Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/430

 366 Ontlmes of European History ninth century it was probably the richest and most splendid city in the world. The most entertaining example of Arabic literature which has been translated into English is the Thousand mid One Nights^ or The Arabian Nights^ Entertainments^ as it is com- monly called. These include the story of " Sindbad the Sailor," " Aladdin and the Lamp," " AH Baba and the Forty Thieves," and other famous tales. The great collection was got together in Egypt, perhaps in the fifteenth century, but many of the stories are very much older and were translated by the Arabs from the Persian, when the caliphs of Bagdad were at the height of their power. Some of these stories give one a lively idea of Moham- medan manners and customs. The Mohammedans made two or three attempts to cross over from Asia into Europe and take Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Empire, but failed. It was more than eight hundred years after Mohammed's death .that the Turks, a Mohammedan people, succeeded in this, and Constantinople is now a Mohammedan city and the Sultan of Turkey is the nominal head of Islam. Long before the Turks captured Con- stantinople, however, the Arabs at the other end of the caliph's empire had succeeded in crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from Africa and possessing themselves of Spain. The kingdom of the West Goths was in no condition to defend itself when a few Arabs and a much larger number of Berbers, inhabitants of northern Africa, ventured to invade Spain. Some of the Spanish towns held out for a time, but the invaders found allies in the numerous Jews, who had been shame- fully treated by their Christian countrymen. As for the innumer- able serfs who worked on the great estates of the aristocracy, a change of landlords made very little difference to them. In 7 1 1 the Arabs and Berbers gained a great batde, and the peninsula was gradually overrun by new immigrants from Africa. In seven years the Mohammedans were masters of almost the whole region south. of the Pyrenees. They then began to