6 ms·

No data for the following. One important "fact" people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristo

No data for the following. One important "fact" people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc...) are from Arabic writings. Apparently when the Muslim Arabs decided to go and conquer the West, they would take down libraries and rewrite all the knowledge in one language (Arabic). They sent out paid emissaries to the "Four corners of the world" to gather all human knowledge. To that end, Greek works were translated into Arabic and saved in their libraries in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

gargarplex 11y ago
Are you comparing Google to the Caliphate?
- guest 11y ago
  everybody knows that Google was founded by Caliph Ali's ghost working in conjunction with a dashing L. Ron Hubbard clone.
zorf 11y ago
According to Wikipedia, at least the writings of Plato seem to have come to the west during the middle ages from byzantine (i.e. Greek) sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_hist...
- oblio 11y ago
  Yup. It feels strange to completely dismiss the one link between Antiquity and the Renaissance: the Roman Empire, or Byzantium as we now know it.
m-i-l 11y ago
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Classics#Arab_translations_and_commentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Clas... : "This work of translation ... constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history".
5040 11y ago
>One important "fact" people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc...) are from Arabic writings This statement greatly distorts the truth. Almost all extant Greek philosophical texts can be traced to 17 Byzantine manuscripts. The book reviewed here has much more information about the transmission of Greek philosophy (the review is well-worth reading too): http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-01-31.html http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-01-31.html

gargarplex 11y ago

Are you comparing Google to the Caliphate?

guest 11y ago
everybody knows that Google was founded by Caliph Ali's ghost working in conjunction with a dashing L. Ron Hubbard clone.

zorf 11y ago

According to Wikipedia, at least the writings of Plato seem to have come to the west during the middle ages from byzantine (i.e. Greek) sources. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#Textual_sources_and_hist...

oblio 11y ago
Yup. It feels strange to completely dismiss the one link between Antiquity and the Renaissance: the Roman Empire, or Byzantium as we now know it.

m-i-l 11y ago

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Classics#Arab_translations_and_commentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Greek_Clas... : "This work of translation ... constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history".

5040 11y ago

>One important "fact" people do not know is much of the western philosophical works (and other disciplines) we know today (from Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, etc...) are from Arabic writings This statement greatly distorts the truth. Almost all extant Greek philosophical texts can be traced to 17 Byzantine manuscripts. The book reviewed here has much more information about the transmission of Greek philosophy (the review is well-worth reading too): http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-01-31.html http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2009/2009-01-31.html