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Abbasid Culture

Abbasid Culture. 743 – Civil War amongst Umayyads. Non-Arab muslims (in Persia) feel egalitarian promises are unfulfilled? Sunni and Shia divisions manifest 750, Umayyads deposed Calif Abu'l Abbas Early followers of Mohammed Took few risks Shiite support for ' salvationist ' promise

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Abbasid Culture

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  1. Abbasid Culture

  2. 743 – Civil War amongst Umayyads • Non-Arab muslims (in Persia) feel egalitarian promises are unfulfilled? • Sunni and Shia divisions manifest • 750, Umayyads deposed • CalifAbu'l Abbas • Early followers of Mohammed • Took few risks • Shiite support for 'salvationist' promise • Return to holier Islam

  3. Abbasid • Move capital from Damascus • Splendor of Baghdad • 30 miles from Persian capital of Ctesiphon • Persianisation of the Caliphate • Orients Caliphate, locus of authority to the east

  4. Unites empires, cultures • India, Persia, Rome • Doesn't break from Umayyad tradition as thought, metropolitan empire, less Mediterranean emphasis • Begins as Shia victory, monarchy stamps out egalitarianism

  5. No more great conquests • 717, Siege of Constantinople broken • 733, Tours and Charles Martel

  6. Spanish Umayyad • Umayyad massacre and the leather tablecloth • Abdar Raman to Spain following banquet • First Islamic ruler to defy Caliph • Independent Islamic Province, Emir • 929, Córdova

  7. Al Andalus • Umayyad dynasty in Córdova • Almohad Dynasty, Berbers • Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212 • Critical Victory in the Reconquista • 722, Battle of Covadonga • Nasrid Dynasty and construction of Granada

  8. Abbasid Administration • Wealth from taxation, central army • Nobility not local potentates or warlords • Complex administration with civilian bureaucracy • Taxes still assess at double rates for non-Muslims • Baghdad wealthiest and most important city in the world • Governorship entrusted to bureaucrats

  9. Cultural Programme • Planned and centrally funded • Translations of science, geography, math, philosophy and medicine from Greek and Persian • 830, House of Wisdom • Conducted research • Greek scientific works • Treaty with Constantinople, lend Ptolemy Almagest

  10. Classical Science, Philosophy • Persian and Arabian poetic tradition • Interest in Euclid, Dioscourides • Aristotle, all of it…and he wrote on everything • Comprehensive understanding of encyclopedic philosophy, understanding of material world/nature • Rationality – all things can be understood…even God – prime mover theory. Root of deists. • Influence to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity • Averroes, Maimonides, Aquinas – all Aristotelian • Arabic translated into Latin for Aquinas

  11. Assimilation of Conquered Cultures • Great success in Abbasid Caliphate • Expansion of science, too • Quick conquest and painless • Not religious war • Elimination of old frontiers – Persian and Greek astronomy, Arabic numerals (which are from India). Chess, from India also. • Elimination of linguistic boundaries – Arabic the language of science (Maimonides and Mozarabic Spain) • Attitude of conquerors and conquered • 'Garden protected by our spears' • Confidence in Islam, no need to convert people, also to accept new ideas • Islamic conquest seemed beneficial to locals. Martyrs of Córdoba

  12. Mathematics • Arabic numbers (India) and the concept of 0 • Trigonometry and sine function (India) • All the others developed by Arabs • House of Wisdom, The Book of Addition and Subtraction According to the Hindu Calculation • Decimals, square roots, pi, algebra (al jabr - balance), star tables, time and navigation. • Omar Kyayaam – non-Euclidian geometry, poetry, astronomy, medicine.

  13. Geography • Fascination for travel, navigation, anthropologies • Circumference of the world, interest in the scope of water • Ptolmey'sAlmagest highly valued • Al-Idrisi, Geography for the King of Sicily • Ibn Khaldun 1332-1406 • Tunis to Indonesia and China

  14. Medicine • Primary authority is Galen • Transmission of the four humors • Four essential fluids to determine health and attitude • Correspond to the four elements, climates • Earth, air, fire, water • Bile yellow – fire, blood – air, phlegm – water, black bile - earth • Sickness comes when something out of whack • Avicenna 980-1037, Persian physician Cannon • Based on observation

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