|
The Light of Alexandria By James Maynard Preface View as .PDF Science is more than just a collection of ideas. It also represents a world-view. It is a paradigm to represent one’s belief of the past, present and future, from the birth of the universe until the end of time. Modern science was born in Ionia, in the seventh century BCE, for a number of different reasons, some overt and others subtle. Everything from the nature of islands themselves creating maritime societies, to the diversity of immigrant populations and the life cycle of the olive all played a part in why science was first born. In The Light of Alexandria, I hope to present a summary of the forces that gave birth to a systematic view of the universe for the first time in human history. Then, journeying through time, we will explore the height of ancient science and the magnificent discoveries and inventions that could have sent the ancient world racing forward 2,000 years. Then we will see some of the many reasons that lead to the downfall of ancient science and the coming of the dark ages. Throughout, we will see where much of our world began in words and images, the origin of words and phrases we use every day and come to see that the ancient world was not as far different from today’s world as we believe. Throughout the writing of the book, I attempted to not only tell about the lives of the scientists, philosophers and other notables involved, but also about the world in which they lived. My goal was to also explain (to the best of my abilities) what their governments were like, what they listened to for music and the kind of theatre they enjoyed, along with everyday information: for instance, what kinds of materials were they using for eating utensils? What were they wearing? What sort of decorations did they have in their homes? In addition, there are a myriad of other questions to answer about their world, if we want to understand the people behind the birth of science. Records from this time are sketchy and there are many conflicting reports. I did my best to gather the facts, compare them with one another and see which conflicted and which pieces fit the general picture. When reports seemed to conflict, I tried to take into account other factors which were occurring in the area, along with general human nature and tried to find the most logical course of events. Readers of other history books will notice that very rarely do I use the words “According to Plutarch…” or “Pliny states that…” This was done so that the stories would flow smoothly as the reader went along and to try to retain a more coherent, easier style to picture and understand. I hope that I conveyed at least a little of what it was like to live in those times, as far as I was able to research what we know of that era. One of several problems when writing about history is talking about money from the ancient world and translating it into terms that modern people will understand. There needs to be a standard by which we come to terms with how much money we are talking about when dealing with an ancient unit of currency, such as a Roman talent. What I have chosen to do in this work is to use a gold standard. How much gold would that amount of money have been able to buy then and how much would that gold be worth now? It is not a perfect system, but gold is one of the few good standards we can use to compare the buying power of ancient and modern monetary units. Starting in 625 BCE, with the birth of the world’s first known scientist, Thales, and ending with the final destruction of the Library of Alexandria and the murder of Hypatia in 415 CE, the time period covered by this book encompasses the first period of science, which lasted over a thousand years. The reasons behind the downfall of this first scientific inquiry beckon to be explored. Many people largely blame slavery for the downfall of science after the first thousand years, but that was only one small part of the reasons for the Dark Ages falling upon the world. The Roman Civil Wars, The Alexandrian War, the lack of an industrial base from which to mass market products, as well as a Christian persecution of Jewish and Pagan people in early fifth century Alexandria all played significant parts in the dramas leading to the Dark Ages. Science remained dormant for a thousand years after that, until it was reborn during the Renaissance. I owe a special thank you to my father, Robert Maynard, for teaching me science as a child, giving me a rational mind and always believing in me. Thanks goes to the love of my life, Pat LaPree, for putting up with my endless hours of typing at the computer and bringing me coffee, food and hugs. A tremendous thank you to Vesta Hornbeck, professor of English at Keene State College (NH), for editing different versions of this book as it went along, offering advice, correcting errors and reminding me that grammar has changed since I graduated college! Also, thank you to Dr. J. Russell Harkay, also of Keene State College, for encouraging my writing throughout college and trusting me to edit the second and third editions of his book, Phenomenal Physics. I would finally like to thank the two authors who filled my childhood days with their words and ideas, as I read their books endlessly: the late Dr. Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. Also, thank you to Ancient Coins Canada and Classical Numismatic Group for their permission to use several of their images of ancient coins throughout this work. Thanks goes to Liana Cheney of the University of Massachusetts Lowell for giving me permission to use some of her reconstructed music of ancient Greece and Rome on the website for this work (www.lightofalexandria.com). This book could not have been completed without such wonderful websites from HistoryChannel.com, the University of St. Andrews School of Mathematics and Statistics and Dictionary.com to look up quick facts, check references and teach myself the meanings of words that had escaped my vocabulary for the last thirty-six years. This book is meant primarily as a work for the curious layperson, but could also be used as a text for science and history courses, as well as for home and private schooling. As the author, I would love to see this work used for all those purposes and more. Permission is granted to educational instructors to distribute excerpts from this work, in lengths of one chapter or less for educational purposes without any further permission from the author, provided the material is provided free to the student(s). Bulk discounts are available for bookstores, distributors and educational institutions. Please contact me through the website for the book (www.LightofAlexandria.com) for any other purposes, including any commercial distribution, or for more information. This work represents four years of work and I sincerely hope the reader enjoys the work I have assembled and learns at least something which enriches their lives. James Maynard Autumn 2005 Keene, NH © Copyright 2005 James Maynard |
|
Home Page Buy the Book Table of Contents Preface Chapter One Chapter Two Photos About the Author Extras Site Menu
|
