talwabatal - the sea is behind you 622

Early Muslim conquests 622/750

Expansion under the prophet of islam, 622-632 Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632-661 Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750 Shows modern borders.

Arab cavalry pursue fleeing Byzantines , the Arabs drive the Byzantines to flight at Azazion , 13th-century author - History of John Skylitzes (Skyllitzes Matritensis (Biblioteca Nacional de España))

Archaeological remains that exist near the place where the Battle of Mu'tah occurred

629

The Battle of Mu'tah

took place in September 629 (1 Jumada al-Awwal 8 AH), between the muslims and the army of the Byzantine Empire and their Ghassanid vassals. It took place in the village of Mu'tah in Palaestina Salutaris at the east of the Jordan River and modern-day Karak.

In Islamic historical sources, the battle is usually described as the Muslims' attempt to take retribution against a Ghassanid chief for taking the life of an emissary. According to Byzantine sources, the Muslims planned to launch their attack on a feast day. The local Byzantine Vicarius learned of their plans and collected the garrisons of the fortresses. Seeing the great number of the enemy forces, the Muslims withdrew to the south where the fighting started at the village of Mu'tah and they were either routed or retired without exacting a penalty on the Ghassanid chief. According to Muslim sources, after three of their leaders were killed, the command was given to Khalid ibn al-Walid and he succeeded in saving the rest of the force.

Three years later the Muslims would return to defeat the Byzantine forces in the Expedition of Usama bin Zayd.

632

The Expedition of Usama bin Zayd

was a military expedition of the early Muslim Caliphate led by Usama ibn Zayd that took place in June 632, in which Muslim forces raided Byzantine Syria. The expedition came three years after the Battle of Mu'tah.

After the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Islamic prophet Muhammad appointed Usama ibn Zayd as the commander of an expeditionary force which was to invade the region of Balqa in the Byzantine Empire. Muhammad sent Usama to Syria to avenge the Muslims' defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah, in which Usama's father and Muhammad's adopted son, Zayd ibn Harithah, had been killed.

Usama's campaign was successful and his army was the first Muslim force to successfully invade and raid Byzantine territory, thus paving the way for the subsequent Muslim conquest of the Levant and Muslim conquest of Egypt, both of which took place during Usama's lifetime.

The Sassanid Banner

Labarum of Constantine I (Vexilloid of the Roman Empire).

Black flag used by anarchists, pirates and some ancient Islamic caliphates

Map of the region of battle of Khalid ibn al-Walid in Iraq

633

The Battle of Firaz

took place in late 633 or January 634 AD between the Rashidun Caliphate and the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire. The battle resulted in a victory for the Arabs and concluded the First Arab Invasion of Mesopotamia.

634-638

Muslim conquest of the Levant

The Muslim conquest of the Levant (Arabic: فَتْحُ الشَّام, romanized: Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam. As part of the larger military campaign known as the early Muslim conquests, the Levant was brought under the rule of the Rashidun Caliphate and developed into the provincial region of Bilad al-Sham. The presence of Arab Muslim troops on the southern Levantine borders of the Byzantine Empire had occurred during the lifetime of Muhammad, with the Battle of Muʿtah in 629 formally marking the start of the Arab–Byzantine wars. However, the actual conquest did not begin until 634, two years after Muhammad's death. It was led by the first two Rashidun caliphs who succeeded Muhammad: Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab. During this time, Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most important leader of the Rashidun army.

Map detailing Rashidun Caliphate's invasion of the Levant.

Map detailing the route of Khalid ibn Walid's invasion of Syria.

Map detailing the route of Muslim invasion of central Syria.

Ruins of Ancient Petra, one of the first cities to fall to invading Muslim armies

The Dome of the Rock

Map detailing the route of Amr and al-Zubayr ibn al-Awwam's conquest of Egypt

Amr initially halted his campaign at the Babylon Fortress (pictured in 2008), but ultimately forced its Byzantine garrison to evacuate in April 641 after a lengthy siege.

The courtyard of the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in 2013. The mosque was originally founded by Amr in 641 but was redesigned and expanded significantly over the next several centuries.

