Book contents
- Medieval Science
- Series page
- Medieval Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors' Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Culture and the Natural Sciences
- 2 Islamic Mathematics
- 3 THE MIXED MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
- 4 Islamic Astronomy
- 5 MEDICINE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM
- 6 Science in the Jewish Communities
- 7 SCIENCE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
- 8 Schools and Universities in Medieval Latin Science
- 9 The Organization of Knowledge
- 10 SCIENCE AND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
- 11 Natural Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages
- 12 Early-Medieval Cosmology, Astronomy, and Mathematics
- 13 EARLY-MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL SCIENCE
- 14 Translation and Transmission of Greek and Islamic Science to Latin Christendom
- 15 THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE
- 16 MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY
- 17 Change and Motion
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Astronomy and Astrology
- 20 THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT AND COLOR, SEEING AND KNOWING
- 21 Mathematics
- 22 Logic
- 23 GEOGRAPHY
- 24 Medieval Natural History
- 25 ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND MEDICAL THEORY
- 26 Medical Practice
- 27 TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE
- Index
7 - SCIENCE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
Book contents
- Medieval Science
- Series page
- Medieval Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors' Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Culture and the Natural Sciences
- 2 Islamic Mathematics
- 3 THE MIXED MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
- 4 Islamic Astronomy
- 5 MEDICINE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM
- 6 Science in the Jewish Communities
- 7 SCIENCE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
- 8 Schools and Universities in Medieval Latin Science
- 9 The Organization of Knowledge
- 10 SCIENCE AND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
- 11 Natural Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages
- 12 Early-Medieval Cosmology, Astronomy, and Mathematics
- 13 EARLY-MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL SCIENCE
- 14 Translation and Transmission of Greek and Islamic Science to Latin Christendom
- 15 THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE
- 16 MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY
- 17 Change and Motion
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Astronomy and Astrology
- 20 THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT AND COLOR, SEEING AND KNOWING
- 21 Mathematics
- 22 Logic
- 23 GEOGRAPHY
- 24 Medieval Natural History
- 25 ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND MEDICAL THEORY
- 26 Medical Practice
- 27 TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE
- Index
Summary
In every period, Byzantine education was essentially based on the study of the trivium and quadrivium, a program inherited from late antiquity. Educated Byzantines clearly distinguished between astronomy and astrology, the former being concerned with the theoretical study of celestial events, whereas the latter functioned as a practical art. Byzantine treatises were extremely influential in the musical theory of the Renaissance. The sources of Byzantine geography were also of ancient vintage, authors such as Strabo, Pausanias, Ptolemy, and the so-called minor geographers collected in manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries. Byzantine scholars made a few contributions to optics and mechanics, both regarded as mathematical sciences. Byzantine alchemy is represented by three main tendencies: to preserve the heritage of Alexandrine alchemy and its commentators; a concern for combining this traditional culture with contemporary elements; and the integration of alchemical chapters. Botany and zoology were less systematically cultivated in Byzantium than the exact sciences.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Science , pp. 190 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013
- 4
- Cited by