Greek contributions to the Islamic world

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

An Arabic manuscript from the 13th century depicting Socrates (Soqrāt) in discussion with his pupils.

Greece played a crucial role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world. Its rich historiographical tradition preserved Ancient Greek knowledge upon which Islamic art, architecture, literature, philosophy and technological achievements were built. Ibn Khaldun once noted; The sciences of only one nation, the Greeks, have come down to us, because they were translated through Al-Ma'mun’s efforts. He was successful in this direction because he had many translators at his disposal and spent much money in this connection.[1]

The common[according to whom?] and persistent myth claiming that Islamic scholars “saved” the classical work of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction is inaccurate. Arabic scholars were indeed responsible for the initial transmission of many Greek texts to Western Europe (translated to Latin from Arabic), with many original Greek texts not leaving the Byzantine Empire until the Renaissance. Medieval possession of Greek texts in Latin was largely thanks to Arabic scholars, but today the original Greek is accessible thanks to Renaissance scholars. According to the myth, these works would otherwise have perished in the long European dark age between the fifth and the tenth centuries. Ancient Greek texts and Greek culture were never “lost” to be somehow “recovered” and “transmitted” by Islamic scholars, but rather were preserved and studied by the scholars and monks of the Byzantines and passed on to the rest of Europe and to the Islamic world at various times. Aristotle had been translated in France at the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel before translations of Aristotle into Arabic (via the Syriac of the Christian scholars from the conquered lands of the Byzantine Empire). Michael Harris points out:[2]

The great writings of the classical era, particularly those of Greece … were always available to the Byzantines and to those Western peoples in cultural and diplomatic contact with the Eastern Empire.… Of the Greek classics known today, at least seventy-five percent are known through Byzantine copies.

Historian John Julius Norwich adds that “much of what we know about antiquity—especially Hellenic and Roman literature and Roman law—would have been lost forever if it weren’t for the scholars and scribes of Constantinople.”[3]

Ibn Khaldun pointed out that the one civilization from which the Arabs had learned the sciences, was that of the Greeks, thanks to the translations by Christian (Assyrians) scholars of Greek texts into Syriac and then into Arabic. Ibn Khaldun also records that Abbasid caliph al-Mansur requested from the Byzantine Emperor the mathematical works of the Greeks.[4]

Hellenistic period

The

Egyptian and Babylonian mathematics
to give rise to a Hellenistic mathematics.

The most important centre of learning during this period was

Persian, Phoenician scholars.[5]

Most of the mathematical texts written in Greek have been found in Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Sicily.

Classical and ecclesiastical studies

Byzantine science was essentially classical science.

Basilius Bessarion.[8]

A medieval Arabic representation of Aristotle teaching a student.

When Saint Cyril was sent by the Byzantine emperor in an embassy to the Arabs in the ninth century, he astonished his Muslim hosts with his knowledge of philosophy and science as well as theology. Historian Maria Mavroudi recounts:[9]

When asked how it was possible for him to know all that he did, he [Cyril] drew an analogy between the Muslim reaction to his erudition and the pride of someone who kept sea water in a wine skin and boasted of possessing a rare liquid. He finally encountered someone from a region by the sea, who explained that only a madman would brag about the contents of the wine skin, since people from his own homeland possessed an endless abundance of sea water. The Muslims are like the man with the wine skin and the [Greeks] like the man from the sea because, according to the saint’s concluding remark in his response, all learning emanated from the [Greeks].

Mathematics

Byzantine scientists preserved and continued the legacy of the great

Ancient Greek mathematicians and put mathematics in practice. In early Byzantium (5th to 7th centuries) the architects and mathematicians Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles used complex mathematical formulas to construct the great Hagia Sophia church, a technological breakthrough for its time and for centuries afterwards due to its striking geometry, bold design and height. In late Byzantium (9th to 12th centuries) mathematicians like Michael Psellos
considered mathematics as a way to interpret the world.

After learning of

al-Mamun was so impressed by his knowledge of mathematics, providing proofs that his own scholars were unable to complete, and predictive abilities that he offered Leo great riches to come to Baghdad.[10]

Medicine

Main article: Byzantine medicine
The physician Hippocrates, known as the Father of Modern Medicine.[11][12]

Medicine was one of the sciences in which the Byzantines improved on their Greco-Roman predecessors. As a result, Byzantine medicine had an influence on

Islamic medicine as well as the medicine of the Renaissance
.

The first known Greek medical school opened in Cnidus in 700

Islamic medicine and Medieval European medicine
until many of their finding eventually became obsolete from the 14th century onwards.

