tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post7131972195421151175..comments2024-03-18T22:21:01.033-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: AverroesGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-47434948531094341282011-11-30T12:31:24.446-05:002011-11-30T12:31:24.446-05:00Hadn't heard of that - but I did long ago read...Hadn't heard of that - but I did long ago read about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes_Palimpsest" rel="nofollow">Archimedes Palimpsest</a> - the only known copy of "The Method" (an important insight into the way he got his geometrical theorems) had been scraped off the parchment by monks so they could write devotional works over it. <br /><br />Sometimes, <i>nobody</i> was working that hard to preserve ancient learning.Joseph W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09480728887840887200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-60546263253407294002011-11-30T11:29:29.971-05:002011-11-30T11:29:29.971-05:00Not enough history. That's always the problem ...Not enough history. That's always the problem with articles of this sort. <br /><br />That, and an overwhelming conceit of attributing to Islam some sort of special place in preserving Greek thought, which of course, wouldn't have been necessary in the first place if the all the places in the middle east where Roman/Hellenistic civilization were originally hadn't been overrun by the Arabs, and really isn't the case since the real renaissance in relearning Greek dates from the middle of the 15th century, with the virtual export of Greek writings (and Greek teachers) from Constantinople prior to the Ottoman taking of the city. <br /><br />That, combined with the printing press, instead of copying manuscripts, ensured the propagation of all sorts of classical texts, almost all of which were got out of medieval European monestaries. <br /><br />And they're still finding stuff in those monestaries, like that collection of Archimedes' writings that came to light recently.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02521739006999750126noreply@blogger.com