Cyrene. This Callimachus is credited with being the first to classify 120,000 works of prose and poetry, sorting them by author and subject. Eratosthenes of Cyrene was appointed around 235 BC as the new head of the Library. He concentrated on mathematics, astronomy, and geography. We’ll remember Eratosthenes’ contribution to calculating the planet Earth's size after Pythagoras had declared that the Earth was a sphere (see: Alexander missed Eratosthenes by less than a century). 

Great scientists widely contributed to the Library. Euclid wrote his Elements of Geometry, which is still used today, and also a book on astronomy and one on perspective, the Optica. Archimedes, a native of Syracuse, probably studied in Alexandria. He is best known for his theory of calculating the volume, which he discovered while bathing. He was so excited about his discovery that he ran out of his house, stark naked, shouting, “Eureka!” - I found it! (see: Archimedes, the most illustrious citizen of Syracuse). The greatest astronomer of antiquity was Hipparchus of Nicaea, who made great use of the Library of Alexandria.  Besides being a geographer and a mathematician, he was also the inventor of trigonometry, and most famous for discovering the precession of the equinoxes in the late 2^nd century BC. 

Lesser known but equally important is Ctesibius of Alexandria, the inventor of toys and devices using air under pressure, i.e., pneumatics. He created automatons such as a water clock, a fire engine, and even a singing statue. He also invented the first keyboard-wind instrument, the hydraulis, a recreation of which is exhibited in the Museum of Dion, Greece (see: Close encounter with an ancient Water-Organ). 

By 62 AD, Hero of Alexandria even invented the first steam engine! Imagine our world if this invention had not been lost. 

The list of scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, physicians, and inventors seems endless. All their knowledge was born in Alexandria, from where it spread over the entire ancient world for more than three hundred years! The famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Pharos, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, shining its light over a great distance thanks to an intricate system of mirrors. How it actually worked remains obscure. It was probably damaged by the catastrophic earthquake that hit the entire coast of North Africa in 365 AD. Repairs never resuscitated this unique structure. 

Alexandria was also the center where Medical Science was born under Herophilus. He was the first scientist to systematically perform dissections of dead people, often in public, to explain his actions to those interested in these matters. His books are lost but were frequently quoted in the 2nd century AD by the physician Claudius Galenus, better known as Galen of Pergamon (see: Hello? Dr. Galen?) 

Other Libraries were known from antiquity (see: Libraries in antiquity, a short overview), but none surpassed the one in Alexandria. 

After centuries of glory, this great Library succumbed to earthquakes and repeated fires. The lack of funds to sponsor and maintain the premises was another reason for its degradation. Eventually, the knowledge was transferred to Antioch, and with the Arab conquest to Baghdad. We owe very much to Caliph Al-Mansur (754-775 AD), who had a vivid interest in Greek science. He ordered the Greek documents to be translated into Arabic. Over the centuries, these translations traveled back west to become available in Latin. In fact, Al-Mansur saved ancient Greek literature and science for us to enjoy today. This entire process is developed in detail by John Freely in his book Aladdin’s Lamp. How Greek science came to Europe through the Islamic World.

What Oxyrhynchus revealed so far

Several years ago, I was at the Getty Villa in Malibu to be treated to two theatrical plays from antiquity, one Greek, The Woman from Samos by Menander, and one Roman, Casina by Plautus.

Set at dusk in the Peristyle of the Villa from which the statues had been removed for the occasion, it was a unique setting to see an old play in the New World.

Evidently, the Greek play caught my attention, and it was explained that Menander’s The Woman from Samos had only recently been recovered from the Egyptian desert and had never been performed before. 

The Egyptian desert as the finding place was an odd fact that I could not place at the time until, one day, I learned about the papyrus heap of Oxyrhynchus (see: Hellenica Oxyrhynchia by P.J. McKechnie and S.J. Kern and Get involved with Oxyrhynchus). At this dumpsite, many Greek texts that had been lost for centuries eventually surfaced. Large fragments have been salvaged, like works by Sappho and Alcaeus, poems by Pindar, and considerable bits of authors like Euripides and Sophocles. Also recovered were the most complete diagrams from Euclid’s Elements, a life of Euripides by Satyrus the Peripatetic, and an epitome of seven of the 120 books of Livy that are otherwise lost.

But among the pile of papyri, Menander benefited most from the finds at Oxyrhynchus, with fragments of Misoumenos, Dis Exapaton, Epitrepontes, Karchedonios, Dyskolos (The Bad-Tempered Man or The Malcontent), and Kolax. At last, we have enough works to recognize his status in the Greek theater.

