The transmission of the Greek Classics to
Latin Western Europe during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
was a key factor in the
development of intellectual life in Western Europe.
[
] Interest in Greek texts and their availability was scarce in the Latin West during the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...
, but as traffic to the East increased, so did Western scholarship.
Classical
Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...
consisted of various original works ranging from those from
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...
(e.g.
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
) to those Greco-Roman scholars in the classical
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
(e.g.
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
). Though these works were originally written in Greek, for centuries the language of scholarship in the Mediterranean region, a number of them were translated into
Syriac,
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, and
Persian during the Middle Ages and the original Greek versions were often unknown to the West. With increasing Western presence in the East due to the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
, and the gradual collapse of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
during the
Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
, multiple
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...
scholars fled to Western Europe, bringing with them a number of original Greek manuscripts, and providing impetus for
Greek-language education in the West and further translation efforts of Greek scholarship into Latin.
[Alexander. A. Vasiliev. History of the Byzantine Empire]
The line between ''Greek'' scholarship and ''Arab'' scholarship in Western Europe was blurred during the Middle Ages and the
Early Modern Period
The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...
. Sometimes the concept of the transmission of ''Greek Classics'' is often used to refer to the collective knowledge that was obtained from the Arab and Byzantine Empires, regardless of where the knowledge actually originated. However, being once and even twice removed from the original Greek, these Arabic versions were later supplanted by improved, direct translations by
Moerbeke
Moerbeke () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian province of East Flanders. It is sometimes unofficially called Moerbeke-Waas () to distinguish between this place and in Geraardsbergen. The municipality co ...
and others in the 13th century and after.
Direct reception of Greek texts
As knowledge of Greek declined in the
West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
with the fall of the
Western Roman Empire
In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...
, so did knowledge of the Greek texts, some of which had remained without a Latin translation. The fragile nature of
papyrus
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...
as a writing medium meant that older texts not copied onto expensive
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...
would eventually crumble and be lost.
After the
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
(1202–1204) and the
Sack of Constantinople (1204), scholars such as
William of Moerbeke
William of Moerbeke, Dominican Order, O.P. (; ; 1215–35 – 1286), was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin, enabled by the period of Latin Empire, Latin rule of the Byzanti ...
gained access to the original Greek texts of scientists and philosophers, including
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
,
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...
,
Hero of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimental ...
and
Proclus
Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...
, that had been preserved in the
Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire, and translated them directly into Latin.
The final
decline and
collapse of the Byzantine empire in the fifteenth century heightened contact between its scholars and those of the west. Translation into Latin of the full range of Greek classics ensued, including the historians, poets, playwrights and non-Aristotelian philosophers.
Manuel Chrysoloras
Manuel (or Emmanuel) Chrysoloras (; c. 1350 – 15 April 1415) was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek classical scholar, Renaissance humanist, humanist, philosopher, professor, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the Renaissance. Serv ...
(c. 1355–1415) translated portions of
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
and
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
.
Guarino da Verona
Guarino Veronese or Guarino da Verona (1374 – 14 December 1460) was an Italian classical scholar, humanist, and translator of ancient Greek texts during the Renaissance. In the republics of Florence and Venice he studied under Manuel Chryso ...
(1370–1460) translated
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
and
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
.
Poggio Bracciolini
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (; 11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. He is noted for rediscovering and recove ...
(1380–1459) translated
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
,
Diodorus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, b ...
, and
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...
.
Francesco Filelfo (1398–1481) translated portions of
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
,
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
and
Lysias
Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrac ...
.
Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457) translated
Thucydides
Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...
and
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
.
Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of Neo ...
(1433–1499) and his
Platonic Academy
The Academy (), variously known as Plato's Academy, or the Platonic Academy, was founded in Classical Athens, Athens by Plato ''wikt:circa, circa'' 387 BC. The academy is regarded as the first institution of higher education in the west, where ...
translated Plato.
Poliziano (1454–1494) translated
Herodian
Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς με ...
and portions of
Epictetus and
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
.