A map depicting growth of the Caliphate. The red-lined areas indicate the territories annexed by the Caliphate—namely most of Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica and Tripolitania—as a result of Amr's conquests

634

The Battle of Dathin

was a battle during the Arab–Byzantine Wars between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire in February 634, but became very famous in the literature of the period.

The battle took place following a series of Arab raids around Gaza. The Byzantine commander (dux and candidatus) Sergius assembled a small detachment of soldiers (due to a shortage of troops), and led that mounted army from his base at Caesarea some 125 kilometers south to the vicinity of Gaza. From there he proceeded against an Arab force that was numerically superior and commanded by 'Amr ibn al-'As. The opposing forces met at the village of Dathin on February 4, not far from Gaza. The Byzantines were defeated and the candidatus Sergius himself was killed, together with 300 of his soldiers. The battle also claimed the lives of 4,000 civilians.

According to the near-contemporary Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati, the Muslim victory was celebrated by the local Jews, who had been a persecuted minority within the Roman Empire.

636

yarmouk

The Battle of the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) was a major battle between the army of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate. The battle consisted of a series of engagements that lasted for six days in August 636, near the Yarmouk River, along what are now the borders of Syria–Jordan and Syria-Israel, southeast of the Sea of Galilee. The result of the battle was a complete Muslim victory that ended Byzantine rule in Syria. The Battle of the Yarmuk is regarded as one of the most decisive battles in islamic military history,[5][6] and it marked the first great wave of early Muslim conquests after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, heralding the rapid advance of Islam into the then-Christian Levant.

To check the Arab advance and to recover lost territory, Emperor Heraclius had sent a massive expedition to the Levant in May 636. As the Byzantine army approached, the Arabs tactically withdrew from Syria and regrouped all their forces at the Yarmuk plains close to the Arabian Peninsula, where they were reinforced, and defeated the numerically superior Byzantine army. The battle is widely regarded to be Khalid ibn al-Walid's greatest military victory and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest tacticians and cavalry commanders in history.

Illustration of the Battle of Yarmouk (636) at the bottom of the page of BNF Nouvelle acquisition française 886 fol. 9v (early 14th century). The Saracens are shown with a star and crescent banner, the Byzantines (anachronistically in Crusader era armour) with a star banner. Note that the banner designs are not attributed to factions with any consistency by this illustrator: The star and crescent is also shown as carried by the Mongols in foll. 22r, 32v, 34r, 35v). For a later (mid 14th-century) copy with more developed heraldry, see Vienna ÖNB Cod. 2623[1] fol. 15r. ÖNB, Cod. 2623, f.15r Hayton's (Faulcon's) text reads: Lors manda l'empereour Eracles grant secors de genz pour defendre la cité d'Antioche. Qant les genz de l'empereour Eracles furent parvenuz jusques à une plainure qui est nomée Possent (var.: Posserit), les Sarazins vindrent à l'encontre; e là fu comencée molt grant bataille que longuement dura; mès, à la fin, les Sarazins en orent la victoire, e tant gent furent ocis en cele bataille que encores y perent les ossements des seignors en celui champ. Dont il avint que les Grex, qui tenoient la cité d'Antioche, furent molt espoentés, e rendirent la terre as Sarazins par convenances. (La Flor des Estories de la Terre d'Orient II.1, ed. Dardel 1906, p. 137.)

The war banner of the Ghassanid state, bearing the picture of St.Sergius. Re-made by Stgbarcher.* New image of St.Sergius etc.

Across the ravines lies the battlefield of Yarmuk, about 8 miles away from here, in Jordan

Depiction of the battle from a manuscript of the Persian epic Shahnameh

The battle between Nowzar and Afrasiab from the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, Folio 102, verso

636

The Battle of al-Qadisiyyah

(Arabic: مَعْرَكَة ٱلْقَادِسِيَّة, romanized: Maʿrakah al-Qādisīyah; Persian: نبرد قادسیه, romanized: Nabard-e Qâdisiyeh) was an armed conflict which took place in 636 CE between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sasanian Empire. It occurred during the early Muslim conquests and marked a decisive victory for the Rashidun army during the Muslim conquest of Persia.

