Part of the History of Civilization (From 9th - 13th centuries)

World civilization passes from one region to another, and from one language to another, by contact. If we are to trace the history of any field of science, we begin with the ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians, moving to the Greeks and Romans, then to the Arabs, ending up in Western Europe (not to underestimate the civilizations of Asia and South America). One stop in this journey is almost always forgotten: the Syriac contribution!

From the 4th century onward, the Greek sciences were translated into Syriac, including philosophy, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and alchemy. When the Arabs desired to transmit the Greek sciences into Arabic during the 8th and 9th centuries, they turned to their Syriac subjects to do the task. In most cases, these Syriac scholars translated the works first into their native language then into Arabic. As a result, many of the Arabic scientific terminology, including the names of plants, are rooted in Syriac. Scientific works and terminology from other cultures, such as Persian and Indian, passed to Arabic via Syriac; a noted example is the name of the chemical element Zirconium (via Syriac zargono 'color of gold').

The most celebrated translator of the period is Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (d. 873 or 877), the son of a druggist. In addition to translating and revising the translations of others, many translators graduated at his hands. Another translator is Thabit Ibn Qurra (d. 901). He wrote 15 scientific works in Syriac and 150 in Arabic, translated and revised Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy and others. Thabit is also credited with introducing the mathematical theory of "amicable numbers".

Along this translation movement, native Syriac authors continued to flourish. Of this period, Eliah of Anbar (10th cent.) produced an extensive gnomic work, and his namesake Elijah of Nisibin (d. 1046) wrote a chronography and an Arabic-Syriac glossary. Bar Salibi (d. 1171) produced many encyclopedic-type works on various topics, while Michael the Great (d. 1199) composed a world history from the creation till his time.

While Ephrem witnessed the beginning of the greatest period of Syriac literature, Bar Ebroyo marked its end. Along with Ephrem, Bar Ebroyo is the most famous of Syriac writers. A true polymath, he wrote on every subject under the sun. He produced over 20 books in theology, history, liturgy, medicine, philosophy, logic, mathematics, grammar, poetry, and a book of jokes!

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