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An illustration by Muhammad ibn Yaqub al-Khuttuli (9th century, Iraq or Syria) identifying various parts of the anatomy of a horse.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: أبو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم‎), frequently referred to as Ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: ابن الهيثم, Latinized as Alhazenor Alhacen; c. 965 – c. 1040), was an Arab Muslim polymath and philosopher who made significant contributions to the principles of optics, astronomy, mathematics, meteorology, visual perception and the scientific method.<br/><br/> In medieval Europe, he was honored as Ptolemaeus Secundus ('Ptolemy the Second') or simply called 'The Physicist'. He is also sometimes called al-Basri (Arabic: البصري) after Basra, his birthplace. He spent most of his life close to the court of the Caliphate in Cairo and earned his life authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: أبو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم‎), frequently referred to as Ibn al-Haytham (Arabic: ابن الهيثم, Latinized as Alhazenor Alhacen; c. 965 – c. 1040), was an Arab Muslim polymath and philosopher who made significant contributions to the principles of optics, astronomy, mathematics, meteorology, visual perception and the scientific method.<br/><br/> In medieval Europe, he was honored as Ptolemaeus Secundus ('Ptolemy the Second') or simply called 'The Physicist'. He is also sometimes called al-Basri (Arabic: البصري) after Basra, his birthplace. He spent most of his life close to the court of the Caliphate in Cairo and earned his life authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.
Hunayn ibn Ishaq ( Latin: Iohannitius) (809 – 873) was a famous and influential scholar, physician, and scientist of Nestorian Arab Christian descent. He and his students transmitted their Syriac and Arabic translations of many classical Greek texts throughout the Islamic world, during the apex of the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate.<br/><br/> Hunayn ibn Ishaq was the most productive translator of Greek medical and scientific treatises in his day. He studied Greek and became known among the Arabs as the 'Sheikh of the translators'. He mastered four languages: Arabic, Syriac, Greek and Persian.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
The ‘Maqama’ are a collection of picaresque Arabic tales written in the form of rhymed prose in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The style was invented in the 10th century by Badi al-Zaman al-Hamadhani and extended by Abu Muhammed al-Qasim ibn Ali al-Hariri of Basra the following century.<br/><br/> The protagonists in the tales are invariably silver-tongued hustlers, especially the roguish Abu Zaid al-Saruji, who trick the narrator and who live on their wits and dazzle onlookers with displays of acrobatics, acting and by reciting poetry.
Composed in Egypt in the first half of the 11th century, the 'Book of Curiosities' is a 12th/13th century cosmographical manuscript contains highly unique celestial and terrestrial maps, including the first known rectangular map of the world produced before the renaissance.<br/><br/> The geographical references are based largely on the first century work of Ptolemy but the manuscript contains previously unknown distinct cartographic features.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Abu ʿAlī al-Husayn ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Sīna (c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara – 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīna or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.<br/><br/> His most famous works are <i>The Book of Healing</i>, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and <i>The Canon of Medicine</i>, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. <i>The Canon of Medicine</i> was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīna's <i>Canon of Medicine</i> provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen and Hippocrates.<br/><br/> His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan.<br/><br/> The Jewish philosophers include Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer, Ibn Khaldun, and Averroes.<br/><br/> Some authorities suggest that one of the figures in this miniature represents Al-Kindi, or Abu Yusuf Yaʻqub ibn Ishaq as-Ṣabbaḥ al-Kindi (c. 801–873 CE), known as 'the Philosopher of the Arabs', a Muslim Arab philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician and musician. Al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim peripatetic philosophers, and is unanimously hailed as the 'father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy' for his synthesis, adaptation and promotion of Greek and Hellenistic philosophy in the Muslim world.
