Iraq’s Golden Age: The Rise and Fall of the House of Wisdom — theculturetrip.com

Known as Bayt al-Hikma in Arabic, the House of Wisdom was founded in 8th century Baghdad by Caliph Harun al-Rashid of the Abbasid dynasty. The Abbasids had come to power in Iraq with a victorious revolution in AD 750 against the Umayyad Caliphs. Under the authority of Caliph al-Mansur, the new capital moved from Damascus to Baghdad in Mesopotamia, at a time when Muslim conquests and imperial growth were beginning to foster a dynamic cultural climate. Different intellectual traditions became united under Muslim rule, including Greek learning from Europe and Alexandria, as well as that of the Persians, Indians and Sumerians in the east.

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