Regiomontanus and
George of Trebizond translated Ptolemy's
Almagest. Important patrons were
Basilios Bessarion
Bessarion (; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic Church, Catholic Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed ...
(1403–1472) and Pope
Nicholas V (1397–1455).
Armenia harbored libraries of Greek classical literature. An Armenian codex of Aristotle (†Δ) is one of the main sources in the text-critical apparatus of today's Greek text.
[L. Minio-Paluello (ed.). Aristoteles Categoriae et liber de interpretatione recognovit brevique adnotatione critica instruxit. Oxford Classical Texts.]
Syriac translations
Syriac plays an important role in modern textual criticism even today. The Oxford Classical issue of the Greek text of Aristotle's ''
Organon
The ''Organon'' (, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logical analysis and dialectic. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, who maintained against the ...
'' uses the sigla Ρ, Ι, and Γ, which are texts dating from Christian possessions from the 6th to 8th century.
[
Syriac translations played a major role for the later reception into Arabic. These translators from Syriac were mostly Nestorian and Jacobite Christians, working in the two hundred years following the establishment of the ]Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
caliphate. The most important translator of this group was the Syriac-speaking Christian Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (809-873), known to the Latins as ''Joannitius''.
Western Roman Empire
Classical Greek learning was firmly found in every metropolis of the Roman empire, including in Rome itself.
In the 4th century, the Roman grammarian Marius Victorinus translated two of Aristotle's books, about logic, into Latin: the '' Categories'' and ''On Interpretation
''On Interpretation'' (Ancient Greek, Greek: , ) is the second text from Aristotle's ''Organon'' and is among the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western philosophy, Western tradition to deal with the relationship between language an ...
'' ('' De Interpretatione'').[ A little over a century later, most of Aristotle's logical works, except perhaps for the '']Posterior Analytics
The ''Posterior Analytics'' (; ) is a text from Aristotle's '' Organon'' that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished as ''a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge'', while the de ...
'', had been translated by Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...
, c. 510–512[ (see: ]Corpus Aristotelicum
The works of Aristotle, sometimes referred to by modern scholars with the Latin phrase ''Corpus Aristotelicum'', is the collection of Aristotle's works that have survived from antiquity.
According to a distinction that originates with Aristotle ...
). However, only Boethius's translations of the ''Categories'' and ''On Interpretation'' had entered into general circulation before the 12th century. All in all, only a few major works of Aristotle were never translated into Arabic. Of these, the fate of ''Politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
'' in particular remains uncertain.
The rest of Aristotle's books were eventually translated into Latin, but over 600 years later, from about the middle of the 12th century. First, the rest of the logical works were finished,[ by using the translations of Boethius as the basis. Then came the '']Physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
'', followed by the ''Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
'' (12th century), and Averroes
Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...
' ''Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics'' (13th century),[ so that all works were translated by the mid-13th century.][
A text like '' On the Soul'', for instance, was unavailable in Latin in Christian Europe before the middle of the twelfth century. The first Latin translation is due to James of Venice (12th century), and has always been considered as the ''translatio vetus'' (ancient translation). The second Latin translation (''translatio nova'', new translation) was made from the Arabic translation of the text around 1230, and it was accompanied by ]Averroes
Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...
's commentary; the translator is generally thought to be Michael Scot. James's ''translatio vetus'' was then revised by William of Moerbeke
William of Moerbeke, Dominican Order, O.P. (; ; 1215–35 – 1286), was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin, enabled by the period of Latin Empire, Latin rule of the Byzanti ...
in 1266–7, and became known as the "''recensio nova''" (new recension), which was the most widely read version. '' On the Soul'' ended up becoming a component of the core curriculum of philosophical study in most medieval universities, giving birth to a rich tradition of commentaries, especially c. 1260–1360.