Abu Alī al-Husayn ibn Abd Allah ibn Sina (c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sina or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.<br/><br/> His most famous works are 'The Book of Healing', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and 'The Canon of Medicine', which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. 'The Canon of Medicine' was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sina's 'Canon of Medicine' provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen and Hippocrates.<br/><br/> His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Socrates (c. 469 – 399 BCE) was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary Aristophanes. Many would claim that Plato's dialogues are the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity.<br/><br/> Through his portrayal in Plato's dialogues, Socrates has become renowned for his contribution to the field of ethics, and it is this Platonic Socrates who also lends his name to the concepts of Socratic irony and the Socratic method, or elenchus. The latter remains a commonly used tool in a wide range of discussions, and is a type of pedagogy in which a series of questions are asked not only to draw individual answers, but also to encourage fundamental insight into the issue at hand. It is Plato's Socrates that also made important and lasting contributions to the fields of epistemology and logic, and the influence of his ideas and approach remains strong in providing a foundation for much western philosophy that followed
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.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's <i>Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the <i>Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya</i> (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013.However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013.However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur-e Sina [ˈpuːre ˈsiːnɑː] 'son of Sina'; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.<br/><br/> His most famous works are 'The Book of Healing', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and 'The Canon of Medicine', which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. 'The Canon of Medicine' was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's 'Canon of Medicine' provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).<br/><br/> His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur-e Sina [ˈpuːre ˈsiːnɑː] 'son of Sina'; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.<br/><br/> His most famous works are 'The Book of Healing', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and 'The Canon of Medicine', which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. 'The Canon of Medicine' was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's 'Canon of Medicine' provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).<br/><br/> His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, (Mongolian: Судрын чуулган, Sudar-yn Chuulgan; Arabic: جامع التواريخ ‎; Persian: جامع‌التواریخ ), ('Compendium of Chronicles') or Universal History is an Iranian work of literature and history written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century.
Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā (Persian پورسينا Pur-e Sina [ˈpuːre ˈsiːnɑː] 'son of Sina'; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.<br/><br/> His most famous works are 'The Book of Healing', a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and 'The Canon of Medicine', which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. 'The Canon of Medicine' was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's 'Canon of Medicine' provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).<br/><br/> His corpus also includes writing on philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He is regarded as the most famous and influential polymath of the Islamic Golden Age.
Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf al-Shami al-Asadi (Arabic: تقي الدين محمد بن معروف الشامي, Modern Turkish: Takiyuddin) (1526–1585) was an Ottoman Turkish Muslim polymath. He was the author of more than 90 books on a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, clocks, engineering, mathematics, mechanics, optics and natural philosophy.<br/><br/> Taqi al-Din's method of finding coordinates of stars was reportedly more precise from his contemporary Tycho Brahe and Nicolas Copernicus. Brahe is thought to be aware of Taqi al-Din's work.
Piri Reis (full name Hajı Ahmed Muhiddin Piri; Reis was a Turkish military rank equivalent to that of captain) was an Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555.<br/><br/> He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book which contains detailed information on navigation, as well as very accurate charts (for its time) describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence in the world (the oldest known map of America that is still in existence is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500, which is conserved in the Naval Museum (Museo Naval) of Madrid, Spain). Piri Reis' map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer.<br/><br/> In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment (showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south) still survives. According to his imprinting text, he had drawn his maps using about twenty foreign charts and mappae mundi (Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek) including one of Christopher Columbus.
Miniature painting from an illuminated manuscript page (c. 1250) of the Abbasid period, depicting a fanciful representation of the archer associated with Sagittarius positioned between the moon and Jupiter, reflects the interest in astrological science that thrived In Islamic civilization from the 8th to the 13th century.<br/><br/> Scientific treatises constituted a large part of the manuscript tradition of the Abbasid period.
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (September AD 129 – 199/217; Greek: Γαληνός, Galēnos, from adjective γαληνός, 'calm'), better known as Galen of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey), was a prominent Roman (of Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon and philosopher.<br/><br/> Arguably the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.<br/><br/> The first major translator of Galen into Arabic was the Syrian Christian Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Hunayn translated (c.830-870) 129 works of 'Jalinos' into Arabic. One of the Arabic translations, ‘Kitab ila Aglooqan fi Shifa al Amraz’, which is extant in the Library of Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences, is a masterpiece of all literary works of Galen.<br/><br/> Although they are hardly visible in the ‘Galenic corpus’ as it stands, many works that were once attributed to Galen are now ascribed to a ‘Pseudo-Galen’ and rarely give any additional information about the author’s identity.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices).<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices). The various elements that comprise this water-powered clock move and make a sound every half hour.<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
A painting on paper in color and gold leaf from al-Jazari's ' Kitab fi marifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya' (The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices). The various elements that comprise this water-powered clock move and make a sound every half hour.<br/><br/> Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī (1136–1206) was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor. He is best known for writing the Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them.