Menander was an Athenian tragedian who lived in the 4th century BC. He was born around 342 BC, and who knows, Alexander may have heard of him or even seen one of his plays while he was in Asia. Menander was a prolific and much-imitated writer whose success was recognized for centuries after his death. The Romans scrambled to collect unknown plays, which they adapted and translated into Latin. Unfortunately, none of Menander’s plays survived until this chance discovery in the Egyptian desert. 

As I was flipping through a pile of papers, the very program from the Getty Villa fell into my hands again – a most gratifying rekindling of memories. It had been an evening I would never forget.

The popular The Woman from Samos is a play of deception and misunderstanding in which a marriage that everyone desires almost fails to happen, two women and a baby are almost ruined, and a loving father almost loses his only son, because the people at home and the people abroad have both been doing things behind each other's backs - but somehow everything ends happily after all. It is a complicated story, yet played in such a way that it keeps our attention on edge. It was, of course, executed in English translation. 

Aladdin’s Lamp by John Freely

Aladdin’s Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World by John Freely. (ISBN 0307277836). An all-encompassing title and ditto subject! What a book! My memory falls short, and I cannot keep up with all the names and the inventions, treatises, analyses, and discoveries that were made over the centuries in so many fields: geometry, philosophy, cosmology, physics, mathematics, medicine, astrology, and astronomy, to name just a few! 

As the title states, Greek science traveled from Athens to Alexandria. With the spread of Islam to Baghdad, many works were translated into Arabic. But Islam also went westward through northern Africa to Spain, where the Moors ruled for several centuries. Some textbooks were translated into Spanish during the Reconquista by the different Christian kings of Spain. Later, power in Europe shifted to Sicily, where Arabic documents were consulted and translated into Latin, picked up by several popes who hired and invited such scientists to their court, just like the eastern rulers had done before them. With the creation of the first universities, the Greek theories of men like Aristotle and Euclid were reinterpreted and occasionally translated into English. 

On the other hand, works that had stayed in Byzantium found their way, if not burned by the Crusaders, to the powerful Italian city-states, where they were translated into Latin. It is pretty amazing to read how early discoveries were reviewed and reworked over the centuries, while others were totally ignored until later scientists reinvented theories that were, in fact, more than a millennium old. This is not exactly bedtime reading, but it is absolutely worthwhile to understand the lost richness of antiquity and our modern world. 

John Freely starts in Miletus with Thales (end 7th/early 6th century BC), Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, and Hecataeus. He then moves to the 6th century (mainly in Magna Graecia, southern Italy) with Pythagoras of Samos, known for his famous theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Xenophanes of Colophon, Philolaus of Crotona, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Empedocles of Acragas, Leucippus of Miletus, Democritus of Abdera (Thracia), and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae – and more. 

He then moved to classical Athens during the times of Pericles, when Plato founded the Academy (to be compared with the colleges in the first European Universities), and when Hippocrates of Cos wrote the Hippocratic Oath used by physicians for centuries. This is the time of Eudoxus of Cnidos, the greatest mathematician (including arithmetic, geometry, harmonics, and astronomy), Callipsus of Cyzicus, the astronomer who studied our planets, and the great Aristotle of Stagira, who was competent in a wide range of sciences: logic, metaphysics, rhetoric, theology, politics, economy, meteorology, literature, ethics, psychology, physics, mechanics, astronomy, cosmology, biology, botany, natural history, and zoology (a knowledge-baggage that Alexander the Great must have picked up, of course!). Among his pupils, we find Heraclides Ponticus (from the Black Sea) and Theophrastus, who was Aristotle’s successor at the Athenian Lyceum. 

I’m not going to list all the scientists John Freely treats in this book, as the list would be too long. I only wanted to put the above names down because I’m terribly impressed with their sheer numbers and the knowledge of so many scientists so early in our history. 

With the decline of the Macedonian rule due to repeated civil wars, Athens was soon surpassed by Alexandria with its precious Museum and Library, founded by Ptolemy (one of the generals and successors of Alexander the Great) and further developed by his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In the early 3rd century BC, the Library counted more than half a million scrolls. 

