In the long-term turmoil before and after the demise of the Western Roman Empire, many classical works of Greece and Rome were destroyed and lost, and some of them spread to the Arab Empire through Byzantium. Arab scholars have studied them carefully and translated many ancient works into Arabic. Western Europeans later re-recognized the cultural achievements of Greece and Rome through Arabic translation.

From the 9th century to 1 1 century, Arabia launched a translation movement with far-reaching influence in the world cultural history. "Arabic translation movement".

At the beginning of the 9th century, the caliph of Abbasid dynasty encouraged and organized large-scale translation activities of Greek classical philosophy. Baghdad, the city of wisdom, has a large number of professional translators. It is said that the translation is paid in gold equal to the weight of the translation. Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy, Galen, Hippocrates and many other Greek, Indian and Persian translations of philosophy, science and medicine have been sorted out and annotated.

This great project in the history of human translation laid a solid foundation for the development of Arab culture, although the brilliant achievements of human classical civilization were inherited in the Middle Ages. It was by translating these Arabic versions that Europeans could understand the thoughts of their ancestors and then began their Renaissance. It can be said that without the inheritance and preservation of western classical culture by Arabs and Byzantines, there would be no foundation for the Western Renaissance.

In ancient times, books that transmitted and retained knowledge were regarded as great wealth.

In the 9th century, Baghdad boasted more than 65,438,000 booksellers. Most libraries are attached to mosques. Before Baghdad was destroyed by Mongols, there were 36 public libraries. At that time, the establishment of private libraries was the hobby of the rich.

Arabs' love for books was unmatched anywhere except in China at that time.

A doctor claimed that he needed 400 camels to move the books in his library. Another bibliophile, who loved reading, left 600 boxes of books after his death, and each box needed two people to lift it. When Mongols invaded Baghdad, they threw Baghdad's books into the river. It is said that the ink in the book dyed the river black, which shows the number of books. Arabs introduced the cultural achievements of ancient India and China to the west, such as China's papermaking, compass, gunpowder and other major inventions were introduced to Europe; He also spread knowledge of Arabic astronomy, medicine and Islam to China and other eastern countries.

Arabs translated Aristotle's major works into Arabic, such as physics, ethics and instrumentalism. Plato's Republic, Mathematician Euclid's Elements of Geometry (at the turn of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC) and Archimedes (287-2 BC12 BC) were also translated.

Arabs have also made many contributions to mathematics. About 77 1 year, an Indian scholar brought a math paper to Baghdad, which contained ten numbers from 0 to 9. Later, this paper was translated into Arabic. Arabs discovered the advantages of Indian numerals and popularized them in the empire. Subsequently, the Arabs introduced Indian graphics into Europe through Spain and spread them to all countries in the world. This is the Arabic numeral we use. The spread of Arabic numerals has played an important role in the development of mathematics.

In addition to spreading the traditions of ancient science and philosophy, Arabs also absorbed and spread some technologies necessary for further popularizing and developing cultural and academic research.

In 7 12 AD, Arabs learned papermaking technology from China when they occupied Samarkand. In 794, Arabs established the first paper mill in Baghdad. When they occupied Sicily and Spain, they introduced papermaking technology to Europe.