Libraries
The House of Wisdom was a library before it was a legend
Long before the stories, Bayt al-Hikma was a working place: shelves, translators and patrons who paid by the page.
Bayt: Stories from the history of science in the Islamic world.
Through the centuries
- al-Fazari Baghdad, 770
- Jabir ibn Hayyan Kufa, 790
- al-Khwarizmi Baghdad, 820
- Hunayn ibn Ishaq Baghdad, 850
- Fatima al-Fihri Fez, 859
- al-Razi Rayy, 900
- al-Zahrawi Córdoba, 1000
- Ibn al-Haytham Cairo, 1015
- Ibn Sina Hamadan, 1025
- al-Biruni Ghazni, 1030
- Omar Khayyam Nishapur, 1070
- al-Idrisi Palermo, 1154
- Ibn Rushd Córdoba, 1180
- Ibn al-Nafis Cairo, 1242
- Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Maragheh, 1259
- Ibn Battuta Fez, 1355
- Ibn Khaldun Tunis, 1377
- Ulugh Beg Samarkand, 1420
Editor’s picks
Astronomy
Maragheh: an observatory with a library attached
In the thirteenth century, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi gathered astronomers, instruments and books on a hill in Azerbaijan.
Medicine
The surgeon of Córdoba drew his instruments
Al-Zahrawi’s great medical work ends with surgery, and with drawings of the tools a surgeon should own.
“He solved the equation with a drawing, then checked it with numbers.”
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Mathematics
Al-Khwarizmi and the book that named algebra
A practical handbook on inheritance and trade gave mathematics a new word, and a new way to solve for the unknown.
Mathematics
Ibn al-Haytham put the eye in the dark room
In Cairo, a scholar asked how we see, then tested his answer with light, shutters and a darkened chamber.
Medicine
Why the Canon of Medicine was taught for six centuries
Ibn Sina’s Canon was clear, complete and well ordered. Universities kept teaching it long after his death.
Topics
One long read, every Friday
A story from the archive, written to be read slowly. No ads, no tracking pixels.