Although Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
had been Aristotle's teacher, most of Plato's writings were not translated into Latin until over 200 years after Aristotle.[ In the Middle Ages, the only book of Plato in general circulation was the first part of the dialogue '' Timaeus'' (to 53c), as a translation, with commentary, by Calcidius (or Chalcidius).][ The ''Timaeus'' describes Plato's ]cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
, as his account of the origin of the universe. In the 12th century Henry Aristippus
Henry Aristippus of Calabria (born in Santa Severina in 1105–10; died in Palermo in 1162), sometimes known as Enericus or Henricus Aristippus, was a religious scholar and the archdeacon of Catania (from c. 1155) and later chief '' familiaris'' ...
of Catania made translations of the ''Meno
''Meno'' (; , ''Ménōn'') is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 385 BC., but set at an earlier date around 402 BC. Meno begins the dialogue by asking Socrates whether virtue (in , '' aretē'') can be taught, acquired by practice, o ...
'' and the ''Phaedo
''Phaedo'' (; , ''Phaidōn'') is a dialogue written by Plato, in which Socrates discusses the immortality of the soul and the nature of the afterlife with his friends in the hours leading up to his death. Socrates explores various arguments fo ...
'', but those books were in limited circulation.[ Some other translations of Plato's books disappeared during the Middle Ages. Finally, about 200 years after the rediscovery of Aristotle, in the wider ]Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
, Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of Neo ...
(1433–99) translated and commented on Plato's complete works.[
]
Boethius
In Rome, Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...
propagated works of Greek classical learning. Boethius intended to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations by writing manuals on music and astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic.[General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI, ''Boethius and Cassiodorus''](_blank)
accessed November 4, 2009.
Several of Boethius' writings, which were largely influential during the Middle Ages, drew from the thinking of Porphyry and Iamblichus
Iamblichus ( ; ; ; ) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who determined a direction later taken by Neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical co ...
.[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Anicius Manlius SeverinusBoethius. Internet. Availablefrom http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/boethius/; accessed November 7, 2009.] Boethius wrote a commentary on the '' Isagoge'' by Porphyry, which highlighted the existence of the problem of universals
The problem of universals is an ancient question from metaphysics that has inspired a range of philosophical topics and disputes: "Should the properties an object has in common with other objects, such as color and shape, be considered to exist ...
: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the ontological
Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...
nature of universal ideas was one of the most vocal controversies in medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy is the philosophy that existed through the Middle Ages, the period roughly extending from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century until after the Renaissance in the 13th and 14th centuries. Medieval philosophy, ...
.
Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is also reported to have translated important Greek texts for the topics of the quadrivium. His loose translation of Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (''De institutione arithmetica libri duo'') and his textbook on music (''De institutione musica Libri quinque'', unfinished) contributed to medieval education. ''De arithmetica'', begins with modular arithmetic, such as even and odd, evenly even, evenly odd, and oddly even. He then turns to unpredicted complexity by categorizing numbers and parts of numbers.
His translations of Euclid
Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
on geometry and Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
on astronomy,[Masi, Michael. "The Liberal Arts and Gerardus Ruffus¢ Commentary on the Boethian De Arithmetica". The Sixteenth Century Journal 10 (Summer 1979): 24.] if they were completed, no longer survive. Boethius made Latin translations of Aristotle's ''De interpretation'' and ''Categories'' with commentaries. These were widely used during the Middle Ages.
Early Middle Ages in the Western Provinces
In the Western Provinces (what today is considered Western Europe's heartland), the collapsing Roman empire lost a number of Greek manuscripts which were not preserved by monasteries. However, due to the expense and dearth of writing materials, monastic scribes could recycle old parchments. The parchments could be reused after scraping off the ink of the old texts, and writing new books on the previously used parchment, creating what is called a palimpsest. Fortunately for modern scholars, the old writing can still be retrieved, and some valuable works, which would have otherwise been lost, have been recovered in this way. As the language of Roman aristocrats and scholars, Greek died off along with the Roman Empire in the West, and by 500 CE, almost no one in Western Europe was able to read (or translate) Greek texts, and with the rise of the Islamic Empire, the west was further cut off from the language. After a while, only a few monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...
in the west had Greek works, and even fewer of them copied these works (mainly the Irish).[Laughlin 139] Some Irish monks had been taught by Greek and Latin missionaries who probably had brought Greek texts with them.