The Rashidun offensive at Qadisiyyah is believed to have taken place in November of 636. The leader of the Sasanian army at the time, Rostam Farrokhzad, died in uncertain circumstances during the battle. The subsequent collapse of the Sasanian army in the region led to a decisive Arab victory over the Iranians, and the incorporation of territory that comprises modern-day Iraq into the Rashidun Caliphate.

Arab successes at Qadisiyyah were key to the later conquest of the Sasanian province of Asoristan, and were followed by major engagements at Jalula and Nahavand. The battle allegedly saw the establishment of an alliance between the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, with claims that the Byzantine emperor Heraclius married off his granddaughter Manyanh to the Sasanian king Yazdegerd III to symbolize the alliance.

650

srivijaya

Srivijaya (Indonesian: Sriwijaya ) : 131 was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) , which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th to the 12th century AD. Srivijaya was the first polity to dominate much of western Maritime Southeast Asia. Due to its location, the Srivijaya developed complex technology utilizing maritime resources. In addition, its economy became progressively reliant on the booming trade in the region, thus transforming it into a prestige goods-based economy.

The earliest reference to it dates from the 7th century. A Tang dynasty Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in year 671 for six months. The earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century in the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682. Between the late 7th and early 11th century, Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia. It was involved in close interactions, often rivalries, with the neighbouring Mataram, Khmer and Champa. Srivijaya's main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which lasted from the Tang to the Song dynasty. Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East.

Before the 12th century, Srivijaya was primarily a land-based polity rather than a maritime power, fleets were available but acted as logistical support to facilitate the projection of land power. In response to the change in the maritime Asian economy, and threatened by the loss of its dependencies, Srivijaya developed a naval strategy to delay its decline. The naval strategy of Srivijaya was mainly punitive; this was done to coerce trading ships to be called to their port. Later, the naval strategy degenerated to raiding fleet.

The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors, including the expansion of the competitor Javanese Singhasari and Majapahit empires. After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Cœdès, of l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, formally postulated its existence.

The maximum extent of Srivijaya around the 8th to the 11th century with a series of Srivijayan expeditions and conquest

Floating houses in Musi River bank near Palembang in 1917. The Srivijayan capital was probably formed from a collection of floating houses like this.

Talang Tuwo inscription, discovered in Bukit Seguntang area, tells the establishment of the sacred Śrīksetra park.

Muaro Jambi Buddhist temple compound, a possible location of Srivijaya's religious center

By the late 8th century, the political capital was shifted to Central Java, when the Sailendras rose to become the Maharaja of Srivijaya.

The Kedukan Bukit inscription displayed in the National Museum of Indonesia

The construction of the Borobudur was completed under the reign of Samaratunga of the Sailendra dynasty.

Expansion of Buddhism starting in the 5th century BCE from northern India to the rest of Asia, which followed both inland and maritime trade routes of the Silk Road. Srivijaya once served as a centre of Buddhist learning and expansion. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".

A bronze Maitreya statue from Komering, South Sumatra, 9th century Srivijayan art

The golden Malayu-Srivijayan Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva in Rataukapastuo, Muarabulian, Jambi, Indonesia

Stained glass window in the cloister of Worcester Cathedral representing the death of Penda of Mercia

655

The Battle of the Winwaed

(Welsh: Maes Gai; Medieval Latin: Strages Gai Campi) was fought on 15 November 655 between King Penda of Mercia and Oswiu of Bernicia, ending in the Mercians' defeat and Penda's death. According to Bede, the battle marked the effective demise of Anglo-Saxon paganism.

663

baekgang

The Battle of Baekgang or Battle of Baekgang-gu, also known as Battle of Hakusukinoe in Japan, as Battle of Baijiangkou in China, was a battle between Baekje restoration forces and their ally, Yamato Japan, against the allied forces of Silla and Tang China. The battle took place in the Baengma River (Korean: 백마강; Hanja: 白馬江) or Baek River (Korean: 백강; Hanja: 白江), which is the lower reach of the Geum River in Jeollabuk-do province, Korea. The Silla-Tang forces won a decisive victory, compelling Yamato Japan to withdraw completely from Korean affairs and crushing the Baekje restoration movement.

