3 ms·

I thought that was mostly due to Islamic scholars. Weren't the monks mostly erasing and repurposing old scrolls to make copies of the Bible?

kome 5y ago
what? no. if we can read plato and aristotle - and a bunch of others - it's thanks to Catholics monk.
- joshuaissac 5y ago
  The works of Aristotle were translated from Greek to Arabic by Islamic scholars in the early Middle Ages, mostly pre-dating the Latin translations, and they were sometimes the source from which the Latin translations were made. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_Aristotle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_Aristotle 2. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/
  - jhgb 5y ago
    But people never forgot Greek. It was, and still is, a living language. (Not to mention the undesirability of second-hand translations...)
    - dr_dshiv 5y ago
      Greek Orthodox; Roman Catholics forgot Greek. Until Marsilio Ficino translated Plato to Latin around 1450, Plato had been effectively lost in the west for 1000 years.
HarryHirsch 5y ago
The monasteries of Ireland and Scotland survived the crisis and disorder of the Migration Period and re-christianized the Continent from the 8th century onwards. Yes, some texts from antiquity have come down to us only as palimpsest, but the classical writers were copied.
vmh1928 5y ago
It's complicated but yes, Islamic scholars had a role to play in preserving Greek philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-greek/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-greek/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/43577272 https://www.jstor.org/stable/43577272
duncanawoods 5y ago
You are getting downvoted but this is the traditional history of philosophy as I understand it too (the history of Christianity will be different). Hellenic culture and texts had permiated Africa and and Mid-east. There were various ancient libraries and academies. Byzantine scholars at the Neoplatonic Academy fled to Persia after it was closed by Justinian. Later in the 8th Century, the Greaco-Arabic Translation Movement gathered books and translated original Greek texts into Arabic at the House of Wisdom (Grand Library of Baghdad). Study of hellenic philosophy restarted in the Arabic world until the Golden Age of Islamic Philosophy with Averroes whose commentarities reintroduced Hellenic philosophy to Europe in the 12th century. I don't think that particular flow needs any Irish Monks but <shrug> I don't know the specific sources of books used by the Translation Movement.
foobarbazbarfoo 5y ago
A lot of those scholars were not "Islamic" or "Muslim", just happened to live in the area. Many of them were christians (Church of the East), Sabians, Jews, or local hellenistic inspired cults. Also some of those translations were translated to other local languages (eg. Assyrian, Hebrew...) then to Arabic. Of course, in todays world, one could say Arabic/Islam becoming the dominant culture/religion minimized the work and exposure others get. Here are some of the more famous ones Christians: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunayn_ibn_Ishaq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunayn_ibn_Ishaq - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaq_ibn_Hunayn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaq_ibn_Hunayn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_of_Reshaina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_of_Reshaina - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masawaiyh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masawaiyh Sabians: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinan_ibn_Thabit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinan_ibn_Thabit Cult of Sin: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thābit_ibn_Qurra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thābit_ibn_Qurra
- TMWNN 5y ago
  >Of course, in todays world, one could say Arabic/Islam becoming the dominant culture/religion minimized the work and exposure others get. Similarly, 10,000 books have been translated into Arabic in the past 1,000 years. That is fewer than the number translated in Spain in one year. (<https://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/04/entertainment/et-arab4 https://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/04/entertainment/et-ar...>)

kome 5y ago

what? no. if we can read plato and aristotle - and a bunch of others - it's thanks to Catholics monk.

joshuaissac 5y ago
The works of Aristotle were translated from Greek to Arabic by Islamic scholars in the early Middle Ages, mostly pre-dating the Latin translations, and they were sometimes the source from which the Latin translations were made. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_Aristotle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_of_Aristotle 2. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/
- jhgb 5y ago
  But people never forgot Greek. It was, and still is, a living language. (Not to mention the undesirability of second-hand translations...)
  - dr_dshiv 5y ago
    Greek Orthodox; Roman Catholics forgot Greek. Until Marsilio Ficino translated Plato to Latin around 1450, Plato had been effectively lost in the west for 1000 years.

HarryHirsch 5y ago

The monasteries of Ireland and Scotland survived the crisis and disorder of the Migration Period and re-christianized the Continent from the 8th century onwards. Yes, some texts from antiquity have come down to us only as palimpsest, but the classical writers were copied.

vmh1928 5y ago

It's complicated but yes, Islamic scholars had a role to play in preserving Greek philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-greek/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-greek/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/43577272 https://www.jstor.org/stable/43577272

duncanawoods 5y ago

You are getting downvoted but this is the traditional history of philosophy as I understand it too (the history of Christianity will be different). Hellenic culture and texts had permiated Africa and and Mid-east. There were various ancient libraries and academies. Byzantine scholars at the Neoplatonic Academy fled to Persia after it was closed by Justinian. Later in the 8th Century, the Greaco-Arabic Translation Movement gathered books and translated original Greek texts into Arabic at the House of Wisdom (Grand Library of Baghdad). Study of hellenic philosophy restarted in the Arabic world until the Golden Age of Islamic Philosophy with Averroes whose commentarities reintroduced Hellenic philosophy to Europe in the 12th century. I don't think that particular flow needs any Irish Monks but <shrug> I don't know the specific sources of books used by the Translation Movement.

foobarbazbarfoo 5y ago

A lot of those scholars were not "Islamic" or "Muslim", just happened to live in the area. Many of them were christians (Church of the East), Sabians, Jews, or local hellenistic inspired cults. Also some of those translations were translated to other local languages (eg. Assyrian, Hebrew...) then to Arabic. Of course, in todays world, one could say Arabic/Islam becoming the dominant culture/religion minimized the work and exposure others get. Here are some of the more famous ones Christians: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunayn_ibn_Ishaq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunayn_ibn_Ishaq - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaq_ibn_Hunayn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishaq_ibn_Hunayn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_of_Reshaina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_of_Reshaina - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masawaiyh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masawaiyh Sabians: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinan_ibn_Thabit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinan_ibn_Thabit Cult of Sin: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thābit_ibn_Qurra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thābit_ibn_Qurra

TMWNN 5y ago
>Of course, in todays world, one could say Arabic/Islam becoming the dominant culture/religion minimized the work and exposure others get. Similarly, 10,000 books have been translated into Arabic in the past 1,000 years. That is fewer than the number translated in Spain in one year. (<https://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/04/entertainment/et-arab4 https://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/04/entertainment/et-ar...>)