Refuting Origins

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Mazur
Keyword(s):  
Decimal Place ◽  
Multiplication Table ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Number Representation ◽  
French Mathematician ◽  
Value System ◽  
Indian Origin ◽  
Arabic Number ◽  
History Of ◽  
Trade Route

This chapter discusses the debate among experts over the origins of the Hindu-Arabic numerals. One such expert was the French mathematician and historian Michel Chasles, who argued that by the fifth century, France already had a decimal place-value system for computations documented in Boethius's Arithmetic, which seemed to use a multiplication table with Arabic numbers. For much of the nineteenth century, the Indian origin of positional decimal notation had been challenged. The chapter also considers the claim made by George Rusby Kaye in 1907 that the numerals and the decimal system could not have been Indian in origin and that the history of Hindu-Arabic number representation was complicated by the existence of so many forgeries of the time. Whatever the truth, it is quite likely that sometime in the fifth century, Indian numbers had come to Alexandria via a trade route through Syria before moving westward.

scholarly journals Medieval Literature in Comparative Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Alessandra Petrocchi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval Literature ◽  
Decimal Place ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Medieval Studies ◽  
Value System ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intellectual Context ◽  
First Time

This paper provides a textual comparison of selected primary sources on medieval mathematics written in Sanskrit and medieval Latin for the first time. By emphasising literary features instead of purely mathematical ones, it attempts to shed light on a neglected area in the study of scientific treatises which concerns lexicon and argument strategies. The methodological perspective takes into account the intellectual context of knowledge production of the sources presented; the medieval Indian and Latin traditions are historically connected, in fact, by one of the most fascinating episodes in the history of knowledge transfer across cultures: the transmission of the decimal place value system. This cross-linguistic analysis compares and contrasts the versatile textuality and richness of forms defining the interplay between language and number in medieval Sanskrit and Latin works; it employs interdisciplinary methods (Philology, History of Science, and Literary Studies) and challenges disciplinary boundaries by putting side by side languages and textual cultures which are commonly treated separately. The purpose in writing this research is to expand upon recent scholarship on the Global Middle Ages by embracing an Eastern literary culture and, in doing so, to promote comparative studies which include non-European traditions. This research is intended as a further contribution to the field of Comparative Medieval Literature and Culture; it also aims to stimulate discussion on cross-linguistic and cross-cultural projects in Medieval Studies.

Epidemics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel K. Cohn, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Race Ethnicity

This book challenges a dominant hypothesis in the study of epidemics. From an interdisciplinary array of scholars, a consensus has emerged: invariably, epidemics in past times provoked class hatred, blame of the ‘other’, or victimization of the diseases’ victims. It is also claimed that when diseases were mysterious, without cures or preventive measures, they more readily provoked ‘sinister connotations’. The evidence for these assumptions, however, comes from a handful of examples—the Black Death, the Great Pox at the end of the sixteenth century, cholera riots of the 1830s, and AIDS, centred almost exclusively on the US experience. By investigating thousands of descriptions of epidemics, reaching back before the fifth-century BCE Plague of Athens to the eruption of Ebola in 2014, this study traces epidemics’ socio-psychological consequences across time and discovers a radically different picture. First, scholars, especially post-AIDS, have missed a fundamental aspect of the history of epidemics: their remarkable power to unify societies across class, race, ethnicity, and religion, spurring self-sacrifice and compassion. Second, hatred and violence cannot be relegated to a time when diseases were mysterious, before the ‘laboratory revolution’ of the late nineteenth century: in fact, modernity was the great incubator of a disease–hate nexus. Third, even with diseases that have tended to provoke hatred, such as smallpox, poliomyelitis, plague, and cholera, blaming ‘the other’ or victimizing disease bearers has been rare. Instead, the history of epidemics and their socio-psychological consequences has been richer and more varied than scholars and public intellectuals have heretofore allowed.