This is a map of the battle between the Silla-Tang Allied Forces and the Baekje Revival Army, which broke out in the Baekgang River (now in Chungcheong Province) in 663 A.D. The Yamato Japanese navy also participated.

Page from an 11th century manuscript describing the foundation of Hexham Abbey in Eddius Stephanus' Life of Wilfrid

Folio 3v from the St Petersburg Bede

The Venerable Bede writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, from a codex at Engelberg Abbey, Switzerland.

Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey.

664

council of whitby

In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite institutions. The synod was summoned at Hilda's double monastery of Streonshalh (Streanæshalch), later called Whitby Abbey.

he Synod of Whitby was just one of many councils held concerning the proper calculation of Easter throughout Latin Christendom in the Early Middle Ages.[12] It addressed the issues of Easter calculation and of the proper monastic tonsure,[13] and concerned only the part of the English Church that answered to the See of Lindisfarne:[13] that is, it was a Northumbrian affair.[8] Wilfrid's advocacy of the Roman Easter has been called "a triumphant push against an open door", since most of the Irish had already accepted the Roman Easter and for that reason Iona "was already in danger of being pushed to one side by its Irish rivals."

Although the focus on Whitby is on the decisions on tonsure and dating of Easter, we might also see the synod as an important step in the eventual Romanisation of the church in England; even though this Romanisation might have occurred anyway without the Synod of Whitby. Nonetheless, since the Protestant Reformation, the events of the synod have been symbolically interpreted as a "Celtic Church" opposing a "Roman Church", and the decision of Oswiu was thus interpreted as the "subjugation" of the "British Church" to Rome. There is a debate regarding the reality of a distinction between a pre-Whitby "Celtic" Church and a post-Whitby "Roman" Church. (Until fairly recently, the Scottish Divinity Faculty course on Church History ran from the Acts of the Apostles to 664 before resuming in 1560.)

711

The Battle of Guadalete

was the first major battle of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, fought in 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Christian Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate,

The Visigothic retreat in front of the Berber cavalry, as depicted by Salvador Martínez Cubells (1845–1914)

Drawing of six kings. Reproduced from Alois Musil. Kusejr 'Amra und Schlösser östlich von Moab. Vol. 2, pl. XXVI. Vienna, 1907. The original is a fresco, 705–15. West wall, hall, Qusayr ‘Amra, Jordan. Reproduced from Alois Musil. Kusejr ‘Amra und Schlösser östlich von Moab. Vol. 2, pl. XXVI. Vienna, 1907 A particularly dramatic scene depicts six kings in elaborate headgear, four of which feature bilingual inscriptions in Arabic and Greek listing: "Kaisar," or Byzantine emperor (caesar), the Sasanian shah "Kisra" (Khusro), "Negus" or King of Ethiopia, and "Roderick," the Visigothic king. It has been posited that the two kings that are not identified in the inscription were the ruler of China and a Turkic leader. All six figures gesture in supplication toward the spot in the hall where the caliph would presumably have been seated. The intricate arrangement of this and other scenes hint at narrative, suggesting now-lost associations drawn from epic poetry or song.

View of the Moorish Castle's northern defences as seen from the Grand Battery in 1879

Tarik ibn Zyiad, Rosa María Rodríguez Porto (2006): María de Molina y la educación de Alfonso XI: Las semblanzas de reyes des Ms. 7415 de la Biblioteca Nacional. Quintana: Revista de Estudos do Departamento de Historia de Arte 5: 219-231), on p. 227

'Mount of Tariq' (named after the 8th-century Moorish military leader Tariq ibn Ziyad).

