7.3.7 Preparing Medicine from Honey

This is an illustration, drawn by hand, in a book translated into Arabic from Greek. The original Greek book was written by Dioscorides, a Greek Hellenistic doctor who lived in Anatolia during the first century BCE. The doctor is making a medicine from honey and water, to treat weakness and loss of appetite. Although this manuscript comes from a later time, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun sponsored the translation of books from many languages, including Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Sanskrit.The most famous translator and writer was a Christian doctor from Mesopotamia, Hunayn ibn Ishaq. While he was working at the House of Wisdom, Hunayn ibn Ishaq translated many math and medical books from Greek into Arabic and wrote his own original books about the anatomy of the eye. Later he became the personal doctor of a caliph. How does the history of the translations and the House of Wisdom show interaction of different cultures and religion

Government support of scientists, scholars and translators and the establishment of the House of Wisdom laid the foundation for the intellectual achievements of the Abbasid Caliphate. Abbasid scribes made copies of these translations, which were then mass-produced in Baghdad for libraries and bookstores throughout the caliphate. The scholars al-Mamun gathered together came from all parts of the caliphate and all of its religious groups. Despite his Christian religion, Hunayn ibn Ishaq was clearly tolerated and trusted. Syriac is a language of Syria, and Sanskrit of northern India. Students should recognize that the caliphs collected these texts from many non-Muslim societies, had them translated, and spread them throughout the calip