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If the Al-Qarawiyyin library was not able to resist Islamic influence, as I suspect based on extensive precedent, then the oldest libraries in the West are Chri
by riazrizvi 6y ago
If the Al-Qarawiyyin library was not able to resist Islamic influence, as I suspect based on extensive precedent, then the oldest libraries in the West are Christian or Muslim. Which I suspect had a large bearing on preserved history. I wonder how much interesting stuff was destroyed because it didn’t conform to the party line.
- f154hfds 6y agoThere are good examples of the opposite too - such as Boethius, one of the critical links saving classical philosophy from oblivion on the outset of the dark ages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius#De_topicis_differentiis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boethius#De_topicis_differenti...
- bobthechef 6y agoIndeed, the Church is responsible for preserving many ancient pagan records that would otherwise have been lost with the fall of Rome. Islamic scholars also played a role in this (e.g., the surviving Aristotelian corpus).
- bobthechef 6y agoLike what? And why would you suspect that? Christian apologists and scholars were active in debating pagans and drew from pagan philosophy, science, etc. And part of the job of an apologist is to respond to things which do not conform to what you cynically call the “party line”. So you should expect various records that reflect that. There’s ideas would resurface sooner or later.