Why there was no Islamic Middle Ages - The Legacy of Antiquity and the Orient

Thomas Bauer uses numerous examples to show how ancient civilisation lived on in the Islamic world with flourishing cities and sciences, while in medieval Europe only ruins remained as reminders of a vanished culture. In his lecture, Prof. Bauer describes how ancient culture survived from al-Andalus via North Africa and Syria to Persia and why the 11th century marked a caesura throughout Eurasia, from the Hindu Kush to Western Europe, which was soon followed by the modern era in the Islamic world. In this way, he convincingly refutes the well-rehearsed boundaries between epochs and sets the record straight about the Orient and Occident.