Late Middle Ages: William of Moerbeke
William of Moerbeke
William of Moerbeke, Dominican Order, O.P. (; ; 1215–35 – 1286), was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin, enabled by the period of Latin Empire, Latin rule of the Byzanti ...
was one of the most prolific and influential translators of Greek philosophical texts in the middle half of the thirteenth century. Little is known of William's life. He was born probably in 1215 in the village of Moerbeke
Moerbeke () is a former Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian province of East Flanders. It is sometimes unofficially called Moerbeke-Waas () to distinguish between this place and in Geraardsbergen. The municipality co ...
, now in Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, and probably entered the Dominican priory in Leuven
Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...
as a young man. Most of his surviving work was done during 1259–72.
William's contribution to the "recovery" of Aristotle in the 13th century undoubtedly helped in forming a clearer picture of Greek philosophy, and particularly of Aristotle, than was given by the Arabic versions on which they had previously relied, and which had distorted or obscured the relation between Platonic and Aristotelian systems of philosophy.[Fryde] William's translation of Proclus
Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...
was also important, demonstrating that the influential book '' Liber de Causis'', was not a genuine work of Aristotle, but rather derived from Proclus' ''Elementatio Theologica''.
According to a tradition originating in the later Middle Ages, William knew Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
and was commissioned by him to make some of the translations. But there is no contemporary record of the friendship or the commissions. If they did meet, it is most likely during the three or four years Aquinas was working at Orvieto
Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...
, i.e. not before the election of Pope Urban IV in August 1261, who invited Aquinas to serve at the Papal court, and not after 1265, when Aquinas left for Rome. His translation of ''De motu animalium'' is cited by Thomas in '' Summa Contra Gentiles'', probably completed in 1264.
Arabic translations and commentary
Arabic logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and the Levant
The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, which became important centers for this transmission of ideas.[
Western Arabic translations of Greek works (found in Iberia and Sicily) originates in the Greek sources preserved by the Byzantines. These transmissions to the Arab West took place in two main stages.
]
First period: Greek–Arabic translations
Umayyads
The first period of transmission during 8th and 9th centuries was preceded by a period of conquest, as Arabians took control of previously Hellenized areas such as Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and the Levant
The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
in the 7th century. At this point they first began to encounter Greek ideas, though from the beginning, some of them were hostile to classical learning.[ Because of this hostility, the religious Caliphs could not support scientific translations. Translators had to seek out wealthy business patrons rather than religious ones.][ Until ]Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...
rule in the 8th century, however, there was little work in translation. Most knowledge of Greek during Umayyad rule was gained from those scholars of Greek who remained from the Byzantine period, rather than through widespread translation and dissemination of texts. A few scholars argue that translation was more widespread than is thought during this period, but theirs remains the minority view.[Rosenthal 3-4]
Abbasids
The main period of translation was during Abbasid rule. The 2nd Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur
Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ; 714 – 6 October 775) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr () was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 754 to 775 succeeding his brother al-Saffah (). He is known ...
moved the capital from Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
to Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
.[Lindberg 55] Here he founded a great library, The House of Wisdom, containing Greek Classical texts. Al-Mansur ordered this rich fund of world literature translated into Arabic. Under al-Mansur and by his orders, translations were made from Greek, Syriac, and Persian, the Syriac and Persian books being themselves translations from Greek or Sanskrit.
The 6th-century King of Persia, Anushirvan ( Chosroes I) the Just, had introduced a number of Greek ideas into his kingdom.[Brickman 84-85] Aided by this knowledge and juxtaposition of beliefs, the Abbasids considered it valuable to look at Islam with Greek eyes, and to look at the Greeks with Islamic eyes.[ Abbasid philosophers also pressed the idea that Islam had from the very beginning stressed the gathering of knowledge as important to the religion. These new lines of thought allowed the work of amassing and translating Greek ideas to expand as it never before had.
]
=Baghdad's House of Wisdom
=
The Caliph al-Mansur was the patron who did most to attract the Nestorian physicians to the city of Baghdad which he had founded, and he was also a prince who did much to encourage those who set themselves to prepare Arabic translations of Greek, Syriac, and Persian works. Still more important was the patronage given by the Caliph al-Ma'mun
Abū al-ʿAbbās Abd Allāh ibn Hārūn al-Maʾmūn (; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name al-Ma'mun (), was the seventh Abbasid caliph, who reigned from 813 until his death in 833. His leadership was marked by t ...
