The period when the Muslim world was under the rule of the Caliphate is called the Golden Age of Islam. This era lasted from the 8th to the 13th century AD. It began with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. There, scientists from different parts of the world sought to collect all the knowledge available at that time and translate them into Arabic. The culture of the countries of the Caliphate experienced an unprecedented flourishing during this period. The Golden Age ended with the Mongol invasion and the fall of Baghdad in 1258.
Reasons for cultural upsurge
In the VIII century, a new invention - paper - penetrated from China to the territories inhabited by Arabs. It was much cheaper and easier to manufacture than parchment, more convenient and more durable than papyrus. It also absorbed ink better, allowing for faster copying of manuscripts. The advent of paper made books much cheaper and more accessible.
The ruling dynasty of the Caliphate, the Abbasids, supported the accumulation and transmission of knowledge. She referred to the saying of the Prophet Muhammad, whichread: "The ink of a scholar is more sacred than the blood of a martyr."
The culture of the countries of the Arab Caliphate did not arise from scratch. It was based on the achievements of earlier civilizations. Many classical works of antiquity were translated into Arabic and Persian, and later into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin. The Arabs assimilated, rethought and expanded the knowledge derived from ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Indian, Chinese and other sources.
Science and Philosophy
The culture of the Caliphate combined Islamic traditions with the ideas of ancient thinkers, primarily Aristotle and Plato. Arabic philosophical literature was also translated into Latin, contributing to the development of European science.
Building on Greek predecessors such as Euclid and Archimedes, the mathematicians of the Caliphate were the first to systematize the study of algebra. Arabs introduced Europeans to Indian numbers, the decimal system.
In the Moroccan city of Fes, a university was founded in 859. Later, similar establishments opened in Cairo and Baghdad. Theology, law and Islamic history were studied at the universities. The culture of the countries of the Caliphate was open to outside influence. Among the teachers and students were not only Arabs, but also foreigners, including non-Muslims.
Medicine
In the 9th century, a system of medicine based on scientific analysis began to develop on the territory of the Caliphate. The thinkers of this time Ar-Razi and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) systematized their contemporary knowledge abouttreatment of diseases and set them out in books that later became widely known in medieval Europe. Thanks to the Arabs, Christendom rediscovered the ancient Greek physicians Hippocrates and Galen.
The culture of the countries of the Caliphate included the traditions of helping the poor based on the prescriptions of Islam. Therefore, in large cities there were free hospitals that provided assistance to all patients who applied. They were financed by religious foundations - waqfs. The world's first institutions for the care of the mentally ill also appeared on the territory of the Caliphate.
Fine arts
Features of the culture of the Arab Caliphate were especially pronounced in decorative art. Islamic ornaments cannot be confused with examples of the fine arts of other civilizations. Carpets, clothes, furniture, dishes, facades and interiors of buildings were decorated with characteristic patterns.
The use of the ornament is associated with a religious ban on the image of animated beings. But it was not always strictly followed. In book illustrations, images of people were widespread. And in Persia, which was also part of the Caliphate, similar frescoes were painted on the walls of buildings.
Glassware
Egypt and Syria were the centers of glass production in ancient times. On the territory of the Caliphate, this type of craft was preserved and improved. In the early Middle Ages, the best glassware in the world was produced in the Middle East and Persia. The highest technical culture of the Caliphate wasappreciated by the Italians. Later, the Venetians, using the achievements of Islamic masters, created their own glass industry.
Calligraphy
The whole culture of the Arab Caliphate is permeated with the desire for perfection and beauty of inscriptions. A brief religious instruction or a passage from the Koran was applied to a variety of objects: coins, ceramic tiles, metal bars, walls of houses, etc. Masters who mastered the art of calligraphy had a higher status in the Arab world than other artists.
Literature and poetry
At the initial stage, the culture of the countries of the Caliphate was characterized by a concentration on religious subjects and the desire to replace the regional languages with Arabic. But later there was a liberalization of many spheres of public life. This in particular led to a revival of Persian literature.
The most interesting is the poetry of that period. Poems are found in almost every Persian book. Even if it is a work on philosophy, astronomy or mathematics. For example, almost half of the text of Avicenna's book on medicine is written in verse. Panegyrics were widely circulated. Epic poetry also developed. The peak of this trend is the poem "Shahname".
The famous tales of the Thousand and One Nights are also of Persian origin. But for the first time they were collected in one book and written in Arabic in the 13th century in Baghdad.
Architecture
The culture of the countries of the Caliphate was formed under the influence of both ancient pre-Islamic civilizations and neighboring peoples with the Arabs. This synthesis manifested itself most clearly in architecture. Buildings in the Byzantine and Syriac styles are characteristic of early Muslim architecture. The architects and designers of many buildings built on the territory of the Caliphate were people from Christian countries.
The Great Mosque in Damascus was built on the site of the Basilica of John the Baptist and almost exactly repeated its shape. But soon there was also a proper Islamic architectural style. The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia became the model for all subsequent Muslim religious buildings. It has a square shape and consists of a minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by porticos, and a huge prayer hall with two domes.
The culture of the countries of the Arab Caliphate had pronounced regional features. So, Persian architecture was characterized by lancet and horseshoe-shaped arches, Ottoman - buildings with many domes, Maghreb - the use of columns.
The Caliphate had extensive trade and political ties with other countries. Therefore, his culture has had a great influence on many peoples and civilizations.