El Rey Don Rodrigo arengando a sus tropas en la batalla de Guadalete by Bernardo Blanco y Pérez (1871)

The Abbasid Caliphate in c. 850

Manuscript from the Abbasid era

Coin of the Abbasids, Baghdad, 1244

The spiral minaret of the Great Mosque of Samarra, built in 237 AH on the western side of the city of Samarra

Malwiya Mosque, Samerra, Iraq - February 2022 - Photo by: Safa Daneshvar

Conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols 1258. Right part of a double-page illustration of Rashid-ad-Din's Gami' at-tawarih. Tabriz (?), 1st quarter of 14th century.

Flag of Abbasids , The Black Banner or Black Standard (Arabic: الراية السوداء, romanized: ar-rāyat as-sawdāʾ, also known as راية العقاب (rāyat al-'uqāb, "banner of the eagle" or simply as ‏الراية‎, ar-rāyah, "the banner") is one of the flags flown by the Islamic prophet according to Muslim tradition. It was historically used by Abu Muslim in his uprising leading to the Abbasid Revolution in 747 and is therefore associated with the Abbasid Caliphate in particular. It is also a symbol in Islamic eschatology (heralding the advent of the Mahdi).

Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809) receiving a delegation sent by Charlemagne at his court in Baghdad. Painting by German painter Julius Köckert [fr] (1827–1918), dated 1864. Oil on canvas.

The Madrasa of Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, established in 1227, one of the few Abbasid-era madrasas remaining today

Remains of a large circular pool surrounded by reception halls in the Dar Al-Baraka Palace in Samarra, built by Al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861).

Al Sahlah Mosque in Kufa, constructed during 656-660 CE.

Illustration showing a water clock given to Charlemagne by Harun al-Rashid. Claudius Saunier: Die Geschichte der Zeitmesskunst; Emil Hübners Verlag, Bautzen 1903, S.165

Windmills were among Abbasid inventions in technology.

The Persian horizontal windmill, the first practical windmill.

“The mill that rotates with the winds,” described by Al-Masoudi, is still one of the traditions inherited in the Khorasan region

Alexandria 1841 , "Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land, Volume 2." (Henry Colburn, London: 1841). p 240c

Ukhaidir Fortress, located south of Karbala, is a large, rectangular fortress erected in 775 AD with a unique defensive style.

750

abbasids

The Abbasid Caliphate (/əˈbæsɪd/ or /ˈæbəsɪd/; Arabic: الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʿAbbāsiyyah) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH). The Abbasid Caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, modern-day Iraq, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, near the ancient Babylonian capital city of Babylon. Baghdad became the center of science, culture and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

The Abbasid period was marked by dependence on Persian bureaucrats (such as the Barmakid family) for governing the territories as well as an increasing inclusion of non-Arab Muslims in the ummah (Muslim community). Persian customs were broadly adopted by the ruling elite, and they began patronage of artists and scholars.[7] Despite this initial cooperation, the Abbasids of the late 8th century had alienated both non-Arab mawali (clients)[8] and Persian bureaucrats.[9] They were forced to cede authority over al-Andalus (current Spain and Portugal) to the Umayyads in 756, Morocco to the Idrisids in 788, Ifriqiya and Sicily to the Aghlabids in 800, Khorasan and Transoxiana to the Samanids and Persia to the Saffarids in the 870s, and Egypt to the Isma'ili-Shia caliphate of the Fatimids in 969.

The political power of the caliphs was limited with the rise of the Iranian Buyids and the Seljuq Turks, who captured Baghdad in 945 and 1055, respectively. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was gradually reduced to a ceremonial religious function in much of the Caliphate, the dynasty retained control of its Mesopotamian domain during the rule of Caliph Al-Muqtafi and extended into Iran during the reign of Caliph Al-Nasir.[10] The Abbasid's age of cultural revival and fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan and the execution of Al-Musta'sim. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, re-centred themselves in the Mamluk capital of Cairo in 1261. Though lacking in political power (with the brief exception of Caliph Al-Musta'in of Cairo), the dynasty continued to claim religious authority until a few years after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, with the last Abbasid caliph being Al-Mutawakkil III.