, who in A.H. 217 (= A.D. 832) founded a school at Baghdad, suggested no doubt by the Nestorians and Zoroastrian schools already existing, and this he called the Bayt al-Hikma or "House of Wisdom", and this he placed under the guidance of Yuhanna ibn Masawaih (d. A.H. 243 = A.D. 857), who was an author both in Syriac and Arabic, and learned also in the use of Greek. His medical treatise on "Fevers" was long in repute and was afterwards translated into Latin and into Hebrew.
The most important work of the academy however was done by Masawaih's pupils and successors, especially Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (d. 263 A.H. = A.D. 876), the Nestorian physician to whom we have already referred as translating into Syriac the chief medical authorities as well as parts of Aristotle's ''Organon''. After studying at Baghdad under Yahya he visited Alexandria and returned, not only with the training given at what was then the first medical school, but with a good knowledge of Greek which he employed in making translations in Syriac and Arabic.
Later the Caliph al-Mamun also sent emissaries to the Byzantines to gather Greek manuscripts for his new university, making it a center for Greek translation work in the Arab world.[ At first only practical works, such as those on medicine and technology were sought after, but eventually works on philosophy became popular.][Lindberg 56][Long 96]
Most scholars agree that during this period rhetoric, poetry, histories, and dramas were not translated into Arabic, since they were viewed as serving political ends which were not to be sought after in the Islamic states. Instead, philosophical and scientific works were almost the entire focus of translation. This has been disputed by a minority of scholars, however, who argue that stories such as the ''Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...
'' carry clear parallels to Greek literature—evidence that some Muslims were familiar with Greek humanities more than is thought.
After translation: Arabic commentary on Greek works
Al-Kindi (''Alkindus''), a famous logician and prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, is unanimously hailed as the "father of Islamic or Arabic philosophy". His synthesis of Greek philosophy with Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic beliefs met with much opposition, and at one point he was flogged by those opposed to his ideas. He argued that one could accept the Koran and other sacred texts, and work from that point to determine truth
Truth or verity is the Property (philosophy), property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth, 2005 In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise cor ...
. Whenever he ran into an impasse, he would abandon the Greek ideas in favor of the Islamic faith.[Laughlin 114-117] He is considered to be largely responsible for pulling the Near East
The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...
out of a mystic and theological way of thinking into a more rationalistic mode.[ Previous to al-Kindi, for example, on the question of how the immaterial God of the Koran could sit on a throne in the same book, one theologist had said, “The sitting is known, its modality is unknown. Belief in it is a necessity, and raising questions regarding it is a heresy.” Few of al-Kindi's writings have survived, making it difficult to judge his work directly, but it is clear from what exists that he carefully worked to present his ideas in a way acceptable to other Muslims.][
After Al-Kindi, several philosophers argued more radical views, some of whom even rejected ]revelation
Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
, most notably the Persian logician, Al-Razi or “Rhazes.” Considered one of the most original thinkers among the Persian philosophers, he challenged both Islamic and Greek ideas in a rationalist manner. Also, where Al-Kindi had focused on Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
, Al-Rhazi focused on Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
, introducing his ideas as a contrast.[
After Al-Kindi, ]Al-Farabi
file:A21-133 grande.webp, thumbnail, 200px, Postage stamp of the USSR, issued on the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Al-Farabi (1975)
Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (; – 14 December 950–12 January 951), known in the Greek East and Latin West ...
(''Alpharabius'') introduced Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...
through his knowledge of the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
. Unlike Al-Kindi or Al-Rhazi, Al-Farabi was hesitant to express his own feelings on issues of religion and philosophy, choosing rather to speak only through the words of the various philosophies he came across.[
Decades after Al-Farabi, ]Ibn Sina
Ibn Sina ( – 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna ( ), was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian peoples, Iranian ...
