Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, Dimitri Gutas, Routledge 1998

Greek Thought, Arabic Culture

The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasaid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (Arabic Thought and Culture),  Dimitri Gutas, Routledge 1998

From the middle of the eighth century to the tenth century, almost all non-literary and non-historical secular Greek books, including such diverse topics as astrology, alchemy, physics, botany and medicine, that were not available throughout the eastern Byzantine Empire and the Near East, were translated into Arabic.
Greek Thought, Arabic Culture explores the major social, political and ideological factors that occasioned the unprecedented translation movement from Greek into Arabic in Baghdad, the newly founded capital of the Arab dynasty of the 'Abbasids', during the first two centuries of their rule. Dimitri Gutas draws upon the preceding historical and philological scholarship in Greco-Arabic studies and the study of medieval translations of secular Greek works into Arabic and analyses the social and historical reasons for this phenomenon.
Dimitri Gutas provides a stimulating, erudite and well-documented survey of this key movement in the transmission of ancient Greek culture to the Middle Ages.

Table of contents

Title Page                                                                    iii

Contents                                                                      ix

Preface                                                                                    xiii

Note on Dates, Names, and Transliteration                xvii

Introduction                                                                1

Part I - Translation and Empire                                   9

1 - The Background of the Translation Movement     11

2 - Al-ManṢŪr                                                            28

3 - Al-MahdĪ and His Sons                                        61

4 - Al-Ma’mŪn                                                           75

Part II - Translation and Society                                 105

5 - Translation in the Service of Applied and Theoretical Knowledge107

6 - Patrons, Translators, Translations                          121

7 - Translation and History                                         151

Epilogue187

Appendix: Greek Works Translated into Arabic        193

Bibliography and Abbreviations                                 197

Chronological Bibliography of Studies on the Significance of the Translation Movement for Islamic Civilization                                                        212

General Index                                                              216

Index of Manuscripts                                                  230