The Librarian's Hand: Lubna of Córdoba

Born into slavery in tenth-century Crdoba, Lubna was trained from childhood as a scribe, taught Greek and Arabic so she could copy the manuscripts flooding into the caliph's court. She rose to become Al-Hakam II's personal secretary and the keeper of the four-hundred-thousand-volume library at Madinat al-Zahra, annotating Archimedes and Euclid in her own hand and teaching neighborhood children their multiplication tables in the streets outside the palace. Harmonia traces her path from enslaved child to indispensable custodian, and widens the lens to every librarian since who has quietly decided what gets kept. Transcript available at: https://harmonia.email/podcast-episode/librarians-hand-lubna-cordoba Share and read comments: https://harmonia.email/podcast-comments?field_podcast_feed_value=harmonia_s_history&from_node=414