05-14-2012, 03:13 PM
Read the interview. Don't want to spoil the fun, but I cannot agree to this statement:
Militarily, the Sassanids were certainly one of the most formidable ancient empires, but its scientific significance was surprisingly negligible. None of the scientific and scholarly disciplines which the Greeks, and later the Chinese, had been developing centuries before were really present in Iran even at the day of the Arab conquest: the disciplines of philosophy, theology, geography, history, grammar etc. all these new fields which set classical antiquity apart from the older cultures of Ancient Near East were only systematically cultivated in the Muslim period when Persia really rose to a place of prominence in science and learning (from the 9th c.).
There is a lot of talk about this Sassanid translation movement and this so-called Academy of Gondishapur, but what do we actually know about it? AFAIK, hard facts are so hard to come by that it is reason enough to be suspicious of its actual influence. If it was so active in drawing in knowledge from Rome to China, it just helps to demonstrate that Persia then was still a recipient of knowledge, not a propagator. And if the translation movement is hyped, like I believe in the absence of solid evidence, Persia was not even an importer of knowledge, but a black spot on the scientific map. Like it already was in the days of Dareios and Xerxes.
Quote:The accomplishments of Sasanian Persia rival those of Gupta India (320-550 CE), Han dynasty China (206 BCE-220 CE), Imperial Rome and later, Byzantium (27 BCE-476/1453 CE). For Iranians, the rule of the Sasanians is largely remembered as a golden age of art, science, and culture...
Militarily, the Sassanids were certainly one of the most formidable ancient empires, but its scientific significance was surprisingly negligible. None of the scientific and scholarly disciplines which the Greeks, and later the Chinese, had been developing centuries before were really present in Iran even at the day of the Arab conquest: the disciplines of philosophy, theology, geography, history, grammar etc. all these new fields which set classical antiquity apart from the older cultures of Ancient Near East were only systematically cultivated in the Muslim period when Persia really rose to a place of prominence in science and learning (from the 9th c.).
There is a lot of talk about this Sassanid translation movement and this so-called Academy of Gondishapur, but what do we actually know about it? AFAIK, hard facts are so hard to come by that it is reason enough to be suspicious of its actual influence. If it was so active in drawing in knowledge from Rome to China, it just helps to demonstrate that Persia then was still a recipient of knowledge, not a propagator. And if the translation movement is hyped, like I believe in the absence of solid evidence, Persia was not even an importer of knowledge, but a black spot on the scientific map. Like it already was in the days of Dareios and Xerxes.
Stefan (Literary references to the discussed topics are always appreciated.)
