>>Get your backpack ready; it's time to brainstorm another trip! This week in our whirlwind tour
of the history of science, let's travel to the Islamic and early medieval civilizations.
I hope you'll make some meaningful and unexpected discoveries this week, as we explore the exciting
new worlds of Islamic and early medieval science. Though we have only a limited time to visit,
we'll not be like tourists in Baghdad or Cordoba, or in Paris or Oxford, who seek fast food
at McDonald's. Our aim will be to get to know the Islamic and early medieval scientists
in terms of their own place and time, not just in terms of modern science. In the 10th
century, the 900s, the Spanish city of Cordoba was perhaps the leading center for the study
of natural science in all of Europe and the Middle East. The mosque of Cordoba is larger
than St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Within these halls the Muslim faithful would gather
regularly for prayers. The columns with their distinctive horseshoe arches have been compared
with trees in a forest -- appearing as though they extend endlessly in all directions. To
avoid idolatry, no living creature or natural object would be depicted in this Islamic religious
building. Islamic ornamentation tended toward the geometrical and the abstract.
What do you like about Islamic architecture and artwork? Have you visited Spain or the
Middle East, or a mosque in any country? Do you read or speak Arabic or Spanish? What
are your favorite works of Arabic or Spanish literature? For example, have you read The
Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam? Khayyam made important contributions to the development of algebra.
What most interests you about Islamic culture in the Middle East? Does Islamic history have
any special meaning for you? What is your favorite movie or book related to medieval
or modern Islamic culture? Have you traveled in the Middle East? What most interests you
about Moorish culture in Spain or North Africa? Does Spanish history have any special meaning
for you? What is your favorite movie or book related to medieval or modern Spain? Have
you traveled in Spain? What do you enjoy about Spanish or Arabic food? Do you recommend any
restaurants in the area that offer authentic dishes from these countries? What do you know
about Islamic science? Who is your favorite Islamic scientist?
This week we will also visit the European Middle Ages. Before we do, let's backtrack
to the 3rd century when the Mediterranean Basin lay amidst the ruins of the fallen Roman
Empire. In 285, Diocletian split the Empire into the Eastern region, Greek-speaking or
Byzantine, and the Western region, Latin-speaking. Wave after wave of migrating tribes with exotic
names like Goths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Huns, Magyars and Bulgars, they brought the Roman
Empire to its knees. The Western Roman army was soundly defeated in 378. Rome itself was
sacked by the Visigoths in 410. In 486, the last ethnically Roman emperor was defeated
in Byzantium. By 700, no contemporary observer surveying the monumental changes in the Mediterranean
Basin or contemplating the wild frontier country of northern Europe would ever have predicted
that science would have as great a future in Europe as it already enjoyed in the established
civilizations of the Middle East and Asia.
Although Paris and London were founded by the Romans, in 700 they were frontier towns
no larger than Abilene in its cattle-driving heyday. Neither would reach a population of
15,000 people for another 500 years. So in 700 who would've guessed that Europe, this
untamed land newly settled by barbarian tribes would become the center of scientific activity
by the 17th century? How this dramatic story happened and how the emerging European scientific
culture brought together the scientific traditions of all of the civilizations we have studied
up until this point will occupy us for many weeks. What do you find most interesting about
the ancient and medieval interactions between the cultures of Asia and Europe? What do you
know about the Silk Road, which extended over 5,000 miles and connected the major civilizations
from China to Asia Minor? Some of the migrating tribes were Eurasian nomads referred to as
"barbarians" by the Romans. But can you find on a map the places in Asia where groups like
the Huns, Bulgars, and Avars originated? Have you seen the Great Wall of China, a 4,000
mile engineering wonder that helped to unify China and became one of the reasons these
migrating peoples turned westward to eventually settle in the lands of Mesopotamia and Europe?
J.R.R. Tolkien may have modeled his Rohirrim on the Goths or some of these other horse
peoples. Have you ever thought about how the subsequent history of Europe might need to
be re-written if it were told from the perspective of the various Asian and Germanic migrating
peoples rather than from the standpoint of the Romans? Have you read Marco Polo or other
medieval stories of trade and travel to Asia? Have you thought much about why Columbus and
other voyagers were so committed to finding a faster sea route to China? What most interested
them about Asia?
What most interests you about the historical context of medieval science? Gothic cathedrals
transformed massive stone into dizzying verticity. Open spaces filled with light, suffused with
color from intricate stained glass windows, such as the Rose Window of Notre Dame. Flying
buttresses shouldered the load of tall arches, making room for the windows between slender,
seemingly weightless columns made of stone. Have you visited any medieval cathedrals?
What do you appreciate most about early medieval art?
Would you recognize the Chi Rho page of the Book of Kells in Trinity College, Dublin?
This manuscript of the four gospels was created around 800 in Iona, a Celtic monastery off
the west coast of Scotland, founded by Columba. The Book of Kells consists of 680 pages, all
but two of which are illuminated with elaborate Celtic knots interlacing, and depictions of
various creatures. Later in the 13th century, over 400 years after it was created, Giraldus
wrote, "Look closely at it and you will penetrate the innermost secrets of art; you will find
such embellishments of such intricacy, a wealth of knots and interlacing links that you might
believe it was the work of an angel rather than a human being." The complicated knot-work
of the Book of Kells resembles metalwork and stone carving of the period. Yet the intricacy
of these designs is stunning. More than 150 inner weavings may occur in a single square-inch
on a page. Remember that magnifying glasses were not available until centuries later.
Have you visited any medieval sections of European cities? Many medieval districts contain
universities, for the universities were founded in the Middle Ages. Have you visited Bologna
or Oxford, founded in the 11th century? Paris founded in the 12th century? Cambridge, Salamanca,
or Padua, universities which were founded in the 13th century? Do you read Celtic or
Medieval Latin? Do you read any medieval vernacular languages, such as Old French, Old English,
or Anglo-Saxon? Do you appreciate the story of Beowulf, the Tales of King Arthur, or other
works of medieval literature? What most interests you about medieval culture? Does medieval
European history have any special meaning for you? Do you attend or participate in the
annual Medieval Fair? What is your favorite book related to medieval Europe? Have you
read How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Name of the Rose, The Letters of Heloise and
Abelard or some other interesting book about the Middle Ages? What is your favorite movie
related to medieval Europe? Have you seen The Name of the Rose, Monty Python and the
Holy Grail, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Seventh Seal, El Sid, Braveheart, The
Anchoress, Stealing Heaven, Beowulf, there are many others? Do you like to listen to
Gregorian Chant, Madrigals, Hildegard of Bingen, or other medieval composers? As always when
we're planning a trip, we want to better understand what people in these places and times were
up to. What are some similarities between our culture and Islamic and early medieval
civilizations? How might these similarities help us to understand Islamic and early medieval
science? What are some differences between our culture and Islamic and early medieval
civilizations? How might these differences pose an obstacle to our understanding of science
in Islamic and early medieval times? What do you think is the chief barrier or prejudice
that obstructs modern appreciation of science in Islamic and early medieval civilizations?
Who is your favorite medieval European scientist? If you don't know many medieval scientists,
why might this be so? Who is your favorite Islamic scientist? If you do not know many
Islamic scientists, why might this be so? Please share your thoughts on these things.
What are your starting assumptions?