ARABS AND CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

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ARABS AND CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

WIKIPEDIA

Transmission of the Classics

The ideas of Aristotle and Plato, shown in Raphael's The School of Athens, were partly lost to Europeans for centuries.
The introduction of Greek philosophy and science into the culture of the Latin West in the Middle Ages was an event that transformed the intellectual life of Western Europe.[1] It consisted of the discovery of many original works, such as those written by Aristotle in the classical period, commentaries on his works written in late Antiquity, and commentaries from early Muslim philosophers in the Arab world, or Muslim world, written during the Islamic Golden Age from the 9th to 12th centuries.[2]

Early Medieval period

As knowledge of Greek declined with the fall of the Roman Empire, so did knowledge of the Greek texts, many of which had remained untranslated.[3] The fragile nature of papyrus, as a writing medium, meant that older texts not copied onto expensive parchment would eventually crumble and be lost. The Byzantines, for whom Greek was the dominant language, made use of only parts of their classical Greek heritage, and were more interested in preserving Christian writings. Thus, for a long time in Europe after the execution of Boethius (one of the last writers with a good understanding of both Latin and Greek philosophy) in 524/525 CE/AD, there was a disregard for Greek ideas.

Two periods of translation

The transfer of Greek works from the Byzantines to the Latin West took place in two main stages. The first occurred in Baghdad, when Greek works were translated into Arabic in the 8th and 9th century during Abbasid rule.[7] The second is “the great age of translation” in the 12th and 13th centuries as Europeans conquered formerly Islamic territories in Spain and Sicily. Scholars came from all over Europe to benefit from Arab learning and culture.[7] About the same period, after the Fourth Crusade, scholars such as William of Moerbeke gained access to the original Greek texts that had been preserved in the Byzantine empire, and translated them directly into Latin.[8] There was a later stage when Western knowledge of Greek began to revive in Renaissance Humanism, and especially after the Fall of Constantinople when there was an influx of refugee Greek scholars in the Renaissance.

Baghdad's House of Wisdom

بيت الحكمة

The Abassids moved their capital from Arabia to Baghdad.^[16] Here, translation work exploded within the House of Wisdom, a university of sorts created in 830 under Caliph Abdallah-al-Mamun. Al-Mamun had 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.^[11] At first only practical works, such as those on medicine and technology were sought after, but eventually works on philosophy became popular.^[22]
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 Arab 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 Arabian Nights carry clear parallels to Greek literature—evidence that many Arabs were familiar with Greek humanities more than is thought.^[23]

Over a century and a half, Arab scholars translated all scientific and philosophic Greek texts available to them.^[4] The translation movement at the House of Wisdom was kick-started by the translation of Aristotle's Topics. By the time of al-Ma'mum, translators had moved on from looking only at Persian astrological texts and Greek works were already in their third translation.^[3] Authors translated include: Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Euclid, Plotinus, Galen, Sushruta, Charaka, Aryabhata and Brahmagupta.




P.S. More information in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_of_the_Classics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom

Heraclitus=هيراكليتس

Heraclitus=هيراكليتس

http://listverse.com/2012/06/26/top-10-pre-socratic-philosophers/

Heraclitus, also known as Heraclitus the Black, the Obscure, and the Weeping Philosopher for his negative outlook and mysterious sayings. What little we have of Heraclitus’ work exists in short sayings open to multiple interpretation. He is famous for the saying ‘You cannot step in the same river twice.’ Is this because the river will have changed between steps, or you will have? Another of his sayings was ‘Everything flows.’ Little of his work survives today but he was well-known in antiquity and was influential on later philosophers. In his later days he suffered from dropsy, accumulation of fluid under the skin. In an effort to cure this he plastered himself in cow dung and lay in the sun hoping to drive the fluid off. After a day, he died.

WIKIPEDIA

Heraclitus of Ephesus (Greek: Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος—Hērákleitos ho Ephésios; c. 535 – c. 475 BCE) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor.

Panta rhei, "everything flows"

Πάντα ῥεῖ (panta rhei) "everything flows" either was not spoken by Heraclitus or did not survive as a quotation of his. This famous aphorism used to characterize Heraclitus' thought comes from Simplicius,[30] a neoplatonist, and from Plato's Cratylus. The word rhei (cf. rheology) is the Greek word for "to stream, and to the etymology of Rhea according to Plato's Cratylus."[31]

The quote from Heraclitus appears in Plato's Cratylus twice; in 401,d as:[33]

τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν”
Ta onta ienai te panta kai menein ouden
"All entities move and nothing remains still"

and in 402,a[34]

"πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει" καὶ "δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης"
Panta chōrei kai ouden menei kai dis es ton auton potamon ouk an embaies
"Everything changes and nothing remains still ... and ... you cannot step twice into the same stream"[35]

drachma=دراخما عملة يونانية

drachma=دراخما عملة يونانية

http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/currency/greek10drachmas.asp

The name drachma is derived from the verb dratto ("to grasp"), as initially a drachma was a fistful (a "grasp") of six oboloi (metal sticks), which were used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC. The 5th century BC Athenian tetradrachmon ("four drachmae") coin was the most widely used coin in the Greek world prior to the time of Alexander the Great.