Ancient Hinduism as a Missionary Religion

Numen ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arvind Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Textual Evidence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Fourth Part ◽  
History Of

AbstractThe paper is conceptually divided into four parts. In the first part the widely held view that ancient Hinduism was not a missionary religion is presented. (The term ancient is employed to characterize the period in the history of Hinduism extending from fifth century B.C.E. to the tenth century. The term 'missionary religion' is used to designate a religion which places its followers under an obligation to missionize.) In the second part the conception of conversion in the context of ancient Hinduism is clarified and it is explained how this conception differs from the notion of conversion as found in Christianity. In the third part the view that ancient Hinduism was not a missionary religion is challenged by presenting textual evidence that ancient Hinduism was in fact a missionary religion, inasmuch as it placed a well-defined segment of its members under an obligation to undertake missionary activity. Such historical material as serves to confirm the textual evidence is then presented in the fourth part.

scholarly journals Comparing maternal genetic variation across two millennia reveals the demographic history of an ancient human population in southwest Turkey

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 150250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Ottoni ◽  
Rita Rasteiro ◽  
Rinse Willet ◽  
Johan Claeys ◽  
Peter Talloen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Demographic History ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Dna Variation ◽  
Genetic Discontinuity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Modern Sample

More than two decades of archaeological research at the site of Sagalassos, in southwest Turkey, resulted in the study of the former urban settlement in all its features. Originally settled in late Classical/early Hellenistic times, possibly from the later fifth century BCE onwards, the city of Sagalassos and its surrounding territory saw empires come and go. The Plague of Justinian in the sixth century CE, which is considered to have caused the death of up to a third of the population in Anatolia, and an earthquake in the seventh century CE, which is attested to have devastated many monuments in the city, may have severely affected the contemporary Sagalassos community. Human occupation continued, however, and Byzantine Sagalassos was eventually abandoned around 1200 CE. In order to investigate whether these historical events resulted in demographic changes across time, we compared the mitochondrial DNA variation of two population samples from Sagalassos (Roman and Middle Byzantine) and a modern sample from the nearby town of Ağlasun. Our analyses revealed no genetic discontinuity across two millennia in the region and Bayesian coalescence-based simulations indicated that a major population decline in the area coincided with the final abandonment of Sagalassos, rather than with the Plague of Justinian or the mentioned earthquake.

scholarly journals Islam's Attitude towards Democracy Comparative Study in International Human Rights Law

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Suhail Hussein Al-Fatlawi
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Legislative Authority ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Scholars

<p>Democracy was established in the Greek cities in the fifth century B.C. It is a liberal western system. In this regard, various Islamic countries applied democracy as a political and legal system where the people elect their representatives in the legislative authority in order to put the legal regulations that organize the human behavior.</p>The research included a brief idea about liberal democracy, its history and objectives, the political and legal system in the Islamic state, the dispute among Muslim scholars on the application of democracy in the Islamic states; some Muslim scholars refuse to apply democracy since the legal system in Islam relies on the Holly Qor'an and the Prophet's speeches, which are a biding regulation for Muslims, while other authors believe that Islam accepts democracy and others think that Islam should have its special democracy that differs from the liberal democracy. This paper discussed the political and legal systems that were applied the Islamic state during the history of Islam. Finally the paper presented the most conclusions and recommendations reached by the researcher.

The Date and Circumstances of Olympiodorus of Thebes

Traditio ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gillett
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Half

Olympiodorus of Thebes is an important figure for the history of late antiquity. The few details of his life preserved as anecdotes in hisHistorygive glimpses of a career which embraced the skills of poet, philosopher, and diplomat. A native of Egypt, he had influence at the imperial court of Constantinople, among the sophists of Athens, and even outside the borders of the empire. HisHistory(more correctly, his “materials for history”) is lost, surviving only as fragments in the narratives of Zosimus, Sozomen, and Philostorgius, and in the rich summary given by the ninth-century Byzantine patriarch Photius. These remains comprise the most substantial narrative sources for events in the western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. Besides its value as a source, theHistoryis important as a monument to the vitality of the belief in the unity of the Roman Empire under the Theodosian dynasty. Olympiodorus wrote in Greek, and knowledge of his work is attested only in Constantinople, yet his political narrative, from 407 to 425, concerns only events in the western half of the empire. To understand the significance of these facts, it is necessary to set the composition of Olympiodorus's work in its proper context. Clarifying the date of publication is the first step toward this goal. Internal and external evidence suggests that the work was written in 440 or soon after, more than a decade later than the date of composition usually accepted. Taken with thematic emphases evident in the structure of theHistory, this revised dating explains why an eastern writer should have written a detailed account of western events in the early part of the century. Olympiodorus's account is a characteristic product of the highly literate class of eastern imperial civil servants, and of their genuine preoccupation with the relationship between the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire at a time when both were threatened by the rise of the new Carthaginian power of the Vandals.

