The Cyprus library comes to Baghdad

خزانة كتب قبرص إلى بغداد

c. 830 CE · c. 215 AH† – c. 830 CE · c. 215 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

When al-Maʾmūn made a truce with the lord of Cyprus he asked for the island's collected Greek library — kept in a house no one had opened — and it was sent to him, Sahl ibn Hārūn made its keeper ¹.

The long-form text for this entry has not been written yet. The facts and connections below come from the museum's data.

Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom at Baghdad, the greatest library whose report survives from the first Abbasid age: al-Rashid laid its nucleus and al-Ma'mun enlarged and strengthened it. Al-Rashid put Yuhanna ibn Masawayh over the translation of the ancient medical books found in Byzantine lands with skilled scribes writing before him; Abu Sahl al-Fadl ibn Nawbakht rendered Persian wisdom-books into Arabic in its khizana, and Allan al-Shu'ubi copied for al-Rashid, al-Ma'mun and the Barmakids. Al-Ma'mun widened it, sending to the Byzantine emperor for the ancient sciences an embassy of al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, Ibn al-Bitriq and Salm the master of the House, and making Sahl ibn Harun keeper of its treasuries — though its precise organisation and site remain wrapped in obscurity.

The Cyprus library comes to Baghdad

At a glance

In time

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom