Series | Knowledge Hegemonies in the Early Modern World
Monograph | In Light of Bessarion’s Astronomical Manuscripts
Chapter | Introduction
Introduction
Rethinking the Historiography of Western Science in Light of Bessarion’s Manuscripts
Abstract
The heritage of Byzantine astronomical knowledge brought into Europe features the coexistence of Arabo-Persian and Hellenistic astronomy. This book shows how the Byzantine scientific inheritance can reshape our understanding of science in Renaissance Europe. In other words, this work provides a new reading, different from the standard narrative on Western science in the fifteenth century, through a study of non-Western sources, used by Byzantine scholars migrating to Europe. More precisely, the second half of the fifteenth century has been described as a time of renewal for scientific and philosophical studies in Europe, notably those concerning the heavens. According to a prominent narrative, the fifteenth century saw such intellectual floridity thanks to the rebirth of Greek science, which was prodigiously renewed by means of unveiling the pure sources of Greek authors after the dark period of the Middle Ages and was saved from the menace of the Ottoman Empire. This narration is problematic for several reasons. First, it subtends an idea of the purity of Greek science, which must have remained uncontaminated through all those centuries, as if it were a disembodied entity, but science is a human activity which suffers the modifications and corruptions of the flux of history. The weakness of this narration is also witnessed by the fact that it generated two sclerotized conceptions which are still adopted in the history of science: the purity of Greek science and its rebirth in the fifteenth century. An examination of primary sources in Bessarion’s collection shows that what is generally conceived of as Greek science was part of a heritage in which Arabo-Persian scientific works had been assimilated and merged with the Greek tradition thanks to the work of Byzantine scholars. Second, why would the Ottomans have rejected the Byzantine scientific heritage? This is likely part of a narrative constructed by some humanists, likely serving an anti-Islamic agenda. Was Bessarion part of this movement?
Abstract
The heritage of Byzantine astronomical knowledge brought into Europe features the coexistence of Arabo-Persian and Hellenistic astronomy. This book shows how the Byzantine scientific inheritance can reshape our understanding of science in Renaissance Europe. In other words, this work provides a new reading, different from the standard narrative on Western science in the fifteenth century, through a study of non-Western sources, used by Byzantine scholars migrating to Europe. More precisely, the second half of the fifteenth century has been described as a time of renewal for scientific and philosophical studies in Europe, notably those concerning the heavens. According to a prominent narrative, the fifteenth century saw such intellectual floridity thanks to the rebirth of Greek science, which was prodigiously renewed by means of unveiling the pure sources of Greek authors after the dark period of the Middle Ages and was saved from the menace of the Ottoman Empire. This narration is problematic for several reasons. First, it subtends an idea of the purity of Greek science, which must have remained uncontaminated through all those centuries, as if it were a disembodied entity, but science is a human activity which suffers the modifications and corruptions of the flux of history. The weakness of this narration is also witnessed by the fact that it generated two sclerotized conceptions which are still adopted in the history of science: the purity of Greek science and its rebirth in the fifteenth century. An examination of primary sources in Bessarion’s collection shows that what is generally conceived of as Greek science was part of a heritage in which Arabo-Persian scientific works had been assimilated and merged with the Greek tradition thanks to the work of Byzantine scholars. Second, why would the Ottomans have rejected the Byzantine scientific heritage? This is likely part of a narrative constructed by some humanists, likely serving an anti-Islamic agenda. Was Bessarion part of this movement?
Submitted: Jan. 11, 2023 | Published Dec. 3, 2024 | Language: it
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