The House of Wisdom and Sabaeans of Harran: Cultural Centers of the Islamic Golden Age

For reasons entirely obscure, al-Rashid did not imprison him along with most members of the Barmakid family. Growing up under the influence of the Barmakids, Harun al-Rashid had from an early age a strong inclination toward the study of Greek works and sympathy for the Persian cultural environment. Thus he actively favored the study and translation of Greek and Persian authors, gathering a large number of scholars and translators capable of bringing together in one place Arabic translations of various manuscripts obtained from Byzantium and India. In this place, critical translations of the Siddhanta¹⁷ were begun, followed by Ptolemy's Almagest and Euclid's Elements, to name a few. The Bayt al-Hikma rapidly became a cultural center of great importance,¹⁴ especially during the caliphate of al-Mamun, son of Harun al-Rashid. Here the foundations were laid for the Arab cultural-scientific revolution, starting with translations of Greek classics such as Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Euclid, Aristotle, Plato, and Archimedes, before moving on to the actual production of new writings. The House of Wisdom hosted all the great Arab mathematicians, astronomers, inventors, and scientists of the period. The House of Wisdom was frequented by al-Khwarizmi, inventor of algebra and discoverer of solutions to quadratic equations, the Banu Musa brothers¹⁸, al-Kindi, Thabit ibn Qurra, and many others. At the height of its splendor, the House of Wisdom contained more than half a million volumes classified through a thematic index by genre and categories, at a time when the most well-stocked European libraries contained barely a few thousand volumes. This work was made possible also by the introduction in this context of a new type of support alternative to papyrus and parchment, namely paper, which was introduced with the help of Chinese prisoners captured during the Battle of Talas in Central Asia between the Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang dynasty. However, already toward the end of the 10th century, the influence of the House of Wisdom began slowly to decline, and the Arab cultural and scientific epicenter moved to Cordoba in the Caliphate of al-Andalus. Nevertheless, it continued to exert its influence until at least 1258, the year the Mongols brought down the caliphate. The Sabaeans of Harran A not entirely clarified role in the Arab Hellenization process that took place at the House of Wisdom is played by the people of the Sabaeans of Harran, a people with a cult having strong astrological connotations and heirs to various traditions both Hellenic and archaic. These may have been the depositories of a large number of Hellenic writings and manuscripts of hermetic and Neoplatonic character that would have played a role in the formation of young scholars at the House of Wisdom such as al-Kindi. The Platonic Academy, after being closed in 500 CE, moved to Alexandria in Egypt, where it remained very briefly before moving again to Harran. Here the Hellenic tradition merged with an ancient local astrological cult that the Sabaeans traced back to Terah, father of Abraham, who was heir to knowledge dating back to the Tower of Babel. Indeed, if you read in Genesis the chapter on the Tower of Babel, first it is written that the purpose of the tower was to ascend to the summit of the heavens (this gave rise to the idea that behind the Tower of Babel there were astrological worship practices), then the collapse is described, and finally at the end of the chapter Terah appears: "Then Terah took his son Abram and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran." (Genesis 11:31-32) And here at Harran this astrological cult had remained; there were various temples dedicated to the planets, the stone on which Abraham meditated, in short they were proud of this cult and did not want to abandon it. So much so that they practically pretended to be another people to escape persecution. Indeed, the people of the Sabaeans derive their name from a very curious episode. According to the Fehrest of Ibn al-Nadim, a treatise composed toward the end of the 10th century, Caliph al-Mamun paid a visit to the people of Harran while he was heading for a military expedition toward the borders of his land. Intrigued by the strange customs of the people, he asked them what their cult was and was quite surprised to discover that they were pagans. Before leaving the city, he informed the people of Harran that they would have to convert to one of the monotheistic faiths recognized by the Quran, otherwise when he returned he would exterminate them. Frightened by the threat, the people of the Sabaeans would have turned to a lawyer who, after careful reflection, advised them...