That era was full of great names referred to time and again in later centuries. One of them was Euclid (ca. 295 BC), whose extant textbook on geometry is still in use today; he also laid the foundations of algebra and number theory and wrote a textbook on astronomy and an elementary treatise on perspective. Greek mathematical physics reached its peak with Archimedes of Syracuse (ca 287-212 BC), famous for his inventions, among which was a model of the celestial motions (mechanism of Antikythera?) and his screw used to move water to a higher level. He worked as a military engineer, discovered the concept of specific gravity, studied the fluids in equilibrium, and found that the Earth rotated around the sun! And our faithful geographer Strabo (63 BC-25 AD) also made encyclopedic descriptions of land and sea, animals, plants, fruits, etc. Finally, we should not forget to mention the astrology and geography works of Claudius Ptolemaeus (ca 100-170 AD), referred to as Ptolemy. He cataloged the stars, wrote extensively about trigonometry, and researched light. 

The Alexandrian Library was active at least till the early 6th century AD. Although the Romans controlled most of the Mediterranean by the mid-second century BC, Rome never reached the level of Alexandria. Yet Rome was not left out of the inevitable cultural exchanges. We are all familiar with the accounts of Pliny the Elder (ca 23-79 AD) about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, or Seneca’s letters, dialogues, and tragedies, for instance. 

With the rise of Islam, tables were turned around. It took only a century for the armies of Islam to be stopped in southern France in 732 during the Battle of Tours. From Jerusalem, they moved to Damascus and soon reached Baghdad, which was established as the capital in 762-765. It so happened that the ruling caliphs had books translated from foreign languages into Arabic. This meant that books on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and practical skills such as surveying, meteorology, and civil engineering in Greek, Latin, Byzantine Greek, Pahlavi, Neo-Persian, and Syriac found their way east. Local astrologers added their own knowledge; mathematical works were reviewed, and algebra found its own place. Philosophers and scientists got involved, and it is impressive to see the explosion of new calculations and discoveries. 

I must admit that I’m not familiar with their names, except maybe Al-Biruni (973-1050). He wrote many works on astronomy, astrology, chronology, time measurement, geography, geodesy, cartography, and mathematics (including arithmetic, geometry, and trigonometry). He also treated mechanics, medicine, pharmacology, meteorology, mineralogy, history, philosophy, religion, literature, and magic. Additionally, he made a detailed description of his own inventions and the instruments he used. To complete the report of this genius, it should be noted that he spoke Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chorasmian, and Turkic, besides Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac! We honestly have no idea of the wealth of knowledge that brought Baghdad to the center of the world. 

Meanwhile, Moorish Spain knew a Renaissance of its own. Cordoba was promoted to capital in 784-786, and the independence of Al-Andalus was proclaimed by the end of the 10th century. This was the time of El Cid when the Christian opposition fought for the Reconquista. It ended with the fall of Cordoba in 1236. During Moorish rule, Greek and Arabic manuscripts were used to study and create new theories. Cordoba had a reputed school of medicine from which many prominent physicians emerged. Also, astrology flourished besides science, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy, and many works were translated into Spanish. It is surprising to read that a score of women copyists were employed in that field! 

In these golden times, Christian scholars came to study in Spain. We owe it to them that many scientific works were translated from Arabic into Latin, often with the help of local multilingual scribes. When the Crusaders established their first states in cities like Edessa, Antioch, and Jerusalem, east and west met again. New volumes were translated from Arabic into Latin, while additional treatises were written in Arabic, Latin, and Greek. All these translations were most significant, for there was no other way for scholars to learn about previous inventions or theories. 

By the 13th century, Europe was slowly awakening from the dark Middle Ages, now that an enormous amount of Graeco-Arabic works were translated into Latin. New universities were opened one after the other, in Bologna (1088), Paris (1150), Oxford (1167), Salerno (1173), Valencia (1178), Reggio (1188), Vicenza (1204), Cambridge (1209), Salamanca (1218), Padua (1222), etc. By 1500, Europe counted some eighty universities! Despite the goodwill of so many scholars, they all had to reckon with the Vatican. The Pope maintained that the Earth was the center of the universe because God had created the world, meaning that many discoveries and proofs otherwise remained unpublished or were silenced. The Polish Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), the German Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), and the Italian Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) faced hard times because of that.

 

When we reach the days of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), it is surprising to read that he made no reference to any Arabic scientist. Instead, he widely credited his European predecessors, most notably Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and the ancient Greeks like Pythagoras of Samos, Empedocles, Philolaus, Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius, Aristarchus, Diophantus, Ptolemy, and Pappus of Alexandria.

Since I am far more interested in antiquity than in any other time of history, my summary may seem distorted. Still, I can assure the prospective reader that this book has enough facts, figures, and names to place every scholar in the proper context. Plenty of drawings illustrate the significance and consequences of many of the theories. It’s a kind of reference work to be consulted on many occasions!