The Graeco-Arabic translation movement

750–950* · Event

For two centuries Baghdad pays gold for Greek: caliphs, viziers and wealthy families fund the systematic translation of Aristotle, Galen, Euclid and Ptolemy into Arabic, with Syriac Christians, Persians and Sabians doing much of the work. Nearly the whole surviving Greek scientific corpus passes through — and much of it will reach medieval Europe only by being translated back out of Arabic.