I'm watching Lawrence of Arabia for the first time and just heard about these early street lights 51 minutes in. I can't begin to imagine what that city looked like. I paused the film to ask this question.
Does anyone know of any visual interpretations of what that city (or others like it) might have looked like at night? Sketches...paintings....films?
Since no one has answered your question, I'll try, though mind you I'm no historian. You see, Cordoba was once believed to be the most populated city on the planet during the 10th century. Under Calif Al Hakam, it became one of the largest cultural centers. Intellectuals were welcome as libraries, med schools, and university's were opened under Hakam's rule. In fact, some sources state that the world first flying machine was invented there by Abbas Ibn Firmas.
As for street lights. Many towns had street lights at the time like Cairo and Baghdad. Here's a look into how the streets would look if they were candle lit, (note, this isn't the city you mentioned, only a glimpse at the possible lighting).
I couldn't find any images of a medieval city's candle lit streets, but it is mentioned how the streets were extremely dangerous at night, as it was for the most part dark (but not necessarily pitch black).
