SUMMARY

Chapter 5: East and West (300 Years: A Half Phase, ca. 1050–1350) treats astronomy as a subject with outstanding developments in both Islamic and Europeans lands. The underlying message here is that besides roots through early Greek, Persian and Indian sources, routes through transmissions to Europe, rules through Arab and Persian patrons, and books through non-Ptolemaic and pre-Copernican models, another component critical to developments and outcomes is ‘schools’. In this chapter, schools are highlighted through cases from Cordoba, Maragha and Samarqand to those comparable in Europe, all during the three centuries that are central to the period’s full coverage, here termed a ‘Half Phase.’