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ARABIAN CIVILIZATION.
of HADJI KHALFA he is said to have sent envoys to
Constantinople, in order to fetch from thence the writings
of EUCLID and works on natural science. One of his
successors HAROUN AL RASCHID, celebrated in story, the
contemporary of the Frankish Emperor CHARLEMAGNE
with whom he had communications, imposed as the
condition of peace after the defeat of the Byzantine
Emperor NlCEPHORUS that manuscripts of Greek literary
masterpieces should be delivered up to him. The treasures
of this kind, also, which fell into his hands at Ancyra and
other Greek towns as well as on the island of Cyprus were
to him welcome prizes of war. He commanded that they
should be translated into the Arabic language. In this
work one of his doctors, JOHANNES MESUE (MASEWEIH) a
Syrian Christian, who attained a prominent position
under AL MAMUN, assisted him with advice and personal
effort.
This prince erected an establishment for translating
where works were rendered into Arabic from foreign
tongues. "To this end he brought together" as LEO
AFRICANUS writes* "a great number of learned men
acquainted with various languages, and made inquiries
about the authors and writings in the Greek, Persian,
Chaldaean, and Egyptian languages, many of which were
known to himself. Thereupon he sent many of his
servants to Syria, Armenia, and Egypt to buy the books
indicated, and they brought together immense loads of
them. And now AL MAMUN caused the useful books—such
as dealt with medicine, physics, astronomy, music, cosmography
and chronology to be selected, and appointed as
•superintendent of the translators from the Greek, JOHANNES,
son of MESUE, for at that time Greek studies flourished
among the Christians; many others being placed under his
direction. For Persian literature he appointed MAHAN
and the above-mentioned MESUE. These and many other
* LEO AFRICANUS in Fabricius Bibl. Graeca, Hamburg 1726, xiii, p. 261.—
MEYER op. cit. iii, 115.