1 The Birth of Science - MSRI

8.3 The End of Ancient Science 211
resentative of the Pythagorean school; for example Copernicus, thinking
the Letter from Lysis to Hipparchus to be authentic, included a translation of
it in his De revolutionibus orbium caelestium. 42
Even the amalgams of ancient traditions with scientific elements ran
into hard times, and eventually all remnants of ancient scientific culture
was destroyed. The Serapeum, which had been the first public library, was
demolished by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, in 391. In 415, as we
have mentioned, Hypatia was lynched. She was the last commentator of
scientific books in Alexandria.
tradition assigns to Lysis). The confusion between Hipparchus and Hippasus was first remarked
by Diels in a passage of the Placita; see [DG], prolegomena, p. 213.
42 This translation was in the manuscript of the first book, but was suppressed in the 1543 edition
and subsequent ones. It can be found in Koyré’s French edition of the De revolutionibus (Des
revolutions des orbes celestes, Paris, F. Alcan, 1934).
Revision: 1.4 Date: 2002/07/12 23:34:21