Of its outward seeming only. Its culture and refined social life merited for Cordova the title of the Athens of the West. When all Europe was sunk in barbarism, medicine and chemistry, the natural sciences, the arts and philosophy, all found a refuge here. Culture was diffused through all classes of the population, if only very superficially, to an extent never perhaps equalled elsewhere. And though there was little initiative or originality about the scholars at Cordova, their labours contributed to keep alive a taste for the humanities which otherwise would never have revived in Europe. The comforts and amenities of life were carefully studied in the Western Khalifate. All the products which minister to luxury were at that time the almost exclusive property of the Moslem world, and to the bazaars of Cordova were brought the choicest spoils of Egypt, Persia, Arabia, and Hindostan. And at the head of this urbane and flourishing commonwealth sat the great Umeyyad khalifa, emulous of the glories of Bagdad and Cairo, and eager to surpass them in elegance and splendour. [Illustration: CORDOVA--CALLE CARDINAL HERRERA] Of those great days all that remains is the Mezquita--and that is much. Next to St. Peter's it is the largest of Christian temples, and certainly among the most ancient. As a Mohammedan place of worship, it ranked in sanctity with the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, immediately after Mecca, which it was indeed designed to eclipse. It was Abd-ur-Rahman's ambition to focus all the interests of Islam at this point within his own dominions. Spanish Moslems were taught that a pilgrimage to the "Zeka" of Cordova was in all respects equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca. Hence Sancho Panza's saying, "Andar de Zeca en Mecca." That the Umeyyad khalifa succeeded in diverting the Faithful from the old shrine to the new is doubtful, but he and his successors spared no pains to render their mosque one of the wonders of the world. In the year 786, seized, it is said, by a sudden inspiration, Abd-ur-Rahman convoked his council and declared his intention of raising a temple to Allah on the site of a Christian church. The Moslems had already appropriated half of the Basilica of San Vicente to their use, suffering the Christians to perform their rites in the adjoining portion. The khattib was commanded to approach the unbelievers to negotiate the purchase of the whole edifice. The Christians stood out for a high price, and got it. They received a sum equal to £400,000 of our money, and permission, moreover, to rebuild all their churches in the city that had existed at the time of the Conquest. When we remember the violent seizure and "purification" of the Church of St. Sophia by the Turks, seven hundred years later, we can see how little Islam had learnt of toleration in the meantime.