Unani Medicine (

Ibn Nafis.[16]

An author observed that “The fourth Umayyad Caliph, Marwan I, ordered the translation … of the famous medical treatise of Aaron of Alexandria. The translation of medical literature was in fact a principal aspect of the scientific progress that distinguished the rule of the Umayyads.”[17]

The oldest scientific work in Arabic was a discourse on medicine, which was written by Aaron of Alexandria, a Greek Christian priest, and translated from the Syriac language then into Arabic in the year 683 by a Jewish doctor from Basra named Masarjawaih.[18][19]

Immense scientific knowledge, (such as Galenic medical knowledge), fell into the hands of Muslims after their military conquest of the Christian city of Alexandria in the year 642. Muslim physicians would build upon these Greek works for their later reputation in the medical field.[20][21][22]

Greek fire

Main article: Greek fire

Greek fire was an

sieges, thus securing the Empire's survival. Greek fire proper however was invented in c. 672, and is ascribed by the chronicler Theophanes to Kalliniko, an architect from Heliopolis in the former province of Phoenice, by then overrun by the Muslim conquests.[23]

Byzantine architecture

A section of the original architecture of Hagia Sophia Constantinople, today Istanbul 537 AD
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem built in 691 AD

Byzantine Greek architecture in the West gave way to Romanesque and Gothic architecture. In the East it exerted a profound influence on early Islamic architecture, During the Umayyad Caliphate era (661-750), as far as the Greek impact on early Islamic architecture is concerned, the Greek artistic heritage formed a fundamental source to the new Islamic art, especially in Syria and Palestine. There are considerable Byzantine influences which can be detected in the distinctive early Islamic monuments in Syria and Palestine, as on the Dome of the Rock (691) at Jerusalem, the Umayyad Mosque (709-15) at Damascus. While the Dome of the Rock gives clear reference in plan - and partially in decoration - to Byzantine art, the plan of the Umayyad Mosque has also a remarkable similarity with the 6th- and 7th-century Christian basilicas, but it has been modified and expanded on the transversal axis and not on the normal longitudinal axis as in the Christian basilicas. This modification serves better the liturgy for the Islamic prayer. The original mihrab of the mosque is located almost in the middle of the eastern part of the qibla wall and not in its middle, a feature which can be explained by the fact that the architect might have tried to avoid the impression of a Christian apse which would result from the placement of the mihrab in the middle of the transept. The tile work, geometric patterns, multiple arches, domes, and polychrome brick and stone work that characterize Islamic and Moorish architecture were influenced by Byzantine architecture.

Caliph al-Walid I was said to have been in such desperate need of Byzantine architectural assistance that he blackmailed the Byzantine emperor by threatening to destroy churches in the Muslim lands if his request of greek artisans was not met.[24]

Al-Muqaddasi explains that the reason behind the construction of the Umayyad mosque of Damascus was because of inspiration from Byzantine Greek Churches.[25]

Al-Walid was divinely guided in a matter of great importance. He looked out over Syria, the land of the Christians, and saw there fine churches, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and those of Lydda and Edessa, enticing in their ornamentation and great fame. So he erected for the Muslims a mosque that would divert their attention from these churches, and he made it one of the wonders of the earth. Do you not understand that when ‘Abd al-Malik saw the imposing and inspiring dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he was afraid lest it assume an equally large place in the heart of Muslims? So he built on the rock a dome which is now seen there.

Ottoman architecture

Turkish architecture is the architecture of the Ottoman Empire which emerged in Bursa and Edirne in 14th and 15th centuries. The architecture of the empire developed from the earlier Seljuk architecture and was influenced by the Byzantine architecture, Iranian and Mamluk Egyptian traditions after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans.[26][27][28] For almost 400 years Byzantine architectural artifacts such as the church of Hagia Sophia served as models for most of the Ottoman mosques.

Byzantine art

Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator from Hagia Sophia from the Deesis mosaic.
Mosaics with geometric pattern Hagia Sophia

Islamic art began with artists and craftsmen mostly trained in Byzantine styles, and though figurative content was greatly reduced, Byzantine decorative styles remained a great influence on Islamic art, and Byzantine artists continued to be imported for important works for some time, especially for mosaics.

zellige and azulejo in various parts of the Arab world, although tile
was to become the main Islamic form of wall decoration.

The first great religious building of Islam, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, which was built between 688-692, was decorated with glass mosaics both inside and outside, by craftsmen of the Byzantine tradition. Only parts of the original interior decoration survive. The rich floral motifs follow Byzantine traditions, and are "Islamic only in the sense that the vocabulary is syncretic and does not include representation of men or animals."[29]

Islamic mosaics inside the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (c. 690)

The most important early Islamic mosaic work is the decoration of the

Arab Caliphate. The mosque was built between 706 and 715. The caliph obtained 200 skilled workers from the Byzantine Emperor to decorate the building. This is evidenced by the partly Byzantine style of the decoration. The mosaics of the inner courtyard depict Paradise with beautiful trees, flowers and small hill towns and villages in the background. The mosaics include no human figures, which makes them different from the otherwise similar contemporary Byzantine works. The biggest continuous section survives under the western arcade of the courtyard, called the "Barada Panel" after the river Barada. It is thought that the mosque used to have the largest gold mosaic in the world, at over 4 m2. In 1893 a fire damaged the mosque extensively, and many mosaics were lost, although some have been restored since.[citation needed
]

According to the scholar

Irfan Shahid, sources point to the influence of the Greek Byzantines and Persians in the development of music in Arabia.[30]

Arab sources agree that the Byzantine artisians were highly skilled in all fields and left their nearest competitors far behind. The persian historian ibn al-Faqih praised Byzantine art:[31]

The Romans are the nation most skilled in painting...Their artists paint human beings without omitting a single detail, for the Roman painter is not satisfied with a painting until he has transformed the figure into a youth, a mature man, or a dotard; he next makes his subject handsome and charming and then mirthful or lachrymose. In his painting the artist even manages to distinguish between a sarcastic smile and a shy one and between gaiety and the laughter of the delirious.

