The Umayyad Caliphate Attempts to Collect a Library Containing Manuscripts from All Parts of the Known World

Some scholars claim that during the Umayyad era, Muawiyah I started to establish a palace library in Damascus, for which he obtained manuscripts from all parts of the known world. The library was called ""Bayt al-Hikma" [or House of Wisdom].^[9] Books written in Greek, Latin, and Persian in the fields of medicine, alchemy, physics, mathematics, astrology and other disciplines were also collected and translated by Muslim scholars at that time.^[10] Remarkably, the Umayyads also appropriated paper-making techniques from the Chinese and joined many ancient intellectual centers under their rule, and employed Christian and Persian scholars to both translate works into Arabic, and to develop new knowledge.^{[11]"(Wikipedia article on House of Wisdom, accessed 7-2019).}