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (September AD 129 – 199/217; Greek: Γαληνός, Galēnos, from adjective γαληνός, 'calm'), better known as Galen of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey), was a prominent Roman (of Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon and philosopher.<br/><br/> Arguably the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.<br/><br/> The first major translator of Galen into Arabic was the Syrian Christian Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Hunayn translated (c.830-870) 129 works of 'Jalinos' into Arabic. One of the Arabic translations, ‘Kitab ila Aglooqan fi Shifa al Amraz’, which is extant in the Library of Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences, is a masterpiece of all literary works of Galen.<br/><br/> Although they are hardly visible in the ‘Galenic corpus’ as it stands, many works that were once attributed to Galen are now ascribed to a ‘Pseudo-Galen’ and rarely give any additional information about the author’s identity.
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (September AD 129 – 199/217; Greek: Γαληνός, Galēnos, from adjective γαληνός, 'calm'), better known as Galen of Pergamon (modern-day Bergama, Turkey), was a prominent Roman (of Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon and philosopher.<br/><br/> Arguably the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity, Galen contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines including anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and neurology, as well as philosophy and logic.<br/><br/> The first major translator of Galen into Arabic was the Syrian Christian Hunayn ibn Ishaq. Hunayn translated (c.830-870) 129 works of 'Jalinos' into Arabic. One of the Arabic translations, ‘Kitab ila Aglooqan fi Shifa al Amraz’, which is extant in the Library of Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences, is a masterpiece of all literary works of Galen.<br/><br/> Although they are hardly visible in the ‘Galenic corpus’ as it stands, many works that were once attributed to Galen are now ascribed to a ‘Pseudo-Galen’ and rarely give any additional information about the author’s identity.
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān ('The Anatomy of the Human Body'). Persian manuscript, copy undated; appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, illustrations, etc. suggest ca. late 15th or very early 16th century.
The Nihāyat al-su’l wa-al-umniyah fī ta‘allum a‘māl al-furūsīyah نـهـايـة الـسـؤل و الأمـنـيـة في تـعـلـّم أعـمـال الـفـروسـيـة by Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsá Aqsarā’ī الأقـسـرائـي ، مـحـمـد بن عـيـسـى is one of the best known works of cavalry training from the Islamic Middle East.<br/><br/> It was compiled during the time of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517), however, most of the book consists of material from earlier works. Some date back to the time of the 'Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad in the 9th or even late 8th century. The Nihayat al-Su'l itself was compiled following an attack upon Alexandria by Crusader pirates operating from Cyprus in 1365. By that time, however, the Crusaders were a secondary threat as far as the Mamluks were concerned. The Mongols who occupied most of Asia beyond the Euphrates were much more serious.<br/><br/> Traditionally the Nihayat al-Su'l is attributed to Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hanafi al-Aqsara'i who is said to have died in Damascus in 1348 after spending most of his life in Syria.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān ('The Anatomy of the Human Body'). Persian manuscript, copy undated; appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, illustrations, etc. suggest ca. late 15th or very early 16th century.
Z̲akhīrah-i Khwārazm Shāhī, 'The treasure of Khwārazm Shāh', by Ismā’īl ibn al-Hasan. Copy of an earlier Persian work Composed not earlier than 1110 and dedicated to Qutb al-Dīn Muhammad Anūshtakīn Khwārazm Shah, who died in 1127.
The Nihāyat al-su’l wa-al-umniyah fī ta‘allum a‘māl al-furūsīyah نـهـايـة الـسـؤل و الأمـنـيـة في تـعـلـّم أعـمـال الـفـروسـيـة by Muḥammad ibn ‘Īsá Aqsarā’ī الأقـسـرائـي ، مـحـمـد بن عـيـسـى is one of the best known works of cavalry training from the Islamic Middle East.<br/><br/> It was compiled during the time of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517), however, most of the book consists of material from earlier works. Some date back to the time of the 'Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad in the 9th or even late 8th century. The Nihayat al-Su'l itself was compiled following an attack upon Alexandria by Crusader pirates operating from Cyprus in 1365. By that time, however, the Crusaders were a secondary threat as far as the Mamluks were concerned. The Mongols who occupied most of Asia beyond the Euphrates were much more serious.<br/><br/> Traditionally the Nihayat al-Su'l is attributed to Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hanafi al-Aqsara'i who is said to have died in Damascus in 1348 after spending most of his life in Syria.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān ('The Anatomy of the Human Body'). Persian manuscript, copy undated; appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, illustrations, etc. suggest ca. late 15th or very early 16th century.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
Abū Ma'shar, Ja'far ibn Muḥammad al-Balkhī (also known as al-Falakī or Ibn Balkhī, Latinized as Albumasar, Albusar, or Albuxar) (10 August 787 in Balkh, Khurasan – 9 March 886 in Wāsiṭ, Iraq), was a Persian astrologer, astronomer, and Islamic philosopher, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad.<br/><br/> He was not a major innovator, and his works are practical books for training of astrologers; even as an astrologer he was not intellectually rigorous. Nevertheless, he wrote a number of practical manuals on astrology that profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through translations, that of western Europe and Byzantium.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān ('The Anatomy of the Human Body'). Persian manuscript, copy undated; appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, illustrations, etc. suggest ca. late 15th or very early 16th century.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Tashrīḥ-i badan-i insān ('The Anatomy of the Human Body'). Persian manuscript, copy undated; appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, illustrations, etc. suggest ca. late 15th or very early 16th century.
