Timeline for How widespread was literacy in classical Greek in Europe during the medieval period?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 22, 2017 at 22:02 | comment | added | fdb | referenceworks.brillonline.com/… | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 22:00 | comment | added | user26763 | Well, I don't claim to be an expert in the Middle Ages or the history of translating Greek "classics", however, the majority of the information that I stated is accessible, verifiable and can also be studied in a variety of historical literature. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:57 | comment | added | fdb | The Sabi family in Harran were pagans. You can read about them in scholarly books. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:55 | comment | added | user26763 | As I had stated earlier, I just do not see any significant historical evidence of Medieval Iraqi pagans-(or quasi-pagans) translating the Greek "classics" during the Middle Ages. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:54 | comment | added | fdb | I am afraid this is the subject of my professional expertise. What you are saying is simply wrong. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:51 | comment | added | user26763 | Since Hellenistic times, The Old Testament, was primarily written in Greek and the city of Alexandria had generations of Greek literate Jewish Scribes. When the destruction of the Second Temple of Solomon happened in 70 CE, the Jewish Diaspora was established and in all likelihood, the Jews who traveled to Spain, originally came from Israel, as well as Syria and Egypt with a knowledge of Advanced Greek. As the centuries passed, the use of Greek as a scholarly language among the early Spanish Jewish clerical scholars would have been very likely and may have continued into the Middle Ages. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:45 | comment | added | fdb | Damascius (thus the correct spelling) lived in the 5th century; the Arabic translation movement was in the 9th century. Dates are important. The Arabic translators were either Christians, or members of the remnant pagan community on the upper Euphrates. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:43 | comment | added | user26763 | However, Moorish and particularly, Spanish Jewish Scribes did translate Ancient Greek "classics" into Arabic, namely, the works of Hippocrates, Archimedes and especially, Aristotle. They did not merely read these Classical works, they were active Translators. The Jews had been living in Spain 600-800 years before the arrival of the Moors. It is very plausible and possible to say that the Jewish Diaspora Community living in Spain may have originally came from Alexandria, Egypt or the city of Antioch whereby they would have had a near fluent command of Greek-(referring to the Educated Classes). | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 21:35 | comment | added | user26763 | it is acknowledged that the translations of Greek "classics" were initially translated into Syriac and Arabic by Syrian Christian Scribes who were multilingual-(and included a knowledge of Late Classical/Hellenistic era Greek). They were in close contact with the exiled Greek "Academic" community living in cities, such as, Damascus, as well as the Greco-Syrian City of Antioch. (I am unsure as to the "pagan scholars in Iraq" line. Christianity, specifically, Eastern rite Christianity, was alive and well in much of Iraq during the Early Middle Ages, a few centuries before the Muslim conquest). | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 20:50 | comment | added | fdb | The Greek > Syriac > Arabic translations were made by Christian and pagan scholars in Iraq, not by "Moorish" and Jewish "scribes" in Spain. They were, however, read in Spain. | |
| Sep 22, 2017 at 1:46 | history | answered | user26763 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |