Greece played a crucial role in the transmission ofclassical knowledge to theIslamic world. Its rich historiographical tradition preserved Ancient Greek knowledge upon which Islamicart,architecture,literature,philosophy and technological achievements were built.Ibn Khaldun once noted; The sciences of only one nation, the Greeks, have come down to us, because they were translated throughAl-Ma'mun’s efforts. He was successful in this direction because he had many translators at his disposal and spent much money in this connection.[1]
ScholarToby Huff notes the extraordinary impact that Greek natural science and philosophy had on theIslamic Golden Age, stating that:[2]
What writers on the history of Arabic Islamic science often forget or omit is the extraordinary legacy of Greek natural science and philosophy that was translated and without which it can be argued there would not have been a golden age of scientific inquiry in the Muslim world.
The common and persistent myth claiming that Islamic scholars “saved” the classical work ofAristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction is inaccurate. Arabic scholars were indeed responsible for theinitial transmission of many Greek texts toWestern Europe (translated to Latin from Arabic), with many original Greek texts not leaving theByzantine Empire until theRenaissance. Medieval possession of Greek texts in Latin was largely thanks to Arabic scholars, but today the original Greek is accessible thanks to Renaissance scholars. According to the myth, these works would otherwise have perished in the long European Dark Ages between the fifth and the tenth centuries. Ancient Greek texts and Greek culture were never “lost” to be somehow “recovered” and “transmitted” by Islamic scholars, but rather were preserved and studied by the scholars and monks of the Byzantines and passed on to the rest of Europe and to the Islamic world at various times. Aristotle had been translated in France at the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel before translations of Aristotle into Arabic (via theSyriac of the Christian scholars from the conquered lands of the Byzantine Empire). Michael Harris points out:[3]
The great writings of the classical era, particularly those of Greece … were always available to the Byzantines and to those Western peoples in cultural and diplomatic contact with the Eastern Empire.… Of the Greek classics known today, at least seventy-five percent are known through Byzantine copies.
HistorianJohn Julius Norwich adds that “much of what we know about antiquity—especially Hellenic and Roman literature and Roman law—would have been lost forever if it weren’t for the scholars and scribes of Constantinople.”[4]
Ibn Khaldun pointed out that the one civilization from which the Arabs had learned the sciences, was that of the Greeks, thanks to the translations by Christian (Assyrians) scholars of Greek texts into Syriac and then into Arabic. Ibn Khaldun also records that Abbasid caliphal-Mansur requested from the Byzantine Emperor the mathematical works of the Greeks.[5]
TheHellenistic period began in the 4th century BC withAlexander the Great's conquest of the easternMediterranean,Egypt,Mesopotamia, theIranian plateau,Central Asia, and parts ofIndia, leading to the spread of the Greek language and culture across these areas. Greek became the language of scholarship throughout the Hellenistic world, and Greek mathematics merged withEgyptian andBabylonian mathematics to give rise to a Hellenistic mathematics.
The most important centre of learning during this period wasAlexandria inEgypt, which attracted scholars from across the Hellenistic world, mostly Greek andEgyptian, but alsoJewish,Persian,Phoenician scholars.[6]
Most of the mathematical texts written in Greek have been found in Greece,Egypt,Asia Minor,Mesopotamia, andSicily.
Byzantine science was essentially classical science.[7] Therefore, Byzantine science was in every period closely connected withancient-pagan philosophy, andmetaphysics. Despite some opposition to pagan learning, many of the most distinguished classical scholars held high office in theChurch. The most noteworthy oppositions include the closing of thePlatonic Academy in 529, theobscurantism ofCosmas Indicopleustes, the condemnation ofIoannis Italos (1082) and ofGeorgios Plethon because of their devotion to ancient philosophy. The writings of antiquity never ceased to be cultivated in theByzantine Empire due to the impetus given toclassical studies by theAcademy of Athens in the 4th and 5th centuries, the vigor of the philosophical academy ofAlexandria, and to the services of theUniversity of Constantinople, which concerned itself entirely with secular subjects, to the exclusion oftheology,[8] which was taught in thePatriarchical Academy. Even the latter offered instruction in the ancient classics, and included literary, philosophical, and scientific texts in its curriculum. The monastic schools concentrated upon theBible, theology, andliturgy. Therefore, the monasticscriptoria expended most of their efforts upon the transcription of ecclesiastical manuscripts, while ancient-pagan literature was transcribed, summarized, excerpted, and annotated by laymen or enlightened bishops likePhotios,Arethas of Caesarea,Eustathius of Thessalonica, andBasilius Bessarion.[9]
When SaintCyril was sent by the Byzantine emperor in an embassy to the Arabs in the ninth century, he astonished his Muslim hosts with his knowledge of philosophy and science as well as theology. HistorianMaria Mavroudi recounts:[10]
When asked how it was possible for him to know all that he did, he [Cyril] drew an analogy between the Muslim reaction to his erudition and the pride of someone who kept sea water in a wine skin and boasted of possessing a rare liquid. He finally encountered someone from a region by the sea, who explained that only a madman would brag about the contents of the wine skin, since people from his own homeland possessed an endless abundance of sea water. The Muslims are like the man with the wine skin and the [Greeks] like the man from the sea because, according to the saint’s concluding remark in his response, all learning emanated from the [Greeks].
Byzantine scientists preserved and continued the legacy of the greatAncient Greek mathematicians and put mathematics in practice. In earlyByzantium (5th to 7th centuries) the architects and mathematiciansIsidore of Miletus andAnthemius of Tralles used complex mathematical formulas to construct the greatHagia Sophia church, a technological breakthrough for its time and for centuries afterwards due to its striking geometry, bold design and height. In late Byzantium (9th to 12th centuries) mathematicians likeMichael Psellos considered mathematics as a way to interpret the world.
After learning ofLeo the Mathematician, the Abbasid caliphal-Mamun was so impressed by his knowledge of mathematics, providing proofs that his own scholars were unable to complete, and predictive abilities that he offered Leo great riches to come toBaghdad.[11]
Medicine was one of the sciences in which the Byzantines improved on their Greco-Roman predecessors. As a result, Byzantine medicine had an influence onIslamic medicine as well as the medicine of theRenaissance.
The first known Greek medical school opened in Cnidus in 700BC.Alcmaeon, author of the first anatomical work, worked at this school, and it was here that the practice of observing patients was established.Ancient Greek medicine revolved around the theory ofhumours. The most important figure in ancient Greek medicine is the physicianHippocrates, known as the "Father of Medicine", who established his own medical school atCos.[14] Hippocrates and his students documented many conditions in theHippocratic Corpus, and developed theHippocratic Oath for physicians, still in use today. The Greek Galen was one of the greatest surgeons of the ancient world and performed many audacious operations—including brain and eye surgeries— that were not tried again for almost two millennia. The writings of Hippocrates, Galen, and others had a lasting influence onIslamic medicine andMedieval European medicine until many of their finding eventually became obsolete from the 14th century onwards.
