1 The Birth of Science - MSRI

11
The Age-Long Recovery
11.1 The Early Renaissances
The memory of Hellenistic science survived thanks to a series of revival
periods when interest in ancient knowledge was rekindled for a time in a
certain geographical area. The resumption of scientific studies in imperial
times, already extensively discussed, can perhaps be viewed as the first
of these renaissances. The second occurred around the early sixth century
A.D. and had as its protagonists Simplicius, John Philoponus, Eutocius,
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. For our narrative a few observations
about this cultural reawakening will suffice.
All these authors showed great interest in Hellenistic science: Eutocius
wrote a commentary on some works of Archimedes and Apollonius and
even believed he had found a lost proof by Archimedes. 1 John Philoponus,
like Simplicius, is known chiefly for his commentaries on Aristotle, but he
also studied mathematics and wrote a work on the astrolabe. Isidore of
Miletus, best known for having designed (with Anthemius) the Basilica
of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, edited Archimedes’ works and wrote,
among other things, commentaries on Heron. 2 His work about marvelous
1 Eutocius, In Archimedis sphaeram et cylindrum, II, iv = [Archimedes/Mugler], vol. IV, 88–89. But
Archimedean authorship of the fragment found by Eutocius is very doubtful.
2 According to a passage inserted by a copyist into Eutocius’ commentary on Archimedes’ On
the sphere and cylinder, one of the works commented by Isidore was a treatise of Heron called
, meaning that it dealt with vaults and/or domes (Eutocius, In Archimedis sphaeram et
cylindrum, II, i = [Archimedes/Mugler], vol. IV, 62, 1–4). Specifically, the interpolator says that in
this commentary Isidore described a parabola tracer of his invention; this suggests that one of the
subjects dealt with in Heron’s work was vaults or domes with a parabolic section. It might be
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