From the 11th to 13th centuries, medieval Europe absorbed knowledge from Islamic civilization,

which was then at its cultural peak. Of particular importance was the rediscovery of the ancient
classic texts, most notably the work of the Greek natural philosopher Aristotle, through
retranslations from Arabic.
Classical Knowledge
In the period following the fall of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the Middle Ages, Europeans
lacked access to many texts from Classical Antiquity. However, in the Middle East many Greek texts
(such as the works of Aristotle) were translated from Greek into Syriac during the 6th and 7th
centuries by Nestorian, Melkite or Jacobite monks living in Palestine, or by Greek exiles from Athens
or Edessa who visited Islamic centres of higher learning. The Islamic world then kept, translated, and
developed many of these texts, especially in centers of learning such as Baghdad, where a "House of
Wisdom" with thousands of manuscripts existed as early as 832. These texts were translated again
into European languages during the Middle Ages.
Alchemy
Western alchemy was directly dependent upon Arabic sources. translations from Arabic from works
attributed to Jbir ibn Hayyn, including the Kitab al-Kimya (titled Book of the Composition of
Alchemy in Europe), translated by Robert of Chester (1144) and the Book of Seventy, translated by
Gerard of Cremona (before 1187). The alchemical works of Muhammad ibn Zakarya Rzi (Rhazes)
were translated into Latin around the 12th century.
Maths and Astronomy
The translation of Al-Khwarizmi's work greatly influenced mathematics in Europe. As Professor
Victor J. Katz writes: "Most early algebra works in Europe in fact recognized that the first algebra
works in that continent were translations of the work of al-Khwrizm and other Islamic authors.
There was also some awareness that much of plane and spherical trigonometry could be attributed
to Islamic authors"
The words algorithm, deriving from Al-Khwarizmi's Latinized name Algorismi, and algebra, deriving
from the title of his AD 820 book Hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala ("The
Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing")
Al-Khazini's Zij as-Sanjari (11151116) was translated into Greek by Gregory Choniades in the 13th
century and was studied in the Byzantine Empire. The astronomical modifications to the Ptolemaic
model made by al-Battani and Ibn-Rushd led to non-Ptolemaic models produced by Mo'ayyeduddin
Urdi (Urdi lemma), Nasr al-Dn al-Ts (Tusi-couple) and Ibn al-Shatir, which were later adapted into
the Copernican heliocentric model.
Medicine
One of the most important medical works to be translated was Ibn-Sina's The Canon of Medicine
(1025), which was translated into Latin and then disseminated in manuscript and printed form
throughout Europe. It remained a standard medical textbook in Europe until the early modern
period. Muhammad ibn Zakarya Rzi (al-Razi) wrote the Comprehensive Book of Medicine, with its
careful description of and distinction between measles and smallpox, which was also influential in
Europe. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (also known as Albucasis) wrote Kitab al-Tasrif, an encyclopedia of
medicine which was particularly famed for its section on surgery. It included descriptions and
diagrams of over 200 surgical instruments, many of which he developed.

Physics
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)'s Book of Optics (1021). Alhazen's book was notable for his early use of an
experiment based scientific method, in which he developed a theory of vision and light which built
on the work of the Roman writer Ptolemy (but which rejected Ptolemy's theory that light was
emitted by the eye, insisting instead that light rays entered the eye). The Book of Optics was an
important stepping stone in the history of the scientific method and history of optics.