Unani Medicine (/juːˈnɑːni/;Yūnānī inArabic,Hindustani andPersian), also spelledYunani Medicine, means "Greek Medicine", and is a form oftraditional medicine widely practiced inSouth Asia. It refers to a tradition ofGraeco-Arabic medicine,[15][16] which is based on the teachings of Greek physicianHippocrates, and Roman physicianGalen, and developed into an elaborate medical System byArab andPersian physicians, such asRhazes,Avicenna (Ibn Sena),Al-Zahrawi,Ibn Nafis.[17]
An author observed that “The fourth Umayyad Caliph,Marwan I, ordered the translation … of the famous medical treatise of Aaron of Alexandria. The translation of medical literature was in fact a principal aspect of the scientific progress that distinguished the rule of the Umayyads.”[18]
The oldest scientific work in Arabic was a discourse on medicine, which was written byAaron of Alexandria, a Greek Christian priest, and translated from the Syriac language then into Arabic in the year 683 by a Jewish doctor fromBasra namedMasarjawaih.[19][20]
Immense scientific knowledge, (such asGalenic medical knowledge), fell into the hands of Muslims after their military conquest of the Christian city ofAlexandria in the year 642. Muslim physicians would build upon these Greek works for their later reputation in the medical field.[21][22][23]
Greek fire was anincendiary weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it innaval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water. It provided a technological advantage, and was responsible for many key Byzantine military victories, most notably the salvation ofConstantinople from two Arabsieges, thus securing the Empire's survival. Greek fire proper however was invented in c. 672, and is ascribed by the chroniclerTheophanes to Kalliniko, an architect fromHeliopolis in the former province of Phoenice, by then overrun by theMuslim conquests.[24]
Byzantine Greek architecture in the West gave way toRomanesque andGothic architecture. In the East it exerted a profound influence on earlyIslamic architecture, During the Umayyad Caliphate era (661-750), as far as the Greek impact on early Islamic architecture is concerned, the Greek artistic heritage formed a fundamental source to the new Islamic art, especially in Syria and Palestine. There are considerable Byzantine influences which can be detected in the distinctive early Islamic monuments in Syria and Palestine, as on theDome of the Rock (691) at Jerusalem, theUmayyad Mosque (709-15) at Damascus. While the Dome of the Rock gives clear reference in plan - and partially in decoration - to Byzantine art, the plan of theUmayyad Mosque has also a remarkable similarity with the 6th- and 7th-century Christian basilicas, but it has been modified and expanded on the transversal axis and not on the normal longitudinal axis as in the Christian basilicas. This modification serves better the liturgy for the Islamic prayer. The original mihrab of the mosque is located almost in the middle of the eastern part of the qibla wall and not in its middle, a feature which can be explained by the fact that the architect might have tried to avoid the impression of a Christian apse which would result from the placement of the mihrab in the middle of the transept. The tile work, geometric patterns, multiple arches, domes, and polychrome brick and stone work that characterize Islamic and Moorish architecture were influenced by Byzantine architecture.
Caliphal-Walid I was said to have been in such desperate need of Byzantine architectural assistance that he blackmailed the Byzantine emperor by threatening to destroy churches in the Muslim lands if his request of greek artisans was not met.[25]
Al-Muqaddasi explains that the reason behind the construction of the Umayyad mosque of Damascus was because of inspiration from Byzantine Greek Churches.[26]
Al-Walid was divinely guided in a matter of great importance. He looked out over Syria, the land of the Christians, and saw there fine churches, such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and those of Lydda and Edessa, enticing in their ornamentation and great fame. So he erected for the Muslims a mosque that would divert their attention from these churches, and he made it one of the wonders of the earth. Do you not understand that when ‘Abd al-Malik saw the imposing and inspiring dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, he was afraid lest it assume an equally large place in the heart of Muslims? So he built on the rock a dome which is now seen there.
Turkish architecture is thearchitecture of theOttoman Empire which emerged inBursa andEdirne in 14th and 15th centuries. The architecture of the empire developed from the earlierAnatolian Seljuk architecture and was influenced byByzantine,Iranian andMamluk Egyptian traditions after theconquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans.[27][28][29] For almost 400 years Byzantine architectural artifacts such as the church ofHagia Sophia served as models for most of the Ottomanmosques.
Islamic art began with artists and craftsmen mostly trained in Byzantine styles, and though figurative content was greatly reduced, Byzantine decorative styles remained a great influence on Islamic art, and Byzantine artists continued to be imported for important works for some time, especially formosaics.Islamic architecture used mosaic technique to decorate religious buildings and palaces after theMuslim conquests of the eastern provinces of theByzantine Empire. InSyria andEgypt the Arabs were influenced by the great tradition of Hellenistic and Early Christian mosaic art. During theUmayyad Dynasty mosaic making remained a flourishing art form in Islamic culture and it is continued in the art ofzellige andazulejo in various parts of the Arab world, althoughtile was to become the main Islamic form of wall decoration.
