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But Rashid’s eldest son, the seventh Abbasid caliph, al-Mamun ( ), had greater ambitions for the building. Therefore, the House of Wisdom at the time of Rashid was called Bayt al-Hikmah as it was comprised of a single building. In Arabic, the term bayt (house) refers to a “covered space”, contrary to dar which refers to a complex comprising several bayt. Immediately upon taking power, he commanded his vizier Yahya al-Baramika to transfer part of the palace’s private library into a public space.
Ancient Technology
Having shown much potential, the brothers were enrolled in the library and translation center of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. They began translating ancient Greek into Arabic after quickly mastering the language, as well as paying large sums to obtain manuscripts from the Byzantine Empire for translation. Mohammad Musa might have been the first person in history to point to the universality of the laws of physics. In the 10th century, Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) performed several physical experiments, mainly in optics, achievements still celebrated today.
Baghdad's House of Wisdom: Uniting East and West to pursue knowledge
Arabic works and translations of important ancient Greek texts came to light, and Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars flocked to the city to translate ancient Greek and Arabic treaties to Latin and then into European languages. Some of Baghdad’s most famous Caliphs including Al-Rashid and Al-Ma’mun had taken a personal interest in collecting global, ground-breaking scientific works. As well as collecting books from East and West, they brought together scholars from the corners of the Muslim land to create one of the greatest intellectual academies in history.
Center of learning (8th–9th centuries)
It is not acceptable to speak of “Islamic Medieval Civilisation”, “Islamic Medieval Architecture”, “Islamic Medieval Science”, “Islamic Medieval Philosophy”, etc. This is because the term “Medieval” applies to European history only , for while Europe was asleep during the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Medieval Ages, Islamic Civilisation, Culture and Heritage were in ascendancy and reached their highest achievements in various parts of the Islamic World. Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa ( ) was another pioneer of literary translation sponsored by the House of Wisdom. He took Greek words, such as "philosophia" that became "falsafa" in Arabic, and found translation solutions via what contemporary translators would call equivalents. Later, al-Mamun would appoint him head editor in charge of revising all translations at the House. Al-Mamun’s dedication to collecting texts and expanding the repository of classical knowledge earned him the nickname “the sage of Baghdad”.
It was designed by Caliph al-Mansur.[1] According to 11th-century scholar Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi in his History of Baghdad,[2] each course of the city wall consisted of 162,000 bricks for the first third of the wall's height. The city was rebuilt and flourished under Ilkhanid rule, but never rose to its former glory. It was briefly occupied by Safavid Persia in 1508, but fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1534. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Baghdad fell under the British Mandate in 1920 and became the capital of the independent Kingdom of Iraq in 1932 (converted to a Republic in 1958). Baghdad is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups with an Arab majority, as well as Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabakis, Armenians and Mandaeans. The majority of the citizens are Muslims with minorities of Christians, Yezidis and Mandeans also present.
He was the first caliph who motivated Muslims to study sciences and develop them, he also advised them to translate books from Persian, Greek, and Indian languages. Among the books that al-Mansur initiated their translations were the book of Al-Sind Hind a book on mathematics and a huge collection of Aristotle, Euclid and of Claudius Ptolemy writings. The House of Wisdom (بيت الحكمة; Bayt al-Ḥikmah) refers either to a major Abbasid public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad or to a large private library belonging to the Abbasid Caliphs during the Islamic Golden Age.
During the period of British control, the Mandatory administration ordered the construction of several new architectural projects around the city.[21] Iraq was given formal independence by the British in 1932, and increased autonomy in 1946. On 14 July 1958, the Iraqi king, Faisal II, was executed and the monarchy was dissolved after a revolution, forming a republic. During the 1970s, Baghdad experienced a period of prosperity and growth because of a sharp increase in the price of petroleum, Iraq's main export. New infrastructure including modern sewers, water, and highway facilities were built during this period. The basic framework of the city consists of two large semicircles about 19 km (12 mi) in diameter. The inner city connecting them was designed as a circle about 2 km (1.2 mi) in diameter, leading it to be known as the "Round City".
During the brief British stay at the end of the first world war, its gatehouse was used as a garrison church. Nothing of those medieval walls, or the east gate, remains today; I remember Bab al-Sharji as a sprawling, noisy and bustling square, with its food stalls and secondhand record shops scattered around the busy bus depot and taxi ranks. But its name is a reminder of the expansion and transformation of this proud city over the years since its foundation in AD762 as the new seat of power of the mighty Abbasid empire. Indeed, no other city on Earth has had to put up with the levels of death and destruction that Baghdad has endured over the centuries. And yet, as the capital of one of the world's great empires, this was the richest, proudest, most supercilious city on the planet for half a millennium. They also brought together scholars to create one of the great intellectual centres in history, called the House of Wisdom.
