The Forgotten Revolution: How Science Was Born in 300 BC and Why it Had to Be Reborn by Lucio Russo (PDF)

Description

The period from the late fourth to the late second century B. C. witnessed, in Greek-speaking countries, an explosion of objective knowledge about the external world. WhileGreek culture had reached great heights in art, literature and philosophyalreadyin the earlier classical era, it is in the so-called Hellenistic period that we see for the ?rst time ― anywhere in the world ― the appearance of science as we understand it now: not an accumulation of facts or philosophically based speculations, but an or- nized effort to model nature and apply such models, or scienti?ctheories in a sense we will make precise, to the solution of practical problems and to a growing understanding of nature. We owe this new approach to scientists such as Archimedes, Euclid, Eratosthenes and many others less familiar todaybut no less remarkable. Yet, not long after this golden period, much of this extraordinary dev- opment had been reversed. Rome borrowed what it was capable of from the Greeks and kept it for a little while yet, but created very little science of its own. Europe was soon smothered in theobscurantism and stasis that blocked most avenues of intellectual development for a thousand years ― until, as is well known, the rediscovery of ancient culture in its fullness paved the way to the modern age.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review From the reviews:”Russo has achieved and exhibited an extensive survey of science in the Hellenistic world at the time after Aristotle … . The treat in store for the reader of this book is the vast learning that Lucio Russo has acquired, which he explains with lucidity. … it is useful for private study, for one’s own enlightenment; on the other it will enrich every science course and every history course that involves these time periods.” (Samuel S. Kutler, MAA online, September, 2004)”Russo presents an enticing vision of a Hellenistic world with a highly organized scientific effort that lasted for centuries. … The copious, informative and useful illustrations in this beautifully produced volume intensify the sense of what was lost when this great civilization went into decline and perished.” (Mott Greene, NATURE, August, 2004)”The central thesis of the book is that science originated in the Hellenistic period … . To summarize the book: It certainly has a number of good points. The author has combed through ¼200 medieval texts (plus others). There are lots of footnotes identifying sources (even in different editions of the same book) and an index of writings consulted (with page numbers). … a very remarkable book in its depth and the boldness of its claims.” (Nimish Shah, Newsletter of the London Mathematical Society, March, 2005)

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐For most readers, Forgotten Revolution should dramatically change your (unknowingly outdated) view of both history and science. Regardless, if you like learning about history or science (or both), definitely check out this book, especially since most of this information is not readily available online.Unique among non-fiction books, Forgotten Revolution is jam-packed with incredible facts about the level of scientific knowledge known during the Hellenistic period (323-32BC), the vast majority of which you won’t have learned in school, nor will you have heard about on the internet. To name but a few of my favorites: The ancient city of Alexandria had sacred temples equipped with automatic doors, as well as coin-operated vending machines that dispensed holy water. The Alexandrian mathematicians had developed an advanced combinatory mathematics, even being aware of the Schroder numbers, these being independently rediscovered in the late nineteenth century. The ancient Alexandrians were aware of the precession of the equinoxes, this being discovered in the second century BC. The ancient Alexandrians were also aware of the heliocentric theory, despite the widespread popularity of the geocentric theory.Although the book is mostly an easy read, about half of the first one hundred pages involve higher math concepts and some of this was over my head. While I don’t consider myself an expert, at the same time, I’ve read other mathematical books that don’t presume the reader is a math whiz and therefore they provide more explanation about various terms/concepts. For this reason, I have to knock off half a star. Fortunately, nothing in the rest of the book was hard to understand and everything else was sufficiently explained.Overall, I agree with the main premise of the book, namely: That the ancient Alexandrians and others possessed a considerable body of scientific knowledge during the Hellenistic period, most of which was lost during the Dark Ages and then rediscovered a millennium later, this ultimately being the catalyst to the European Renaissance. That being said, on the other hand, that doesn’t automatically mean that this vast body of scientific knowledge was originally developed by the Alexandrians. For instance, the philosopher Numenius reports that Egypt was one of the civilizations who inherited parts of the ‘Prisca Sapientia’ (“Ancient Philosophy”) known to our ancestors before recorded history. In my opinion, given the two options and based on the incredible architectural achievements of the Egyptians (such as the Great Pyramids), it makes more sense to me that this scientific knowledge was inherited from the ancient Egyptians, and before that it probably went back to the Golden Age of the immortal gods and goddesses of myth, exactly as believed by ancient historians. Nevertheless, this point doesn’t change the fact that The Forgotten Revolution is an incredible book and I highly recommend it to everyone.