The first great religious building ofIslam, the Dome of the Rock inJerusalem, which was built between 688-692, was decorated with glass mosaics both inside and outside, by craftsmen of the Byzantine tradition. Only parts of the original interior decoration survive. The rich floral motifs follow Byzantine traditions, and are "Islamic only in the sense that the vocabulary is syncretic and does not include representation of men or animals."[30]
The most important early Islamic mosaic work is the decoration of theUmayyad Mosque inDamascus, then capital of theArab Caliphate. The mosque was built between 706 and 715. The caliph obtained 200 skilled workers from the Byzantine Emperor to decorate the building. This is evidenced by the partly Byzantine style of the decoration. The mosaics of the inner courtyard depict Paradise with beautiful trees, flowers and small hill towns and villages in the background. The mosaics include no human figures, which makes them different from the otherwise similar contemporary Byzantine works. The biggest continuous section survives under the western arcade of the courtyard, called the "Barada Panel" after the riverBarada. It is thought that the mosque used to have the largest gold mosaic in the world, at over 4 m2. In 1893 a fire damaged the mosque extensively, and many mosaics were lost, although some have been restored since.[citation needed]
According to the scholarIrfan Shahid, sources point to the influence of the Greek Byzantines and Persians in the development of music in Arabia.[31]
Arab sources agree that the Byzantine artisians were highly skilled in all fields and left their nearest competitors far behind. The persian historianibn al-Faqih praised Byzantine art:[32]
The Romans are the nation most skilled in painting...Their artists paint human beings without omitting a single detail, for the Roman painter is not satisfied with a painting until he has transformed the figure into a youth, a mature man, or a dotard; he next makes his subject handsome and charming and then mirthful or lachrymose. In his painting the artist even manages to distinguish between a sarcastic smile and a shy one and between gaiety and the laughter of the delirious.
The PersianHabash al-Hasib al-Marwazi states that "the Rūm are indisputable masters in al-ṣanā"i" al-mihaniyya (the applied arts)"[33]
The famous scholarAbu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' observed that the Byzantines "relinquished warfare to become a settled people, Landowners who raise sheep cows and horses. But above all they are craftsmen."[33]
The high value placed on ByzantineBrocades in the Islamic world is attested to inal-Tha'alibi's book "Laṭāʼif al-maʻārif" in which Abu Dulaf al-Khazraji prays for godsends, including ByzantineBrocades. The theologianal-Jahiz says that "In the Domains of construction, carpentry, craftsmanship, and turnery, the Byzantines have no equal."[34]
.webp)
Greek astronomy isastronomy written in theGreek language inclassical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include theancient Greek,Hellenistic,Greco-Roman, andLate Antiquity eras. It is not limitedgeographically toGreece or to ethnicGreeks, as the Greek language had become the language of scholarship throughout theHellenistic world following the conquests ofAlexander. This phase of Greek astronomy is also known asHellenistic astronomy, while the pre-Hellenistic phase is known asClassical Greek astronomy. During the Hellenistic and Roman periods, much ofthe Greek and non-Greekastronomers working in the Greek tradition studied at theMusaeum and theLibrary of Alexandria inPtolemaic Egypt.The development of astronomy by the Greek and Hellenistic astronomers is considered by historians to be a major phase in thehistory of astronomy. Greek astronomy is characterized from the start by seeking a rational, physical explanation for celestial phenomena.[35] Most of the constellations of the northern hemisphere derive from Greek astronomy,[36] as are the names of all planets and moons and all stars in theBayer designation. It was influenced byBabylonian and, to a lesser extent,Egyptian astronomy; in turn, it influencedIndian,Arabic-Islamic andWestern European astronomy.
Many of the proper names for individual stars within the constellations areArabic (modern designation is theBayer designation by the GermanJohann Bayer from 1603, it is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek letter, followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars), before the Arabian names, there were Greek names of the stars.
