It was in these schools that the
Talmud was compiled from the traditionary exposition of the Old
Testament, between A.D. 200 and A.D. 500, when it was completed, and
received as a rule of faith by most of the scattered Jews.

That the cultivation of science was not neglected we may be sure from
the keen interest taken in all ages by the Jews in magical and
astrological inquiries. We read in Apuleius, in his defence on the
accusation of magic brought against him, that of the "four tutors
appointed to educate the princes of Persia, one had to instruct him
specially in the magic of Zoroaster and Oromazes, which is the worship
of the gods." Apuleius wrote about 200 A.D., and his works teem with
references to magic and astrology.

The fact that Jews and Christians were looked on as learned men will not
surprise us, when we find that the Jews had established schools so long
anterior to the foundation of the college of Baghdad. The rapid progress
made by the Arabians, and the wise policy of the Abasside Caliphs, under
whose judicious rule learning was so liberally encouraged, aided by the
position of Baghdad, which formed, as it were, a centre to which the
wisdom of both eastern and western minds gravitated, attracted to their
schools all those of every nation who boasted themselves philosophers.

The first translations from the Greek authors are supposed to have been
made about A.D. 745, and are known to have been on the subjects of
philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. These translations are
understood to have been made by Christian or Jewish physicians.

As we have seen, the Jews had already established themselves at Baghdad,
and had founded schools of their own previous to the formation of the
college under Caliph Al-Mansour; but further than this we find the
Christians spread widely over the countries of Asia Minor, and we are
told, on the authority of Cosmo-Indicopleustes, that so early as A.D.
535 there was in almost every large town in _India_ a Christian Church
under the Bishop of Seleucia.

With these facts before us--1st, that Christian physicians were the
leaders of the Arabian school in the eighth century; 2nd, that large
numbers of Christian churches were actually in existence in India at
least two hundred years previously to the establishment of the college
at Baghdad; and 3rd, that Baghdad was almost, as it wore, the central
point of the great caravan route which from time immemorial had been th