Europe's debt to Persia from ancient to modern times: religion, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, medicine and the sciences

1053 Pages·2013·15.074 MB·English

by  Barden, Samantha;Reeves, Minou

Minou Reeves
E ’ D p
uropE s Ebt to Ersia
a m t
from nciEnt to oDErn imEs
Religion,
Philosophy,
Astronomy,
Mathematics,
Medicine
and the Sciences
History
Middle East Studies
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Europe’s Debt to Persia from
Ancient to Modern Times
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Europe’s Debt to Persia
ITHACA Logo.
from Ancient to
eps
Modern Times
Religion, Philosophy, Astronomy,
Mathematics, Medicine and the Sciences
Minou Reeves
2013
www.ithacapress.co.uk
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Europe’s Debt to Persia from Ancient to Modern Times
Religion, Philosophy, Astronomy, Mathematics, Medicine and the Sciences
Ithaca Press
8 Southern Court, South Street
Reading, RG1 4QS, UK
www.ithacapress.co.uk
www.twitter.com/Garnetpub
www.facebook.com/Garnetpub
blog.ithacapress.co.uk
Ithaca Press is an imprint of Garnet Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © Minou Reeves, 2013
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information
storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
brief passages in a review.
First Edition
ISBN: 9780863725203
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Typeset by Samantha Barden
Jacket design by Garnet Publishing
Printed by Clays, St Ives
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I dedicate this work to my scholar-linguist husband, Nigel Reeves,
with whom I share several European languages and literatures and
the understanding of Europe’s intellectual heritage from Persia,
Greece and Rome
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Contents
Preface xi
Chapter 1 The Rise of the Achaemenian Empire: 1
King Cyrus the Great, Humanist Persian King
and Saviour of Europe’s Jewish Heritage
Chapter 2 King Darius I (522–486 bce), King Xerxes I 55
(486–465 bce), King Artaxerxes I (465–424 bce),
King Artaxerxes II (404–359 bce): The Controversy
of ‘Persian Tyranny’ and ‘Athenian Democracy’
Chapter 3 The Influence of Persian Aristocratic Life and 113
Manners on the Golden Age of Athens
Chapter 4 The Marriage of Greece and Persia: Alexander’s 155
Conquest of the Persian Empire – A Formidable
Plan of Alexander’s Tutor, Aristotle, to Hellenize
the Entire Known World
Chapter 5 The Rise of the Parthian Empire: The Union 211
of Zoroastrian and Hellenic Religious and
Scientific Thought
Chapter 6 The Rise of the Sasanian Empire: King 255
Anushirvan, Persian Renaissance King, Instigator
of the First Great Translation Movement and
Saviour of Europe’s Greek Intellectual and
Scientific Heritage
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Chapter 7 The Retreat of Greek Philosophy and Science in 301
Medieval Europe and their Advancement in Persia
Chapter 8 The Rise of Islam: The Conquest of the 333
Hellenophile Sasanian Empire and the Christian
Byzantine Empire by the Umayyad Caliphs
Chapter 9 The Rise of the Persian-inspired Abbasid Empire: 361
Baghdad’s Monumental Translation Movement
and Scientific Enterprise and its Debt to Persia’s
Hellenophile Academy of Jundishapur
Chapter 10 Farabi, the Great Persian Philosopher, Logician, 387
Theoretician of Music and Classifier of Graeco-
Persian Philosophy and Science, who Restored
Plato and Aristotle to their Athenian Prominence
Chapter 11 Avicenna, the Great Persian Physician and 437
Metaphysician who Revolutionized Aristotle’s
Metaphysics and Laid the Foundation for the
Age of Reason
Chapter 12 ‘Arabian’ or Graeco-Persian Medicine: 483
Jundishapur Academy’s Medical School,
Teaching Hospital and Pharmacy, Fountainhead
of Europe’s Renaissance Medicine
Chapter 13 Rhazes and Avicenna: Persian Founders of 523
Europe’s Renaissance Medicine, Pharmacology
and Chemistry
Chapter 14 Kharazmi, the Father of Europe’s Renaissance 583
Algebra and of the Decimal System, and Kuhi,
Buzjani, Biruni, Khujandi, Mahani, Karaji,
Khayyam, Tusi, the Fathers of Europe’s Renaissance
Analytical Algebraic Geometry and Plane and
Spherical Trigonometry
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Chapter 15 Kharazmi, Farghani, Neyrizi, Balkhi, Kuhi, Sufi, 615
Buzjani, Biruni, Khujandi: Persian Founders of
Europe’s Renaissance Empirical Observational
Astronomy
Chapter 16 The Perilous Path from the Reception at Oxford 655
University of Kharazmi’s Algebra and Planetary
Tables, Farghani’s The Compendium of Astronomy
and the Persian-inspired Toledan and Alfonsine
Tables to Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus
Chapter 17 Invasions from the Steppe-lands: The Rise of 685
the Seljuk and Timurid Empires in Persia and
the Fate of the Graeco-Persian Academies and
their Sciences
Chapter 18 Khayyam: Persian Philosopher, Observational 723
Astronomer, Algebraist and Analytical
Geometer, whose Advanced Cubic Equations
and Non-Eudoxian, Non-Euclidean Geometry
Crucially Influenced the Mathematics and
Metaphysics of Descartes, Pascal and Leibniz
Chapter 19 Tusi, the Father of Trigonometry, whose 761
Planetary Diagrams and Tables, Spherical
Trigonometric Techniques and Observational
Instruments Copernicus, Brahe and Kepler Used
to Revoke Ptolemy’s Alexandrian Theory of a Static
Earth as the Centre of the Universe, Around Which
the Sun and the Planets Revolve
Chapter 20 Kashi: Persian Discoverer of the Successive 795
Numerical Approximation System, the Decimal
Fraction, the Value p and Inventor of Planetary
Integral Calculus, whose Innovations Influenced the
Algebraic Methods of Tartaglia, Regiomontanus, Viète
and Descartes, Forerunners of Sir Isaac Newton
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