The Greek astronomerHipparchus 190 BC – c. 120 BC work, were later made into several scientific texts by the GreekClaudius Ptolemy’s calledtheAlmagest, which contained the originalGreek and Latin names for stars,It contain a star catalogue of 1022 stars, described by their positions in the constellations,In the 9th century it was adopted by theArabs and translated from the original Greek and Latin into Arabic. For example, the Arabs translatedOpisthen (Οπισθεν "after" or "following"Greek) orOpiso (Οπισω "to follow after"Greek), one of the original Greek names for the brightest star in Taurus, asAldebaran (الدبران), which means "the Follower" in Arabic, because the star always follows behind thePleiades as both move across the sky. In all, there are three major names for the brightest star in Taurus; the proper name Aldebaran and the scientific names, Alpha Taurind and 87 Tauri. Any of these three names can be used for the brightest star in Taurus but present day astronomers prefer to use the latter two scientific names.[citation needed]
Due to their enormous popularity, a remnant of bright stars retained their original Greek or Latin names, surviving the mass invasion of Arabic names. Examples includeSirius (Greek for "searing" or "scorching"),Arcturus (Greek for "Guardian of the Bear"),Capella (Latin for "Little She-goat"), andSpica (Latin for "Ear of Grain"). Examples of Chinese and Hindu names includeKoo She (Chinese for "Bow and Arrow") andAshlesha (Vedic-Hindu for "The Embracing One"). There are also contemporary proper names given to some stars, many of which refer to accomplished astronomers, deceased astronauts and English titles. For example,Gamma Velorum is namedRegor, which is "Roger" spelled backwards; the name honorsAstronautRoger B. Chaffee, who died in theApollo 1 tragedy. Other contemporary names includeThe Persian (Alpha Indi) andThe Head of Hydrus (Alpha Hydri),Herschel's Garnet Star (Mu Cephei),Barnard's Star, etc.
| Byzantine culture |
|---|
 |
During the 12th century the Byzantines provided their model of earlyhumanism as a renaissance of interest in classical authors. InEustathius of Thessalonica Byzantine humanism found its most characteristic expression.[37] During the 13th and 14th centuries, a period of intense creative activity, Byzantine humanism approached its zenith, and manifested a striking analogy to the contemporaneousItalian humanism. Byzantine humanism believed in the vitality of classical civilization, and of its sciences, and its proponents occupied themselves with scientific sciences.[38]
Despite the political, and military decline of these last two centuries, the Empire saw a flourishing of science and literature, often described as the "Palaeologean" or "Last Byzantine Renaissance".[39] Some of this era's most eminent representatives are:Maximus Planudes,Manuel Moschopulus,Demetrius Triclinius andThomas Magister. The Academy atTrebizond, highly influenced byPersian sciences, became a renowned center for the study ofastronomy, and othermathematical sciences, andmedicine attracted the interest of almost all scholars.[38] In the final century of the Empire Byzantine grammarians were those principally responsible for carrying in person, and in writing ancient Greek grammatical, and literary studies to earlyRenaissance Italy, and among themManuel Chrysoloras was involved over the never achieved union of the Churches.[39]
During the Middle Ages, there was frequently an exchange of works between Byzantine andIslamic science. The Byzantine Empire initially provided themedieval Islamic world withAncient and earlyMedieval Greek texts onastronomy,mathematics andphilosophy for translation intoArabic as the Byzantine Empire was the leading center of scientific scholarship in the region at the beginning of the Middle Ages. Later as theCaliphate and othermedieval Islamic cultures became the leading centers of scientific knowledge, Byzantine scientists such asGregory Choniades, who had visited the famousMaragheh observatory, translated books onIslamic astronomy,mathematics and science intoMedieval Greek, including for example the works ofJa'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi,Ibn Yunus,Al-Khazini (who was of Byzantine Greek descent but raised in a Persian culture),[40]Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī[41] andNasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (such as theZij-i Ilkhani and otherZij treatises) among others.[42]
There were also some Byzantine scientists who used Arabic transliterations to describe certain scientific concepts instead of the equivalent Ancient Greek terms (such as the use of the Arabictalei instead of the Ancient Greekhoroscopus). Byzantine science thus played an important role in not only transmitting ancient Greek knowledge to Western Europe and the Islamic world, but in also transmitting Arabic knowledge to Western Europe, such as the transmission of theTusi-couple, which later appeared in the work ofNicolaus Copernicus.[43] Byzantine scientists also became acquainted withSassanid andIndian astronomy through citations in some Arabic works.[40]