The Abbasid House of Wisdom: Between Myth and Reality

This volume examines the library of the Abbasid caliphs, known as ＂The House of Wisdom＂ (＂Bayt al-Hikma＂), exploring how this important institution has been misconceived by scholars’.

This book places the palace library within the framework of the multifaceted cultural and scientific activities in the era of the caliphs, Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun, generally regarded as the Golden Age of Islamic civilization. The author studies the first references to the House of Wisdom in European sources and shows how misconceptions arose because of incorrect translations of Arabic manuscripts and also because of how scholars overlooked the historical context of the library in ways that reflected their own cultural and national ambitions.

The Abbasid House of Wisdom is perfect for scholars, students, and the wider public interested in the scientific and cultural activities of the Islamic Golden Age.

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu is a Turkish scholar and diplomat and a pioneer of studies of Ottoman Science and the history of institutions of learning. He was the founder and chair of the first Department of the History of Science in Turkey at the University of Istanbul, the IRCICA, the Turkish Society for the History of Science, and president of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science from 2001 to 2005. He is editor and co-author of many volumes, including 18 volumes of History of Ottoman Science Literature, laureate of Alexandre Koyré Medal.