(''Avicenna'') compiled the ideas of a number of Muslim philosophers of the previous centuries and established a new school which is known as Avicennism.[ After this period, Greek philosophy went into a decline in the Islamic world. Theologians such as ]Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
argued that a number of realms of logic only worked in theory, not in reality.[ His ideas would later influence Western European religious ideas.][ The Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (''Averroes'') refuted Al-Ghazali's '' The Incoherence of the Philosophers'' with his treatise '' The Incoherence of the Incoherence''. His works led to the philosophical school of ]Averroism
Averroism, also known as Rushdism, was a school of medieval philosophy based on the application of the works of 12th-century Andalusian philosopher Averroes, (Ibn Rushd in Arabic; 1126–1198) a commentator on Aristotle, in 13th-century Latin C ...
.
By 1200, when philosophy was again revived in the Islamic world, Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi were no longer remembered, while Ibn Sina's compilation work still was.[Laughlin 119] Ibn Sina, otherwise known as Avicenna, would later heavily influence European philosophical, theological and scientific thought, becoming known as “the most famous scientist of Islam” to multiple Western historians.[
]
Western European reception of Greek ideas via the Islamic tradition
While Greek ideas gradually permeated the Islamic world, Muslims conquests extended to the European continent. Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
was conquered by the Umayyads around 700 AD, even reaching as far as Poitiers in Southern France by 732 ( Battle of Tours). By 902 Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
was conquered. With the aid of Greek and other ideas, Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
in particular quickly became the most heavily populated and thriving area in Europe.[ One of the rulers of ]Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
, Al-Hakam II
Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; 13 January 915 – 1 October 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Abd-al-R ...
, made an effort to gather books from all over the Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
, creating a library which would later become a center for translation into Latin.
As books were gathered, so were a number of Muslim scholars who had studied Greek ideas in the east. For example, Muhammud ibn 'Abdun and 'Abdu'l-Rahman ibn Ismail came to Spain and introduced a number of ideas about medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
as well as several of the works of Aristotle and Euclid
Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
. Ibn Bajjah
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyà ibn aṣ-Ṣā’igh at-Tūjībī ibn Bājja (), known simply as Ibn Bajja () or his Latinized name Avempace (; – 1138), was an Arab polymath, whose writings include works regarding astronomy, physi ...
(known as "Avempace") and Ibn Rushd (known as "Averroes") were among the other famous philosophers of Spain who furthered the expansion of Greek ideas in medicine and philosophy.
Prior to Averroes
Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinization of names, Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and Faqīh, jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astron ...
(Ibn Rushid), a number of philosophers had confused Aristotle with Plotinus
Plotinus (; , ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a Greek Platonist philosopher, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neoplatonism. His teacher was the self-taught philosopher Ammonius ...
, a Hellenized Egyptian who founded Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...
and had mixed Aristotle's ideas with Plato's. Averroes rediscovered the "true" Aristotle by translating key texts reintroducing him to Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
. He also challenged Al-Ghazali's largely anti-Greek philosophies and offered some of the best reconciliation of Islam and philosophy of the time.[Laughlin 121] Key to his arguments was the idea that although there was only one truth, that truth could be expressed in multiple ways, including both philosophy and religion. He even used the Qur'an
The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...
to back up his arguments in favor of Greek philosophy and logic, especially the passage: "It is He, Muhammadwho has revealed the Book to you...some of its verses are unambiguous...and the others are ambiguous...only God and those confirmed in knowledge know its interpretation." Averroes argued that "those confirmed in knowledge" were philosophers.[
The Scholastic philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages such as ]Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
later called Averroes "The Commentator," and Michael the Scot translated several of Averroes' works within fifty years of his death. However, Averroes' reception in Western Europe contrasted with his ultimate rejection in Spain. Soon after Averroes, Greek ideas in the Arab lands were largely opposed by those who disliked anything not "truly Arab."
