Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (62600)	10/14/2002 8:15:05 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 82486

The preservation of ancient knowledge was done mostly by the Arabs, not the Christians, through medieval times. Yes, we are indebted to the Arabs for that.

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (62600)	10/14/2002 10:12:25 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 82486

"Until the eighth century the Arabians, although they expressed their religious feelings in a somewhat mystic poetry, failed to give expression to their thoughts about the world around them, except in so far as those thoughts may be said to be expressed in the Koran. It was only when they came in contact with other civilizations, notably with that of Persia, that their speculative and scientific activities were stimulated into action. A circumstance which favoured the study of letters and philosophy was the accession to the throne about A.D. 750 of the Abassides, an enlightened line of Caliphs who encouraged learning, and patronized the representatives, chiefly Syrian and Persian, of foreign culture." newadvent.org

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (62600)	10/15/2002 9:44:58 AM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

You are quite wrong. The bulk of Greek learning was preserved by the Byzantine Christians. From them, the Arabs, Persians, and Jews of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Iberian peninsula got hold of manuscripts, and did, indeed, comment on various authors, as well as making contributions in mathematics and natural history. It is true that some of this learning was translated into Latin, and supplemented the texts that had been preserved by the monasteries, but it was not all Muslim, nor even Jewish (Maimondides being a prominent Aristotelian), but also some came directly from the Byzantines. Anyway, those earlier manuscripts stimulated the High Middle Ages, revolving around the growth of scholasticism, especially the work of Thomas Aquinas. That helped to lay a foundation for the Renaissance, but it was really the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, and the influx of Byzantine Greek scholars into the Italian Peninsula, which kicked off the Renaissance.........