Light from the East

How the Science of Medieval Islam Helped to Shape the Western World

AvJohn Freely

E-bok

Engelska, 2010

190 kr

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Beskrivning

Long before the European Renaissance, while the western world was languishing in what was once called the 'Dark Ages', the Arab world was ablaze with the knowledge, invention and creativity of its Golden Age. This is the story of how Islamic science, which began with the translation of Greek manuscripts into Arabic in eighth-century Baghdad, preserved and enhanced the knowledge acquired from Greece, Mesopotamia, India and China. Through the astrologers, physicians, philosophers, mathematicians and alchemists of the Muslim world, this knowledge was carried from Samarkand and Baghdad to Cordoba and beyond, influencing western thinkers from Thomas Aquinas and Copernicus and helping to inspire the cultural phenomenon of the Renaissance. John Freely tells this spellbinding story against a background of the melting pot of cultures involved and concludes with the decline of Islam's Golden Age, which led the West to forget the debt it owed to the Muslim world and the influence of medieval Islamic civilisation in forging the beginnings of modern science.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2010-12-18
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:264
Kopieringsskydd:LCP
ISBN:9780857731012
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

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Mer om författaren

John Freely (1926–2017) was born in New York in 1926 and joined the US Navy at the age of 17, serving during the last two years of World War II. He achieved a PhD in physics from New York University and did postdoctoral studies in the history of science at Oxford. He was Professor of Physics at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, where he taught physics and the history of science for more than fifty years. He also taught in New York, Boston, London and Athens. Freely wrote more than 40 books, including works in the history of science and travel. His books include Storm on Horseback, The Cyclades, The Ionian Islands (all I.B.Tauris), Crete and the bestselling Strolling Through Istanbul (both Tauris Parke).

Innehållsförteckning

Prologue. The Scriptorium at the SüleymaniyeChapter 1. Science Before Science, Mesopotamia and EgyptChapter 2. The Land of the GreeksChapter 3. The Roads to BaghdadChapter 4. 'Abbasid Baghdad: The House of WisdomChapter 5. Spiritual PhysickChapter 6. From Baghdad to Central AsiaChapter 7. The Cure of IgnoranceChapter 8. Fatimid Cairo: The Science of LightChapter 9. Ayyubid and Mamluk Cairo: Healing Body and SoulChapter 10. Ingenious Mechanical DevicesChapter 11. Islamic TechnologyChapter 12. Al-Andalus: Muslim SpainChapter 13. From the Maghrib to the Two Sicilies: Arabic into LatinChapter 14. Incoherent PhilosophersChapter 15. Mongol Maragha and Samarkand: Spheres Within SpheresChapter 16. Arabic Science and the European RenaissanceChapter 17. Copernicus and His Arabic PredecessorsChapter 18. The Scientific RevolutionChapter 19. The Heritage of Islamic ScienceNotesBibliography