Al Hajjaj Ibn Matar

Overview

Al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, a translator who worked for al-Ma'mun. Ibn al-Nadim says he was the one who translated the Almagest and Euclid. He was among those whom al-Ma'mun sent to the lands of the Byzantines to bring back ancient books. ²

He translated Euclid's "Elements of Geometry" in two versions: the first known as the Harunian, and the second the Ma'munian, on which people rely. ³

His birth and death years need an additional source.

Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom

The House of Wisdom at Baghdad, the greatest library whose report survives from the first Abbasid age: al-Rashid laid its nucleus and al-Ma'mun enlarged and strengthened it. Al-Rashid put Yuhanna ibn Masawayh over the translation of the ancient medical books found in Byzantine lands with skilled scribes writing before him; Abu Sahl al-Fadl ibn Nawbakht rendered Persian wisdom-books into Arabic in its khizana, and Allan al-Shu'ubi copied for al-Rashid, al-Ma'mun and the Barmakids. Al-Ma'mun widened it, sending to the Byzantine emperor for the ancient sciences an embassy of al-Hajjaj ibn Matar, Ibn al-Bitriq and Salm the master of the House, and making Sahl ibn Harun keeper of its treasuries — though its precise organisation and site remain wrapped in obscurity.

At a glance

Overview

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Sources

Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom