From Alexander’s expeditions to the Arab conquest, that is, about a thousand years, the area known now as the Arab world lived under the impact of Greco-Roman influence, or rather cultural exchange. This was strengthened by the fact that in the golden Age of Islam, the Abbasid period of the eighth and ninth centuries ce, Dar El Hikmah (Wisdom House) was founded in Baghdad for translation, especially from Greek. There the main books of Greek heritage were translated particularly in the fields of applied sciences for example, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and philosophy (Rosenthal 1992: passim).
These translations from Greek helped to promote cultural and academic activities in Baghdad, which actually witnessed a golden age of multilingualism and multi-culturalism. At the same time these translations offered an invaluable help to modern and contemporary Classics in the following respects:
1 They throw a light on some extant texts and their meanings.
2 They correct some fragmented texts, filling up the lacunae.
3 They preserve some texts in Arabic, the Greek origins being lost.
4 They fill many gaps not only in some texts, but also in the literary history of different genres and sciences.
Consequently these Arabic versions cannot be neglected in modern classical studies generally, and in textual criticism particularly (Walzer 1962: 29, 59; Etman 1997-8: 29-38). However, the great works of Greek literature remained unknown to the Arabs. The little that was known of Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, the tragedians, Aristophanes, etc., was known indirectly, for instance, through the works of Aristotle and Galen and gnomic literature. However, some forms of Greek literature persisted and re-emerged in Arabic guise (Rosenthal 1992: 255ff.). The descendants of the Ancient Muslim translators of Baghdad, that is, contemporary Arabs, reasonably feel now that they should revive and continue the same approach to the Classics, but with wider perspectives suitable for the contemporary knowledge society.
World History
