The History and Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age

By: Eamonn Gearon, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Eamonn Gearon

The study of Western Civilization traditionally follows a well-known but incomplete arc: the grand achievements of Greece and Rome, several hundred years of the Dark Ages, and then the bright emergence of the European Renaissance. But amid the "dark" Middle Ages, the Abbasid Empire, which ruled the Middle East as well as much of Northern Africa and Central Asia from 750 to 1258, serves as a vitally important but often overlooked bridge between the ancient and modern worlds.

The History and Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age is your opportunity to get to know the story and the accomplishments of this great period in human civilization. Taught by acclaimed lecturer Eamonn Gearon, these 24 remarkable lectures offer brilliant insights into an era too often overlooked by traditional history textbooks. You'll meet a wealth of scholars, scientists, poets, and philosophers who paved the way for the Renaissance and continue to affect our world in surprising ways.

For instance, gain insights into:

• The origins of the scientific method, along with the development of algebra, chemistry, physics, and astronomy as discrete fields of inquiry
• The invention of the modern "teaching hospital" and a medical encyclopedia that served Europe for the next 600 years
• The preservation and translation of the world's great literature, from the Hadith (or sayings of Muhammad) to the master works of Greece and Rome
• Ontological philosophy that served future Jewish, Christian, and Muslim theologians concerned with the nature of God and the relationship between faith and reason

It is nearly impossible to overstate the power and importance of this crucial 500-year history, headquartered in Baghdad but stretching around the world. While much of Europe was quietly passing the time, the Abbasid Empire was an international, multicultural hub of trade, travel, education, art, science, and much more.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great Courses

Mind you: It's not about "Islamic" Achievements ..

Any additional comments?

Mr. Gearon makes it clear that this course is not about "*Islamic* achievements" but about cultural, scientific and artistic - outstanding - accomplishments that fall in the *era* of the Islamic Golden Age (which he, openly somewhat arbitrarily, assigns to the mid 8th century to mid 13th).
In that regard the course is both interesting and slightly disappointing. Most of the sampled achievements are more or less well known to anyone who some fundamental historic education. Some are described in a somewhat limited / isolated way, though Gearon at times hints at many culturues and peoples being involved.

It does help to have some (rough) understanding of the history of the Islamic "empire" (excuse the term, please), for that I highly recommend Reza Aslan's "No God but God" (which is way more neutral and objective than the title makes one think), to get an understanding of the who-and-where-and-what that you need to put achievements into their respective historical meaning. Since Mr. Gearon sets the end of the Golden Age in sync with the sacking of Bagdad by "the Mongols", it would also be a good idea to have an idea of who those might have been (Jack Weatherford's Dschinghis Khan / Genghis Khan biography is a good read/listen for that). The later is all the more interesting, because Weatherford puts quite some of the achievements credited to (Islamic) cultures to Mongol controlled or influenced peoples ...

What I did like and find interesting about this course was that it - again - underlined the openess, tolerance (to some degree, sure) and "modern, progressive way of thinking" that was not too uncommon in the beginnings of the Islamic "era" (if you want to call it that way). Don't get me wrong, I am not claiming that Islam is "the most open, cultural unbiased invention ever". I am just getting reminded that in its early days - and within its historical context! - it was way, way more open, modern, emancipated than what we see today (sadly) in terms of fundalism, inter-religious quarrels and close-mindness thanks to an also growing intolerance and aggression from other religious sides (also, sadly, from the two "sister" Abrahamic religions).
Even if the course does not talk about "ISLAMIC Golden Times", it does indeed show that there have been "better" times ...

If I am to give some critics, it would be about the - typical for the "Great Courses" - superficialness of most of the topics. It's really barely scratching surfaces and, again typical for this series, does not give you any hints for further reading/listening.
Mr. Gearon has a nice voice, easy to follow, with a sympathic "British touch" to it. His intonation (in terms of putting weight on too many words in a sentence) and some irritating pauses sometimes, seldomly, made following his thoughts a bit more difficult than necessary. On the other hand, he added some very welcome British humor to his narration, that more than compensated for whatever irritations I may have felt.

Wonderful narrator.

Simply, entirely enjoyable, with a wonderful narrator. A narrator I enjoyed so much, I purchased another of his works......so off I go!
Cheers

Great content, delivered well.

Eamonn Gearon is an excellent lecturer; his passion and interest is infectious. The content of the lectures are informative, interesting, and very easy to listen to.

Sheer Brilliance!

I loved every second of this course! As a technologist myself, I now have so much perspective on the true origins of our age of amazing scientific advancement.

If Dr. Gearon taught me one thing, it’s that we truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

...Staggering...

Narrated with demonstrable enthusiasm and a rich,pleasing voice is this tremendous compendium of Islamic accomplishments over time.The breadth and depth of topics discussed is profound.As if representing the largest world-wide empire in history is not enough, Islam touched,molded,affected and explored everything in its' pathway.This encompassed areas from astronomy to medicine,from art forms to mathematics,from calligraphy to minarets leaving a mark on everything.Islamic influence stretched towards excellence.Of special intrigue was the establishment of Baghdad's House of Wisdom.This was the attempt to consolidate all known knowledge into Arabic.This seems in great contrast to today's devaluation of contemporary knowledge.This course expands the understanding of Islamic contribution and makes known characteristics of Islam more commendable than the patriarchy,terror and cruelty that often spring to mind today.This course also reminds us that religious wars are rooted in antiquity and teaches us of things lost and found between the battles.It is truly staggering in its' implications. I loved it!

Best Great Courses

The best Great Courses I've listened to. Not pandering, good voice, great writing, and very informative.

Nothing short of wonderful!

Professor Gearon is eloquent, entertaining, passionate and I dare say a polymath himself. He inspires love for the subject. What a pleasure to have such gifted professors!

A Magnificent Journey

Mr. Gearon is an amazing storyteller, whose stories are well researched, fact based, and address the gambit of viewpoints, but always staying true to the facts.

This work is “brain candy” for the curious!

Beautiful listen

Loved it, mesmerizing as the sands of time swayed, and the light dictated by Ibn al Haytham dictated that in fact, light does not come from our eyes as previously thought by the Greeks. A beautiful reference as how to Arabic culture integrated learning of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures and sciences.

I learned so much!

Excellent and engaging presentation, well researched and highly informative. It was excellent, I am already downloading his other lectures to listen to them.