Arabic: Latin or Vernacular
While Muslims were translating and adding their own interpretations to Greek philosophies, the Latin West was still suspicious of pagan ideas. Leaders of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire also frowned upon philosophy, and the Empire had just gone through a period of plague, famine, and war. Further west, several key figures in European history who came after Boethius had strengthened the overwhelming shift away from Hellenistic ideas. For centuries, Greek ideas in Europe were all but non-existent, until the Eastern part of the Roman Empire – Byzantium – was sacked during the Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
unlocking a number of Ancient Greek texts. Within Western Europe, only a few monasteries had Greek works, and even fewer of them copied these works.
There was a brief period of revival, when the Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
monk Alcuin
Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...
and others reintroduced some Greek ideas during the Carolingian Renaissance
The Carolingian Renaissance was the first of three medieval renaissances, a period of cultural activity in the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne's reign led to an intellectual revival beginning in the 8th century and continuing throughout the 9th ...
of the 8th century. After Charlemagne's death, however, intellectual life again fell into decline.[Laughlin 143-46] By the 12th century, however, scholastic thought was beginning to develop, leading to the rise of universities
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
throughout Europe.[Laughlin 147-48] These universities gathered what little Greek thought had been preserved over the centuries, including Boethius' commentaries on Aristotle. They also served as places of discussion for new ideas coming from new translations from Arabic throughout Europe.[
By the 12th century, European fear of Islam as a military threat had lessened somewhat. Toledo, in Spain, had fallen from the Umayyads in 1085, Sicily and Jerusalem from the ]Fatimids
The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
in 1091 and 1099 respectively.[Watt 59-60][Lindberg 58-59] These linguistic borderlands proved fertile ground for translators. These areas had been conquered by Arabic, Greek, and Latin-speaking peoples over the centuries and contained linguistic abilities from all these cultures. The small and unscholarly population of the Crusader Kingdoms in the Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
contributed little to the translation efforts, until the Fourth Crusade took most of the Byzantine Empire. Sicily, still largely Greek-speaking, was more productive; it had seen rule under Byzantines, Arabs, and Italians, and a number of them were fluent in Greek, Arabic, and Latin. Sicilians, however, were less influenced by Arabs and instead are noted more for their translations directly from Greek to Latin.[ Spain, on the other hand, was an ideal place for translation from Arabic to Latin because of a combination of rich Latin and Islamic cultures living side by side.][
]
Spain and Sicily
As early as the 10th century, scholars in Andalusia
Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
had begun to gather translated texts, and in the latter half of that century began transmitting them to the rest of Europe. After the Reconquista
The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
of the 12th century, however, Spain opened even further for Christian scholars, who were now able to work in "friendly" religious territory.[Lindberg 62-65; Palencia 270] As these Europeans encountered Islamic philosophy, their previously held fears turned to admiration, and from Spain came a wealth of Islamic knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.[ Foreigners came to Spain to translate from all over Europe,][ and Toledo became a center for such travelers, since a number of its citizens wrote daily in both Arabic and Latin-based languages.
Although there was a huge amount of work being accomplished in Spain, there was no central school for translating and no real organized effort, as there had been at times among the Muslims.][ Translators came from multiple different backgrounds and translated for a number of different reasons. For example, non-Christian Jewish scholars participated by translating Arabic works which had already been translated into Hebrew, into Latin and Vulgate languages.][Brickman 86][Lindberg 67] Some scholars, however, have suggested that Raymond de Sauvetât, the Archbishop of Toledo, seems to have started an organized movement of support for translations, and multiple scholars who seem to be associated with him in documents may have translated two-by-two, working together.[
Whether Raimond actually started a truly central, organized effort at translation, later generalized as the Toledo School of Translators, remains unknown. What is known is that most translations coming out of Spain dealt with either medicine or astronomy. Hugo of Santalla, for example, translated a large selection of Arabic works all dealing with astronomy, as well as tracing the history of astronomic thought through history, underscoring the work of the Greeks, Persians, Hellenists, and Arabs in one large preface to his volume.
By the 13th century, translation had declined in Spain, but it was on the rise in Italy and Sicily, and from there to all of Europe.][ ]Adelard of Bath
Adelard of Bath (; 1080? 1142–1152?) was a 12th-century English natural philosopher. He is known both for his original works and for translating many important Greek scientific works of astrology, astronomy, philosophy, alchemy and mathemat ...
