THE ARAB CONQUEST 177arithmetic, astrology, rhetoric, prosody,jurisprudence, traditions (i.e.
ltadiths), history, scholastic controversy and the meaning of verses.'73
Although these Umayyad scholars are not as well-known or preserved
as such famous later masters as Ibn Rushd ('Averroes'), philosopher,
physician and astronomer, who died in 1198, they led the way to that
flowering of intellectual culture in Islamic Spain, which had such
an important influence upon Christian Europe in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. In the Umayyad period historical, religious and
grammatical studies were especially prominent, together with as-
tronomy, which was principally cultivated for astrological purposes.
Interest in the natural sciences, deriving from the increasing availabil-
ity of Greek writings translated into Arabic in the 'Abbasid Caliphate,
really came to the fore after the end of the Umayyad period.
The love of poetry and an interest in books were the particular
hallmarks of the upper ranks of polite society in Cordoba. Book
auctions were held, although some, notably the less wealthy and more
scholarly, complained that prices were raised to absurd levels by the
activities of pretentious bibliophiles, anxious to be famous for the size
and completeness of their libraries but uninterested in the contents
of the books. Poetry had been the principal literary concern of the
Arabs from pre-Islamic days, and in Al-Andalus the ability to compose
complex but impromptu verses was regarded as the necessary accom-
plishment of a learned man. As in Celtic societies, the continued
strength of traditions of oral verse composition and song was matched
by the high regard with which those capable of them were received.
Thus men of learning and verbal skill, many of whom were peri-
patetic in the Islamic world, were accorded a warm welcome in
Al-Andalus. Ibn Ziryab, in the reign of 'Abd al-RaQman II, is the best
example of this. However, on occasion such feted outsiders could
arouse the jealousy of indigenous scholars. Abu 'Ali Sa'id ibn al-
l-;Iuseyn, who came to Spain during the ascendancy of the Hajib
Al-Man~iir (c. 980 -1 002) incurred the wrath of the Cordoban literati
by his pretensions, and to expose him they bound up a book of blank
pages which they entitled The Book of Lies. When Abu 'Ali was shown
it during an audience with Al-Man~iir he instantly claimed to have
read it, but when questioned about its contents was forced to prevari-
cate and was exposed as an incorrigible boaster.^74
The composition of that high society in Cordoba that took such
delight in feats of poetic composition, the collecting of books and the
pursuit of an ever increasing sophistication is not easy to ascertain.