A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
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Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#2"We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com."
Damnit, I'm hitting this at least once a day on HN. It's the absolute stupidest thing to have to use a webcache or proxy to view BBC content. There's no excuse for this. I mean, there is an excuse for it, but it's ridiculous.
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#3Archive link for UK readers: http://archive.is/juV7w
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#4> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still standing after more than 1,200 years.
I know a cistern is a very neat thing to discover. I personally want to see it now. However, I can't help think that this is blown out of proportions. People were not idiots 1,000 years (and longer) ago. I'm glad the people of Ramla were able to build cisterns - but I fail to see how that confirms this shows "The significance and accomplishments of this period".
edit: Thank you, the click-bait link title has been updated
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#5> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…
Yep last time I've checked the Roman aqueducts are still there and well the pyramids are also there (unless you think Stargate is an accurate historic account of events).
People weren't stupid, and building big whilst labor intensive isn't particularly hard.
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#6> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…
Compare, for example, the Basilica Cistern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern
It was built in Constantinople maybe 2 centuries earlier, and one would think that the technology persisted.
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#7> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…
I like this documentary if your are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM8HnvuKbAo
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#8> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…
Yep last time I've checked the Roman aqueducts are still there and well the pyramids are also there (unless you think Stargate is an accurate historic account of events). People weren't stupid, and building big whilst labor intensive isn't particularly hard.
It's plenty hard in an age before mechanization. You have to:
-source materials and have them delivered
-employ expert engineers and craftsmen
-manage the financial needs of a project without electronic communication
-ensure safety without the sophisticated techniques and supplies we take for granted in construction today (hard hats?)
It's worth noting that the great pyramid of Giza was actually the third attempt, after the first pyramid collapsed under construction and the second had to be "bent" to avoid collapse as well.
So I think it's fair to say that big building was actually quite difficult, even for seemingly simple projects.
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#9> The Pool of the Arches allows visitors to relive the city’s glorious past. Caliph Harun al Rashid, who commissioned the pool, ruled during the Golden Age of Islam, when economics, science and culture flourished from the western edge of the empire in Spain all the way into Asia. The significance and accomplishments of this period became clear as our boat glided through the dark water under the tall arches, still sta…
Yep last time I've checked the Roman aqueducts are still there and well the pyramids are also there (unless you think Stargate is an accurate historic account of events). People weren't stupid, and building big whilst labor intensive isn't particularly hard.
We marvel at those aqueducts and pyramids in the same way we marvel at this. WE shouldn't pooh-pah one accomplishment just because another exists that we're culturally more familiar with.
Re: A subterranean world of water offers a glimpse of Ramla’s past
#10In 1258, after the Siege of Baghdad by the mongols, the golden age of Islam ended. Scholars were killed, buildings were sacked, infrastructure was destroyed. Islamic Spain (Al-Andalus) survived temporarily.
In Spain, the city of Cordoba in Andalusia was objectively the most advanced in all of Europe. After Al-Andalus was lost to Europeans, the Latin translations of the 12th century occurred.
Those Latin translations, which were carried out in great part by the Toledo School of Translators, were then used by European scholars to establish the next generation of education: the founders of Oxford, Copernicus, etc. would not exist as we know them if it wasn't for such translations.
They did a great job in passing the torch of knowledge to the West. Then, during the Crusades, there was no intention with sympathizing with them, and their contributions to our culture started being erased from history.
Lately there has been a little bit of more justice in the way history is presented, but there is work to do. The translations of the 12th century were necessary for the Renaissance to occur.