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From the late 8th century, Abbasid Baghdad became a great centre of translation, where scholars turned Greek, Persian and Indian works of science, medicine and philosophy into Arabic. The Bayt al-Hikma, or House of Wisdom, was one part of this wider effort, not its only home.

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Baghdad was founded in 762 by the caliph al-Mansur as the capital of the Abbasid dynasty. Caliphs, courtiers and wealthy families paid for translations, often by Syriac-speaking Christian scholars who knew Greek. The best known, Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873), is said to have translated more than a hundred works, including much of the Greek physician Galen. Papermaking, learned according to tradition from Chinese prisoners in 751, made books cheaper. The House of Wisdom began as a palace library under al-Mansur or Harun al-Rashid and flourished under al-Ma'mun (reigned 813–833). The mathematician al-Khwarizmi worked in Baghdad in this period: the word “algorithm” comes from his name, and “algebra” from the title of his book. Some historians now argue that its image as a university-like academy was largely created by scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was destroyed when the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258.

Türkçe oku
8. yüzyılın sonlarından itibaren Abbasilerin başkenti Bağdat büyük bir çeviri merkezine dönüştü: Bilginler Yunan, Fars ve Hint bilim, tıp ve felsefe eserlerini Arapçaya çevirdi. Beytülhikme, yani Bilgelik Evi, bu geniş çabanın merkezlerinden yalnızca biriydi.

Bağdat'ı 762'de Abbasi halifesi Mansur, hanedanın başkenti olarak kurdu. Çevirilerin masrafını halifeler, saray çevresi ve varlıklı aileler karşılıyordu; çevirmenler çoğu zaman Yunanca bilen, Süryanice konuşan Hristiyan bilginlerdi. Bunların en tanınmışı Huneyn bin İshak'tır (809–873); Yunan hekim Galenos'un eserlerinin çoğu dâhil yüzü aşkın eseri çevirdiği anlatılır. Rivayete göre 751'de Çinli esirlerden öğrenilen kâğıt yapımı, kitap üretimini ucuzlattı. Bilgelik Evi, Mansur ya da Harun Reşid döneminde bir saray kütüphanesi olarak kuruldu ve Memun'un halifeliğinde (813–833) en parlak dönemini yaşadı. Matematikçi Harezmî de bu dönemde Bağdat'ta çalıştı; “algoritma” sözcüğü onun adından, “cebir” ise kitabının adından gelir. Bugün bazı tarihçiler, Bilgelik Evi'ni üniversite benzeri bir akademi gibi gösteren yaygın tablonun büyük ölçüde 19. ve 20. yüzyıl başı araştırmacılarının kurgusu olduğunu savunuyor. Bilgelik Evi, Moğollar 1258'de Bağdat'ı yağmaladığında yok oldu.

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Background reading: House of Wisdom
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