Problems of the Transmission of Greek Scientific Thought into Arabic: Examples from Mathematics and Optics

Still maintained today by some authors, this opinion does not stand up to the slightest reflection. Contributions as constructive and creative as those of al-Khwārizmī in algebra, for example, are to be found in the early ninth century, i.e., at the height of the period of so-called reception and assimilation. A deeper knowledge of the texts and the history of science shows that these contributions often took place at the same time as transmission. Let us once again recall writings by the Banū Mūsā and Thābit ibn Qurra in the ninth century.

We have maintained this viewpoint in a public discussion following Roger Arnaldez's lecture on “L'Histoire de la pensée grecque vue par les Arabes”, in Bulletin de la Société française de Philosophie, 72e année (1978), 150–7. Some of the ideas contained in the present article were also presented at a symposium on the transmission of Greek into Arabic organized by Georges Saliba at Columbia University in 1982.

Ancient bibliographers such as Ibn al-Nadīm recalled an “ancient translation” — naql qadīm — Of some scientific works. For instance, Ibn al-Nadīm spoke of an ancient translation of the Almagest, as well as an ancient translation of Theon's Introductio. Cf. Al-Fihrist , ed. by Redä-Tejaddud (Tehran, 1971), 327–8.

It is enough to recall here the schools of grammarians and linguistics in the second century of the Hegira (that of al-Basra and al-Kūfa notably), their rise and the social status of their members not only at the court at Baghdad but among the leading citizens. The same applies to jurists, historians, etc.

This linguist of the second century of the Hegira was the founder both of Arabic prosody and of lexicography. He was also a musical theorist and an arithmetician. He made use of combinatorial analysis in order to solve the problem of the composition of an Arabic dictionary, while at the same time he was concerned with research in arithmetic.

A famous example in this respect is Hunaīn ibn Ishāq's search for Galen's On demonstration. Cf. Diophante , Les Arithmétiques, ed. and transl. by Rashed R. , iii (Paris, 1984), pp. xxiv–xxv, note 44.

Op. cit. (ref. 6).

Ibid., pp. xx–xxii.

Samir K. , (ed.), Une correspondance islamo-chrétienne entre Ibn al-Munaggim Hunayn ibn Ishāq et Qustā ibn Lūqā (Patrologia Orientalis, xl, fasc. 4, n. 185; Turnhout, 1981), 156.

Dioclès, Anthémius de Tralles, Didyme et alter: Sur les miroirs ardents, ed. by Rashed R. (Les Belles Lettres, Paris, in press).

Ibid.

Diophante , Les arithmétiques, iii (ref. 6), pp. xxviii–xxix.

Dioclès, Anthémius de Tralles, ed. by Rashed (ref. 10).

L'Optique d'al-Kindī, ed. by Rashed R. Hugonnard-Roche H. Jolivet J. Sinaceur H. (Les Belles Lettres, Paris, in press).