scholarly journals A certain bishop and a certain diocese in Egypt at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries: The testimony of the Canons of Athanasius

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-115
Author(s):  
Ewa Wipszycka
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Church

The Canons of Athanasius, a homiletic work written at the beginning of the fifth century in one of the cities of the Egyptian chora, provide us with many important and detailed pieces of information about the Church hierarchy. Information gleaned from this text can be found in studies devoted to the history of Christianity of the fourth and fifth centuries, but rarely are they the subject of reflection as an autonomous subject. To date, no one has endeavoured to determine how the author of the Canons sought to establish the parameters of his work: why he included certain things in this work, and why left other aspects out despite them being within the boundaries of the subject which he had wished to write upon. This article looks to explore two thematic areas: firstly, what we learn about the hierarchical Church from the Canons, and secondly, what we know about the hierarchical Church from period sources other than the Canons. This article presents new arguments which exclude the authorship of Athanasius and date the creation of the Canons to the first three decades of the fifth century.

scholarly journals Palaeohispanic Languages and Epigraphies

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multidisciplinary Perspective ◽  
Do So

At least four writing systems—in addition to the Phoenician, Greek, and Latin ones—were used between the fifth century BCE and the first century CE to write the indigenous languages of the Iberian peninsula (the so-called Palaeohispanic languages): Tartessian, Iberian, Celtiberian, and Lusitanian. In total over three thousand inscriptions are preserved in what is certainly the largest corpus of epigraphic expression in the western Mediterranean world with the exception of the Italian peninsula. The aim of this book is to present a state of the question that includes the latest cutting-edge scholarship on these epigraphies and the languages that they transmit. To do so, the editors have put together a volume that from a multidisciplinary perspective brings together linguistic, philological, epigraphic, numismatic, historical, and archaeological aspects of the surviving inscriptions. The study of these languages is essential to achieve a better understanding of the social, economic, and cultural history of Hispania and the ancient western Mediterranean. They are also the key to our understanding of colonial Phoenician and Greek literacy, which lies at the root of the spread of these languages and also of the diffusion of Roman literacy, which played an important role in the final expansion of the so-called Palaeohispanic languages.

Re-Contextualization of Ethical Values of Pashtun Tribe by the Educated Female Folk in Pakistan

2019 ◽  
pp. 210-228
Author(s):  
Sameen Masood ◽  
Muhammad Farooq
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Value System ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of

It is believed that the economic participation of women in Pakistan has been intensively affected by an enduring male-capitalist social system. Moreover, the history of gender discrimination has been linked with the medieval cultural values that uplifted and empowered men over women in every sphere of life, especially in the economic realm. A typical case is believed to be the Pashtun culture. This chapter investigated indigenous values of Pashtun culture where women are underrepresented in the economy. Women did not see themselves as underprivileged. Rather, they perceived themselves as a vital and prestigious part of the family and the wider Pashtun society. For educated women in Pashtun society, the values system is guided by social structure, which is accounted for by stability and unity in society. Cultural values are operationalized as the mechanism of division of labor. The findings redefine female empowerment and propose a new paradigm in the global context. The indigenous value system guides the social structure which leads to stability and unity in the society.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Timothy Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Night And Day ◽  
Eleatic Monism

This book is a study of Aristotle’s engagement with Eleatic monism, the theory of Parmenides of Elea and his followers that reality is ‘one’. Parmenides wrote a single philosophical poem, sometime in the early fifth century BCE. This poem, which now survives only in fragments, is widely acknowledged to be a pivotal work in the history of Greek philosophy. It tells the story of a young man who is taken on a journey by the daughters of the Sun. After passing through the gates of the paths of Night and Day, he is greeted by a goddess:...

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