Latin translations of the 12th century  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop


Featured:

The Renaissance of the 12th century saw a major search by European scholars for new learning, which led them to the Arabic fringes of Europe, especially to Islamic Spain and Sicily. A typical story is that of Gerard of Cremona (c. 1114-87), who was described as having

"arrived at a knowledge of each part of [philosophy] according to the study of the Latins, nevertheless, because of his love for the Almagest, which he did not find at all amongst the Latins, he made his way to Toledo, where seeing an abundance of books in Arabic on every subject, and pitying the poverty he had experienced among the Latins concerning these subjects, out of his desire to translate he thoroughly learnt the Arabic language...."

Unlike the interest in the literature of classical antiquity found in the Renaissance, 12th century translators sought new scientific, philosophical and, to a lesser extent, religious texts. The latter concern was reflected in a renewed interest in translations of the Greek Church Fathers into Latin, a concern with translating Jewish teachings from Hebrew, and most significantly, an interest in the Qur'an and other Islamic religious texts. In addition, some Arabic literature was also translated into Latin.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Latin translations of the 12th century" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Personal tools