Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 00:21:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: "BRIAN M. STANSBERRY" <BMS4880-AT-tntech.edu>
Subject: Re: Ottoman notes



> From: Scribe1865-AT-aol.com
> 
> My point in posting the notes was to ask what Arab Golden Age do the 
> Islamists seek to recover? A period lasting only a few decades? Pretty slim 
> pickings for a golden age.

Probably referring to the early Abbasids, namely the reign of Harun 
al-Rashid, c. 800 AD.  At this time, the Arabs were becoming aware of 
Hellenic science, and were beginning to expand upon it.  Europe was little
more than a lawless backwater ruled by biker gangs(well, knight orders, but
there was little difference).

The Ottomans weren't Arabs, they were Turks.  Their Golden Age stretched
from Mehmet's capture of Constantinople to the death of Suleyman(don't know
the dates, but it's about a hundred years).  The Islamic world was the place
to be for science and learning between the fall of the Romans and 
Copernicus.  Europe then was like the Arab world now-- nasty, filthy, and
backward.

Europeans at the time were disgusting creatures.  They stank, they didn't
bathe or change clothes, they were covered in hair, and lice, and all sorts
of ecosystems.  They were, what this list might call, "Sanchezian".  

There aren't many "Golden Ages" that last more than a few decades, since 
they are typically associated with one or two rulers.


                   - Brian S.





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