, and from these
Abdullah Ibn Al-Mukaffa made translations into Arabic. The literary
career of Ibn Al-Mukaffa, who presumed to vie with the eloquence of
the Koran, and was considered to be a freethinker, and eventually
slain, falls into the reign of Al-Mansur (A.D. 754-775), the second
Khalif. But Ibn Al-Mukaffa rendered such services to Arabian
literature, that a short sketch of his life will presently be given.

During the reign of Mansur (A.D. 754-775) Greek works were translated,
not yet from the original, but from the Persian. During the Khalifate
of his son, Mahdi (A.D. 775-785), Abd-Allah bin Hilal translated the
celebrated animal fables of Bidpay from Persian into Arabic, under the
title of 'Kalilah wa Dimnah,' and they were afterwards versified by
Selil bin Nubakht. In Persian they are known under several titles,
such as 'Kalilah wa Dimnah,' the 'Anwar-i Suheli,' and the 'Ayar
Danish,' and in Turkish as the 'Humayan-namah.'

Eight years before the seventh Khalif, Mamun (A.D. 812-833), ascended
the throne, many Greek and Syrian manuscripts had been collected in
Baghdad. These were all preserved there in the library, which was
called 'The House of Wisdom,' until Mamun began to utilize them by
means of translations. The Khalif appointed the scholars Al-Hajjaj, Ibn
Mattar, Ibn ul-Batrik, and Selma, to superintend the work, while the
three brothers, Muhammad, Ahmed, and Hasan, sons of the astronomer
Shakir, were directed to search for and to buy manuscripts. Mamun also
sent the two physicians, Yohanna and Kosta, into the Byzantine
dominions to bring manuscripts from thence to Baghdad. A new class of
scholars was then formed, in the shape of translators, who were
employed in translating works from the Greek, the Syriac, and the
Persian languages into Arabic. The translators from the Persian were
Musa and Yusuf, the two sons of Khalid, Hasan bin Sehl, and
afterwards, Al-Baladori; from the Sanscrit, Munkah the Indian; from
the Nabataean, Ibn Wahshiyah. Science became hereditary, as it were,
in the families of the most celebrated scholars; medical science in
the family of Bakhtyeshun; translations from Greek works in that of
Honein bin Ishak, the most famous of all translators, and a prolific
author besides. Maseweih and his son Yahya, Syriac Christians, were
both celebrated as physicians and translators of ancient Greek works
into Arabic; while Kosta bin Luka, who died in A.D. 932, was also one
of the most fertile tr