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Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the eighth century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control.<br/><br/> The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors) at various times between 711 and 1492, though the boundaries changed constantly as the Christian Reconquista progressed.
Avempace (c. 1085 – 1138) is the Latinate form of Ibn Bajja, full name Abu Bakr Muḥammad Ibn Yahya ibn as-Saiigh at-Tujibi Ibn Bajja al-Tujibi, a medieval Andalusian Arab. His writings include works regarding astronomy, physics, and music, as well as philosophy, medicine, botany, and poetry.<br/><br/> He was the author of the <i>Kitab al-Nabat</i> ('The Book of Plants'), a popular work on botany, which defined the sex of plants. His philosophic ideas had a clear effect on Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Albertus Magnus. Most of his writings and books were not completed (or well-organized) because of his early death. He had a vast knowledge of medicine, mathematics and astronomy. His main contribution to Islamic philosophy is his idea on soul phenomenology, which was never completed.
Kufic is a clean, geometric style of Arabic writing, with a very visible rhythm and a stress on horizontal lines. Vowels are sometimes noted as red dots; consonants are distinguished with small dashes to make the texts more readable. A number of Qur'ans written in this style have been found in the Mosque at Kairouan, in Tunisia. Kufic writing also appears on ancient coins. The Maghribi script and its Andalusi variant are less rigid versions of Kufic, with more curves.
This cylindrical pyxis - a kind of casket - was carved in 968 for Prince al-Mughira (son of the deceased Caliph Abd al-Rahman III and half-brother of the reigning Caliph al-Hakam). It is the finest example of the luxury ivory objects made for the members of the court of Madinat al-Zahra (the caliph's residence and city of government, established near Cordoba in 936).<br/><br/> Its four richly-decorated medallions are linked by borders of delicately pierced foliage, and this composition is reflected on the lid, whose medallions feature peacocks, falcons, lions, and a rider. There are four scenes on the body of the box. In one of these, a lutanist is flanked by two cross-legged figures who look at each other rather suspiciously.<br/><br/> One holds a fan, the other a bottle (an emblem often associated with the king), and a braided vegetal scepter of the kind used by the Umayyad Dynasty. The other images, such as that of a bull attacked by a lion, are all doubled. Some curious little scenes show back-to-back figures stealing eggs from falcons' nests, with dogs biting their ankles, and the final medallion portrays riders picking bunches of dates.