751

talas

The Battle of Talas or Battle of Artlakh (Chinese: 怛羅斯戰役; pinyin: Dáluósī Zhànyì; Arabic: معركة نهر طلاس, romanized: Maʿrakat nahr Ṭalās, Persian: نبرد طراز Nabard-i Tarāz) was a military encounter and engagement between the Abbasid Caliphate along with its ally, the Tibetan Empire, against the Chinese Tang dynasty. In July 751 AD, Tang and Abbasid forces met in the valley of the Talas River to vie for control over the Syr Darya region of central Asia. According to Chinese sources, after several days of stalemate, the Karluk Turks, originally allied to the Tang dynasty, defected to the Abbasid Army and tipped the balance of power, resulting in a Tang rout.

The defeat marked the end of the Tang westward expansion and resulted in Islamic control of Transoxiana for the next 400 years. However, direct Muslim Arab control ended in 821 when power shifted to the Tahirid dynasty, a culturally Arabized Sunni Muslim dynasty of Persian Dehqan origin. Then the Turkic Ghaznavids took power in 977. Islamic control ended in 1124 when the non-Muslim Qara Khitai conquered Transoxania. Control of the region was economically beneficial for the Abbasid Arabs because it was on the Silk Road. Chinese prisoners captured in the aftermath of the battle are said to have brought paper-making technology to West Asia.

Battle of Talas

Map of the Transoxiana area, with the Talas River (upper right)

Map of Baghdad between 767 and 912 AD. The city was founded by Al-Mansur in 762.

A mancus issued under the Saxon king Offa of Mercia (757–796), copied from a gold dinar of Al-Mansur's reign. It combines the Latin legend OFFA REX with Arabic legends. The date of A.H. 157 (773–774) is readable. British Museum.

North African, 9th century AD, Planispheric Astrolabe. Khalili Collection.

A spherical astrolabe from medieval Islamic astronomy, c. 1480, most likely Syria or Egypt, in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

An astrolabe from the Mamluk Sultanate dated 1282

The Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant, England, 1388

Celestial Globe, Isfahan (?), Iran 1144. Shown at the Louvre Museum, this globe is the third oldest surviving in the world.

762

Baghdad

Is the capital of Iraq today and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon. In 762 CE, Baghdad was chosen as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became its most notable major development project. Within a short time, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".

Baghdad was the largest city in the world for much of the Abbasid era during the Islamic Golden Age, peaking at a population of more than a million.[3] The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258

House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom (Arabic: بيت الحكمة, romanized: Bayt al-Ḥikmah), also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, refers to either a major Abbasid public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad or to a large private library belonging to the Abbasid caliphs during the Islamic Golden Age.[1][2][3] The House of Wisdom was founded either as a library for the collections of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the late 8th century (then later turned into a public academy during the reign of al-Ma'mun) or was a private collection created by al-Mansur (reign 754–775) to house rare books and collections of poetry in Arabic.[1][4]

The House of Wisdom and its contents were destroyed in the Siege of Baghdad in 1258, leaving relatively limited archaeological evidence for the House of Wisdom, such that most knowledge about it is derived from the works of contemporary scholars of the era such as al-Tabari and Ibn al-Nadim.[4]

The House of Wisdom existed as a part of the major Translation Movement taking place during the Abbasid Era, translating works from Greek and Syriac to Arabic, but it is unlikely that the House of Wisdom existed as the sole center of such work, as major translation efforts arose in Cairo and Damascus even earlier than the proposed establishment of the House of Wisdom.[5] This translation movement lent momentum to a great deal of original research occurring in the Islamicate world, which had access to texts from Greek, Persian and Indian sources. The early existence of Muslims throughout time has always had a connection with the institution of libraries that came to not only be a mechanism of pursuit, but relatively a storehouse of intelligence and mental heritage for all humanity. The rise of advanced searches in mathematics, organized studies, astronomy, philosophy, and medicine began the pursuit for Arab science. This scientific leap established a demand for more and updated translations.

