This volume of the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature deals with writings on learned subjects from the 'Abbasid period (8th to 13th centuries AD), the golden age of Arabic literature. These cover a wide area, from philosophy, theology and law, through grammar and lexicography, to mathematics, astronomy and medicine. There are separate chapters on six of the greatest scholars of the period, on the development of translations from Greek into Arabic, and on the Arabic literature of the Christians and Jews who lived under the rule of the 'Abbasid caliphate.

This volume of the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature deals with writings on learned subjects from the 'Abbasid period (8th to 13th centuries AD), the golden age of Arabic literature. These cover a wide area, from philosophy, theology and law, through grammar and lexicography, to mathematics, astronomy and medicine. There are separate chapters on six of the greatest scholars of the period, on the development of translations from Greek into Arabic, and on the Arabic literature of the Christians and Jews who lived under the rule of the 'Abbasid caliphate.

'Abbasid literature was characterized by the emergence of many new genres and of a scholarly and sophisticated critical consciousness. This volume of The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature covers the prose and poetry produced in the heartland and provinces of the 'Abbasid Empire from the mid-eighth to the thirteenth centuries A.D. Chronologically organized, the book explores the main genres and provides extended studies of major poets, prose writers and literary theorists. To make the material accessible to nonspecialist readers, 'Abbasid authors are quoted in English translation wherever...