The History and Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age

One of the most important yet overlooked periods in human history; the who, what, why, where, when and how of the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization; exploring the Abbasid Empire; how it bridged the ancient world and the Renaissance.

Meeting the Moroccan wayfarer Ibn Battuta; tracing his journey across Northern Africa and the Middle East in the century after the Mongol sack of Baghdad; new insights into the era, including whether it ever truly come to an end.

Getting to know Caliph Harun al-Rashid; Baghdad's House of Wisdom, which is the largest depository of books in the world at the time; it serves as the engine that drives much of the Golden Age; the Arabian Nights collection of stories and legends.

Considered by many scholars to be the finest writer of Arabic prose to ever live, al-Jahiz is a stylist and author of more than 200 works; uncovering the origins of Arabic writing; the life and works of al-Jahiz.

Mathematicians such as Omar Khayyam and al-Khwarizmi build on the work of Babylonian, Greek and Indian mathematicians to systematize and explain algebra and symbolic algorithms; surveying this critical period of mathematics history.

Baghdad's House of Wisdom is the world's preeminent center for translation and research; why translation flourishes in the era; meeting two of the Golden Age's most important translators; the intellectual legacy of the Arabic translation movement.