Maison de la sagesse
Yale University Arabist Dimitri Gutas disputes the existence of the House of Wisdom as is its form and function. He posits in his 1998 book that "House of Wisdom" is a translation error from "Khizanat al-Hikma", which he asserts simply means a storehouse, and that there are few sources from the era during the Abbasid Era that mention the House of Wisdom by the name "Bayt al-Hikma." Gutas asserts that, without consistent naming conventions, a physical ruin, or corroborating texts, the phrase "House of Wisdom" may just as well have been a metaphor for the larger Academic community in Baghdad rather than a physical academy specializing in translation work. Gutas mentions that in all of the Graeco-Arabic translations none of them mention the House of Wisdom, including the notable Hunayn ibn Ishaq. There is also no proof that the Sultan ever held open debates among scholars in the library since that would not have been socially acceptable. This theory is debatable, owing to the destruction of the Round city of Baghdad and conflicting sources in both academic texts and poetry. It is likely, given the Abbasid Caliphs' patronage of the arts and sciences, that an extensive library existed in Baghdad, and that scholars could have access to such texts, judging by the volume of work produced by scholars centered in Baghdad. There is a strong chance that the library was only used to preserve history from the Sassanian Dynasty and the translations that were done there were only done to achieve that goal. Once the Abbasids took over they most likely continued this tradition with the added goal of pursuing both astrology and astronomy.