The manuscript repository in Baghdad is also called the House of Wisdom. This institution was founded here at the dawn of the emergence of the religion of the East itself - Islam, but it did not exist for so long. Initially, scientists from various countries came here who could transfer certain knowledge in the field of science to the residents of Baghdad. They left their groundwork here, which were collected in books and filed for further storage. During the constant wars waged between the powers at that time, this greatest treasure of knowledge was destroyed, and all the ancient manuscripts compiled by thinkers were dumped into the Tigris River.
Background
In the 8th century, the Abbasid dynasty overthrew the Umayyads that ruled at that time, who ruled the lands of Mesopotamia. The capital of the state at that time was in the city of Mecca, which was considered the refuge of the prophet Muhammad and all his followers. The new government, having barely won the victory, transferred the capital to Baghdad, and since then the city began to grow literally before our eyes. The main goal of the Abbasids was to make New Alexandria from Baghdad. Therefore, the works of various philosophers, scientists, mathematicians and researchers began to be brought here from all over Europe and Asia. Thus, a kind of manuscript repository was formed in Baghdad, which for some time contained just a set of scrolls and parchments, drawn up in a variety of languages, including the dead.
The first steps to systematization
The founder of this “House of Wisdom”, which was called “Bayt al-Hikma” in his native language, was al-Mamun, who, in fact, conquered the city of Baghdad. In his refuge of all knowledge, he hired the best scientists and translators of Mesopotamia, who worked here day and night. They sorted through ancient manuscripts compiled by philosophers and mathematicians from India, Greece, Italy, Spain. Sometimes even records compiled by the barbarian peoples of Northern Europe came across. Their task was also to translate this data into Arabic, which they brilliantly dealt with. So al-Mamun had a library that contained the knowledge of the peoples of the entire civilized world at that time.
The Development of the House of Wisdom
As it turned out, the most interesting branch of science at that time was mathematics and all the disciplines arising from it - astronomy, metaphysics, chemistry, etc., because the House of Wisdom worked under the supervision of the best mathematician - al-Khwarizmi, who directed and trained all other experts. Since all scholars began working together, the manuscript repository in Baghdad has become a true research center. Here new formulas were derived, new quantities and figures were born. A lot of possibilities opened up for astronomers after the knowledge acquired by different peoples was compared.
On the basis of what were the achievements of Arab scholars built?
Each ancient manuscript that fell into the House of Wisdom was the subject of careful study for the Arabs. Basically, they relied on the works of such famous ancient authors as Diophantus of Alexandria, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Dioscorides, Galen and others. The achievements of the first four philosopher-scientists gave the Arabs the opportunity to make a huge leap in mathematics and astronomy. They built algebraic logarithms and calculus systems, all kinds of geometric procedures and formulas for calculating areas and volumes. Also, Arab scientists are credited with such a find as progression - mathematical and geometric. In the future, based on the knowledge and experiments conducted here, mathematics arose in Europe, which we now use. As for the last three ancient sages, it was on the basis of their findings that a new Arabian medicine was developed.
Developments in the field of astronomy
The manuscript repository in Baghdad has also become the new space observatory. The impetus for the study of celestial bodies was not the knowledge of ancient, but Indian scientists, who have already hypothesized that the Earth has its own parallels and meridians. It was in the suburbs of Baghdad that Arab researchers working on these astronomical works attempted to measure the arc length of 1 degree of the meridian. This event was crowned with success, since all the calculations turned out to be correct.
