Let’s set the scene: a place where open-minded and creative people gather and live to pursue both the sciences and the arts. The environment is welcoming and people from other lands also move here. A synergy develops, ideas sprout, and these people come up with amazing innovations and ideas. There is usually a sponsor who helps fund all of these activities. This doesn’t happen that often in history, but when it does, it becomes a spark that ignites both the present times and countless future generations with new works of science and art.
In the Western world, the first thought of many when reading the above is Florence, considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance, with the Medici family and other wealthy families providing sponsorship to artists and scientists.
In our modern times, perhaps Silicon Valley in California has some of these characteristics, with venture capitalists now as sponsors.
But, if we dig back further in history – back a 1000 years ago or so – we will find a place and a gathering of people known as the: House of Wisdom. This was both a physical place, and also a group of amazing scientists and thinkers. Some characteristics about the place:
- Very open minded and liberal
- People from various religions congregated there
- People from many fferent countries came there to study
- Was a library, a research center, and a translation institute
And some astonishing features:
- Their library had the world’s largest collection of books at that time – yes, the world’s largest!
- Fields studied included humanities, math, astronomy, medicine, chemistry, geography, zoology, and cartography
- Their love of knowledge and learning was so much, that one time they settled a war via…a book!
- Their scientists were not confined to a world of theory, they were actively engaged in society and contributed as engineers and architects on various projects
- They sent people to other countries to obtain knowledge and books
- Many original scientific achievements
- Preserved many ancient texts via their translation activities
- There are even some common English, Spanish, and Portuguese words named after one of the members of the House of Wisdom
Where was this? Take a guess… (do not scroll down until you have taken a guess… :-))
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Before answering, I’ll provide a clue. Often when we think of this time period of around 1000 years ago, we tend to think of the Middle Ages or the Medieval Period. More specifically, this period would be a subset of the Middle Ages known as the Early Middle Ages or the “Dark Ages”, so named because of the “relative scarcity of literary and cultural output during this time”.
But this is the exact opositte of what I’ve just described! The answer to this apparent paradox is that these terms are all relative – a time period that is the “Dark Ages” for one culture could be something else for another culture. And the time period that I am referring to is actually known as the “Golden Age” in the context of what I am describing. Now try guessing again…
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The answer is Bagdhad. Yes, the same Bagdhad that has been in the news over the past few years for very different reasons.
Bagdhad was where the House of Wisdom was located, and this time period (8th century through mid-1200s) is known as the “Islamic Golden Age”. The initial sponsor of the House of Wisdom was Caliph Harun al-Rashid, but it was his son al-Ma’mun (ruled 813 to 833) who really drove the establishment and growth of the House of Wisdom. In fact, al-Ma’um himself was actively involved in various research activities also.
To further elaborate on some of the above points:
- The House of Wisdom attracted brilliant scholars from the Arab world, Persia, India, and other countries
- Scientists there were from various religions including Islam and Christiantiy
- The amount of translation that they completed is amazing, including having translated the works of various authors across different countries such as Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Euclid, Aryabhata, Sushruta, Charaka, and Brahmagupta. It is commonly said that they preserved the ancient knowledge of the Greeks and Romans, which was then later retransmitted back to European scholars
- The book that settled a war was Ptolemy’s Almagest (about Greek astronomy), and it settled a war between the Abbasids (who ruled Baghdad) and the Byzantine Empire
While there were many contributors to the House of Wisdom, here are some of the key innovators along with their contributions:
- Al-Jazari: (Arab or Persian or Kurdish): engineer and mathematician who designed over 100 advanced mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them, including the world’s first automatic doors (driven by hydropower). The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that Leonardo da Vinci may have been influenced by Al-Jazari
- Al-Jahiz (Arab): wrote over 200 books on subjects ranging from zoology to poetry to grammar. One of the first Arab writers to propose an overhaul of Arabic grammar, which was eventually implemented.
- Sind ibn Ali (India): astronomer, mathematician, and engineer. He translated the Zij al-Sindhind (astronomical tables from India), and at the House of Wisdom he (along with a colleague) calculated the diameter of the Earth. He also introduced decimal point notation into Arabic numerals.
- Banu Musa – three brothers whose 20 books include a book on automatic machines and a key book on geometry later used by European scholars
- Thabit ibn Qurra (Iraqi): in astronomy reformed the Ptolemaic system, and founded the field of statics in mechanics
- Hunayn ibn Ishaq (Assyrian): known as the “Sheikh of translators”. Fluent in Arabic, Syrian, Greek, and Persian. There was a very strong interest in studying Greek science in the House of Wisdom, and thus they needed to translated ancient Greek books. Ishaq became the main translator, and translated 116 such works. He wrote original works on religion, philosophy, and medicine. Wrote a book on ophthalmology considered to be the first ever systematic treatment of this field.
- Al-Kindia (Arab): known as the “Philospher of the Arabs” for his studies in this field and for his promotion of Greek philosophy in the Arab world. Wrote hundreds of original books on topics as varied as philosophy, psychology, math, astronomy, astrology, and medicine. He was a pioneer in the field of cryptoanalysis and came up with several new ciphers.
- Al-Farabi (Persian): philosopher who contributed in so many areas (logic, math, music, philosophy, physics, and psychology) that he was called “The Second Teacher” (at that time, Aristotle was referred to as “The First Teacher”)
- Al-Khwarizmi (Persian): mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. Al-Khwarizmi contributed the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations in Arabic, revised Ptolemy’s geography, and wrote original works on astronomy and astrology. Latin translations of his work introduced Indian numerals to Europe. His contributions to math are considered so important in the Western world, that the Spanish and Portuguese words for ‘digit’ are named after him (guarimo and agarismo respectively). In fact, a word that anyone involved with computer programming knows – algorithm – comes from his last name! And an even more common word comes from the title of his book “Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala” – the word is algebra! His contributions are so widely acknowledged, that there is even a crater on the moon named in honor of him.
The House of Wisdom ended on February 12th, 1258 during the Mongol invasion known as the Siege of Baghdad which was led by Hulegu (grandson of Genghis Khan). He killed the last Caliph, despite the Caliph’s surrender to spare both Baghdad and the House of Wisdom’s cultural heritage.
And what happened to the books from the world’s largest library? They were all thrown into the Tigris River such that the water in the river turned black for days due to the ink being washed away from these priceless treasures.
The legacy of the House of Wisdom is that for over 400 years it was one of the most innovative places in the world, and even now it stands out as one of history’s most unique places of research, openness, inquiry, scientific contribution, and innovation.
Glimpses of History 