The Persian Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi states that "the Rūm are indisputable masters in al-ṣanā"i" al-mihaniyya (the applied arts)"[32]

The famous scholar Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' observed that the Byzantines "relinquished warfare to become a settled people, Landowners who raise sheep cows and horses. But above all they are craftsmen."[32]

The high value placed on Byzantine Brocades in the Islamic world is attested to in al-Tha'alibi's book "Laṭāʼif al-maʻārif" in which Abu Dulaf al-Khazraji prays for godsends, including Byzantine Brocades. The theologian al-Jahiz says that "In the Domains of construction, carpentry, craftsmanship, and turnery, the Byzantines have no equal." [33]

Greek astronomy

Antikythera Mechanism was an analog computer
from 150–100 BC designed to calculate the positions of astronomical objects.

Greek astronomy is

Ptolemaic Egypt
. The development of astronomy by the Greek and Hellenistic astronomers is considered by historians to be a major phase in the
Arabic-Islamic and Western European
astronomy.

Ptolemy's Almagest became an authoritative work for many centuries.

Many of the proper names for individual stars within the constellations are

Arabic (modern designation is the Bayer designation by the German Johann Bayer
from 1603, it is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars), before the Arabian names, there were Greek names of the stars.

The Greek astronomer

Claudius Ptolemy’s called the Almagest, which contained the original Greek
and Latin names for stars, It contain a star catalogue of 1022 stars, described by their positions in the constellations, In the 9th century it was adopted by the
Arabs and translated from the original Greek and Latin into Arabic. For example, the Arabs translated Opisthen (Οπισθεν "after" or "following"Greek) or Opiso (Οπισω "to follow after" Greek), one of the original Greek names for the brightest star in Taurus, as Aldebaran (الدبران), which means "the Follower" in Arabic, because the star always follows behind the Pleiades as both move across the sky. In all, there are three major names for the brightest star in Taurus; the proper name Aldebaran and the scientific names, Alpha Taurind and 87 Tauri. Any of these three names can be used for the brightest star in Taurus but present day astronomers prefer to use the latter two scientific names.[citation needed
]

Due to their enormous popularity, a remnant of bright stars retained their original Greek or Latin names, surviving the mass invasion of Arabic names. Examples include

Capella (Latin for "Little She-goat"), and Spica (Latin for "Ear of Grain"). Examples of Chinese and Hindu names include Koo She (Chinese for "Bow and Arrow") and Ashlesha (Vedic-Hindu for "The Embracing One"). There are also contemporary proper names given to some stars, many of which refer to accomplished astronomers, deceased astronauts and English titles. For example, Gamma Velorum is named Regor, which is "Roger" spelled backwards; the name honors Astronaut Roger B. Chaffee, who died in the Apollo 1 tragedy. Other contemporary names include The Persian (Alpha Indi) and The Head of Hydrus (Alpha Hydri), Herschel's Garnet Star (Mu Cephei), Barnard's Star
, etc.

Humanism and Renaissance

Byzantine culture

During the 12th century the Byzantines provided their model of early humanism as a renaissance of interest in classical authors. In Eustathius of Thessalonica Byzantine humanism found its most characteristic expression.[36] During the 13th and 14th centuries, a period of intense creative activity, Byzantine humanism approached its zenith, and manifested a striking analogy to the contemporaneous Italian humanism. Byzantine humanism believed in the vitality of classical civilization, and of its sciences, and its proponents occupied themselves with scientific sciences.[37]

Despite the political, and military decline of these last two centuries, the Empire saw a flourishing of science and literature, often described as the "Palaeologean" or "Last Byzantine Renaissance".

Renaissance Italy, and among them Manuel Chrysoloras was involved over the never achieved union of the Churches.[38]

Byzantine and Islamic science

During the Middle Ages, there was frequently an exchange of works between Byzantine and

Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (such as the Zij-i Ilkhani and other Zij treatises) among others.[41]

There were also some Byzantine scientists who used Arabic transliterations to describe certain scientific concepts instead of the equivalent Ancient Greek terms (such as the use of the Arabic talei instead of the Ancient Greek

Sassanid and Indian astronomy through citations in some Arabic works.[39]

References

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  14. ^ Unani Medicine in India: Its Origin and Fundamental Concepts by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, Vol. IV Part 2 (Medicine and Life Sciences in India), Ed. B. V. Subbarayappa, Centre for Studies in Civilizations, Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture, New Delhi, 2001, pp. 298-325
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