I'll preface this by saying that this is a "homework question" -- I'm an undergrad writing a paper on the "House of Wisdom" and the Arabic translation movement -- so I'd prefer hints or links to sources rather than full on explanation. When doing initial research on the topic, I came across an anecdote that piqued my interest and solidified my choice to write on this topic. The anecdote generally involves some kind of treaty between the Byzantines and the 'Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun where some Greek manuscripts, possibly including Ptolemy's Almagest, were traded to the 'Abbasids.

 

I originally found the anecdote on Wikipedia on the pages for the House of Wisdom and Al-Ma'mun. They both reference The Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy, but I can't seem to follow the trail beyond that point. I also found a similar anecdote in A History of Mathematics, but again I can't figure out exactly where that information is coming from.

 

Could someone tell me if this anecdote has any actual basis in reality and, if so, where I could find some more elaborated sources to read more about it? I've already consulted books and other sources (e.g. Dimitri Gutas's Greek Thought, Arabic Culture and Jim al-Khalili's The House of Wisdom) and found some great information, but I haven't found anything about this specific episode. It's honestly not that important to the paper overall, but I would like to track it down seeing as it was part of the original impetus for me to select this topic to write about.

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to help me out!