3 ms·

They aren't "classics", they're pre-classical epic poetry. There _was_ a solid lineage of interest in greek and roman philosophy that lasted all throughout the

They aren't "classics", they're pre-classical epic poetry. There _was_ a solid lineage of interest in greek and roman philosophy that lasted all throughout the middle ages, and there were latin translations of parts of the Iliad that were taught. The complete Iliad and Odyssey weren't rediscovered from Islamic libraries, but they were carried west by Byzantine scholars. Neo-classicism wasn't a counter culture from Britain -- it was just as popular in London as it was in Washington -- it's not like England was living in the dark ages while America was in the enlightenment. Homer is a fairly core part of western culture and you see references to it everywhere. Somewhat famously in O Brother Where Art There, but there's a long list of movies and novels that have referenced it. And idioms from it like "a Trojan horse" and "achilles heel" are all over western culture. It's not a biblical-level cultural touch stone, but it's fairly important.

veqq 3y ago
> The complete Iliad and Odyssey weren't rediscovered from Islamic libraries, but they were carried west by Byzantine scholars To expand, the 8th century Irish were still copying Greek texts and brought them to Germany (Schottenklöster). Southern Italy used Greek through the 12th century, with the Sicilian Norman kings' courts composing a lot of Greek poetry. Islamic civilizations cared little for the literary heritage of Greece, unfortunately. (Once upon a time, I dug deeply trying to learn how they handled engagement with Paganism. Answer: They didn't, because they didn't read nor translate Homer at al.) They focused on mathematics and science, their achievements came into Europe through Spain (e.g. the Toledo school) around the 12th century, thus Latinized names like Avicenna, Averroes... https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multilingualism-in-the-graecoroman-worlds/greek-in-early-medieval-ireland/65B777B96E57C6F853470B5557E1AF9E https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multilingualism-in-... https://www.jstor.org/stable/20503890 https://www.jstor.org/stable/20503890
- wolverine876 3y ago
  An essential detail of the story: The Islamic world was the only source of Aristotle, whose writings were lost to Europe through the Middle Ages.

veqq 3y ago

> The complete Iliad and Odyssey weren't rediscovered from Islamic libraries, but they were carried west by Byzantine scholars To expand, the 8th century Irish were still copying Greek texts and brought them to Germany (Schottenklöster). Southern Italy used Greek through the 12th century, with the Sicilian Norman kings' courts composing a lot of Greek poetry. Islamic civilizations cared little for the literary heritage of Greece, unfortunately. (Once upon a time, I dug deeply trying to learn how they handled engagement with Paganism. Answer: They didn't, because they didn't read nor translate Homer at al.) They focused on mathematics and science, their achievements came into Europe through Spain (e.g. the Toledo school) around the 12th century, thus Latinized names like Avicenna, Averroes... https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multilingualism-in-the-graecoroman-worlds/greek-in-early-medieval-ireland/65B777B96E57C6F853470B5557E1AF9E https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/multilingualism-in-... https://www.jstor.org/stable/20503890 https://www.jstor.org/stable/20503890

wolverine876 3y ago
An essential detail of the story: The Islamic world was the only source of Aristotle, whose writings were lost to Europe through the Middle Ages.