⭐Reading through “The Forgotten Revolution”, time and again I found myself amazed at the sophistication of Hellenistic science. This book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in ancient thought, science history, or the waxing and waning of intellectual life in the West.As much as I enjoyed reading this work, though, it is in need of revised second edition. To be fair, this is simply a matter of the current edition being published prior to several important discoveries over the past 15 years. (The Italian edition was first published in 1996.)I was stunned that so little attention was paid to the Antikythera Mechanism, when it is such a key piece of evidence demonstrating ancient applied mathematics and translation to a tradition of precision craftsmanship. In this regard, Jo Marchant’s

⭐goes some way to filling the deficiency. However, it is only in the broader context of Russo’s book that the full implications of the Antikythera Mechanism could be fully explored.Similarly, Archimedes’ use of actual infinity and possible investigation of combinatorics have been inferred since “The Forgotten Revolution” was published. Netz’ and Noel’s

⭐outlines this discovery, which only serves to reinforce the central thesis of the book. Perhaps deeper understanding of Archimedes’ “Method” will be as important for Russo’s central thesis.After Russo’s careful description of the scope of ‘science’ and its cognitive significance, I was disappointed that he granted any attention to modern, pseudo-scientific theories of Freudian psychoanalysis. While there is no doubt a relationship between ancient dream healing and Freudian or Jungian interpretations, none of these is scientific. Russo uncritically accepts Freudian claims of scientific method, although such claims are demonstrably false. As a minimum, they do not conform with the model of science that Russo outlines.At times, Russo pushes his evidence hard and infers conclusions that are at best tenuous. However, this is inevitable given the extant textual evidence and he always provides a credible justification for his inferences.Although he outlines some of the factors in the decline of Hellenistic science, I felt that this crucial question really deserved much more attention from Russo. He outlines specific issues regarding the paucity of early Roman intellectual tradition and specific political disasters in Alexandria. However, there is never a coherent narrative to explain why the Hellenistic intellectual tradition proved to be so brittle. It is as though the intellectual ferment across the Mediterranean came to an intergenerational impasse. In contrast, the modern scientific tradition has generally moved ahead in leaps and bounds in spite of absolutely calamatous events through the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Russo provides many threads of explanation throughout the book, but never really brings these together into a unified explanation.Overall, this fascinating study is absolutely worth reading and I recommend it highly. However, it deserves to be updated, extended in crucial areas, and pruned in others. I only make that observation because it is already such a good book.

⭐This book has two outstanding strengths:First, its argument: That the Hellenistic era (ca. 330-30 BCE) saw a flowering of science that outstripped anything before – and for 1500 years after. Lucio Russo is convincing in that – even if he carries it sometimes too far (Darwinian theories, for example). His notion of “real science” combines an abstract model with a logical apparatus that can develop that model into novel (but real) consequences.Second, its style: Russo describes mathematics, the core of Hellenistic science, in a way that should be comprehensible to both scientific and literary readers. Histories of science are seldom so artful.These inherent virtues are reasons enough to read this book. Its relevance to today is something for readers to discover for themselves.

⭐Invaluable, irreplaceable.

⭐classy work…. full respect to the writer.. he talks about material that is (was) forbidden.. once read can not be forgotten..

⭐one of those desert/oasis books: a lot of pages flipped in the hot sand and a few genuinely pleasant stops in the shade.

⭐An excellent examination of all areas of Hellenistic science with some controversial suggestions. Good for history or history of science.

⭐A little wordy in parts and too much reference to other sources, in my view, to which I, and most others I suspect, realisticially have no acess at all.

⭐Great read!

⭐A very informative read.

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