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MAMUN (c. 786-833)
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See also:MAMUN (c. 786-833) , originally ABDALLAH, surnamed See also:ALMA'MON (" in whom men See also:trust "), the seventh of the Abbasid caliphs of See also:Bagdad, was See also:born about A.D. 786, and was the second son of See also:Harun al-Rashid. By Harun's will he was successor-
designate to his See also:brother Amin, during whose reign he was to be See also:governor of the eastern See also:part of the See also:empire. On Harun's See also:death (8og) Amin succeeded and Mamun acquiesced. Irritated, how-ever, by the treatment he received from Amin, and supported by a portion of the See also:army, Mamun speedily rebelled. A five years' struggle between the two See also:brothers ended in the death of Amin and the See also:proclamation of Mamun as See also:caliph at Bagdad (See also:Sept. 813). Various factions and revolts, which disturbed the first years of his reign, were readily quelled by his prudent and energetic See also:measures. But a much more serious See also:rebellion, stirred up by his countenancing the heretical See also:sect of See also:Ali and adopting their See also:colours, soon after threatened his See also:throne. His See also:crown was actually on the See also:head of his See also:uncle See also:Ibrahim b. See also:Mandi (surnamed Mobarek) for a See also:short See also:time (See also:Barbier de Meynard, in See also:Journal Asiatique, See also: This inaugurated a See also:period of tranquillity, which Mamun employed in fostering literature and See also:science. He had already, while governor of See also:Khorasan, founded a See also:college there, and attracted to it the most eminent men of the See also:day, and Bagdad became the seat of academical instruction. At his own expense he caused to be translated into Arabic many valuable books from the See also:Greek, See also:Persian, Chaldean and Coptic See also:languages; and he was himself an ardent student of See also:mathematics and See also:astronomy. The first Arabic See also:translation of See also:Euclid was dedicated to him in 813. Mamun founded observatories at Bagdad and Kassiun (near See also:Damascus), and succeeded in determining the inclination of the See also:ecliptic. He also caused a degree of the See also:meridian to be measured on the See also:plain of Shinar; and he constructed astronomical tables, which are said to be wonderfully accurate. In 827 he was converted to the heterodox faith of the Mo'tazilites, who asserted the See also:free-will of See also:man and denied the eternity of the See also:Koran. The later years (829-830) of his reign were distracted by hostilities with the Greek See also:emperor See also:Theophilus, while a See also:series of revolts in different parts of the Arabian empire betokened the decline of the military See also:glory of the caliphs. See also:Spain and part of See also:Africa had already asserted their See also:independence, and See also:Egypt and See also:Syria were now inclined to follow. In 833, after quelling Egypt, at least nominally, Mamun marched into See also:Cilicia to prosecute the See also:war with the Greeks, but died near See also:Tarsus, leaving his crown to a younger brother, Motasim. The death of Mamun ended an important See also:epoch in the See also:history of science and letters and the period of Arabian prosperity which his See also:father's reign had begun. See further under See also:CALIPHATE, sect. C., §§ 5, 6, 7. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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