After Alexander the Great's conquests, the name drachma was used in many of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the Middle East, including the Ptolemaic kingdom in Alexandria. The Arabic unit of currency known as dirham known from pre-Islamic times and afterwards, inherited its name from the drachma; the dirham is still the name of the official currencies of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The Armenian dram also derives its name from the drachma.

Democritus=ديموقريطس

Democritus=ديموقريطس

LISTVERSE

http://listverse.com/2012/06/26/top-10-pre-socratic-philosophers/

Democritus was perhaps the most successful of the ancient philosophers from a scientific standpoint, and yet he was largely ignored in the ancient world. We know that he believed that the whole universe was governed by natural laws which were understandable and predictable, a very modern view. Using reason Democritus also predicted the existence of atoms and vacuums. This was at a time when it was impossible to detect anything smaller than the eye can see and the idea of nothingness and vacuums was anathema to most thinkers. His wide ranging studies also took on the finer points of philosophy, biology, human society, and geometry. As well as being right on so many matters, even if unacknowledged, he was also a cheery individual known as the Laughing Philosopher.

WIKIPEDIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democritus Democritus (Greek: Δημόκριτος, Dēmokritos, "chosen of the people") (ca. 460 – ca. 370 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece.[1] He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the universe.[2] His exact contributions are difficult to disentangle from those of his mentor Leucippus, as they are often mentioned together in texts. Their speculation on atoms, taken from Leucippus, bears a passing and partial resemblance to the nineteenth-century understanding of atomic structure that has led some to regard Democritus as more of a scientist than other Greek philosophers; however, their ideas rested on very different bases.[3] Largely ignored in ancient Athens, Democritus was nevertheless well known to his fellow northern-born philosopher Aristotle. Plato is said to have disliked him so much that he wished all his books burned.[1] Many consider Democritus to be the "father of modern science".[4]

bureaucracy=بيروقراطية

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bureaucracy=بيروقراطية

ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY

bureaucracy (n.)

1818, from French bureaucratie, from bureau "office," lit. "desk" (see bureau) + Greek suffix -kratia denoting "power of" (see -cracy). Coined by French economist Jean Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay (1712-1759) on model of democratie, aristocratie.

-cracy

word-forming element forming nouns meaning "rule or government by," from French -cratie or directly from Medieval Latin -cratia, from Greek -kratia "power, might; rule, sway; power over; a power, authority," from kratos "strength," from PIE *kratus "power, strength" (see hard). The connective -o- has come to be viewed as part of it. Productive in English from c.1800.

Byzantium=بيزنطة

Byzantium=بيزنطة

ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY

Byzantium

said to be named for its 7c. B.C.E. Greek founder, Byzas of Megara.

WIKTIONARY

The ancient Greek city situated on the Bosporus, named Constantinople in 330 CE, and now known as Istanbul.

1. (rare) The Byzantine Empire.
   

WIKIPEDIA

Byzantium (bih-ZAN-tee-uhm; Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion; Latin: BYZANTIVM) was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 657 BC and named after their king Byzas (Greek: Βύζας, Býzas, genitive Βύζαντος, Býzantos). The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion. The city was later renamed Nova Roma by Constantine the Great, but popularly called Constantinople and briefly became the imperial residence of the classical Roman Empire. Then subsequently the city was, for more than a thousand years, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks, becoming the capital of their empire, in 1453. The name of the city was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930 following the establishment of modern Turkey.

Byblos=بيبلوس

Byblos=بيبلوس

From which derives the Greek word βιβλίο=book and the word Βίβλος =Bible=الانجيل

ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY

Byblos

ancient Phoenician port (modern Jebeil, Lebanon) from which Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece. The name probably is a Greek corruption of Phoenician Gebhal, said to mean lit. "frontier town" (cf. Hebrew gebhul "frontier, boundary," Arabic jabal "mountain"), or perhaps it is Canaanite gubla "mountain." The Greek name also might have been influenced by, or come from, an Egyptian word for "papyrus."