Muḥammad Akbar 'urf Muḥammad, Copy undated: appearance of paper, handwriting, ink, etc. suggests a date of ca. 18th century.
The period from the mid-8th century to the mid-13th century is considered the Islamic Golden Age. It was a time when Arabs and Muslims made great strides in the fields of science, engineering, education, poetry, philosophy, geography, trade, agriculture, the arts, economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sociology and technology. In the Islamic world, astronomy was studied fastidiously to calculate the direction of the Qibla and to fix the times for Salah, Muslim prayers, as well as to aid sailors and navigators.
From al-Qazwini’s Arabic cosmography, this page depicts a shark, a swordfish and a stingray (late 13th century). Zakariya ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Qazwini (1203-83) was a Persian physician, astronomer, geographer and proto-science fiction writer. His famous Arabic-language cosmography titled ‘Aja’ib al-makhluqat wa-ghe’ (literally ‘Marvels of Creatures and Strange Things Existing’) is a frequently illustrated treatise. It was immensely popular in its time and is preserved today, also translated in Persian and Turkish.
Kamal al-Din Hasan ibn Ali ibn Hasan al-Farisi or Abu Hasan Muhammad ibn Hasan (1267– 12 January 1319 (Persian: كمال‌الدين فارسی‎) was a prominent Persian born in Tabriz, Iran. He made two major contributions to science, one on optics, the other on number theory. Farisi was a pupil of the great astronomer and mathematician Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, who in turn was a pupil of Nasir al-Din Tusi.<br/><br/> His work on optics was prompted by a question put to him concerning the refraction of light. Shirazi advised him to consult 'The Book of Optics' of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), and Farisi made such a deep study of this treatise that Shirazi suggested that he write what is essentially a revision of that major work, which came to be called the Tanqih.
Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād[a] (c. 1450 – c. 1535), also known as Kamal al-din Bihzad or Kamaleddin Behzad (Persian: کمال‌الدین بهزاد‎), was a Persian painter and head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz during the late Timurid and early Safavid Persian periods.
Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus, Spanish: Al-Ándalus, Portuguese: Al-Andalus) was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (often given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms.<br/><br/> Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms.<br/><br/> Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013. However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.<br/><br/> Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave lessons not only to Alexander, but also to two other future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander.<br/><br/> His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy.<br/><br/> Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013.However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.
Timbuktu Manuscripts is an umbrella term for what were a large number of manuscripts (estimates range in the hundreds of thousands) which had been preserved by private households in Timbuktu (and some other locations), Mali. A large portion of the manuscripts had to do with art, medicine, science, and calligraphy of the late Abbasid Caliphate, and even multiple priceless old copies of the Quran.<br/><br/> The majority of manuscripts were written in Arabic, but some were also in local languages, including Songhay and Tamasheq. The dates of the manuscripts ranged between the late 13th and the early 20th centuries (i.e., from the Islamisation of the Mali Empire until the decline of traditional education in French Sudan). Their subject matter ranged from scholarly works to short letters. The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition. Most of the manuscripts remain unstudied and uncatalogued, and their total number is unknown, amenable only to rough estimates. A selection of about 160 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Library in Timbuktu and the Ahmed Baba collection were digitized by the Tombouctou Manuscripts Project in the 2000s.<br/><br/> With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.<br/><br/> Many of the manuscripts were reported destroyed, along with many other monuments of medieval Islamic culture in Timbuktu, by the Islamist rebels of Ansar Dine in the Northern Mali conflict. The Ahmed Baba Institute and a library, both containing thousands of manuscripts, were said to have been burnt as the Islamists retreated from Timbuktu in January 2013.However, a former Malian presidential aide, as well as several other people involved with preserving the manuscripts, claim that the documents had been evacuated into a safe location in 2012 before the fighters invaded Timbuktu.