Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasaid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (Arabic Thought & Culture) [Paperback]

Dimitri Gutas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415061334 | ISBN-13: 978-0415061339 | Publication Date: July 25, 1998

From the middle of the eighth century to the tenth century, almost all non-literary and non-historical secular Greek books, including such diverse topics as astrology, alchemy, physics, botany and medicine, that were not available throughout the eastern Byzantine Empire and the Near East, were translated into Arabic.
Greek Thought, Arabic Culture explores the major social, political and ideological factors that occasioned the unprecedented translation movement from Greek into Arabic in Baghdad, the newly founded capital of the Arab dynasty of the 'Abbasids', during the first two centuries of their rule. Dimitri Gutas draws upon the preceding historical and philological scholarship in Greco-Arabic studies and the study of medieval translations of secular Greek works into Arabic and analyses the social and historical reasons for this phenomenon.
Dimitri Gutas provides a stimulating, erudite and well-documented survey of this key movement in the transmission of ancient Greek culture to the Middle Ages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'important for any classicist interested in the legacy and transmission of Greek culture and provides excellent comparative material for those working on the interaction of all ancient cultures, including especially the development of greek thought at Rome.' - Simon Swain, The Classicla Review

'A remarkable work. It has all the makings of a classic.' - Remke Kruk, Boekbesprekingen

'Gutas' book is a most welcome tool for classicists and oreintalists...Gutas' informative book arouses the curiosity of specialists as well as of a broader public.' - Hans Daiber, Classical World, Winter 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (July 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415061334
• ISBN-13: 978-0415061339
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound and interesting academic introduction, December 7, 2004

By 

J. E. S. Leake "sailor and scholar" (Offshore, Persian Gulf) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasaid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (Arabic Thought & Culture) (Paperback)

A superb review of the subject. I thought I knew a bit about the translation movement into Arabic through Syriac, but Gutas showed me I knew nothing almost. Very deeply researched, by an editor of Brill's Mediaeval Greek and Arabic lexicon. There can be few scholars with such a grasp of Greek-Arabic translation, or of Arabic translations of Greek works. He demolishes some old myths - the idea that Ma'mun's "Bait al-Hikma" in Baghdad was anything other than a library is shown to be baseless speculation, for example - and provides us with a view of the translators that I'd have thought impossible before. The analysis of what was translated was most interesting.

Who knows who "Jake", "Kevin" and the anonomous reader are! I see they - or he, as I suspect - have only done a single review apiece. If "they" are really disappointed by the work, it would be helpful if "they" did a fuller review of the book to let us what in "their" view the book's weaknesses are, supported by the text, if possible. I suspect however that it's Professor Gutas' public protests about the damage to Iraq's cultural heritage resulting from the war in Iraq that's "their" issue.

For more general reading on the adoption of parts of the Classical tradition by the Arabic-speaking world, I can recommend Franz Rosenthal's reader on the subject, "The Classical Heritage in Islam". His introduction is excellent and the texts well-chosen.

I thought the Gutas book interesting enough, by the way, to give a copy to my mediaevalist sister-in-law as a present.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gutas a First-Rate Scholar, July 17, 2004

By 

Joseph Cumming (Nouakchott, Mauritania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasaid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (Arabic Thought & Culture) (Paperback)

The reviews below under the headings "Jake" and "Duller" demand a response -- not because they are negative, but because they are false and misleading. "Jake" claims that "Gutas is not a Near Eastern Studies specialist, so he is not qualified as an author." The truth is that Gutas is chair of the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department of Yale University. "Duller" asserts that intelligent people know that Gutas is not a scholar. The truth is that Gutas is one of the foremost scholarly experts in the world on the medieval Graeco-Arabic translation movement. Readers may disagree with Gutas's conclusions, and non-specialists may find his subject matter obscure (though it has profound relevance to modern issues), but surely Gutas's scholarly credentials as an expert in this field are above dispute.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very impressive, November 24, 2005

By 

F. Damaj (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbasaid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (Arabic Thought & Culture) (Paperback)

Excellent book. A well written, well document reference on an era that remained disjointed in information, and vaguely referred to. Gutas collects the various pieces necessary to put things in order and clarify to most of us a history whose aftermath is known, but not the process. Very impressive. A highly recommended book.