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{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=3|Content=4|Language= | {{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=3|Content=4|Language=4|References=2}} | ||
This article explores claims that Muslims saved the works of Greek [[Philosophy|philosophers]] from destruction. | This article explores claims that Muslims saved the works of Greek [[Philosophy|philosophers]] from destruction. | ||
==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
The '''Arab transmission of the classics''' refers to the claim that [[Arabic]] commentators such as Ibn Sina and [[Ibn Rushd]] saved the work of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction. According to the claim, these works would have perished in the European dark ages between fifth and the tenth centuries, had [[Islam|Islamic]] philosophers not preserved them by translating them into Arabic.<ref>The myth persists even on 'scholarly' websites. See e.g. [http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/islam.htm here]. "It was only through the transfer of Greek knowledge (including Aristotle's philosophy, Ptolemy's geography, Hippocrates' medicine) by Islam Spain that this information ''ever'' got to Western Europe." [Our emphasis]</ref> However, the first Latin texts to be used after the dark ages and the European reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula were translations from the Greek preserved by the Byzantines, while Arabic translation were largely used only where Latin texts were unavailable or unintelligible. | The '''Arab transmission of the classics''' refers to the claim that [[Arabic]] commentators such as Ibn Sina and [[Ibn Rushd]] saved the work of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from destruction. According to the claim, these works would have perished in the European dark ages between fifth and the tenth centuries, had [[Islam|Islamic]] philosophers not preserved them by translating them into Arabic.<ref>The myth persists even on 'scholarly' websites. See e.g. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150311102848/http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/islam.htm here]. "It was only through the transfer of Greek knowledge (including Aristotle's philosophy, Ptolemy's geography, Hippocrates' medicine) by Islam Spain that this information ''ever'' got to Western Europe." [Our emphasis]</ref> However, the first Latin texts to be used after the dark ages and the European reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula were translations from the Greek preserved by the Byzantines, while Arabic translation were largely used only where Latin texts were unavailable or unintelligible. | ||
Arabic commentators, particularly Ibn Rushd, nevertheless had a profound influence on the scholastic philosophers of the Latin West in the thirteenth century. In particular, the work of Arabic commentators allowed dense and difficult texts, such as those of Aristotle, to be more easily understood. | Arabic commentators, particularly Ibn Rushd, nevertheless had a profound influence on the scholastic philosophers of the Latin West in the thirteenth century. In particular, the work of Arabic commentators allowed dense and difficult texts, such as those of Aristotle, to be more easily understood. | ||
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==James of Venice== | ==James of Venice== | ||
Translations to Latin directly from Greek began with the work of James of Venice. James was an Aristotelian scholar who | Translations to Latin directly from Greek began with the work of James of Venice. James was an Aristotelian scholar who wrote in the 12<sup>th</sup> century, and he is generally regarded as the most important of the 12<sup>th</sup> century translators of Greek texts into Latin. He is thought to have translated Aristotle's ''Posterior Analytics'', ''Sophistici elenchi'', ''Metaphysics'', and several important works of natural philosophy, as well as most of the ''Parva naturalia'', most of which were widely circulated. Little else is known about his life. | ||
According to a passage from Robert of Torigny's chronicle: "James, a cleric from Venice, translated from the Greek into Latin several books of Aristotle and commented on them, viz. the Topics, Prior and Posterior Analytics, and Elenchi, although an earlier translation of these same books was already in existence" [MP 1952]. According to other documents, James was a Greek from Venice who called himself a philosopher. He appears to have been present at an 1136 theological debate in Constantinople between Anselm of Havelberg and the archbishop of Nicomedia. In 1148, he advised the archbishop of Ravenna on the precedence of Ravenna over other archbishoprics. In Bologna in the 1140s, he may have disputed with Magister Albericus over the interpretation of the Sophistici Elenchi. His commentary on the Elenchi is mentioned in a 12<sup>th</sup> century grammatical quaestio, and an early 13<sup>th</sup> century author mentions his commentary on the Posterior Analytics [Ebbesen 1977]. | According to a passage from Robert of Torigny's chronicle: "James, a cleric from Venice, translated from the Greek into Latin several books of Aristotle and commented on them, viz. the Topics, Prior and Posterior Analytics, and Elenchi, although an earlier translation of these same books was already in existence" [MP 1952]. According to other documents, James was a Greek from Venice who called himself a philosopher. He appears to have been present at an 1136 theological debate in Constantinople between Anselm of Havelberg and the archbishop of Nicomedia. In 1148, he advised the archbishop of Ravenna on the precedence of Ravenna over other archbishoprics. In Bologna in the 1140s, he may have disputed with Magister Albericus over the interpretation of the Sophistici Elenchi. His commentary on the Elenchi is mentioned in a 12<sup>th</sup> century grammatical quaestio, and an early 13<sup>th</sup> century author mentions his commentary on the Posterior Analytics [Ebbesen 1977]. | ||