, an Englishman, traveled to Sicily and the Arab lands, translating works on astronomy and mathematics, including the first complete translation of Euclid's Elements
The ''Elements'' ( ) is a mathematics, mathematical treatise written 300 BC by the Ancient Greek mathematics, Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid.
''Elements'' is the oldest extant large-scale deductive treatment of mathematics. Drawing on the w ...
.[Clagett, 356.] Powerful Norman kings gathered men of high knowledge from Italy, and other areas, into their courts, as signs of prestige.[Lindberg 70-72] Even the Byzantines experienced an Aristotelian revival in the mid-12th century, and gathered men from Italy as well.[
Because some of Aristotle's newly translated views discounted the notions of a personal God, immortal soul, or creation, various leaders of the ]Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
were inclined to censor those views for decades,[ such as lists of forbidden books in the Condemnations of 1210–1277 at the ]University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
. Meanwhile, Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
(c.1225–1274), at the end of that time period, was able to reconcile the viewpoints of Aristotelianism and Christianity, primarily in his work ''Summa Theologica
The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main t ...
'' (1265–1274).
[.][
"Cambridge Histories Online" (Later Medieval Philosophy), John F. Wippel, 1982, Overview, cambridge.org, 2011.
]
See also
* Latin translations of the 12th century
* Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
* Science in the medieval Islamic world
Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad, the Caliphate of Córdoba, Umayyads of Córdoba, Spain, Córdoba, the Abbadid dynasty, Abbadids ...
* Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and Ca ...
* Thomism
Thomism is the philosophical and theological school which arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican philosopher, theologian, and Doctor of the Church.
In philosophy, Thomas's disputed ques ...
* Toledo School of Translators
* Vivarium
References
Bibliography
*Brickman, William W. “The Meeting of East and West in Educational History.” Comparative Education Review. (Oct 1961) 5.2 pgs. 82-89.
*Clagett, Marshall. “William of Moerbeke: Translator of Archimedes.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. (Oct 1982) 126.5 pgs. 356-366.
* Fryde, E., ''The Early Palaeologan Renaissance'', Brill 2000.
* Grant, E. ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge 1996.
* Grabmann 1946, "Guglielmo di Moerbeke, O.P., il traduttore delle opere di Aristotele", ''Miscellanea Historiae Pontificiae'', vol. XI, fasc. 20, Rome, 1946.
*Grunebaum, Gustave E. von. “Greek Form Elements in the Arabian Nights.” Journal of the American Oriental Society. (Dec 1942) 62.4 pgs. 277-292 .
*Laughlin, Burgess. ''The Aristotle Adventure: a Guide to the Greek, Arabic, and Latin Scholars Who Transmitted Aristotle's Logic to the Renaissance''. Flagstaff Ariz.: Albert Hale Pub., 1995.
*Lindberg, David C. (ed.). ''Science in the Middle Ages''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
*Long, Pamela O. ''Technology and Society in the Medieval Centuries Byzantium, Islam, and the West, 500-1300''. Washington DC: American Historical Association, 2003.
*Moller, Violet. ''The Map of Knowledge: A Thousand-Year History of How Classical Ideas Were Lost and Found''. New York: Anchor Books, 2020.
*
*Palencia, A. Gonzalez. “Islam and the Occident”, Hispania. (October 1935) 18.3 pgs. 245-276.
*Pingree, David. “Classical and Byzantine Astrology in Sassanian Persia.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers. (1989) 43 pgs. 227-239.
*Reynolds, L. D., and N. G. Wilson. ''Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature''. 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
*Rosenthal, Franz (Ed. and trans.). ''The Classical Heritage in Islam''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.
*Walbridge, John. “Explaining Away the Greek Gods in Islam.” Journal of the History of Ideas. (Jul 1998) 59.3 pgs. 389-403.
*Watt, W. Montgomery. ''The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe''. Edinburgh: University Press, 1972.
External links
The Rediscovery of the Corpus Aristotelicum
with an annotated bibliography
{{Authority control
Medieval philosophy
Renaissance humanism
Islamic Golden Age
Classical antiquity