Machines from the East: Mechanical innovations from Muslim Civilisation
Long before Silicon Valley, scholars in ancient Iraq created an intellectual hub that revolutionised science - The Conversation
Long before Silicon Valley, scholars in ancient Iraq created an intellectual hub that revolutionised science.
Posted: Sun, 08 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Besides their translations of earlier works and their commentaries on them, scholars at the Bayt al-Ḥikma produced important original research. For example, the noted mathematician al-Khwarizmi worked in al-Maʾmun’s House of Wisdom and is famous for his contributions to the development of algebra. Institutionalized by al-Ma'mun, the academy encouraged the transcription of Greek philosophical and scientific efforts. Between May and September the average daily maximum temperature reaches the low 100s F (low 40s C), and the high may reach the low 120s F (high 40s C) at midday in July and August. Intense daytime heat is mitigated by low relative humidity (10 to 50 percent) and a temperature decline of 30 °F (17 °C) or more at night. In winter the average daytime temperature is in the mid-50s F (low 10s C), and the temperature occasionally drops below freezing.
Note that these works would later become standard textbooks of medicine during the Renaissance. With all other libraries in Baghdad, the House of Wisdom was destroyed by the army of Hulagu during the Siege of Baghdad. The books from Baghdad’s libraries were thrown into the Tigris River in such quantities that the river ran black with the ink from the books.
The original House of Wisdom was a shining center of knowledge, translation, and scholarship during the Golden Age of Islam. Tragically, during the 2003 war in Iraq, the Central Library in Baghdad, the House of Islamic Manuscripts (Dar Al-Makhtoutat Al-Islamiya) in Baghdad, and many other university and public libraries in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra were pillaged and burnt down. One must also mention that in some of the cities of the Eastern Provinces of the Islamic World, several “Houses of Science” (Dour Al-‘Ilm, singular Dar Al-‘Ilm), or more accurately “Houses of Knowledge”, were established in the 9th and 10th Centuries to emulate that of Dar Al-Hikma in Baghdad.
In addition, a dirt track extended south past the War Eagle Mine into the Dale Mining District in the Pinto Mountains. On the west bank are a number of residential quarters, including Al-Karkh (an older quarter) and several upper middle-class districts with walled villas and green gardens. Chief among these is Al-Manṣūr, surrounding the racetrack, which provides boutiques, fast-food restaurants, and sidewalk cafés that appeal to its affluent professional residents. These areas were the most heavily developed sections of the city under the Baʿathist regime of Saddam Hussein.
It became the seed from which sprouted all the subsequent achievements of this golden age of science, from Uzbekistan in the east to Spain in the west. But it is well established and uncontroversial that the much earlier academy in Alexandria was likewise more than just a library, for it not only brought together under one roof much of the world's accumulated knowledge, but acted as a magnet for many of the world's greatest thinkers and scholars. The patronage of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, which provided travel, lodging and stipends to those men, is not so different from the government research grants that university academics worldwide receive today to carry out their research.
Caliph Haroon al-Rasheed is credited with expanding the glory of Baghdad to its greatest height during his reign from 786 to 809 C.E. He created an intellectual ambience by encouraging mathematicians, astronomers, scientists, and philosophers. His son, Caliph al-Mamoon went a step further by establishing the House of Wisdom in, an academic institute devoted to translations, research, and education. It quickly became one of the most famous centers of learning, attracting scholars from all over the world, from many cultures and religions. The House of Wisdom has played a distinguished role in the history of the Middle Ages for it was a bridge that transmitted the ancient civilizations including the Islamic one to the west, as it was the departure of modern sciences. Historians have a major consent that thanks to the house of wisdom and other similar schools and libraries, the continuity of human civilization was preserved after the fall of Greek and Roman civilizations.
It was bypassed by the opening of Interstate 40 to the north in 1973, and lost traveler's business and resident population. Adjacent to these commercial districts are older, middle-class residential areas, such as Al-Sulaykh to the north, Al-Wāziriyyah to the west, and Al-Karrādah to the south, now densely settled. The University of Baghdad and a fashionable residential area are located on Al-Jādriyyah, a peninsula formed by a bend in the Tigris. Baghdad is also the centre of a regional road network, connecting the city by overland routes with Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Within the city, a network of expressways completed in the 1980s relieves traffic congestion and links the city centre with its suburbs.
The institution he created to realise his dream epitomises more than anything else the blossoming of the scientific golden age. 1001 Inventions is an award-winning international science and cultural heritage organisation that raises awareness of the creative golden age of Arabic Science. The successful knowledge transfer and the creation of a centre of learning in Baghdad was echoed in many other cities across Muslim Civilisation. Other cities in the eastern provinces of the Muslim civilisation also established House of Science (Dar al-‘Ilm), or more accurately Houses of Knowledge, in the 9th and 10th centuries to emulate that of Baghdad. The legacy left by the scholars of the House of Wisdom and those who came after them in the golden age Muslim civilisation is huge.Unfortunately, thousands of the books that were collected and made in Baghdad were lost or destroyed in later centuries.
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