When did the modern world surpass the ancient world in knowledge?
A category of humanism, especially Renaissance humanism, stressed that the ancient world – such as Rome and Greece – were the pinnacle of achievement and knowledge. Most works of art and literature from that era are lost but it is still considered a developed time in history.
After that era in time there were the dark ages and middle ages – and it wasn’t until the Renaissance that ancient form of wisdom began to be revived.
My question is, what time (in the Western world) did civilization meet and surpass the knoweldge of the ancient world? Has all that knowledge been recaptured or are there still things and forms of philosophy the ancient world knew that the modern doesn’t?
A difficult question because we don’t actually know the true extent of the ‘knowledge’ that people had in prehistoric times. Take for example the fact that Stonehenge has just been discovered to have been mathematically structured, we didn’t know that until last year. So the question of of has been lost and re-discovered is elusive.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
You ask a very Euro centric question. As Rome declined the Byzantine Empire inherited much of the art and history. The rise of Islam created a flourishing of the arts and sciences. It’s when trade brought this knowledge and that of China to Europe that the Renaissance began.
Arguably the Renaissance met and exceeded the leves of Rome and Greece.
References :
October 16th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Many ancient inventions were not surpassed until fairly modern times….1800’s perhaps. Heron of Alexandria invented the steam engine, jet propulsion, vending machines, analog computers, syringes, robots, and the study of hydraulics and pneumatics and optics over 2000 years ago. Japanese and Greek swords from ancient times cannot be duplicated today. The Baghdad battery existed almost 2000 years before it was reinvented in the 17-1800’s. Chinese ships employed paddle wheels for propulsion a thousand years before Western culture. The Chinese "junk" is the longest lasting ship design in history and still employed today.
Egyptian, Mayan, Incan, Roman and Cambodian structures and temples employed methods of moving extremely large blocks of stone without modern equipment….some Egyptian obelisks have been found which weigh over 1200 tons and the Trilithon at Baalbek has 3 blocks of stone which weigh around 800 tons each. Incan structures have stones which weigh upwards of 400 tons and were quarried and moved in high altitudes on mountainous terrains. Many of them are fitted so precisely…even in irregular shapes… that a razor blade cannot be fitted between them. Roman concrete structures still stand today.
All in all, quite an amazing amount of work and invention in the ancient world.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Alexandria
http://www.vejprty.com/baalbek.htm
October 17th, 2009 at 12:09 am
The 17 hundreds started the enlightened movement. It was probably sometime during that century but certainly by the early 1800’s they were ahead of all ancient cultures in most ways.
References :
October 17th, 2009 at 12:15 am
A difficult question because we don’t actually know the true extent of the ‘knowledge’ that people had in prehistoric times. Take for example the fact that Stonehenge has just been discovered to have been mathematically structured, we didn’t know that until last year. So the question of of has been lost and re-discovered is elusive.
References :
http://www.solvingstonehenge.com