Art and Calligraphy in the Golden Age of Islam

Learning Objective

Place the causes of, and developments during, the Islamic Golden Historic period

Key Points

The Islamic Golden Age started with the rise of Islam and establishment of the outset Islamic state in 622.
The introduction of newspaper in the 10th century enabled Islamic scholars to easily write manuscripts; Arab scholars as well saved classic works of antiquity by translating them into various languages.
The Arabs alloyed the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had overrun, including the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.
Scientists avant-garde the fields of algebra, calculus, geometry, chemistry, biological science, medicine, and astronomy.
Many forms of art flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, including ceramics, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, woodwork, and calligraphy.

Terms

Averroës

A medieval Andalusian polymath famous for his translations and commentaries of Aristotle.

calligraphy

A visual art related to writing—the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument or brush in i stroke.

arabesque

A form of creative decoration consisting of surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils, and other elements.

Overview

The Islamic Golden Age refers to a period in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century, during which much of the historically Islamic world was ruled by various caliphates and science, economic development, and cultural works flourished. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to get together and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into the Arabic language.

The end of the historic period is variously given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, Iberian Peninsula. During the Gold Age, the major Islamic uppercase cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the master intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. The regime heavily patronized scholars, and the best scholars and notable translators, such equally Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries estimated to be the equivalent of those of professional person athletes today.

The Schoolhouse of Nisibis and afterward the Schoolhouse of Edessa became centers of learning and manual of classical wisdom. The Business firm of Wisdom was a library, translation found, and academy, and the Library of Alexandria and the Imperial Library of Constantinople housed new works of literature. Nestorian Christians played an of import part in the formation of Arab culture, with the Jundishapur hospital and medical academy prominent in the late Sassanid, Umayyad, and early Abbasid periods. Notably, viii generations of the Nestorian Bukhtishu family served as private doctors to caliphs and sultans between the eighth and 11th centuries.

Literature and Philosophy

With the introduction of newspaper, information was democratized and it became possible to brand a living from just writing and selling books. The use of newspaper spread from Prc into Muslim regions in the eighth century, and and then to Espana (and then the rest of Europe) in the 10th century. Newspaper was easier to manufacture than parchment and less likely to crack than papyrus, and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase and ideal for keeping records. Islamic paper makers devised associates-line methods of manus-copying manuscripts to plough out editions far larger than whatever available in Europe for centuries. The best known fiction from the Islamic world is The Volume of One Thousand and Ane Nights, which took grade in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century, although the number and type of tales vary.

Christians (specially Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic culture during the Ummayad and the Abbasid periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and then to Arabic. During the 4th through the seventh centuries, scholarly piece of work in the Syriac and Greek languages was either newly initiated or carried on from the Hellenistic menstruation. Many classic works of antiquity might have been lost if Arab scholars had not translated them into Arabic and Farsi and later on into Turkish, Hebrew, and Latin. Islamic scholars also captivated ideas from China and India, and in turn Arabic philosophic literature contributed to the development of modern European philosophy.

Ibn Rushd

Ibn Rushd, besides known by his Latinized name Averroës (Apr 14, 1126–December 10, 1198), was an Al-Andalus Muslim polymath, a chief of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Andalusian classical music theory, medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics, and celestial mechanics. Averroes was built-in in Córdoba, Al-Andalus, present-twenty-four hours Espana, and died in Marrakesh, present-day Kingdom of morocco.

The 13th-century philosophical movement based on Averroes' work is called Averroism. Both Ibn Rushd and the scholar Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious idea of the Christian and Muslim worlds. Ibn Rushd has been described as the "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe." He tried to reconcile Aristotle'southward organization of idea with Islam. According to him, there is no conflict between faith and philosophy; rather they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in the eternity of the universe. Ibn Ruhd as well held that the soul is divided into two parts, 1 individual and one divine; while the individual soul is non eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul.

Science and Mathematics

The Arabs alloyed the scientific cognition of the civilizations they had conquered, including the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations. Scientists recovered the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric, and astronomical knowledge, such every bit that of Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy.

Persian scientist Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī significantly adult algebra in in his landmark text, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala, from which the term "algebra" is derived. The term "algorithm" is derived from the name of the scholar al-Khwarizmi, who was also responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals and Hindu-Standard arabic numeral system across the Indian subcontinent. In calculus, the scholar Alhazen discovered the sum formula for the 4th power, using a method readily generalizable to make up one's mind the sum for whatever integral power. He used this to notice the volume of a paraboloid.

Medicine

Medicine was a key part of medieval Islamic culture. Responding to circumstances of time and place, Islamic physicians and scholars developed a large and complex medical literature exploring and synthesizing the theory and practice of medicine. Islamic medicine was congenital on tradition, chiefly the theoretical and applied knowledge developed in India, Greece, Persia, and Rome. Islamic scholars translated their writings from Syriac, Greek, and Sanskrit into Arabic and then produced new medical knowledge based on those texts. In order to make the Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Islamic scholars organized the Greco-Roman medical cognition into encyclopedias.

Art

Ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, and woodwork flourished during the Islamic Golden Historic period. Manuscript illumination became an of import and profoundly respected fine art, and portrait miniature painting flourished in Persia. Calligraphy, an essential aspect of written Standard arabic, adult in manuscripts and architectural decoration.

Arabesque

Typically, though not entirely, Islamic art depicts nature patterns and Standard arabic calligraphy, rather than figures, because many Muslims feared that the depiction of the human being form is idolatry and thereby a sin against God, forbidden in the Quran. There are repeating elements in Islamic fine art, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible, and space nature of God. Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced every bit a show of humility past artists who believe only God can produce perfection, although this theory is disputed.

Calligraphy

The traditional musical instrument of the Arabic calligrapher is the qalam, a pen made of dried reed or bamboo. Qalam ink is oft in color, and called such that its intensity tin vary greatly, then that the greater strokes of the compositions can be very dynamic in their effect. Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than newspaper, such every bit tiles, vessels, carpets, and inscriptions. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing.

Coins were another support for calligraphy. Showtime in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Most East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gilded coins of high value, which were inscribed with quotes from the Quran.

By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, began weaving inscriptions on elaborately patterned silks. These calligraphic-inscribed textiles were so precious that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable instance is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the basic of St. Josse in the abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer virtually Caen in northwestern France.

Architecture and Tilework

In that location were many advances in architectural construction, and mosques, tombs, palaces, and forts were inspired by Western farsi and Byzantine compages. Islamic mosaic fine art anticipated principles of quasicrystalline geometry, which would not be discovered for 500 more years. This art used symmetric polygonal shapes to create patterns that can continue indefinitely without repeating. These patterns have even helped modern scientists sympathise quasicrystals at the atomic levels.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-worldcivilization/chapter/the-islamic-golden-age/