The article is mixed - some really interesting points, some off-the-mark points. But this is one I've thought a lot about:
> Even Plato barely survived history’s guillotine—throughout medieval times, Plato was unknown in the West, living on only in Muslim countries and in footnotes to other Greek authors. Had the Muslims been worse stewards, or been conquered by marauding Christians who needed kindling or toilet paper, Socrates would have died in vain.
I wonder how many other exceptional Antiquity works we don't have? How many other masterpieces were made and destroyed due to the Dark Ages/Burning of Baghdad mix?
I've got this as one of the top 10 worst moments in human history, right up there with the Holocaust:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258)#Destru...
In addition to the lost of life, cruelties, and destruction, we lost a lot of works that would've tremendously benefited humanity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom
So I wonder what else we don't have copies of? I'm marveled when I go through modern versions of some of the ancient works at how good they were. Antiquity Greece and Rome, and the Islamic Golden Age produced some really incredible science, philosophy, engineering, and literature. Sometimes I muse, wondering what other knowledge did they produce that we have no more records of?
> Even Plato barely survived history’s guillotine—throughout medieval times, Plato was unknown in the West, living on only in Muslim countries and in footnotes to other Greek authors. Had the Muslims been worse stewards, or been conquered by marauding Christians who needed kindling or toilet paper, Socrates would have died in vain.
I wonder how many other exceptional Antiquity works we don't have? How many other masterpieces were made and destroyed due to the Dark Ages/Burning of Baghdad mix?
I've got this as one of the top 10 worst moments in human history, right up there with the Holocaust:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258)#Destru...
In addition to the lost of life, cruelties, and destruction, we lost a lot of works that would've tremendously benefited humanity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom
So I wonder what else we don't have copies of? I'm marveled when I go through modern versions of some of the ancient works at how good they were. Antiquity Greece and Rome, and the Islamic Golden Age produced some really incredible science, philosophy, engineering, and literature. Sometimes I muse, wondering what other knowledge did they produce that we have no more records of?