The House of Wisdom was made possible by the consistent flow of Arab, Persian, and other scholars of the Islamicate world to Baghdad, owing to the city's position as capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. This is evidenced by the large number of scholars known to have studied in Baghdad between the 8th and 13th centuries, such as al-Jahiz, al-Kindi, and al-Ghazali among others, all of whom would have contributed to a vibrant academic community in Baghdad, producing a great number of notable works, regardless of the existence of a formal academy. The fields to which scholars associated with the House of Wisdom contributed include, but are not limited to, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and optics. The early name of the library, Khizanat al-Hikma (literally, "Storehouse of Wisdom"), derives from its function as a place for the preservation of rare books and poetry, a primary function of the House of Wisdom until its destruction. Inside the House of Wisdom, there was a culmination of writers, translators, authors, scientists, scribes, and others would meet every day for translation, writing, conversation, reading, and dialogue. Numerous books and documents in several scientific concepts, philosophical subjects, and proposals in different languages were translated in this house.

Scholars at an Abbasid library. Maqamat of al-Hariri Illustration by Yahyá al-Wasiti, 1237

The earliest scientific manuscripts originated in the Abbasid era

Physicians employing a surgical method. From Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's Imperial Surgery (1465)

Al-Ma'mun sends an envoy to the Byzantine emperor Theophilos

Hulagu Khan's siege of Baghdad (1258)

13th-century Arabic translation of De Materia Medica.

Cover of Kitāb al-Daraj (The book of degrees), by Ahmad, as found in the Saladin library, from before 1193 AD.[citation needed]

Original illustration of a self trimming lamp discussed in the treatise on Mechanical Devices of Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Shakir. Drawing can be found in the "Granger Collection" located in New York.

Al-Idrisi's map of the world (12th). Note South is on top.

Monument of the Battle of Roncesvalles Pass. Note that Roland's name is spelled in its Spanish version "Roldan".

778

battle of roncevaux pass

The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Basque attack was a retaliation for Charlemagne's destruction of the city walls of their capital, Pamplona. As the Franks retreated across the Pyrenees back to Francia, the rearguard of Frankish lords was cut off, stood its ground, and was wiped out.

Among those killed in the battle was Roland, a Frankish commander. His death elevated him and the paladins, the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, into legend, becoming the quintessential role model for knights and also greatly influencing the code of chivalry in the Middle Ages. There are numerous written works about the battle, some of which change and exaggerate events. The battle is recounted in the 11th century The Song of Roland, the oldest surviving major work of French literature, and in Orlando Furioso, one of the most celebrated works of Italian literature. Modern adaptations of the battle include books, plays, works of fiction, and monuments in the Pyrenees.

780

MUHammad ibn MusA al-KhwArazmi

Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī[note 1] (Arabic: محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, romanized: Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; c. 780 – c. 850), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persian polymath from Khwarazm,[6][7][8][9][10][11] who produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. Around 820 CE, he was appointed as the astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.

Al-Khwarizmi's popularizing treatise on algebra (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, c. 813–833 CE : 171 ) presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. One of his principal achievements in algebra was his demonstration of how to solve quadratic equations by completing the square, for which he provided geometric justifications.: 14 Because he was the first to treat algebra as an independent discipline and introduced the methods of "reduction" and "balancing" (the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation), he has been described as the father or founder of algebra. The term algebra itself comes from the title of his book (the word al-jabr meaning "completion" or "rejoining").His name gave rise to the terms algorism and algorithm

The book was written with the encouragement of Caliph al-Ma'mun as a popular work on calculation and is replete with examples and applications to a wide range of problems in trade, surveying and legal inheritance.The term "algebra" is derived from the name of one of the basic operations with equations (al-jabr, meaning "restoration", referring to adding a number to both sides of the equation to consolidate or cancel terms) described in this book. The book was translated in Latin as Liber algebrae et almucabala by Robert of Chester (Segovia, 1145) hence "algebra", and also by Gerard of Cremona. A unique Arabic copy is kept at Oxford and was translated in 1831 by F. Rosen. A Latin translation is kept in Cambridge.

Monument to Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi at Ciudad Universitaria of Madrid.

A page from al-Khwārizmī's Algebra

The original Arabic print manuscript of the Book of Algebra by Al-Khwārizmī.

A page from The Algebra of Al-Khwarizmi by Fredrick Rosen, in English.

Page from a Latin translation, beginning with "Dixit algorizmi"

Algorists vs. abacists, depicted in a sketch from 1508 CE

Page from Corpus Christi College MS 283. A Latin translation of al-Khwārizmī's Zīj.

Earliest extant map of the Nile, in al-Khwārazmī's Kitāb ṣūrat al- arḍ

Pages from a 14th century arabic copy of the book , showing geometric solutions to two quadratic equations.

Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle located on Holy Island, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.

793

vikings

In 793, a Viking raid on Lindisfarne[43][b] caused much consternation throughout the Christian west, and is now often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age. There had been some other Viking raids, but according to English Heritage this one was particularly significant, because "it attacked the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom, desecrating 'the very place where the Christian religion began in our nation'".[47] The D and E versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle record:

Her wæron reðe forebecna cumene ofer Norðhymbra land, ⁊ þæt folc earmlic bregdon, þæt wæron ormete þodenas ⁊ ligrescas, ⁊ fyrenne dracan wæron gesewene on þam lifte fleogende. Þam tacnum sona fyligde mycel hunger, ⁊ litel æfter þam, þæs ilcan geares on .vi. Idus Ianuarii, earmlice hæþenra manna hergunc adilegode Godes cyrican in Lindisfarnaee þurh hreaflac ⁊ mansliht.[48]

("In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of the Northumbrians, and the wretched people shook; there were excessive whirlwinds, lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and a little after those, that same year on 6th ides of January, the ravaging of wretched heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.")

The generally accepted date for the Viking raid on Lindisfarne is 8 June; Michael Swanton writes: "vi id Ianr, presumably [is] an error for vi id Iun (8 June) which is the date given by the Annals of Lindisfarne (p. 505), when better sailing weather would favour coastal raids."[49][c]

Alcuin, a Northumbrian scholar in Charlemagne's court at the time, wrote: "Never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race ... The heathens poured out the blood of saints around the altar, and trampled on the bodies of saints in the temple of God, like dung in the streets."

800

Fatima al Fihriya

Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihriya al-Qurashiyya (Arabic: فاطمة بنت محمد الفهرية القرشية),[1] known in shorter form as Fatima al-Fihriya[2] or Fatima al-Fihri,[3] was an Arab woman who is credited with founding the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in 857–859 AD in Fez, Morocco. She is also known as Umm al-Banīn ("Mother of the Children").[4] Al-Fihriya died around 880 AD.[4][5] The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque subsequently developed into a teaching institution, which became the modern University of al-Qarawiyyin in 1963.[6] Her story is told by Ibn Abi Zar' (d. between 1310 and 1320) in The Garden of Pages (Rawd al-Qirtas) as founder of the mosque.

Little is known about her personal life, except for what was recorded by 14th century historian Ibn Abi-Zar’.[9] Fatima was born around 800 AD in the town of Kairouan, in present-day Tunisia.[5] She is of Arab Qurayshi descent, hence the nisba "al-Qurashiyya", 'the Qurayshi one'.[citation needed] Her family was part of a large migration to Fez from Kairouan. Although her family did not start out wealthy, her father, Mohammed al-Fihri, became a successful merchant.[5] When he died, this wealth was inherited by Fatima, and her sister Maryam. It is with this money that they went on to leave their legacy. Al-Fihriya was married, but both her husband and father died shortly after the wedding.[citation needed] Her father left his wealth to both Fatima and her sister, his only children. She and her sister Maryam were well-educated and studied the Islamic jurisprudence Fiqh and the Hadith, or the records of Prophet Muhammed.[6] Both went on to found mosques in Fes: Fatima founded Al-Qarawiyyin and Maryam founded the Al-Andalusiyyin Mosque.[12] This idea was spurred on by the fact that due to all the Muslims fleeing like Fatima and her family, they were all gathering immigrants that were devout worshippers keen on learning and studying their faith. With as many immigrants as there were, there was overcrowding and not enough space, resources, or teachers to accommodate them.