Nobody expects the Abbasid Inquisition (833 AD)
1,307https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX0O5CCxWEc
You may have heard it said that in the Middle Ages, when Europe was thrown into centuries of darkness, far to the east there was a shining example of science and the arts – well yes, but that’s too far East, I’m talking about right here. You may have heard that it was the Islamic Caliphate that preserved the works of ancient Aristotle, invented new fields of mathematics, and created beautiful works of art in the Baghdad House of Wisdom, a library to rival Alexandria. And that’s usually where the story begins and ends. It’s a bit like pointing to the Pantheon and saying “See, Italians do have culture!” and leaving it at that.
I wanted to know more about the empire that put all this together, and, yeah I found some great characters. So let me tell you more about the time when Baghdad was one of the world’s preeminent cities, about the people who made it, and how it all came to an end.