The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western CivilizationFor centuries following the fall of Rome, western Europe was a benighted backwater, a world of subsistence farming, minimal literacy, and violent conflict. Meanwhile Arab culture was thriving, dazzling those Europeans fortunate enough to catch even a glimpse of the scientific advances coming from Baghdad, Antioch, or the cities of Persia, Central Asia, and Muslim Spain. T here, philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers were steadily advancing the frontiers of knowledge and revitalizing the works of Plato and Aristotle. I n the royal library of Baghdad, known as the House of Wisdom, an army of scholars worked at the behest of the Abbasid caliphs. At a time when the best book collections in Europe held several dozen volumes, the House of Wisdom boasted as many as four hundred thousand. Even while their countrymen waged bloody Crusades against Muslims, a handful of intrepid Christian scholars, thirsty for knowledge, traveled to Arab lands and returned with priceless jewels of science, medicine, and philosophy that laid the foundation for the Renaissance. I n this brilliant, evocative book, Lyons shows just how much "Western" culture owes to the glories of medieval Arab civilization, and reveals the untold story of how Europe drank from the well of Muslim learning. |
Contents
The Warriors of God 9 | 8 |
The Earth Is Like a Wheel | 28 |
AlFajrDawn | 53 |
Mapping the World | 78 |
The First Man of Science 103 | 101 |
What Is Said of the Sphere | 125 |
The Wisest Philosophers of the World | 142 |
AlAsrAfternoon | 163 |
The Invention of the West | 186 |
Acknowledgments | 203 |
Selected Bibliography | 229 |
Other editions - View all
The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization Jonathan Lyons Limited preview - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
Abbasid Abu Mashar Adelard of Bath al-Andalus al-Idrisi al-Khwarizmi al-Mamun alchemy Almagest Antioch Arab Arab learning Arab scholars Arab science Aristotle Aristotle's arts astrolabe astrology astronomy Averroes Avicenna Baghdad bishop Book Burnett Byzantine caliph Cambridge cathedral schools celestial chap Christendom Christian church classical Cordoba court Crusade cultural early earth East Emperor Eternity Euclid Europe European faith Frederick geography geometry Gerbert Greek Haskins heavens Hindu History Holy House of Wisdom Ibid important intellectual Islamic Jerusalem Jewish Jews King knowledge known Koran lands later Latin translation masters mathematical medieval metaphysics Michael Scot Middle Ages Muhammad Muslim Spain Muslim world natural philosophy notion Oxford Paris Persian Peter Peter the Venerable philosophical political Pope prayer qibla quoted religious Robert of Ketton Roger royal scientific scientists Sicily star tables sultan teachings texts theologians theology thinkers Thomas tradition trans twelfth century University Press West Western zij al-Sindhind