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Were the Arabs inheritors of classical antiquity?
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2025-6-97-116
Abstract
The article sets out to establish the extent of influence exercised by the philosophical and literary-poetic legacy of Greco-Roman antiquity on the Arab civilization during the Islamic Golden Age. To do so, the author characterizes the ideological foundation and methods of classical philosophy and poetry and analyzes their reinterpretation by the Arab Caliphate. The study explores the caliphate’s protoscientific, political and social developments, law, literature, and poetry. The author notes that Plato’s and Aristotle’s cosmogonic models with their premises of the dualism of faith and rational knowledge appealed to the theocratic state, prompting their reinterpretation in religious writing. K. Alabdallakh concludes that the influence of the Greco-Roman classical legacy proved inconsistent and mainly concerned the areas of knowledge, manufacturing, and politics, while barely traceable in law and poetry. At the same time, the Arab Caliphate created a hierarchical model of classical achievements that, in its various forms, lives to this day.
About the Author
K. M. Alabdallakh
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Kristina M. Alabdallakh philologist, postgraduate student
6 Miusskaya Sq., Moscow, 125047
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Review
For citations:
Alabdallakh K.M. Were the Arabs inheritors of classical antiquity? Voprosy literatury. 2025;(6):97-116. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2025-6-97-116
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